Done with Guitar Amps? Yeah, me too...

My Strymon Iridium has been REPLACED… 🫣 Thank you all for the support for this channel! More on the way

Jim Lill said it best "The amp in the room sound is an ILLUSION!" & "more than it doesn't matter, it CAN NOT matter in getting a good tone" Every guitar tone you've ever loved on any classic record was, for the most part, a RECORDING of a guitar > amp > cab & speaker > microphone > studio processing, more or less. THIS is what modelers are trying to recreate, NOT the amp in the room sound older players can't seem to detach from. Going through comments on any video regarding physical amps vs. modelers & plugins, it is mostly bedroom players who are team tube amp or nothing, as they have never heard what their amps sounded like mic'd up professionally and have thus a massive disconnect between what they are used to hearing / feeling and what modelers are actually meant to produce. There are some ways to get that in the room sound if of some reason you can't live without it, such as running your modeler through a separate power amp with power amp simulation disabled if available into a real cab. Running it through an FRFR or P.A. system will just be replication the final professional studio sound at high volume, which is still a completely different sound than in the room. I hope this information could be of service to someone out there to help along their Guitar journey! In any case, keep on Rocking guys! \m/

I guess everyone these days assumes we all have the tech sitting in our music area to buy whatever amp modeler and plug it into whatever you plug these things in to? I'm assuming it's some type of computer program with monitors? I don't know? I have a tablet. I don't even own a computer. I do have a deluxe reverb, vox ac15, a vintage pro reverb, and multiple other amps i have accumulated over the years. I wouldn't even know where to start to use that little amp modeler, and im certainly not going out and purchasing a computer and monitors and programs and whatever else. I have multiple amps to choose from when I play my guitars.

Hey Chris! I couldn't agree more with your sentiments. I am a similar guitar player as you. Plays at my local Church, occasionally plays with other jam bands live, and records my own music for my business YouTube channel. I invested into a Quad Cortex earlier this year, and I am not looking back. I still have my original Boss Katana from when I first started playing guitar again, which I use if the stage can't support my Quad Cortex. But I don't see myself owning an expensive amp anytime soon. The amp I do have my eyes on for those occasional live jam gigs is the Fender Deluxe Tonemaster. Every time I play it at a Guitar Center, I cannot believe it is a solid state. It sounds amazing to my ears, and it is a featherweight compared to a tube amp.

Maybe it’s a generational thing but it seems us older folks prefer tube amps because of the feel. It’s not just the sound we are buying. We also lean more toward Marshall type amps that modeling doesn’t mimic well. Maybe this video should be subtitled if you use a Fender style amp and you’re younger than 40. Also you were more influenced by John Mayer.

Nope. Just don’t want to put the effort in to get digital to sound good. Too easy to plug into a simple tube amp and sound good. Just bought a Revv G20. .

Hi, I think the main reasons people wouldn’t use a medium/large combo amp is convenience, i.e. not having to load in and out; having no sound onstage if using IEMs in a venue/band which prefers this. As for your comment re the expensive amps not sounding good to your ear.. well I agree with another commentator that good players will make all gear sound good. We’re all on a continuum when it comes to our tone, time, technique, taste etc and as a relatively experienced player and teacher, I’d suggest that things such as touch (speed of attack; fingers or pick; which gauge and material of pick); use of volume knob on guitar in particular; setting of controls on amp in each different room; age of strings (I change mine every 4 gigs or so) etc would be better to focus on than G.A.S. I’ve regularly been astounded to sit in a room with players better than me and swap gear, only to find they sound like themselves (i.e. amazing) and I sound like me (i.e. a work in progress.) Sure, there’ve been some great modern tones recorded or played live with amp simulators, but a good player with a well set up guitar with good strings played through, say, a Fender Blues Junior (or Deluxe Reverb or Blues Deluxe) is going to sound good all the time. There’s a warmth and depth to the sound and a response to touch which is inspirational. However, I do remember reading and working through the thought control and meditation exercises in ‘Effortless Mastery’ by Kenny Werner when at music school, and convincing myself to love the sound of my cheap little 5 watt transistor practice amp.

It just doesn’t feel right to me when I’ve tried to use helix and stuff like that playing live. Especially with a loud drummer. I’d rather have a fender deluxe at a reasonable volume and a good OD pedal. The dynamics and response is superior to modeling through a wedge and PA. Modeling works great in church and the studio though

What a fantastic video have a wonderful weekend ❤😊

Get an attenuator or do like I do and spend $80.00US on a Mooer pre amp pedal. I have the Gold 012 and run it in the effects loop. You would be amazed and how you can use that little pedal to lower your volume without losing any of the great tone of your amp to play at lower levels. But sorry I have been playing for 39 years and amps are just awesome. I have modelers. They just don't cut it and we all know the feel under your fingers you can feel a difference. They are very close to amps, but still I use my modeler of my TONEX which is awesome! But hot damn when putting it into the return of an amplifier. It just comes to life. There is just nothing like an amplifier and cabinet yet. Sure I an play live with a modeler, Its close, but I can tell.

If you're primarily a home player, which I am these days, its easier to just plug into a small combo than get a modeller, a power amp of some sort and monitors.

I’ve been playing through plugins or modellers for over 10 years now. Never even switched on an amp. I have a huge collection of amp sims. Recently I played through an amazing tube amp and all I can think now is the sound of that amp for a month now. Maybe I just grownup but all I want nowadays is comeback from work, plug my guitar straight into the amp, sit on my couch and play. No interfaces, no menus, no nothing. And the interesting thing is that now I pretty mucked stopped recording. If I was I’d definitely use plugins or modellers still.

Totally with you on this.

I kept my fender blues jr for live shows, but I record everything with Ampire.

I’ve had lots of high end stuff. My favorite is a standard Blues Jr IV with a Jensen q12r Alnico speaker.

Yep i recent sold my kemper .. That digital amps are nice if you like to turn knobs and things .. Actual I was recording and my voice wouldn't glue and when i used an IR room and amp on the guitar then it was good .. So I took after that expierience my Marshall JCM800, because it was dusty and this will fit for the test .. I put up 2 SM 58 Beta .. Did a little EQ when i recorded and compression and voila it sounded already better than the Kemper .. More warm so I was done with the kemper .. The sound is oke but if you listen very good at it and test it with recording then you will notice a high quality difference .. It will give you a lot of work and the oldskool way is almost good straight out of the box .. Maybe I sell my Artist Katana 100 too .. Then i still have 3 amps .. More then enough!

Play a lot of gigs throughout the state. Grab my tube amp, cable, guitar, guitar stand and im good to go. Maybe a pedal or two, tuner and ready to gig. Been doing it for 50 years. Play my gig, get my mula and head to the house. Works well for.

The right tools for the right job. Sometimes you need a rip roaring Marshall stack. I have and use modellers along with my 66 AC30, 66 Marshall Super Tremolo and 67 Pro Reverb.

Do you think some time you could make a video on how to correctly set up guitar amp plugins? I get increadible noise when trying to play through Ampire that came with Studio One. Im obviously doing something wrong. As for guitar amps I recently bought a little 10 watt class A amp and i was devistated at how loud the thing has to be to sound good. As a project I'm thinking of building an isolation box for it, but i primarily want to record completely silent throught vst's

Well it’s true, but if you play pedals you do have to have something that takes pedals well. Not all amps do. The Iridium is pretty good, but a deluxe without the bright cap is better