Who else has given up on versatility?

[youngthrasher9]

I’m not necessarily talking about versatility as a player, more of versatility in your rig. And not for the sake of difficulty- for the sake of enjoyment. Anyone can go out and buy an AX8 or a Helix if they save enough cash and have virtually endless options. But how about a show of hands for those of us who decided 1-3 solid tones is plenty? I used to think I’d enjoy myself more having a million options. I owned a pretty solid pedal board. What I found is, the less I messed with my options, the more fun I had. Nowadays, I plug into Nameless and let’r rip tater chip for a while and I’m left with the shitfaced grin you should have after playing.

 

[InCasinoOut]

I eventually settled on picking a versatile tube amp instead of a modeler that only gave me option paralysis. Went from a Pod HD500 and thought I like the modeler route, with my sights set on an Axe-FX or Kemper down the line... Spent the money I saved for a car on a Mesa Mark V:35 instead and still no regrets 3 years later. With the 2 channels having 3 voicings each, I get a lot of tones I love, and since I primarily use it for recording I've had no problem feeling like I wished for a 3rd channel. I also use a Friedman BE-OD and Tc Electronic HM-2 clone in front of it sometimes to cop tones I can't get from the amp alone.

Only problem is now I have a hard time convincing myself I need another amp, even though some times I want a new one. If I got a new amp, it'd have to be something of a completely different flavor, like an Orange maybe.

 

[c7spheres]

I have a big refrigerator rack rig but only use a clean, gritty, crunchy and heavy channel. my options are all in gain staging and dynamic stuff. I only use a few effects like delay, reverb, wah, gate and somtimes other stuff. I prefer the set and forget methodology.

 

[Cynicanal]

I can't give up on something I never tried in the first place.

 

[Jason B]

let’r rip tater chip for a while and I’m left with the shitfaced grin you should have after playing.

And the audience?

 

[Demiurge]

I went back from modelers to pedals as a semi-compromise. When you have endless combinations of virtual amps & effects, it's normal to be like, "I could tweak this for the rest of my life: best land on a few things and get back to playing". When adding a pedal to a chain, it's deliberate: you're choosing to have it there and will likely be thoughtful about giving it a purpose.

It's simpler but I don't think it's at any loss for versatility. My board features a 3-channel AMT Bulava preamp, and I'll usually have an EHX Big Muff, Boss SD-1 as a boost, and "rotating dirt box for the month". That can make a lot of different sounds without a whole lot of effort.

 

[youngthrasher9]

And the audience?

My wife and pitbull seem to enjoy the pinging sound of my strings.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Versatility only means something if you know what to do with it.

I can't tell you how many times folks come on here "needing" a guitar/amp/pickups/pedal that can do "everything" only to chug out some metal.

There's nothing wrong with playing what you know and love. Not everyone needs to be this worldly virtuous guitarist who can play everything always.

As the kids say, just have fun with it.

 

[Un1corn]

I'm sticked with 2 tunings and 2 sounds
One is drop g# and one is drop c
They both use a same lead tone
Another tone for me is ambient airy clean tone.Basically all of my songs are in these two tones

 

[Gmork]

I only need 2.5 tones, Beefy saturated and compressed but controlled "brutal" higain which when the gain is dialed way down can do a more "polite/tamed" version of that and a semi decent clean.
I prefer simple amps with minimal controls that do the one thing they do well. Same with my pedalboard.
When im faced with options i spend more time fiddling than playing which can be fun but unnecessary and counter-productive.

 

[FILTHnFEAR]

I wouldn't say I've given been up on versatility I've just realized how much I don't need.

I really only use a few different tones. And my Invective covers them all.

I have 2 high gain - one tighter/more focused one thicker/fatter. Clean w/no fx, clean with slight grit to it using the built in boost, and clean with some variation of delay/chorus/reverb. That's about it.

Multi fx are fun to mess with sometimes but I really hate menu diving and I don't need 100+ amp and fx sounds, so they're really overkill.

 

[odibrom]

I used a modeler for more than 10 years in a row, it was ok, but I used mainly one of the several amp tones it had. What it gave me was the ability to do gain swells with an expression pedal while keeping my fingers licking the guitar instead of using the volume knob. That's something hard to beat with an amp. Then, I got my eyes on the Triaxis and set my goals into getting one, which I eventually did about 10 years ago. I mainly use one of its modes, but the swelling with an expression pedal is a must ALL THE FUCKING TIME. Its tone also led me to experiment less with FXs, though I like to do that from time to time.

When I started my current band about 4 years ago, I kept from taking the rack to rehearsals so I used the studio's amp and most of our songs are just guitar-amp dynamics. We'll have clean and really dirty tones, but no flanger, chorus or other stuff, just a compressor always on (for leveling the single to humbucker sounds and give a little more presence to clean tones) and a bit of reverb for some space ambiance. At the moment i use one of the first really flexible FX processors and barely use a 10th of its power.

However, this rocks for me, I don't care that I have 8 preamp modes on the Triaxis, I care that I have one that I use the way I need and like it to. Also, My guitars are all modded so I get the most different and useful tones out of them. This to say that balance is a thing and it can help on settling for what one really uses. My gear is Guitar, to Triaxis, loop out to G-Force, loop back to Triaxis to out to 2:fifty power amp or audio interface through the Triaxis' record outs. Super cool and I like it. Could I use an AXE FX? yeah, I could. Do I need it or dream with it... nah. I'm cool with what I have now. Guitars though... that's another story... but I'm safe for now...

 

[Soya]

I've pretty much always used modelers and digital amps, but only a few sounds. I almost never use effects either, occasionally just to toss some chorus on a clean and be like hey, sounds like Bon Jovi. These days I have a Kemper which I'm super happy with but I only use maybe 5 tones most of the time.

 

[laxu]

I went back to a two channel tube amp after using Fractal gear for about 10 years. Don’t really need more than a good Marshall style overdrive and a Fender style clean. I do have a Helix for effects but mostly because it was the easiest and most cost effective solution compared to buying a pile of pedals, power supply etc.
For me having limitations means I spend more time playing and less tweaking.

 

[Mathemagician]

Man I have a helix and just use the Panama amp.

Honestly? A good high gain amp, and some EMG’s and I’m like 95% done.

Versatility is awesome - when somebody else does it. I hear a cool echo/delay setup? Lemme copy dem settings. It’s like “got tabs?” But I’m not going to sit there tweaking every dial.

 

[lurè]

As long as the amp has 3 channels, i'm covered regarding versatility.

Multi fx are a differrent story, I'd buy one only if i'm getting an amp with MIDI capability and program it for fx/channel switching.

 

[Bearitone]

I gave up on versatility for sure at least on the amp side. I have two sounds: brutality and ambient clean.

I gave up on finding something that can do good Crunch and “edge of break-up” tones. It seems pretty elusive and difficult to get that sort of tone in an amp. Let alone something that can do that, along with brutal high gain and clean tones.

 

[Descent]

I basically have something like a Kemper modeler but it is in hardware, in other words quite a few rigs

I do find it enjoyable to have limited options for a gig but have a lot of options in the studio. Some of the amps that I have are sometimes one trick pony but the sound has this amazing amount of depth that you keep on reaching for it.

 

[Dayn]

I want versatility. I have a few solid tones that I rely on, yes - but if that's all I could do, I'd be very limited. It would become very stale very quickly. I like exploring new music and new sounds. But I don't want to have to tweak for ages to get what I want - I'm not a gearhead in any way.

I still want an AxeFX. But in the interim, the Neural DSP stuff seems to be the way for me to go for now.

 

[exo]

For me, this is a semi-complicated thing. I realized a LONG time ago (20+ years) that I realistically only will ever need two tones for what and how I play.


And I still I lust after the capabilities of a Kemper, if for no other reason than it is the most capable way to get to those two tones, since short of a 8 digit lottery win, I’m not going to be able to just randomly flip thru $5k amp heads until I find THAT amp........