So we've always had debates about whether digital modelling is better or as good as tubes. Some say yes as good as, some say better because less noise and more flexibility, and others say no that t00bz rule.
I sit in the middle somewhere.
But I wonder - will we ever reach a point where it's no longer even something that is thought about?
For my money, I'd probably say that the preamp stage is there. But anytime I've used one of those class D poweramps with a modeller, it has left me thinking that it was lacking something. Introduce a tube poweramp, and that something comes back. Even with modelled preamp sections.
So I think the amplification and playback stages are now where effort needs to be concentrated. And I wonder if that will ever be truly solved?
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I think a lot of it rests on whether valves will be produced in the future. Currently there are like what, 3 factories worldwide that make valves now, something like that?? That's not a great place to be really.
I've seen a chunk of younger players who started off on digital modellers who eventually moved to a valve amp. I don't think there is an issue with awareness of them as such. I think price is still something that puts a lot of younger plays off.
It’s true to say that for bass it’s often less of an issue because we usually DI for big venues and you end up with all the power stage coming from the PA - but the fact still remains that many feel the class D power stage definitely lacks something.
Consider that people can hear a difference between otherwise identical speaker cabs depending on how they do the series/parallel wiring, let alone the difference between two speakers in series vs two speakers in parallel. The back EMF of the speakers moving interacts with the electrical operation of the power section. You don't get that with a class D amp, to the best of my knowledge.
It's the same thing that, IMO, makes attenuators sound worse - it's not just the reduction in volume in the room, it's that they interfere with the electro-mechanical back and forth that the valves, transformer and speakers have with each other.
That's tricky to model, especially when the modeller takes the amp and the cab as separate black boxes where one follows the other.
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Also in a way the inflexibility is what I like about valve amps, if you get ones with a good voicing then no matter how much you tweak its still going to sound good whereas with modellers I might have to wade through a bunch of dross first.
The trouble with class D power amp is your essentially putting the modeller signal through another digital processor .... the audio signal modulates the pulse width to provide the amplification in the same way a switch mode power supply works. Then you need a low pass filter to remove the carrier frequency so that's more processing. It's not a surprise you can feel a difference as a player even though listening to program music through class D might be fine.
Personally from an electronics design point of view I don't like class D ..... it will always fail as we simply can't make good enough electrolytic capacitors capable of handling the huge switching currents at high voltage over many years.... they will always fail whever in a computer PSU, a TV freeview box, An Apogee AD8000 .. an HK 1000 watt PA bass bin, A Mark bass head, a TC bass head. This is all stuff I've had in for repair the last month all with class D amp or SMPS faults all caused by bad caps, which take out the switching transistor which takes out the pulse width chip and so on etc.
My advice if you gig with a class D power amp in the summer take a spare, chances are you will need it sooner or later
Although I think the technology to improve that probably already exists my fear is that there's little incentive to as long as it sounds identical, and that future generations won't know or care about how a great amp interacts with a great guitar because they've never experienced it.
I tend to agree with Drew here - right back in the day when I had a Boss Metal Zone and an elderly relative found an unbranded valve amp in this loft and gave it to me - the difference was massive compared to plugging into my sessionette, I could get that Metal Zone to sound rather nice all of a sudden. I think the reality these days is there are so many options to mix and match valve/digital that the lines become blurred, just use it to the level you're comfortable with and that makes a difference to you.
My valve amp and pedals goes through a UA OX, and I actually prefer using headphones to bedroom volumes these days, which I never thought I would say, but an all digital chain still isn't there for me, but digital towards the end of the chain makes a lot of sense. Some people like their digital a bit further up the chain or all the way through, some not at all. But we have options. Stuff like the UA OX, or the new Suhr PT15, use digital in a way that makes sense to my brain - by using tech to supplement the world I know, not trying to replace it.
The main problem I find (and had forgotten about, as I've been using a Helix for some time) is that of getting a good sound and feel at lower volumes.
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With a class D power amp, there's no A/D conversion - which is what most people understand (or perceive) as the problem with shoving a guitar signal through a digital processor, in terms of the latency it introduces.
Also, the mere fact that class D effectively uses PWM doesn't mean it's digital at all; PWM is just as analogue in absolute terms as anything else as long as it's only quantized in one aspect (which, in the case of class D amplifiers, it is - amplitude).
I'd still like to get my hands on a nice little valve amp though, for playing in the room.