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Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
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The sound out front is more important than how it feels to the player IMO, and the less I have to load in to the car at 1:00am the better
I dipped my toe into the digital world with a Helix, with the intention of simplifying life in my cover band and going straight to the PA, but modelling just didn't work for me and I'm now back to valve amps and pedals as I just prefer the feel, tone and operational simplicity.
My approach is what Gadget mentioned. My valve amp is DI'd from the speaker out to the PA (I use a Palmer PDI09 DI with speaker sim set to "mellow"). This means my amp's stage volume is not high enough to cause problems (i.e. interfere with the singer), and most of my stage signal comes through the monitors so I can hear what the audience is hearing. Simple and effective!
Digital pianos and workstation keyboards have been a live staple for decades so there is no expectation that the piano sound like an actual acoustic instrument. Pop and dance music use these faux pianos in the studio all the time for their consistent attack and eq.
Of course there are some great vst pianos with deep multisampling and these are heard on a million film and tv scores, but that’s a very different sound from the keys that are used live.
It's all about convenience.
NOTHING SCREAMS LIKE A GORILLA !
Isn't it just an XLR from Loadbox into the PA and Bob's your uncle?
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Some digital pianos are up there in terms of quality, but don't forget that pianos are often EQ'd to sit in a pop mix, where a full on Bosendorfer sample would swamp every other instrument.
Most pianos in pop mixes sound thin and plinky compared to a real concert grand, but that's usually deliberate.
The most important point in an average gigging band though is that the choices are between fake guitar amp/real guitar amp and fake piano/no piano.
Have they taken over? I don't think there's one answer for all situations, so no. We've just got more credible choices now.
When the humbucker became available, I don't think people decided the single-coil was dead, did they? They just decided with their ears which one they wanted at what particular time. If they only had one or the other, they made do in those situations were it may not have been the perfect choice.
Re Pianos: My pianist friends all own things like Nords for their band work and playing at home. They do the job very well. Every one of them would want a grand piano in a nice room to play at home if they could manage it. More rewarding and a more complex sound. Bit like one of us playing an electro-acoustic in public but generally preferring to record a nice guitar using great mics in a nice room.
Another 10 years will see 3rd generation modellers achieve perfect sound re-creation and the die-hard 50year old guitarists who live on memories of Marshall stacks and the sound of the 70s will be dying out, giving up playing or simply too long in the tooth to be bothered with the weight, hassle and nuances of worthy valve amps.
Of course, there will always be old school purists and I dare say that in 30 years there will be a new found craze for original Valve Amps " like they used in the year 2012 "
MORE IMPORTANTLY....will there still be guitar players as we know it ? Will the instrument itself be in demand and even have a place in the music of year 2030.......it may be no more relevant than the Bassoon is today because it's gradually becoming less and less relevant to contemporary music and a guitar solo is about as desirable to a producer as a 4 minute drum solo both of which were the highlights of a rock concert circa1976 .
Then again the Acoustic guitar was a dead duck throughout the 1980s /90s and look how that has resurfaced in the Busker type prominence of Ed Sheehan and similar acts
I guess we’re all different (and thank god we are), but I’m just the opposite. It’s very important for me to have an inspiring sound on the stage, because then I play better and with greater enthusiasm, and that comes over to the rest of the band and hopefully also to the audience.
The spillover issue is solved in my case with a Palmer DI dual-locked into the back of my valve amp. This provides a good-enough FoH sound. And the pain of car-to-venue-lugging-at-1:00am is not intolerable with a compact-but-loud 30w combo.
I sometimes like digital for messing about at home, but on the few occasions I’ve tried it playing out I’ve never been quite satisfied and have always gone back to a valve amp for the feel and the immediacy.
Not in my house!
I'm coming from a slightly different position from some other contributors in that I don't gig and have no ambition to. I play electric guitar* purely for my own enjoyment and don't need to jump through any hoops in terms of pleasing others or sitting in a mix etc.
I have tried a few modellers/hybrids and always felt that there was something lacking in the sound but I would struggle to define what it was. When I got my Champ all of a sudden there was the full sound I had been after, so I will continue to use a valve amp for the foreseeable. I do still use my THR on occasion when it is handy to do so and I don't think it's sensible to limit yourself to one technology just for the sake of it, but no takeover here.
One caveat to this is I haven't used any topline modellers so far, eg Kemper etc. I would be interested to try one at home if the opportunity arose just so I could form my own judgement, but I can't see me buying one just to try.
* Bass is different.
The percentage of drum kit spill in an e906 pressed against the grill of a loud amp is negligable anyway IME.
Then I wake up and think just a fantasy but hey I still have the Kemper.
It is always a personal choice and for a lot of people, they feel their tube amps drive their playing and inspiration the good old feel factor that of course anything digital could never match and that's fine.
For me I gave up worrying about valve amp years ago probably around the line 6 era and to me, the Kemper is the logical conclusion of modelling. I will also get round to add a Helix HX at home shortly for some additional tone and effects.
In the studio, particularly a home studio setup I think modellers come into their own - I haven't turned my amp on for weeks and since acquiring Bias Amp 2 and Bias FX I don't think I will for a while.
I might have to buy MainStage and see whether I could build a live rig out of a software amp, though, just for the hell of it.
But there is a certain magic about an old valve amp turned up loud that I've never felt with any modeller. Crank a Super Reverb or Bassman reissue and it's just epic
There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife
Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky
Bit of trading feedback here.