Why are so many guitarists afraid of innovation?

And even if it is objectively better, some people still might/will prefer the “worse” one.

I think of it this way: if Fender made a legit Strat that looked and sounded completely identical to a vintage strat, but it perfectly stayed in tune with the vibrato, intonated perfectly up and down the neck, was noiseless, allowed incredibly low action with nothing choking out, etc, etc…. Plenty of people would still rather have the vintage unit with its flaws. Some people think those flaws are charming and like the way it plays out for them musically. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, different strokes and all.

Personally, I avoid the slickest guitar designs because I generally don’t like the way they look. That might be shallow, but I can’t change the way I feel about it I just don’t like them. The bigsby on my Gretsch doesn’t perform remotely as well as a fully locking setup, but I’ve yet to see a fully locking trem guitar that I like the vibe of as much as that Gretsch. It has some flaws though, and I only use it for certain things as a result. My PRS kinda sits in the middle and therefore gets most of the work.

D
With something like the Gretsch, it's a "full package" experience. Bigsby and all. You play it because it sounds and feels a certain way. Vibe and nostalgia goes a long ways too, it's hard to get past it. Same with vintage strats. Nothing wrong with that if it inspires you to make music. Heck, I still drive an old truck most days. I don't have to, but I enjoy it.
 
I'm not afraid of Innovation as long as:

A- sounds good
and
B- makes life easier.

My main rig is an amp and 3 pedals. It sounds great and it couldn't be any simpler to use. I don't even use all the channels on my main amp.

To me, to replace it with things that require menus, updates, tweaking etc to get the same sound I'm getting now (likely not as good), hard pass.
That's not innovation, it's more work to do the same thing. Then people say, "yes but you can get 100s of amp models and all these other effects etc" OK, but I don't use that stuff, at least not enough to justify making what I DO use harder.



Technology is supposed to make things easier. Take this forum for example, it's infinitely easier to post here than it would be to mail you all letters with my post and wait for replies. So that's good use of technology.

But with rigs it's the opposite. It's way easier to use my amps and pedals. Like, not even close. And I think it sounds better too.

I get this stuff for synths. If you have songs with piano and strings for example, having a synth player is a whole lot easier than carrying a piano and an orchestra. There's a musical purpose there.

But I still haven't heard the song with guitar parts that can't be done with a single guitar amp with 2-3 channels at the most.

That's not to say I don't embrace innovation at all. I do when it actually helps.

Some of the relatively new products I've embraced:

Clip-on tuners
Solderless Wiring Harness
Enki Dual Guitar case
Suhr Load Box with IR
Hipshot plate mounted locking tuners (no drilling)
Self locking straps
XVive dongle style wireless
Bluguitar Amp1
H&K Ampman Classic
Friedman IR-D
Sansamp FlyRig for bass
Superior Drummer

And probably some other stuff I can't recall atm

Point being, modeling is not the only innovation for guitar out there and IMHO not the best either.

All of these things I mentioned above made my life easier and sound good (when applicable, not the strap for example lol).

But my experience with modeling was I was working more to get less. I still keep an eye on what's out there, but there is nothing at the moment that's easier or better than my amp rig.

The IR-D is great because when I need DI, I can just drop it into my current pedalboard and go.

Same with the BluGuitar or Ampman. When I don't want to carry a full tube head, I just take one of those and my board. That's what I'm talking about.

EDIT: ps, I didn't watch the video lol
 
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I think for a lot of guitarists especially those who grew up in the pre-modeling world, we already have a lot of history with traditional gear. It's not so much fear of new tech as much as not wanting to learn everything from scratch. Especially if our frame of reference is music that was recorded with traditional gear.

That said the more time passes, the more people grew up with modelers, and the more people embrace technology. So eventually that will likely take over.

I don't spend much time around young musicians but I'd be curious if the teenagers who are obsessed with guitar right now dream of owning a tube amp like I did (really wanted a Marshall JCM 900 half stack), or if they dream of having a high end modeling rig like a Fractal and good powered speakers.
 
This!

Also, all my LP style 3/3 tuner guitars have issues with the stability of the 3rd string, no matter if kept in E Standard or C Standard.

I just ordered a bunch of 12/54 with wound 3rd, let's see how they turn out after all.
Have you tried restringing from the bottom to the top of the tuner peg on the G & B strings? Doesnt completely cure it but mine stays in tune a lot better due to less angle from the nut to the tuners
 
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I think it's BS. I have no fear of innovation or anything digital. I've owned modelers since the Pod 2.0 and Flextone. I have two modelers now.

I just want want to play guitar and to sound good. I can turn on my PRS Archon and no matter where I put the dials, it sounds fantastic! But it took wading through amp models, cab IRs, etc for WEEKS to get good tones out of my modelers... and they still aren't close to the Archon.

So, I use what I need for the situation, but when I want to not tweak, just play, and sound the best, it's a very simple choice.
 
Have you tried restringing from the bottom to the top of the tuner peg on the G & B strings? Doesnt completely cure it but mine stays in tune a lot better due to less angle from the nut to the tuners
Thanks, I might really try that the next time I do a restring!
 

“I’d advise new guitarists to play with an amp. When you use an amp modeler, your touch and picking will be very different”: Sheryl Crow guitarist Peter Stroud on why guitarists shouldn’t start on modelers​

 
The analogy to electric drums was quite good in some ways - think how shit the world would be if everything was electric kits and programmed drums. There’s plenty of cool stuff that’s been done with them that simply wouldn’t be possible on a real kit, but if that’s all we were left with and real kits became a thing of the past, it would be shit.

Even if electric kits sounded JUST like a real one, it doesn’t make it a real kit. Same goes for modellers. They’re convenient and sound good. But they’re a compromise and not the same thing. Tastes just like chicken vs chicken.
 
The analogy to electric drums was quite good in some ways - think how shit the world would be if everything was electric kits and programmed drums. There’s plenty of cool stuff that’s been done with them that simply wouldn’t be possible on a real kit, but if that’s all we were left with and real kits became a thing of the past, it would be shit.

Even if electric kits sounded JUST like a real one, it doesn’t make it a real kit. Same goes for modellers. They’re convenient and sound good. But they’re a compromise and not the same thing. Tastes just like chicken vs chicken.
I would agree in a completely live context, where real instruments and sound waves are hitting you in a particular way. It's hard to beat that at its peak. I still think with recording and production anything goes.
 
I would agree in a completely live context, where real instruments and sound waves are hitting you in a particular way. It's hard to beat that at its peak. I still think with recording and production anything goes.
Unless it’s something like Nine Inch Nails where all bets are off, I’d much rather recordings were of real drums and real instruments than MIDI and samples and simulations. They can absolutely sound good but they rarely sound GREAT. The shortcuts are fine if it leads to innovation and creative uses, but when it’s just replicating something better in a cheaper/easier way, if sucks.
 
Is a car with more steering wheels or pedals any better?

I think a lot of those sort of ideas have been tested and largely don’t improve anything (at least enough) to gain prominence. Beyond bass/middle/treble, there’s depth, presence, switchable tone stack buttons, switches that move the positions of any of the said controls, mid scoops, NFB, graphic EQ’s and FX loops. VHT Pitbull’s have the option of a graphic eq and most people don’t think it’s necessary (or very important). I almost never feel the need to add an EQ to the loop of any amp, I’d rather those decisions were handled in the circuit design than giving the user lots of loose ends.
I'd say it's more like a car with electric vs manual windows or something. Car analogies are not my forte.

Many of the features you mention are not common features either, and seem like something that could be replaced by parametric mids or separate low/high mid knobs. I usually don't find those toggle switch/button features very useful on most amps. Bright cap switches are probably the most useful option.

But it's like manufacturers go out of their way to do it like this instead of adding more knobs because they feel the guitarist community will shun the amp if it has an active EQ, or more knobs on one channel. I mean manufacturers started making their amps sound better with knobs on 5 because users were not willing to explore the extremes of those controls because psychologically it feels "wrong" if we have to dime or zero a knob.
 

“I’d advise new guitarists to play with an amp. When you use an amp modeler, your touch and picking will be very different”: Sheryl Crow guitarist Peter Stroud on why guitarists shouldn’t start on modelers​

What a load of...

Use an amp modeler like a preamp into a power amp and cab, but provide a split cab sim to the FOH, and everybody's gonna be happy.

Using your talkyface "media credit" to drive people away from novelties? That sucks.
 
I'd say it's more like a car with electric vs manual windows or something. Car analogies are not my forte.

Many of the features you mention are not common features either, and seem like something that could be replaced by parametric mids or separate low/high mid knobs. I usually don't find those toggle switch/button features very useful on most amps. Bright cap switches are probably the most useful option.

But it's like manufacturers go out of their way to do it like this instead of adding more knobs because they feel the guitarist community will shun the amp if it has an active EQ, or more knobs on one channel. I mean manufacturers started making their amps sound better with knobs on 5 because users were not willing to explore the extremes of those controls because psychologically it feels "wrong" if we have to dime or zero a knob.
I think you sort of answered your own point. A lot of the time the extra switches and modes don’t really make anything better than a simple layout, and more often than not you end up with more bad sounds than good. I think basically every option that needs to exist already does if you want it. We just take the innovation for granted these days - master volumes weren’t a thing for literally decades, nor were switchable channels or fx loops or relays or MIDI or integrated fx, let alone half of the stuff we take for granted. Innovation is as much leading us to fewer controls (that are the right ones) as much as having loads of options (which isn’t always very useful).
 
I’d much rather recordings were of real drums and real instruments than MIDI and samples and simulations.
That's cool. But honest question: do you think you could actually pick out what instruments are real and sampled in every case? I'd like to think I could, but I doubt it. Acoustic, classical, traditional jazz music aside, although some of those lines are becoming blurred too. Basically, it wouldn't shock me to find out that a killer album from the last 5 yrs or so was done completely with modeling or sampling, and personally as a listener - I wouldn't care as long as the song moved me. It's only afterwards that the engineering or production side of that would interest me. As you know, sampled drums have been used for decades. Snares, kicks, hats, etc. for replacement and/or reinforcement. I don't think that's too far removed from someone playing a digital kit (live in a studio) with sampled sounds. Most important things are the song, performance, engineering and production know how. With modern modeling and software technology, engineering a wonderful tone is much more accessible -- "real" or not.
 
That's cool. But honest question: do you think you could actually pick out what instruments are real and sampled in every case? I'd like to think I could, but I doubt it. Acoustic, classical, traditional jazz music aside, although some of those lines are becoming blurred too. Basically, it wouldn't shock me to find out that a killer album from the last 5 yrs or so was done completely with modeling or sampling, and personally as a listener - I wouldn't care as long as the song moved me. It's only afterwards that the engineering or production side of that would interest me. As you know, sampled drums have been used for decades. Snares, kicks, hats, etc. for replacement and/or reinforcement. I don't think that's too far removed from someone playing a digital kit (live in a studio) with sampled sounds. Most important things are the song, performance, engineering and production know how. With modern modeling and software technology, engineering a wonderful tone is much more accessible -- "real" or not.
How often do we hear something side by side with what it would have sounded like recorded “for real” vs the shortcut version? I bet if they were side by side it wouldn’t be too hard to notice which one is which.

I’ve been recording in the more compromised “direct guitars, drum samples, MIDI” way for most of my life so I’m not being stuck in the past or anything. It just has limitations and most of the time, sounds more boring than other approaches because it’s a trade off in order to save money or make things easier.

Basically all the rock and metal mixes I reference tend to be from about 20 years ago, every other genre i’m checking new releases each week as to what sounds cool. Just so happens that all those great sounding rock and metal albums happened to be done in great rooms, tracked with ambition and attention to detail.

Black Gives Way To Blue is probably the last “GREAT” reference sounding rock/metal album I can think of. Can you name any that are using modelling and programmed/MIDI drums that sound as good? Why is that?
 
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