What have you learned from digital modeling?

Fwiw, re: What sound for recordings?
Personally, I'd like to use *my* sound for recordings. So, what is *my* sound? For me, it's a sound that a) works, b) I'm familiar with and c) is fun to play with. Modeling checks all these boxes in my case. Now, if I had an option to record in some environment offering real amps, cabs, mics and what not, (a) and (c) would possibly still be true, but (b) wouldn't. So I'd play with a sound I'm not familiar with. No good. Let alone (c) would at least partially be affected as well.

In fact, I've already been there back in the analog amp days. Our band had quite a decent record deal (in fact a major deal with plenty of cash involved - turned out to be a flop in the end, but still...), so we could afford recording in a big ass studio and borrow tons of things, quite some amps, guitars, cabs, pedals and what not as well. And well, there's been some killer amps, such as two VH4s, one modified by Mr. Diezel himself, Bogners, quite some Marshalls, Fenders and Voxes, you name it. Same with guitars. And pedals.
In the end, I tried to use pretty much everything - and in 95% of all cases, I returned to my own core setup (mainly a Soldano SP-77 running into a Marshall 6100 return plus some pedals) and my own guitars. And in all these cases I've got the thumbs up from my bandmates and the producer as well.

For me, it's every bit the same with modeling, really. Why would I use anything else just because I was recording when I'm using modeling pretty much exclusively for 6 years already?
 
I’ve learned that I love it, hate it, appreciate it, and resent it all at the same time.

Somehow it has made life as a guitarist both better and worse
So true for me to. I’ll probably never go back to 100% modeling again. But now when modeling in smaller (less options) formats are growing in numbers there will always be something I can use.
 
I used to be a tube snob, breaking my back every week. I've learned that what I once scoffed at has become an invaluable tool that actually gives me many more benefits playing live than I would have ever imagined. My entire rig now is a Kemper Player and an expression pedal (for bass, acoustic and electric gigs). It sounds better than ever both live and on recordings.
 
At a certain point, it became difficult for me to determine what I used on a recorded demo: Helix Native, Fractal, or Suhr-loaded down tube amp. So that's when I decided to punt (at least for the time being) on tubes.
 
I've learned like it all. Amps and modelers can be a blast no matter which road you go down. They both have strengths and weaknesses and I can enjoy both in different ways equally :guiness
Ditto! Couldn’t have said it better.
 
Modeling made me realize that I need/want more guitars. Which absolutely sucks.
And yes, I'm in fact serious.

This, very much. Re-reading my original comment in this thread, it’s quite dismissive of what modeling has brought to my life. While I’ve always listened to a little bit of everything I never played much else but metal, my whole musical focus was pointed at metal. Once I got an AxeFX and started digging into tones I normally wouldn’t, trying to get them “right” wasn’t happening with the guitars I had. While it sounds like a convenient excuse to just buy more guitars, it’s made me want to branch away from the metal focus.

I don’t think it sucks though, because it certainly is also a convenient excuse to buy more guitars. :rofl
 
Late to the party per usual.. :facepalm But what I've learned about modelers (and I own far too many) is that they all have their own core sound(s) be it in their gates, EQs, comps, boosts, amp models, verbs, delays, modulations etc. I wont mention cabs because of IRs and the afore mentioned IRs effect on each core sound is worthy of it's own thread. In a perfect world, we could select the core sound from of all the elements I previously mentioned that we like from each individual modeler and build our own dream modeler.

How's that for a rabbit hole?
:sofa
 
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It made me realize that “tone hunting” wasn’t why I was playing the guitar and having access to just about anything I wanted when I thought of it was better for my creativity than whatever everyone is talking about when they say “feel” in regards to tube amps. I had a Zoom 505 then a Boss GT-6/8/10, POD HDx, Helix. Getting a useable sound now has always been more important to me than a perfect sound. The perfect sound is the one that makes the riffs sound good, and the riffs usually sound good if I play them in time.
 
One thing modeling surely did is open up the possibility to play just about any iconic amp (and niche ones) ever. Coming from a small I would have never had the possibility to play a Plexi or a JCM or a Jazz Chorus or a Fender. All this I could in my first modeller: A Digitech RP350. That Digitech RP350 further cemented a deep love for playing with headphones in me, that lasted from there to the HD500 and now the Helix. Headphones are just my go to. Back to the amps: It showed me the greatest amp of all time - the 2203. As I said no 2203s anywhere near me, but I was in love with that sound in an instant. That thing and a TS has been the staple for... almost 20 year? Only in my early 20s, when I moved to a big city I had the opportunity to play a real JCM800. And it was all as glorious as I made it out in my teenish modeling dreams.
 
Once I got an AxeFX and started digging into tones I normally wouldn’t, trying to get them “right” wasn’t happening with the guitars I had.

Yeah, pretty similar here. Some tones can only be had from a combination of amps and guitars. And now that we have all the amps, well...
 
It is funny though. After those years I used modeling mainly (helix). Having access to that wealth of different amps and effects was amazing and certainly an eye opener about amps and cabs. I teached me a lot. The most funny part is that I always ended up using just one amp and cab combo. Always testing other things for fun (sometimes not for fun) but mostly just loaded up the Litigator or Deluxe with the same stock deluxe cab or the YA M65. Effects also ended up being the same even though new ones came in updates. I realized at a point that the way I used the stomp, it became more like a I/O box with the bonus of having a guitar sound.

And there’s a great value in that alone, how easy it is to get excellent and capable sounds that also is ready to record, really without anything else than a usb cable and a computer.
 
This current gen was particularly helpful to let me know what real amps I should buy and that we qre 99% there, and that the Cab and speakers are more important than anything else.

Ditto for distortion pedals, and how most of them are just a couple knob tweaks away from sounding indistinguishable.
 
Ditto for distortion pedals, and how most of them are just a couple knob tweaks away from sounding indistinguishable.

Well, I think there's quite some different topologies, but once you have a suitable one out of each topology, you likely don't need another one but rather add an RC Booster and an EQ to the picture.
 
Well, I think there's quite some different topologies, but once you have a suitable one out of each topology, you likely don't need another one but rather add an RC Booster and an EQ to the picture.
Would not the EP booster be pretty close to RC
It looks like it 20 db clean boost made by Xotic as well
That’s in the Helix already
 
Various generations of modeling gave me a taste of the tube amps circuits that I would later check out.

I've been very happy with the wide range of tones that the Helix and Fractal platforms have given me. NAM has been a revelation because I can deep sample my own amps and I can reach for those tones at night without firing up the amps.

The evolution of cab sims in modelers have led me to buying different speakers and making my own IRs. The increasing ability to move mics in the digital realm gave me the desire to catalogue my own speakers in a similar manner.
 
It’s already been said before but I’ll say too that Ive learned about real amps I would end up liking by getting an idea what one may sound like in the modeling world.
 
I learned that nowadays you have to be good player and a good sound engineer to play live.

Before modeling, I could work with just my guitar and an amp, there was a sound guy that took care of the rest. That was his job.

Now, I need to tweak for hours at home and I have to be happy when a random npc soundguy tells me « ho that’s sound really great I didn’t touch anything on your tone »
 
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