Modeling Fidelity likely isn’t as critical as we think.

[timbuck3]

Arent tube amps pretty old skool teck yet sound great

 

[Frodebro]

Arent tube amps pretty old skool teck yet sound great

They sound great because they were the tech used to make the music we all grew up listening to. If that music was made with Gorilla 15 watt combos, that would be the sound we would have been conditioned to love.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I had a Gorilla 35! I was badass...not .

I think we all had a Gorilla at some point.
Think mine was a GG-20.

 

[Frodebro]

I think we all had a Gorilla at some point.
Think mine was a GG-20.

I somehow managed to avoid the Gorilla amp phase, my first amp was a Peavey Basic 50 (I started on bass before shifting my attention fully to guitar). But, once I got into guitar my first "amp" was a Rockman Soloist, which allowed me to play for hours on end, every night, without pissing off my parents. It didn't sound horrible running into the Basic 50, either.

 

[la szum]

I somehow managed to avoid the Gorilla amp phase, my first amp was a Peavey Basic 50 (I started on bass before shifting my attention fully to guitar). But, once I got into guitar my first "amp" was a Rockman Soloist, which allowed me to play for hours on end, every night, without pissing off my parents. It didn't sound horrible running into the Basic 50, either.

Peavey Studio Pro 40 and a Rockman here, too. I preferred the Rockman. The Peavey was an hot mess.

 

[la szum]

Is this a "Tone doesn't really matter," thread?

 

[la szum]

Or, an "I am old and my ears ain't what they used to be," thread?

No offense, OP. I am old-ish, too.

 

[Deleted member 1726]

Is this a "Tone doesn't really matter," thread?

The toanz are *all* in the fingers, after eating fried chicken

 

[la szum]

The toanz are *all* in the fingers, after eating fried chicken

 

[Mikael Dez]

My first amp was a Peavey Bandit Transtube 112

 

[Frodebro]

Peavey Studio Pro 40 and a Rockman here, too. I preferred the Rockman. The Peavey was an hot mess.

B-b-but it had the SATURATION knob!

 

[Deleted member 1726]

My first amp in 78' was a Heathkit Model TA-16 "Starmaker", that my neighbor tricked me into (I should have bought that 64 Fender Jaguar!)

It blew up during my first gig (SoCal keg party), which I threw in a dumpster on the way home...

Then I bought a Peavey Pacer ~I hated them both!

Ah, the good ol' days

 

[DLC86]

I think we all had a Gorilla at some point.
Think mine was a GG-20.

I grew up with a gorilla

 

[Frodebro]

My first amp in 78' was a Heathkit Model TA-16 "Starmaker", that my neighbor tricked me into (I should have bought that 64 Fender Jaguar!)

View attachment 43167

It blew up during my first gig (SoCal keg party), which I threw in a dumpster on the way home...

Then I bought a Peavey Pacer ~I hated them both!

Ah, the good ol' days

The other guitarist in my band has a Heathkit not unlike that one in his basement where the band gets together. He uses a Vox these days, but that boat anchor is still sitting there. Watching. Listening. Waiting.

 

[Blix]

I recorded this with POD Farm 12 years ago, and tbh I think it sounds pretty great? I'm kinda biased though.

 

[ucnick]

In 1971, my first amp was a somewhat decrepit Kent 3 tube 5 watt wonder with the "death cap", was a ok starter amp (enough to make the neighbors complain!) but not enough to jam with so sold it to a friend. Later that year a "friend" sold me a Mike Matthew's Freedom Amplifier for $30 and that was one kickass amp, even being solid state. Used it for a few years when playing in starter jam bands, 35 watts was plenty loud enough. Then around 1975 bought a Kustom 200 watter with the tuck 'n roll covering, to use in a performing band, but that's another story.

I went back to college in 1976 after dropping out in 1974 and the Freedom amp went with me, played bar gigs and the school Gong Show with it. Finally sold it to a buddy of mine sometime late 70s or early 80s, it was still going strong. I'd love to find another one like that. It was a great sounding amp and built like a tank, took a lot of abuse over the years but never quit.

BTW I never ran it on batteries. 30 D cells were WAY out of my budget at the time....

 

[timbuck3]

I recorded this with POD Farm 12 years ago, and tbh I think it sounds pretty great? I'm kinda biased though.

Still excellent tone

 

[BenIfin]

If history is any guide the latest isn’t necessarily the greatest. You can look at digital delay for example. Some folks might argue that the earlier versions with lower fidelity and sample rates sound better. Look at the EVH delay as a good example. Tape delay is another. It’s the infidelity and quicks that are a lot of it. This isn’t to say that’s always the case with modeling. But it does make me think. Something being musical is not always about fidelity or accuracy. I suspect that isn’t considered as much in the modeling realm.

I had this thought while playing and switching between different “generations” of modelers from different brands. It certainly seemed to hold true for me.

Before I get slammed, it’s just an observation or notion that I had or experienced. I’m not trying to push any absolutist theory… just offering a thought.

When I think or hear any really good [ ie: supposedly "classic and therefore brilliant" ] Tube guitar Amp or "classic drive or delay effect etc..... many words come to mind ...... "fidelity" quality is never even a nano thought.

Thinking the supposedly great [ ie: old ] Tube Amps and effects have "some good to moderate to high levels of audio fidelity" ... is kind of like a perfect oxy-moron statement.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Really good music can be created with any modeler or device imo.

Might've been different in the past (you'd be hard pressed to record an album full of thick riffing with a Zoom 9002), these days defenitely yes (and since quite some time already).
The same can be said for production stuff. ITB is just working extremely well and it doesn't matter anymore whether things are somewhat different in listening/nulltests.

For me personally, it really all boils down to usability. IMO this is something that could be *massively* improved by each and every company (at least when it comes to modeling). Even compared to just my rather lowly hybrid-setup, when it comes to live/session/rehearsing-userfriendliness, they all just plain and simply suck (for my use case at least) and I can perfectly elaborate why some of the issues apply to pretty much everyone, just that many people seemed to be used to "ok, I'll get along" instead of harrassing the vendors to finally come up with something decent.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I recorded this with POD Farm 12 years ago, and tbh I think it sounds pretty great? I'm kinda biased though.

Yeah, sounds great (great playing as usual, too).
But let's face it, these kinda overdriven lead tones aren't too much of a problem. They usually don't need too much dynamics (heck, often they profit from some bits of compression here and there) and as they don't exactly need to "fit" in a mix but are allowed to stand out, I always thought that EQ-ing them to fit isn't too hard, either.
For me it's the kinda EOB tones that really lacked the most in earlier modeling generations, followed by, say, riff tones that would clean up like the real deal. But these are pretty much covered today, too.