Why Guitar Players STOP Using Tube Amps and START Using Virtual Amps
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- čas přidán 6. 11. 2022
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Nobody will ever know if their first amp sounded good because they didn't know wtf they were doing
I Know that my first amp was a good sounding amp. But did i make it sound good? Probably not as much as i can today hahaha
My 1st amp was a bass amp, so definitely didn’t sound good
My first amp and guitar. I have the guy at the shop play for me. If it sound good in his hand, that give me confidence that with enough practice I should be able to get in to sound good too.
My first amp sounded like shit, I know this because I knew what sound I was looking for, and my amp and guitar couldn’t produce it, but my brother’s old marshall could.
Of course you know if your amp sounds good. Because you’re comparing your amp sound to the music you’re trying to emulate. You also know your playing sucks because you can’t hit the right notes or if you can you can’t make them sound right.
The noise complaint issue is relatable - I am exclusively using plugins at home now for the same reason. But even without that, virtual amps are such a great practice and recording tool, and a great way to inexpensively explore more tones than you would be able to in the "real" world. As evidenced by the pro-quality tones you pulled from a $700 guitar and a $100 plugin, it is a great time to be an electric guitarist!
What program are you using?
I can spend hours trying pedals and effects with these amp programs like Biasfx and Spark
@@nicolasarcana6139 I use Archetype: Cory Wong about 95% of the time
I am speaking purely from the perspective of a bassists here, but virtual amps are top notch these days. Like for example the Ampeg plugins, those are pretty awesome. If you use a high quality plugin not a single person in the audience will be able to tell that it's not a real amp.
Another option is to go hybrid. Use a preamp and DI it into your PC via a USB interface. That opens up a whole lot of possibilities, as there are a lot of very nice tube preamps on the market. And you can still keep that volume in check.
I have my parents i share a house with and the last thing i want is to get kicked out for cranking the volume on my amp lol
I'm 61 and have been playing for 52 years, most of those years as a pro studio and touring guitarist. I love your humor videos, but you dropped some serious knowledge on your contemporaries with this one. Big ups!
First amp I've owned was also a Roland Cube... the clean sound and built-in effects were actually pretty good given the price tag. As a matter of fact, I know some pro musicianers (mainly jazz cats) who still use that tiny amp for gigs.
Roland cube was my first Amp. Pretty sweet if you dialed it in. The Roland Jazz Chorus was monster Amp. My Friend Pihana Tahepehi used two live and best strat tone I ever heard.
Cube GX was my first. One of the best Small amps I’ve ever had.
I got a Cube 60 several years back and put a quality speaker in it. I still gig with that amp. I play R&B, Blues, and Fusion-y Jam gigs with that amp, and it covers it all like a champ (not a Champ 😉).
Just looking at a cube makes me feel like I'm 12 years old rocking my first guitar again. Lovely beginner amps.
Indestructable too, used to bike my amp to friends and did occasionally drop it and it would only accumulate the slightest bumps
I have a Roland cube in a wooden chest. I use it when i am watching tv sitting on the couch. It sounds good by itself, but in the chest it has more resonance and quiets the high end a bit.
Gain staging is the most important and most annoying thing about anything digital. Definitely a good lesson to learn haha. Well done man!
You are quickly becoming a favorite YT follow. The content is quality, but you come across like a real person wanting to share real experiences. Much appreciated.
An amp is an amp, whether its digital, solid state, or tube. There's pros and cons to each, you just have to know how to work with what you have. At home, I like to play through my collection of tube amps during the day and through digital stuff like NeuralDSP and Bias FX at night. When I jam with friends, I tend to use whatever is laying around in their practice space which is usually some kind of digital solid state combo like a Line 6 Spider or Boss Katana.
Have you tried something like the Two Notes Torpedo Reload, Ox or similar? Buy a good one and your pretty much set up, even for playing in the wee small hours in the room next to your partner :) There's lots of useful info out there in YTland etc.
Agreed ‼️
Solid state is kinda underrated tbh, you can get them all analog and good ones have some good tones, and the ease of maintenance is really nice.
The first (electric) guitar I ever used is sitting right next to me along with the first amp I ever used. My parents brought me to a shop when I was 10ish and asked me to pick out a guitar I thought looked cool, (from a wall that only had cheapish guitars) and I selected a ceramic blue SGR superstrat thing(unaware that I was actually making a big choice). A few weeks later I unwrapped the beauty for my birthday, along with the original fender mustang amp(not the guitar it's a modeling amp). I love them both and use them every day, even after getting more expensive gear recently.
Great video! I'm just starting down the virtual amp path myself, and I found this really encouraging, so thanks!
I learned with a $10 irig, the free tonebridge app, and a $75 Amazon strat knockoff. Got tones that someone from 15 years ago would pay thousands for, learned quickly, and did it all on a shoestring budget. What a great time for us.
Yeah great time to learn guitar. I paid 200 for a splinter machine that said epiphone and a peavy bandit amp in the mid 90’s.
One of the best ways test a rig is how it sounds when you roll your guitar volume back. This is the magic of vintage tube amps - ESPECIALLY Plexi-JMP Marshalls. Dime up your guitar vol for searing solos, then go to 7 for crunch rhythm and down at 3 it's much cleaner and still fat. I've tested high dollar digital processors but they can't deliver hard rock tone & dynamics for live performance.
Metallica, Plini, and Aaron Marshall would disagree with you. All are fully digital live.
@@DanielBobke Oh please. There are MANY other guitarists who do agree with me, otherwise they wouldn't be using tube amps. A lot of this has to do with the type material a guitarist plays. The difference between tubes and digital is most noticeable in material that features extended mids such as 70's hard rock and when backing your guitar volume down to cleanup the signal. Plini, Aaron Marshall and Metallica all use a very scooped out modern tone that is heavily saturated; e.g. from day one of Metallica's earliest recordings, Hammet and Hetfield backed the mid knob on their JCM 800's all the way down to ONE. Hammet sometimes increased his on his amp mid setting to 4 or 5 but only when doing overdubbs on solos for certain songs to add more CLARITY to the solo. If the only thing I ever played was scooped out saturated material, yeah sure I'd consider using a digital rig. A well made, dialed in tube amp will ALWAYS deliver more dimensional tone in general.
My go to amp has always been my 77’ Princeton reverb, I have had it since 1991 and it has worked for me playing at home or playing in concert. I play a 91’ American made Strat and a Takamine acoustic electric thru it. When playing on stage I play thru a Lr Baggs para acoustic DI into the house system.
Mike, you are an inspiration! As a budding home recorder, this is extremely helpful. Thank you!
So glad I found your channel. Great story telling. I love self-deprecating humor and you do it so well! Nice playing too (in this and other vids)!
My first amp was an Ibanez bass amp that came from a kit. It definitely made a sound.
After that I got a Bassbreaker 007 combo which sounded good, but it had to be loud to sound awesome so I got rid of it and got the Neural DSP Cory Wong plug-in. That's currently my sound (apart from my pedalboard and whatever amp the rehearsal room or venue has).
In the last couple years, I started learning and using plugins. For decades I used room sound. You can see on my video history how recent it has been from jamming to something with a room amp, and a mic propped against it, to using plugins that can get any amp and effect sound I want. The room sound sometimes sounded good.
I never had that luxury of picking a tube amp or solid state, or an actual fender Strat over a squire strat. I just had to get what I could get.
You’re a great storyteller. This helped me a lot.
Great video mike! Lots of helpful info for players out there
this makes me very grateful that I'd done a lot of audio production before I ever used amp simps, sure it sounded a bit like shit at first but it was always acceptable and then got to being really good over time as I improved. Good video, enjoyable watch. Using plugins is so convenient and easy, especially at night or if you get the urge to play out of nowhere.
I love tube amps...i build tube amps from scratch, just because I enjoy it. Virtual amps are great too, but understanding that you are running through multiple pre-amps (interface preamp, and virtual amp preamp stage) is critical.
Lol I just made a very similar comment. I build tube as well as solid state amps, pedals and restore vintage radio receivers. My last amp build was a Fender Champ style amp that I borrowed some ideas for off of the Mesa Blue Angel schematic. So the champ inspired clone has a switch thats connected to the 6v6 cathode and also at the cathode of an EL84 so it can select either 6V6 or EL84 for the output section. It also has a bright boost and mids switch that selects between the two mid resistor values Fender used in the champs over the years. I absolutely love that little amp. My other main amp is a Marshall DSL100HR that I've had since launch that I've modded a bit as well. I added a plexi style choke to it but left the stock resistor on a switch so that I can select either the choke or the resistor. I personally think modelers and plugins etc are fine for practice but I would never ever play them live or record with them. It cheapens the experience and they just don't have any soul. Tube amps and even good ss amps just feel so much better to play through in my experience.
Your a fantastic player man, keep up with the longer videos like this, always try to teach or explain your personal take on things, it’s great.
I fully agree. These are very entertaining.
Side note: It's you're not your.
@@Memu_ you have the power to speak to almost any person on the earth and you use it to correct a typo mate.
@@0megalul309 I really don't see what the issue is. I'm not being mean about it.
@@Memu_ I think the main issue is everyone who reads that knows what he meant.
@@PerryCodes So? I was just trying to give them a friendy heads-up
Great narration Mike! 🎥🎙️🏆
MIKE C. You break down stuff amazingly well. Fantastic actually!
This video is very well made and made. Liked and subscribed. I own a Fractal FM3, and I have a Landry LS100G3 and a PRS MT15. The Landry has an incredible master volume on it that allows me to get very saturated tones at bedroom volumes. Even the MT15 produces great tones at low volumes. Whenever I’m home I always use my tube amps, and I’ll never give them up. I play with some local musicians in a classic rock covers band just for fun. We don’t gig publicly. When I go to band practice I always take my FM3 and a powered FRFR cab. It’s just so much easier than hauling a tube amp, cab and my big pedalboard around and setting all of that up. At home, though, it’s definitely all tube amps and pedalboard. It sounds glorious. The gear does, not my playing, lol.
Great video man! I'm lucky that I live in a detached house and can crank my Fender Princeton any time, day or night. But, I'd love to learn more about the virtual stuff too. Maybe a small video series that goes more in-depth on your current setup and recording process?
Great info. Great playing. Thank you !
Such a solid conversation piece man. 👏 👏 👏
For me it's a convenience issue. I'm tracking all day for composers (film, game and TV) as well as producers and for my own writing. It's easier to save settings, saving them to folders for each composer or project. I am going through an API 512c into an Apogee convertor. I wrote and played Justin Bieber's ETA direct into a basic Guitar Rig amp with a $99 Squier Strat. I will track fairly loud though paying attention to the nuance between my fingers/pick and the strings.
yeah the ability to create and organize a bunch of presets for studio tracking purposes is a huge plus
You the guy behind the legendary baby song?
@@nikephorosmostropus4606 I played the guitar on Justin Bieber's acoustic version of Baby on the My Worlds Acoustic record. If that is what you are asking.
Actual thing that added to the problems with virtual amps in the past…
The first gen Focusrite Scarlett were often malfunctioning where the “INST” input is too hot no matter what guitar you use.
Until I fully switched to the LINE mode (and applied high shelf on eq before all the virtual amps and such to compensate for the impedance difference), I was struggling BAD to try and figure it out, like why is it clipping…
And just by how popular those interfaces were and pther testimonies, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one with such conundrums.
Nowadays everything works better.
Hey man, sorry you've got that damn idiot doing his bogus telegram "you're a winner" replies. This is a real reply...Wow. haven't used a Focusrite Scarlett but what a drag on the INST input being too hot and clipping! I wish these companies would think about the PTSD they cause us guitarists with these issues out of the gate. Glad to hear that you were able to work through the problem and solve it. I have an IK Multi-Media AXE i/O that works pretty well. We shall see down the line if it's the one I'll stick with.
I really enjoy your content and subject!
Very relatable story, keep it up man!
Amp sims are a game changer for metal especially. It's possible to get good tones for cheap, but it's certainly not easy. Save for a small handful of notable exceptions, solid state stuff doesn't hold up well at high gain.
But now I can just plug into my interface, pull up the Fortin Nameless Suite and melt faces pretty much instantly. So much clarity and punch, the kind of tone you'd need to spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars chasing with actual gear.
Hey, I played acoustic guitar and bass before and now I am about to buy my first electric guitar for metal purposes.
Beside a sound interface and virtual amp sims, which speakers do I need for them? Would be my razer soundbar speakers good enough for the beginning? or do I need studio monitors or something else?
Would be glad if you would share your experience with me :)
@@Reynoldzx Most interfaces have left and right 3/4" outputs on them as well as a 3/4" stereo headphone out. In the beginning, you can absolutely just pick up a 3/4" to 3.5mm conversion and then use an aux cable to plug into whatever speaker or headphones you have.
For the best quality sound, though, it's a good idea to pick up a pair of active studio monitors to plug into those left and right outputs. I got Presonus Eris E5s for $150 each and I have no real complaints with them.
@themightymcb7310 oh so I can go right in the headphone output with my 3.5mm stereo speakers, too ? thats dope man, I thought I would have to go in R or L output and I ordered a 3,5mm to 6,35mm converter, but it looks like I can send them right back :)
Thanks for the quick answer and sharing your experience budd!
@@Reynoldzx you also have to make sure you change the default audio device in your computer's settings to your interface, that way all sounds produced by your computer will come out of the headphone send. This will let you continue to use those speakers for other purposes besides guitar
My first was a solid state Guerilla... and it was horrible, but I was too, so it helped me learn. My first good amp was a Marshall and it was great, but not for the type of music i was playing at the time. There are good solid state amps, modelers, and plugins, but there is nothing that sounds and feels like a great tube amp in the room... So Now I have a Mesa Boogie Lonestar Special and a Morgan MVP 23, with a pretty absurd stereo pedalboard, and I couldn't be more pleased.
i actually have neighbours, so……
I started out on a little gorilla amp as well;God that thing was horrible, but it did the job. Fast forward almost 40 years, and I'm a tube snob: tweed deluxe, princeton reverb, dumble clone.
Amen to that
@@spunkytheozinho I can appreciate that, especially for those living in apartments or townhouses. There are some great attenuators, load boxes, & amps with line or headphone outs so you have the best of both worlds. The Morgan Power scaling is exceptional & far better than old master volumes & attenuators. I can get some really great tones from it at bedroom volumes. The Lonestar also has some lower watt options, for reasonable volume tube saturation.
The Gorilla! I forgot about that one
Thank you Mike Cole, I love your video's man.
Loving the new style of videos.
I started playing electric guitar at church 5 years ago, and didn’t use an amp for the first 4 years. I just couldn’t, it was too much to carry it out and most stages I was on didn’t have space. I had a pedalboard and just sent that straight to the sound desk, and it honestly wasn’t that bad. But this year I discovered a small pedal called a cab simulator, and it’s changed my sound immensely. I’m sure one day I may get an actual amp, but for now I’m very happy being oblivious and just using a pedal cause it sounds great.
There are amp manufacturers that are creating some fairly decent "amp in a pedal" products that combine convincing pedal versions of their preamp and a cab sim. Some even let you load your own impulse responses, so essentially an infinite choice of cab simulations. For an example, check out the Victory V4 Kraken pedal.
I know people who use a line6 spider combo and shove an SM57 in front of it but it's actually not plugged in anywhere; it's just DI out straight into the FOH mixing desk. Sound incredible and you'd never know that microphone cable goes nowhere and is just there for show.
Line 6 helix floor, all you need.
I started on a Zoom 505, amp in a box pedals are so much better now.
I was learning how to be an audio engineer while learning guitar, so when I came to interfaces and plug ins, I got used to how they run. Now that I'm in a house though, I will go back to micing my amp. Not even because my tone is crafted around it, but because there is still something just slightly off about a true sim compression over mic and di balancing. Most people listening to modern music on stream sites or CZcams on their phones won't be able to tell the difference, but I do and I just hold myself to a higher standard. But amp sim tech has come a long way. Gigging wise, I would easily trust an amp sim.
great video and great playing !
Great video! I love Amplitube. One of the great things is that you can get a good take down and then go back in and tweak the amp and effects to your liking.
I have a quad cortex and it’s great, but my go to physical amp is my JC-40, the cleans are amazing and it takes pedals like a champ! It’s solid state so I don’t have to worry about swapping tubes out and it only weighs like 30lbs so it’s extremely portable. The nice thing about it being solid state is the tone doesn’t change no matter the volume. I can get bedroom levels and still sound good, also this amp can be mega loud, like really loud. Obviously distortion and overdrive don’t sound like tube, but to my ears it still sounds really good. If you’ve never tried SS amps I’d highly recommend checking out the JC-40 or 22 depending on your needs!
I love my 5150 II . Here is also something you can do with loud amps. Get yourself a JHS little black amp box. It’s an attenuator and you put it in the loop. I basically use it as a master volume/tone knob. You get all the gain and feeling, but can play as quietly as you want.
NO one is going to convince me not to use my HIWATT DR103 100 WATT AMP
Clean channel still sucks though
Thanks, I really needed to hear this.
Thank you! This is great information and you're an awesome teacher.
As a brand new guitarist I’ve literally been looking for a video like this to explain why it sounds like I’m hearing things through a cup to my ear. The little clip around 3:00 min is basically what I’m hearing with direct to interface + random plugins
I got lucky. A couple of months after I got my first squier, my uncle gave me one of his Twin Reverbs. It weighs a ton...but it got me through my first many bands. At school I used a Roland JC. I liked it fine too.
I’m glad I subscribed to your channel. You give really good advice. 😊
Love this new style of video my guy keep it up
My only issue with virtual amps is too many options..I find it hard to find a tone I'm satisfied with.. I need that limitation
I had the same problem, spend way too much time fiddling with my mustang amp, now I just plug into a 2 knob 15 watt tube amp and a few pedals and play, I dont have more sounds, so I have to make them work, and I do.
Paralysis by analysis
Funny, my first "real" amp was a Fender Champion 110. I actually kinda miss that amp, for what it is it actually sounds pretty good.
This is such an amazing video thank you
Keep it up my dude!
My entire rig consists of a Mooer GE100 multiFX pedal and a Fender Champion 100 amp. (I have a soft spot for the number 100.) Guitars are an Epiphone Les Paul, Squier Affinity Strat and Teles, and Chinese-made ES335 and SG copies. And headphones to plug into the Champion 100 for late-night practice.
For silent recording a tube amp the Two Notes captor and somesort of audio interface will do the job. Plugins are just great because it is easy to change settings after a recording, instead of having to also record the input signal and re-amp the track. Although plugins can sound really good it's the difference in feel and response for me that has kept me using tube amps for recording.
Just a single mic in front of the amp is all you really need, and likely get you farther than a plug in from my experience. (native instruments plug ins)
@@Art-zs6sl With the two notes software you can change the cabinets and speakers, mic distance and center. You can record silently which is great since we cannot always crank our amps at home in order to record with a mic. If you live off grid and you can crank the amp a mic will sound a bit better than an IR, but in highly populated areas you'll get the cops called on you.
Same. A tube amp just has that sound and feel both that nothing else yet can really give you.
@ghost mall I bet you have seen countless youtubers playing guitar with awsome tone whilst they used a loadbox, but you were not aware.
A plugin uses cabsims as well, so I don't see how this is an argument against using a real amp and IR. I own a couple of plugins: Neural DSP toneking imperial and SLO-100, they sound great for what they are but a real amp recorded through a loadbox sounds way better.
@@Art-zs6sl native instruments makes okay guitar plugins, but they're far from the best you can get. I've had free amps like the Amplex NaLex, the LePou stuff, and the Vadim Taranov 5150 blow NI Guitar Rig out of the water. Plus, paid ones like Neural DSP, Toneforge, and Bogren Digital sound even better than those free options I mentioned.
Thanks for sharing...that was helpful...
Really like your content man, rare to find a likeable CZcams guitar vlogger !!
I grew up with everyone coveting Marshall stacks. I just hope that these bedroom/basement guitarists, who are by all rights extremely good guitarists, will experience even something small like a Fender Blues Jr. at full crank. Listening to myself play guitar through headphones has never had the same effect as when actual AIR is being pushed into your chest by the amp.
Exactly
The best musical feeling I've ever was standing on the stage with a full Super Lead stack with the sound pulsating thru my body, and when the music stops you kinda fall backward toward the amp
When I die fighting the good fight on stage, hollow out my speaker cabs to be used as a boat on my journey to Vahalla and set me and my les paul on fire as I prepare to meet Hendrix, Zappa, Montrose and the boys as we raise our mugs for another beer! Party on Garth! Bring on the Wild Stallions. As I dream of seeing drummers riding shotgun in the sky. I hope Lemmy is in tune!
@@Wardell43 I'll have whatever you had.
@@Wardell43 that was hot
Cool stuff. I use some old rack mounted guitar amps. Line 6 pod and a 11 rack. Between the two the options seem limitless. Live I use Marshall’s and Mesa amps.
I have Fender Mustang 40 that is great for practice. Folks think I’m playing through one of my stacks. It has a great foot pedal with a built in looper also great for practice and stacking harmonies and riffs.
Great video buy the way. Passion.
Way overrated. The rest of the neighborhood doesn't want to hear you.
Man… I LOVE this. And it’s so true now. The idea of taking a small pedal bag to a gig instead of a giant rig?! THE best now. 😆
Thanks for the tips my man! You’re a really great guitar player too
This was great man. Can’t wait to check my gain stages now, haha
I love my Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister, but my Boss Katana also sounds amazing. Most notably, either of them sound good when I focus on playing well, and playing to the settings on the amp.
amen. the most important component in the chain is the player's ears.
When I first got an Axe FX I was confused for a few months and only used presets that only sounded okay to me. Then I really started getting an idea of how to dial in the tone. In hindsight, it wasn't hard to learn at all, I can throw together patches in minutes, but that initial hump had me thinking I wasted my money.
Bro I love everything about this ❤️
Thanks man. That is all I need rn.
My first good amp was also a Fender Champion 20 and I really liked it, and while I do still use a lot of physical amps when rehearsing with my band at for college (the rehearsal space my college uses has a Vox AC30 (which is usually the amp I go for because I love the sound of those amps), a Marshall JCM900 (which I also use sometimes when I'm not on the Vox), Fender Deluxe Reverb (which is what our instructor plays through sometimes) and an Orange Rockerverb 30 but because I do a lot of recordings on Logic Pro I always use the visual amps. There's such a great selection of tones from Vox AC30s to Marshall, Fenders, Orange, Hiwatt, Mesa Boogie and plugins for a Diezel VH4, ENGL, Ampeg, GK and the list can go on. I guess long story short what I'm trying to get at is that whatever situation you're put in (be it playing through physical amps or recording with virtual), there's always something for everyone that's looking for the tone they want for that song
Man I love all those tube amps. Have had a few myself. Still want a rockerverb. I have Logic and find the plug ins both stock and non stock unbearable. Use a strymon iridium when going direct.
DSM & Humboldt’s Simplifier is really good if you spend some time with it (I have the DLX) and Quilter amps are amazing. I love my Quilter Micropro Mach 2 stack. Both are fully analog with the exception of reverb and take pedals exceptionally well. I still own tube amps, but I only use those amps for their specific characters.
Awesome young man!!
Thank you for making this. I thought i was crazy here with my solid state.
My first guitar amp was a Roland JC 120. My jazz teacher sold it for coke money. He was a monster player. Died at 35. I brought it over to his house one day and left it there knowing I would come back for it. A couple weeks went by and my amp went bye-bye. I wasn’t mad though. I learned so much from him.
Bummer
My first Amp was the Peavy Bandit 112 (red stripe) from my Brother and it‘s hands down the best sounding amp i ever had (maybe because of sentimental reasons)
I‘m so happy that it‘s still in my collection and my go to amp
I have the next generation bandit 2x12 and it's workhorse!
I have the same. Found it at a thrift shop a few years back for $100. Gonna head to college next year, and I fully intend to take it with me. Would love a tube amp, but I don’t play in any bands, so it perfectly fine for what I do, bedroom playing.
I have a red stripe and while it's got some issues and problems, it's still a great amp. Much better than anything I had before.
Mike, you're one of my favorite guitar CZcamsrs. Thank you for making this video! I've switched over to emulations exclusively and this is encouraging, brother!
CONGRATS ON 100K SUBSCRIBERS!!!
YOU DESERVE IT
Virtual amps do take some fiddling to get a good sound out of. But, man, having dozens of sounds and effects at your disposal for the prices is amazing. I can play whole shows on a boss gt1 multi effects pedal and play any style so long as I've tweaked them into decency.
It dawned on me when I saw the outlaws in a very .. very small venue and both guitarists were using pedal boards direct no amps. As old school players they had killer tones on tap. These guys used volume knobs, tone knobs and achieved everything they needed. I agree virtual amps can come close enough the rest is in the players hands and simple controls of the guitar. I dug out my old rp500 and with an open mind, ears dialed in a bunch of basic killer tones. I used to try to make the unit do it all when simply rolling back the volume knob and or tone knob set the palette just like on a tube amp with an overdrive. But the palette of possible tones is endless including ...... realllllly bad ones as well it can be easy to get lost stacking all the effects on tap.
As someone who is currently living out this exact experience can you make a video on how to properly set up your audio interface and audio software to get those tones? Or can someone point me to a video on how to do it because I have the same issues where everything just sounds like a tinny compressed nightmare when I try to go all digital.
Excellent and true video!
I have this Fernandes FA15 solid state amp that is single channel with a built in effects loop that is enough to piss the hell out of my neighbors without even cranking the volume up. It may not be a great amp for most players but knowing it's my first amp, it really did help me learn electric guitar stuff like dynamics and articulation.
Great one Mike I wish you the best.
I like what you have to say. I'm a tube guy but I take pride in being able to find a good tone in whatever rig presents itself to me. It's a challenge that makes me better and it's fun to get outside my comfort zone. Great video!
I just did!!
Same here, I love you worded this. I’m all about finding a good tone from whatever I have
My first amp was a litte solid state Crate with a Yamaha Pacifica guitar. It was meant to learn on, and It served its purpose well
My first amp was a small 15 watt solid state Crate as well. It might still be in storage somewhere.
@@mattiisosalo918 I sold mine long ago and since upgraded to a Kustom arrow 16 and a left handed Fender Squire affinity Tele
@@MlnscBoo My next rig was Marshall Valvestate 8080, Tokai Les Paul. Later I bought Boss DS-2 and digital delay.
Learned a lot from this guy.
thank you, thank you, thank you my brother! I haven't even bought my first amp yet and have been experimenting exclusively with DI's and plugins...I've been getting close but I now know that I just need to keep dialing it in. After watching this video, now I know I can get there :)
I used a fender super champ x2 for the longest time, it had tubes in it but with digital effects. Very very cool and I still have it, I love it but it sits in the corner now. Now I have a deluxe reverb reissue and it’s an absolute dream. Great for pedals too. I’m only 21 and I already have my dream amp, I don’t need another one 🤣
They are great as is a Vibrolux or Basssman but even a Deluxe is loud as fuck at home.
I'm looking into these and other options.
I'm 55 now and my arthritis has gotten HORRIBLE.
I've lugged around a big Polytone 104 for years... It's always been a great amp.
PLENTY of clean headroom and it's got reverb to rival any Fender tube offering.
It's got a PERFECT built on Tremolo effect.
But it weighs like 975 pounds and I just can't lug it around anymore.
Good recap of the way into an amp 😊
I'v been fu**ing around with DI for years now and you are spot on, again, wise beyond your years, keep doing what you are doing it is much appreciated!
Great video! and I totally hear what your saying. There are a lot of good things about the digital amps...But as many have said throughout the comment section, and the reality that I have come too after many years of experience is that........here is absolutely..nothing like the sound, feel, warmth, dynamics of a tube amp. In my humble opinion there is no digital tone that can replicate it. It's for that reason that I believe Tube amps will always be around, and there will always be a premium demand for them
I HAVE A HIWATT DR103 100 WATT AMP and I will never give it up
As good as modeling is now, amps cannot be perfectly modeled. Changing speakers makes a huge difference in sound. Trying to model a speaker would be extremely hard. How would bond model cone breakup, delayed sound from the box airspace and the reflection of sound from the speaker frame going back through the cone, resonances in the cone suspension etc. my preference is tubes, but digital has its place too.
Yes, basically good digital modelling now sounds alright, but not exceptional.
1. Overloud TH-1 was released somewhere around the year 2008. Even back then you could achieve any tone with it.
Virtual guitar amps didn't get night-and-day better since then, they just started to come with better presets and pre-processed impulse responses that eliminate most of the work, which, back in the day, you had to do yourself.
2. Solid state amps are legit insane. Sometime in the future they'll get fashionable and everyone will be after that solid state tone quality.
And then there's the ubiquitous 80s Peavey
@@jasondorsey7110 Bandits sound awesome. Scott Putesky used one, same with a bunch of important black metal albums.
I love your short videos, but you should do more stuff like this. Great video
I fukin hate , hate short videos. They’re for the 🦅 birds
Fun story with some great content nicely presented. Thanks!
Mine was some old 90s solid state Fender 1x8 or 1x10 that sounded pretty decent tbh. The other day I hauled my old Ibanez Thermion TN120 out of the closet, hooked it up to my bass 4x10, and then blew my hair back and went "how the hell did I ever play this thing this loud??" lol... thanks for sharing!
I love your Strat and I normally dislike most "bursts" but I think the maple neck really makes it :D
I've considered getting a DI like the Walrus Canvas; I use a 3rd gen Focusrite 18i20 and while it has an improved instrument DI over the previous gen, it's still just part of a $500-tier interface vs a dedicated $250 Neve DI. The 18i20 is useable, but there are times when I clip the input with especially spicy instruments even with the pad engaged. My Zoom B6 has a DI output with 4 emulations of various DIs and it works magic on my bass :D
Man, after watching Tomo play a hundred dollar guitar through a Fender 10G, I just don't care anymore.
Hey Mike, the algorithm just suggested this video. Great work! Just subscribed.
so happy you reached 100K subscribers!
I had the opposite approach. I started with a "beginner's amp". A Crate 1x10. No one ever told me that a tube amp sounds better. They told me to learn more and just keep playing. Now that I have 11 years of guitar under my belt, I have played virtual amps. I have played nice solid state amps. I have played great tube amps. The truth is that tube amps are always going to sound better. Virtual amps are nice if you don't know what you are doing (in the recording and video-over aspects especially), but a tube amp will always sound the best live.
Absolute truth. All about dynamics. Most digital amps/modelers/plug-ins sound lifeless to my ears. I think convenience of use causes lots of players to accept what they are hearing as acceptable and they convince themselves that it's actually comparable to valves.
I Would have to agree here. I have used Amplitude for years and gotten great results... But, having a tube amp in a good sounding room with great mics taking advantage of the air in that room will always be punchier and have that dynamic response that you'll never get out of a digital emulation.
Tube amps are at least repairable. Modelling amps generally aren't at reasonable cost. Discrete solid-state amps are usually pretty easy to repair.
How often does a digital amp break compared to a tube amp though
Love your videos my guy🥴❤
Personally, i think the gamechanger is stuff like the two notes torpedo range. So easy to use, you can go directly into a DAW, use it as a headphone practice tool and the sound you record is the sound you can take to the stage with no problem.
Also of course modellers like the Helix stuff or even the PodGO are very competent tools for making great music.
My first amp was (naturally) a Line 6 Spider IV. It sounded like shit but it was a very affordable way to learn about basic effects.
Eventually I graduated to a lovely tube/cab setup...a Marshall Jubilee reissue with a Vox 2x12. This is my home/studio rig now.
Once I started gigging regularly, I wanted nothing more than to lean out the 150+lbs and $3000+ of gear it took to make sounds in a small shitty bar. I moved to a Line 6 Helix and have not looked back since.
If you're an active gigger, tube amps do not make the most economical sense. Sure, your tone is slightly better with them. But once you're in a mix playing live those extra 2 pennies of tone don't make up for the back pain it takes to schlep those big heavy amps.
a tube amp doesn't have to be heavy, and why would you get backpain from carrying an amp, time to hit the gym. i don't know what you had to get to 150lvs of gear. as far as 3000 dollars, i take about 15k in gear with me to gig.
Marshall JMP-1 or Mesa Boogie triaxis into a ENGL e810. Less than 20 lbs and just 2 rack spaces. And I also agree that the back ache is not worth it playing in a bar with a $100 SM-57, and a1/2 drunk “sound person” . I actually like the Blu Box cabinet simulator. Hell, just pump it through the monitors.
For the average Joe, playing in average venues (Bars, small clubs) a virtual setup is more than sufficient for you...and the crowd (most of them will honestly not notice the difference).
However, for all the Guitar Greats, you'll find that the sonic benefits and, crucially, the dynamic interaction of player+amp means that they'll pretty much all be using a good tube amp setup. Virtual setups (improving all the time), of course, have their many use cases - but for the virtuoso (actual or aspiring) a 'real' setup is, by far, most inspiring for them, and their discerning audience. However, and agreed, real amps can be a pain to get sounding 'right' at times.
I used to play live a lot (semi pro) in the past, and still have a Fuchs TDS 50w combo and JMP-1 (previously Triaxis/2:90, some Fenders etc). For home convenience (and for the fun of all those presets) I also have a lot of virtuals e.g. Bias, Schuffham, Tone King etc - and they're good sounding in a mix and....damn convenient to use!
@@ChrisM541 ken andrews from failure is probably known as the greatest guitar and bass tone guru in the world. He uses ZERO amps. All fractal axe fx.Less pros use tube amps than ever. Tube amps are great.. but u just don't need it anymore. Fractal, line 6, boss. They all do a great job in the right setup
@@nichreynolds7712 As I'm sure you'll agree, tone is incredibly subjective. You'll also not object to the guitar tone heard on the entire catalogue of 1960's - 1990's music (/pre-amp sim/modeler). If you're saying that every classic 'sound' of that era is now perfectly reproduced on today's modelers/sims, as both an exact tone and (crucially) as a perfect 'live' player/guitar/amp dynamic reproduction, then that - as I'd hope you'd agree - would be incorrect.
Musicians use the Axe-FX/Kemper etc because they're 'damn convenient' for them and the sound engineer, and that's ok! However, almost every 'great'/virtuoso playing is using a real amp set up. If you can't hear the difference, that's ok too. However, they definitely can...and so can most/all of their audience.
Ken Andrews is a great player and has a great sound, and that's good!
Outstanding video! I’m 68 years old, been playing electric guitar nearly 60 years. Tried every amp out there, big and small. Don’t like lugging big, heavy gear especially at 3AM after consuming a few adult beverages. Been using Fender Tonemaster Deluxe Reverb about 3 years. All digital and only 23 pounds. Sounds great! Use Fulltone OCD for high gain tones. The best overdrive/distortion pedal out there in my opinion!
Nice. Great story, mate. Cheers
The first amp I ever played through was my Dad's jcm 900 on his old '70 sg, it was such a special experience at the time for me ,even though i had no idea how to play, just the feeling of the kick of that huge amp is what ended up making me want to play guitar forever. I think headphones and preamps are such a useful thing (I use an old beat up line6 pod xt) nothing to me can compare to that huge gut punching power of a tube amp with a ton of bass and a tone bender
AGREED. I HAVE A HIWATT DR 103 100 WATT AMP and I'm going to use it
Yeah totally agree. You can straight up just feel what you're playing which is always an awesome feeling. Especially after a lil smoke sesh lmao
@@deegrawnz YUP. I have a HIWATT DR 103 100 watt amp, and I'll need an attenuater...but it's the BEST quality hi fidelity guitar sound you can get.