What does your modeller do that your "real" rig can't do?

[TheTrueZoltan!]

For me, one of the biggest advantages of modellers over analogue rigs is the reproducibility of sounds.

 

[Tanax]

Not having to care about maintenance is one of the main appeals for me.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I'm a more recent convert in the modeling space. The simplest reason I use it now is I'm not currently playing out so modeling affords me all the things I love about guitar tones in an easy to use package. I can play quietly if needed, and recording with it is a breeze, yet gives me endless possibilities to craft tone ideas. What's not to love? I still enjoy tube amps and pedals but my goal is to play as much as possible in my current musical journey, and modeling fills that need perfectly.

 

[Stone]

endless possibilities to craft tone ideas. What's not to love?

This 100%

 

[DrewJD82]

I definitely like playing with the guts of Marshalls without electrocuting myself or destroying an amp!

I spent last year accumulating the gear that would make amp or modeler setups entirely interchangeable for me, so outside of the above the only thing the AxeFX can do my amp/pedalboard rig can't do is keep everything contained to one unit and I'm only limited by the CPU of the AxeFX for how many effects I can toss on something, as where I have a fixed pedalboard where 10 individual effects can be utilized at once.

Oh dear, however will I work with such constrictions!?!

 

[laxu]

I remembered one more, specifically on Fractal: Ducking.

It's a really nice feature to keep your delays and reverbs from overpowering your base sound if you play something more complex.

Line6 Helix has a ducking delay, but being able to apply it to any delay or reverb is a lot better.

To my knowledge there's no pedal for this. There's a pedal called The Pill that is supposed to come out, but it seems pretty overkill for this sort of feature. Would be nice to have some super small version of this that you could add to your signal chain.

 

[Shask]

You left out ToneX :)

One thing I appreciate about the ToneX ecosystem is that you can have your library of sounds as a plugin in the DAW, in one of the ToneX pedals, or as a headphone practice tool by using the Plug. No other system is that versatile.

 

[ragingplatypi]

I think the opposite question is a lot easier to answer. What does my “real” rig do that my modeler can’t. There’s only 2 things I can think of.

1. My “real” rig gives me that great visceral experience when I just plug a guitar into the amp.

2. My “real” rig has a speaker built in. Just today I was playing at a church where I only bring my modeler, but was asked to rehearse in a different room where there was no amp or powered speaker. Luckily I had also brought an acoustic.

And that’s about it.

 

[KFF]

I think the opposite question is a lot easier to answer. What does my “real” rig do that my modeler can’t.

What does your “real” rig do that your modeler can’t do?

Just for fun :grin Look down and see every setting of every effect without digging through menus Reach back and tweak the EQ on my amp while playing and not have to remember to save the preset before changing to the next Buy an ODR-1 and put it on my board any time I want instead of waiting...

thegearforum.com

 

[Stratzrus]

I can play quietly if needed, and recording with it is a breeze, yet gives me endless possibilities to craft tone ideas.

Pretty much this.

 

[Jynx]

I've never owned a real rig and, unless I buy a house with a garden room, I'm not likely to.

When living in an apartment a modeller offers you the means to sound great while taking up minimal space at lower volumes.

 

[ejecta]

The biggest plus for me is a modeler rig can be smaller and easier to haul around but that’s about all I enjoy out of a modeler rig vs a real amp rig. Also it allows me to play where stage volume nazi’s have taken control. I’m lucky not to have to worry about my neighbors and playing my amps loud at home but if I did that would be a plus as well.

 

[FrankyFire]

To my knowledge there's no pedal for this. There's a pedal called The Pill that is supposed to come out, but it seems pretty overkill for this sort of feature. Would be nice to have some super small version of this that you could add to your signal chain.

KMA Pylon has a key Input that allows for ducking. Haven't used that function yet, I assume the threshold will listen to that Input then.

But it is expensive and loses its purpose as a regular gate in this case. So you would have to bring another one for regular gating activities or have a looper with moveable loops.

 

[OrganicZed]

Here's my list:

• transport my entire rig (modeler, expression pedals, cables, IEMs) in a single rolling case that weights under 30 pounds
• add in an effect into the signal chain wherever I want it during rehearsal when I forgot about needing / wanting it beforehand
• control multiple effects on / off and change amp settings simultaneously with a single footswitch press
• optimize entire rigs for each guitar and save the settings for quick recall
• instantaneous switching between acoustic and electric tones with a single foot switch when playing my PRS P22

Some of these things could technically be done in the analog realm if you had enough money to buy the MIDI switchers and had racks and racks of gear, but that is stuff I don't have.

 

[laxu]

KMA Pylon has a key Input that allows for ducking. Haven't used that function yet, I assume the threshold will listen to that Input then.

Not the same thing at all, that just allows e.g putting the noise gate in the fx loop of your high gain amp, and using the plain guitar signal as the key input - which will trigger the noise gate more reliably than using a heavily distorted, amplified signal.

What I'd like is a ducking pedal that you can add to any effect (or pedal chain). This of course gets more complicated as MIDI would be the best way to do it since you can control e.g the pedal level parameter with that.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Same sound at home, at rehearsals and on gigs, regardless whether there's IEM or wedge monitoring (sure, there's small differences, but I find them neglectable or know how to adress them). Didn't even fully understand how great that was when I switched to modeling as my main rig. Now I can't imagine living without it anymore.

 

[sashimi]

I play electric guitar every day, plugged in, with almost endless effects possibilities. Before modeling most of my practice and noodling was done unplugged and if I wanted to try new amps or effects I had to buy or borrow gear or try to audition it on an out of tune guitar at guitar center. There are a lot of effects I never even got a chance to try before modeling. It makes practice fun and it has helped me become a better player.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I remembered one more, specifically on Fractal: Ducking.

A way more advanced version of ducking would be having input level as a modifier (I think in FAS land they call it envelope following, which, if you think in synth terms, is a bit misleading). From all I know, in hardware land only Boss and FAS support that. And it's opening up for quite some nice options. You could make amps more dynamic with easy. You could trigger a noise gate anywhere in the chain. You could have a modulation effect blending in when you pick softer. And you could meticulously finetune things such as dynamic envelope following filters. Plus tons more.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Way late to this party. Gigged this weekend as well as worked on some wrestle metal stuff. Copied my preset over, removed the rotary and added a deep flange. Godsmack sounds and effects achieved. Sorry, universe

 

[kvik]

Pros:

• Playing at almost any volume with mostly the same tones. There's still a lot of magic left to happen at reasonable volumes but with a modeler we're talking about that last 10% of missing experience, while with some amp rigs you are happy to get even the first 10% at low volume. This is a huge element for me as I play every day at home with headphones or through monitors but only get to crank it up for real a few times a month.
• Ability to try out amps and effects and setups that I would never be able to afford or experience in my life. I've learned so much from experimenting with modeled gear that I will likely never be in the same timezone with in my life.
• (Mostly) no noise, hum, ground loops, dozens of contacts and cables just waiting to go bad.
• No need for a whole bunch of boring but neccessary and expensive support items like buffers, DI boxes, switching system, noise gates, power supplies, attenuators, load boxes, etc. Getting just that part right easily adds up to the modeler price, if not more.
• Getting a good modeler means you can be pretty sure that the model of Amp X or Pedal Y is the best it can be: either a faithful representation of the original or a high quality piece in its own right. You can safely say goodbye to the intrusive thoughts of needing to upgrade your cheap Klon copy because you think there might be just a little bit more magic in the real deal.
• Less space and weight to deal with in some cases. I'm playing through a power amp and a cab anyway so it's only marginally more convenient to lug around an Axe-Fx rather than a tube head.
• Perhaps obviously, presets and scenes and snapshots or whatever they want to call the settings recall. This can be a double edged sword for sure, but the alternative is the hell of trying to match up your rig settings to just about do what you want overall and then fearing any later change will screw over all the rest of the tones.

Cons:

• The modelling stuff doesn't have long term (financial) value while the real deal is often a pretty good investment. This leads to a lot of uncertainty and doubt within the modeller crowd. I've bought my Axe-Fx only recently and I fully expect to lose at least half of what I bought it for when the IV drops. I'm fine with that, but I understand why people are apprehensive of just plain losing that kind of money on a hobby.
• The modelling stuff is simply not that cool. Only the most nerdy of the crusty old guitar nerds will get excited about your cab block high and low cuts, while a slightly more attractive set of dudes will get excited about your real pedalboard.