So Boss amp modeling…

I'm slumming it with a Blackstar right now.

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The St. James is growing on me. It took me a few days to dial it in to my preferences but now I'm getting a good clean sound...much better than anything I've ever gotten out of a Roland amp. The gain tones aren't bad either but it's no Dual Rectifier or JCM 800.

I guess using it could be considered slumming but it's a stretch considering the price of the St.James combo but I just saw an open box one for sale for $900 and was kicking my self for paying full price.
No judgment! I'll probably end up with one at some point.
 
I’m still really enjoy the Boss amp models. I turned my AxeFX on once just to see and of course it sounds way more natural and detailed, but there’s something about the Boss that is just fun and is working for me. They’re more compressed, almost more like a polished studio recording of an amp. One thing I’m not sure about is that this makes them sound really fun for playing along with backing tracks and messing around at home, but it makes me worry that they might not sit in a live mix well. Im really looking forward to a gig coming up I can try it out for and see.

My AxeFX has been collecting dust the past month.

The models still don’t sound anything like the real amps but I find I don’t care. With some tweaking I haven’t found any tones I want that I can’t pull out of it. I even found a high gain tone I really like by using one of the pedals for distortion into the Natural amp model.

I think next week I’ll have to try recording some examples to share here
 
I’m still really enjoy the Boss amp models. I turned my AxeFX on once just to see and of course it sounds way more natural and detailed, but there’s something about the Boss that is just fun and is working for me. They’re more compressed, almost more like a polished studio recording of an amp. One thing I’m not sure about is that this makes them sound really fun for playing along with backing tracks and messing around at home, but it makes me worry that they might not sit in a live mix well. Im really looking forward to a gig coming up I can try it out for and see.

My AxeFX has been collecting dust the past month.

The models still don’t sound anything like the real amps but I find I don’t care. With some tweaking I haven’t found any tones I want that I can’t pull out of it. I even found a high gain tone I really like by using one of the pedals for distortion into the Natural amp model.

I think next week I’ll have to try recording some examples to share here
Agree with all of this. FM isn't gathering dust so much as I know I get my Boogie digital fix that way the minute I turn it on. But Boss stuff is fun to play as long as you drop your expectations and just enjoy what you can.
 
I’m still really enjoy the Boss amp models...My AxeFX has been collecting dust the past month.

The models still don’t sound anything like the real amps but I find I don’t care.

Even though I love it, my FM9 isn't getting used at the moment either.

It's one thing to constantly compare one modeler to another with the goal of finding which has the most accurate representation of a given amp. But enjoyment can come from a number of different factors, not just accuracy of an amp model when compared to the original.

I like the FM9 because with those nine switches I can get any tone or effect I want. But I also like just plugging straight into a tube amp which forces me to use my fingers to produce the different nuances of tone that are an integral part of great playing.
 
Speaking of Boss modelling. I don't let this see the light of day often, because my recording skills were non-existent at the time. But in '98 when I was in a Rush tribute I bought a Roland VS-880 ($2000 mistake) and made a demo. The guitars are all COSM baby direct from the 20th century.



This is the same band in 2007 when we were doing a cover band. The culprit the time was the inimitable BOSS GT-8.



In 2008 I bought an Axe-FX Standard which I used until January '23 when I got an FM-9T.
Happy Hailee Steinfeld GIF by Pitch Perfect
 
So the one thing I’ve found is that nothing compares with fractal modeling for overall clarity and richness and satisfaction, especially here to head. I’m not a fan boy by any stretch as I owned everything and dug most of it, but I can’t shake the fractal modeling.

There are definitely times that I get bored of it and use something else for a while. Lord knows I have the transaction history showing I’ve jumped around modelers a lot. But ultimately I feel like fractal is the king of the hill for me when I want it all.

I’m still tempted to try the Boss stuff again although I’m pretty sure I’d not love it. Nearly bought a used Core yesterday. I kind of want to try the stuff through the Katana and see what that’s like.

But I also downloaded the zip file of Boss flat cab IRs and out on my axe fx yesterday and hated most of them. There’s one or two that are decent but they have the fake fizzy high end. And that was kind of my experience with the Boss in the first place.
 
Speaking of Boss modelling. I don't let this see the light of day often, because my recording skills were non-existent at the time. But in '98 when I was in a Rush tribute I bought a Roland VS-880 ($2000 mistake) and made a demo. The guitars are all COSM baby direct from the 20th century.



This is the same band in 2007 when we were doing a cover band. The culprit the time was the inimitable BOSS GT-8.



In 2008 I bought an Axe-FX Standard which I used until January '23 when I got an FM-9T.
Happy Hailee Steinfeld GIF by Pitch Perfect


Dude, I used all my savings and high school graduation money to buy a lightly used VS-1680 in 2000! We recorded my bands first two albums on it. Unfortunately a couple years later it was obvious computers were way better for recording and I sold it for pennies on the dollar. But it was really fun for a while.

There were a couple years I did a lot of four track recording that was a lot of fun. The same Tascam unit everyone had probably. First time I could record myself on drums then overdub guitar was amazing.
 
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So the one thing I’ve found is that nothing compares with fractal modeling for overall clarity and richness and satisfaction, especially here to head. I’m not a fan boy by any stretch as I owned everything and dug most of it, but I can’t shake the fractal modeling.

There are definitely times that I get bored of it and use something else for a while. Lord knows I have the transaction history showing I’ve jumped around modelers a lot. But ultimately I feel like fractal is the king of the hill for me when I want it all.

I’m still tempted to try the Boss stuff again although I’m pretty sure I’d not love it. Nearly bought a used Core yesterday. I kind of want to try the stuff through the Katana and see what that’s like.

But I also downloaded the zip file of Boss flat cab IRs and out on my axe fx yesterday and hated most of them. There’s one or two that are decent but they have the fake fizzy high end. And that was kind of my experience with the Boss in the first place.
Link to flat IRs?

Dave Chappelle Halloween GIF by Saturday Night Live
 
Dude, I used all my savings and high school graduation money to buy a lightly used VS-1680 in 2000! We recorded my bands first two albums on it. Unfortunately a couple years later it was obvious computers were way better for recording and I sold it for pennies on the dollar. But it was really fun for a while.

There were a couple years I did a lot of four track recording that was a lot of fun. The same Tasman unit everyone had probably. First time I could record myself on drums then overdub guitar was amazing.
Yep. Bought mine in '98 for I think about $2200 with tax (from memory). Sold it in 2001 for $800 to help fund a PowerMac G4 350GHz. Also a very unwise investment. 2 Motu 828's later I could effotlessly record 16 tracks at a time. The new AltiVec engine (lol) promised computing nirvana. What a dog. Once you had a full band recorded. Drums, bass, guitars, keys and vocals, there wasn't enough power to mix sh*t. lol

But, it was fun being young. So there's that.
 
coming from GT5, GT8 (equipped with harmonic converger LOL!), GT10, GR55, GT100, GT1000 and finally GX-100, I have really really tried to like Boss amp models and gave them plenty of chance.

I am so over Boss now.. sorry. sticking to Line 6 and Fractal. We were just not meant to be..
 
Had a weird experience today…

Yesterday: Tele + BD-2 + x-crunch = I love this so much, I could just play this forever!

Today I plugged in the LP and I couldn’t find a single sound I didn’t hate :unsure:
 
Hmm, maybe a false alarm. I was playing through headphones earlier. Later I plugged in my monitor and cranked it up a bit and it was sounding pretty good with the LP.

It doesn’t have quite enough high end sparkle to really do the LP justice, but I was able to find some good stuff.

I even found a tone in the Rectifier model I didn’t hate! (Took a lot of tweaking)
 
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