Unpopular Opinions

[CanserDYI]

Hm:

If you have to run your tube amp into a load box to actually use it, you might as well get a quality modeller and power amp (and enjoy not blowing amps, not burning through tubes, more amps to try).

If you cant actually turn your amp up to where you like the sound without spending more money (load box or attenuator), find somewhere to do so and pocket that cash .

Fucking truth. The reason I bought a modeler was because my mark V through captor X into an IR sounded just like Helix native's mark through the same IR. The mark and the captor were sold the week after for a helix and a fat stack of playing around money.

 

[Screamingdaisy]

If you like modelling, just admit that you're cool with using the 2nd best option because it's more convenient.

 

[GunpointMetal]

If you like modelling, just admit that you're cool with using the 2nd best option because it's more convenient.

Best is relative. Modeling is best for me because it consistently sounds great in every room, integrates with my IEM rig easily, allows me an all in one playground for new sounds, records silently at excellent quality, and loads in and out at shows super fast. And in my rigs I can’t tell the difference because it would all be mic’d and piped back to me via IEM anyways.

 

[STRHelvete]

If you like modelling, just admit that you're cool with using the 2nd best option because it's more convenient.

From playing live and recording I find modeling to be a better option in both venues. Not only that but I managed to get my dream tone.

Not only is it convenient but sounds great. Anything else besides my Helix WOULD be the 2nd best option.

 

[budda]

If you like modelling, just admit that you're cool with using the 2nd best option because it's more convenient.

I would sell my superlead without second thought if it were that or my axefx. Luckily, it isnt.

 

[TedEH]

If you like modelling, just admit that you're cool with using the 2nd best option because it's more convenient.

When second best is still fantastic, I've no qualms with saying that "2nd best" is way more convenient.

People priorities vary. 2nd best amp sound? 2nd best portability? 2nd best routing? 2nd best effects all contained in one box? 2nd best reliability? 2nd best post-purchase support? 2nd best construction quality? 2nd best reamping solution? 2nd best indescribable audio mojo nonsense descriptors?

Only some of those would be true.

 

[RevDrucifer]

People who shit on other guitarists, however underhanded it may be, for their gear choices, most likely can’t play their way out of a paper bag.

 

[complex-barb.0t]

^this

The majority of you that buy expensive boutique high gain amps - but use pedals in front to sculpt the tone - all sound exactly the same.

TLDR $3k Mezzabarba? You coulda had a 5150 for $800.

100% agree here. The recent YTer push of the Lichtlaerm Prometheus proves this to me. Kyle and the "other" John Browne sounded exactly like themselves with this amp. A:B'ing a 5150 I bet would be very close with these two players. It seems like a cool amp, but I will likely sound the same as I do from my 5150 III....shitty.

tell me where.

I paid $680 shipped for my 5150 III 50w off reverb. I see 6505's go for good prices all the time. Even if we revise the price a bit you can go buy a brand new 6505 1992 for $1299. That is still a fraction of the more expensive amps. You do get more cool features with the expensive amps and they are often better made, but it wont make too much of a difference for your live or recorded tone.

 

[Emperoff]

People talking about the "dynamics" of this pickup or that amp while smashing the front end with a boost pedal make me freakin laugh.

 

[Big Dumb Bitch]

If you play guitar with less than a really good 4x12 cab with good speakers your tone is always gonna sound thin and bad. More speakers=more toan

 

[narad]

The people who measure and graph all this stuff for modelers are doing good things for the technology, even if FMIC doesn't like it. But holy shit, do those guys rarely if ever actually make any music. I've never heard a song that was good because of the electrical interaction between an amp and cabinet or a riff that I thought "Damn, I bet they had the 8 Ohm output plugged into a 16 ohm cab there".

"Ahh, listen to that. That's old-growth honduran mahogany right there. And a 4A.. wait no, a 5A figured maple top!"

 

[complex-barb.0t]

"Ahh, listen to that. That's old-growth honduran mahogany right there. And a 4A.. wait no, a 5A figured maple top!"

Ah channeling PRS/Guitar Larry David I see. He yells over you so he is correct about his tone wood opinions.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Tone is in the cab in the room. Big speakers moving a lot of air. Doesn't matter what's moving the air as long as there is a lot of it smashing every corner of the room.

Similarly, "The People Meat Absorbs The Sound," which is to say, loud music sounds better in a room full of bodies.

If you play guitar with less than a really good 4x12 cab with good speakers your tone is always gonna sound thin and bad. More speakers=more toan

Corollary: Heavy Gear=Heavy Toan

 

[owlexifry]

No high gain sound is worth spending thousands on

“oh but nah but [producer] used a [boutique amp] on [some bands record] and i absolutely have to have the exact same thing because using a 5150iii or a 6505 doesn’t make me feel special enough”

Anyone paying extra for a "Blockletter" is an idiot when you can get a 6505 for cheaper.

oh but nah but they do sound different. pls bro. the STL tones guy said so. i don’t have single brain cell capable of critical thinking so i just let youtube marketing justify all of my perceptions.

 

[TedEH]

If you play guitar with less than a really good 4x12 cab with good speakers your tone is always gonna sound thin and bad. More speakers=more toan

My old 3/4-open-back 1x12 would beg to differ.

I think people like the toan of 4x12s because they sound big on their own, but as soon as you introduce other instruments, you're just stomping on other people's range. Let the bassist handle the bass.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

If you think DCR is an actually useful stat for pickups then I have some plots of land in Scotland to sell you

 

[TedEH]

I have some plots of land in Scotland to sell you

For some folks, that might be the only land they ever get to own, so hey, pretty good deal.

 

[spawnofthesith]

If you like modelling, just admit that you're cool with using the 2nd best option because it's more convenient.

Here’s an unpopular opinion: modeling is more inconvenient than tube amps in the vast majority of applications

 

[GunpointMetal]

Here’s an unpopular opinion: modeling is more inconvenient than tube amps in the vast majority of applications

Are you comparing plugging straight into the amp to using something like Axe FX or are you comparing a tube rig that can do comparable things to the Axe FX? Plugging straight into the amp would be more comparable to plugging into Tonex or another AIAB modeling pedal, whereas plugging into a comparable rig to a "full-fat" modeler would require a giant pedalboard or racks of gear, equipment for routing and switching...etc. Or are we talking about recording where you plug the USB of a modeler into a computer and then start recording compared to a tube amp which requires at the bare minimum a cab, a mic, a cable, an interface, and most likely a room that can handle loudness. Or a load box which might have USB, but probably still requires an interface. Or are you just talking about "shaping a tone" where you just turn some knobs and call it a day in the room, because again, you can do that with literally any modern modeler (except maybe the TMP) and get great sounds unless your personality won't let you NOT tweak stuff just because its available? I guess I could see a tube amp being slightly more convenient for a sound guy who really likes his microphones.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Here’s an unpopular opinion: modeling is more inconvenient than tube amps in the vast majority of applications

Because option paralysis?

I can't think of a situation that using modeling gear has ever itself been a problem vs. tube gear I've owned. At least comparing like for like. I see folks run into issues because they think a small floorboard will replace an entire rig, but that's more of a people problem than the gear.

I'd say most folks still have no idea what they're doing with modeling gear, especially in the context of live use, which creates friction.

Like look at folks that buy a flagship modeler and then try and play it through the cheapest powered speaker they can find or worse, studio monitors.