Skipping out in owning a tube amp?

[mongey]

the best answer is get both if you can

I love playing my dual rec but there are times I just cant play it at home so I grabbed a hd500 2nd hand on ebay for half price of new to use for low level stuff .and its also great to have to take to DI'd lounge room jams

 

[DancingForFables]

Just being able to move around the room when you're playing can help you understand all of the ingredients of a good tone. Having started with a Line 6 amp, I was very shocked at how brittle my first Marshall sounded when I was right up against the speaker. As I moved out into where an audience would be, all the smoothness was there along with the clarity I had been trying to get for years with modelers. When I listened back to my modeler tones, I found them unrealistically dark.

Modeling amps have difficulty filling out a room unless you really know how to work with them as well as an intimate understanding of how they should fill out a space sonically. If you have that knowledge, then I wouldn't say that one is superior to the other. They're appropriate for different skillsets but are aimed at the same thing.

In short, my recommendation is to get the modeler but make sure that you get some tube amp hours under your belt so you chase the right things in the right way.

This is actually something I've been concerned with if I did go the modeling path first. I'm afraid I probably wouldn't know where to start in finding out a good tone. Of course you knowledgeable people on the forums would probably be glad to help out and there is already a lot of information already on here, but it seems that with all the options there are to paint a good tone, it could get a tad overwhelming at first versus the, for lack of a better word, simplicity of a regular tube amp. Definitely a lot to consider. Yet though I still have plenty of time to make the decision, and it seems that no matter which way I end up going would be wrong. Also, luckily, the decision doesn't have to be permanent haha.

 

[themightyjaymoe]

the best answer is get both if you can

I love playing my dual rec but there are times I just cant play it at home so I grabbed a hd500 2nd hand on ebay for half price of new to use for low level stuff .and its also great to have to take to DI'd lounge room jams

This.

 

[will_shred]

I'm all for the POD HD. It just makes recording guitars so damn easy, and sounding really, really good. For some reason, I have yet to get my live tones as good as my recorded tones with the POD.

I mostly play with my blackstar S1, which is loud and is obviously putting ware on my tubes but it's so damn fun! However when I go to college that probably won't be an option, so the POD HD will be my go-to device.

 

[InHiding]

I actually have an Ipad and Apogee Jam. Right now I'm using Auria with the Overloud THM plugin for amp heads and Auria's own convolution reverb to load impulse responses. IOS7 introduced interapp audio which should allow the use of Ampkit heads in Auria, but Ampkit needs to be updated to support IAA first.

Sometimes I also use a real life distortion pedal in place of the simulated amp head.

This might not be the setup for live situations, but works great in the home environment with good headphones or speakers. Good enough for me at least.

 

[Silence2-38554]

Except now there is, it's called the Kemper profiling amp.

Seriously, I have a 5150/Emperor cab stack that I absolutely love, but I just put in an order for the Kemper because it's just SO good & very flexible. IMHO, I would hold of on buying any more Line 6 gear, keep saving, and get a Kemper instead.

 

[Zalbu]

I've been playing for ~5 years and I've never owned a proper amp. I've been going from a Line 6 Spider III to Amplitube/Guitar Rig and currently a POD HD400. My next setup is most likely going to be Jamup Pro on an iPad or a Kemper if I'd somehow get the money for one. I don't really know if I'm missing out on the 'tube experience' or not, but the versatility and convenience you get with rigs like these are unbeatable. Having a huge-ass tube amp doesn't really work when you're jamming in your bedroom and I'm not a fan of the limited variety in tones you'd get with a tube amp.