sooo my loverly wife wants to buy me a treat for upcoming b'day. ive been looking at lots of amp modeller pedals.
the guitar tone i'm always looking for is the brilliant sounds like cheap trik/acdc/38 special etc etc ie those classic tones.
(hate f^rting ttfft fuzzy settings on a lot of gear but i dont need clean either got lots of that.)
i am always searching for the classic tones.
but i dont want wife to spend much. also this stuff gets obso so fast....afore a new unit comes out.

SO 200 buks this NUX perhaps ??

https://www.nuxefx.com/mg-300.html

my retailer says i wont find better for the buckies.

yes i looked at the spark, trouble is i dont want to futz around useing a celphone tho' it looks grrreat.

thanks.
om

That looks pretty cool and capable. I used to be against solid state and modelers. However, the technology and sound quality has become so good that they are hard to ignore. I have finally become a convert to modelers.

I'd check some user reviews first before spending the bucks to be sure it's everything you want and nothing you don't.

I recently bought a Spark40 modeler amp. 40Watts and bluetooth capable. Saves a bunch of presets and users can make presets and upload them to the cloud where others can download them for free. It's a bit more than your budget sand might be more than you want. I got it because it has over 40 amp models not counting the dozens of pedals. Personally, I love this thing. It has become my main studio amp. Everything from crystal shattering clean to nasty super distorted metal and everything in between. I run it direct into my interface as audio.

Happy Birthday!! Enjoy the pedal.

I scanned the page and saw 9 Boss (Roland) pedal emulators .. that got my interest.
Then when I saw the mic sims included an SM57 on the cabinet (in varying positions) I got geeked
Unfortunately my birthday is a long way off
Enjoy if you get it and let us know/hear the results

GH.

I feel the gear manufacturers should actually ask for more input from us musos a lot more. Lots more interaction needs to take place.

For example it drives me bonkers taking my hands off the guitar constantly to fiddle around with menus and such n’ pedals..when i'm in the 'fast create' zone.

I think its time for alexa type command features as in…
‘Sparky gimme a hank marvin tone’ or ‘sparky gimme the lead tone on the lead break in 38 special hold on loosely’...etc etc
‘Sparky buy my wife a present for supporting my creative madness over the years and buying me gear for b’days n' xmas'..lol.
The above is true AI imho.

It drive me nuts currently also with a guitar modeller vsti i currently use, always mucking around with it and taking my hands off n’ on the guitar all the time to
Futz with menus.

does sparky give one all those great classic rok tones we all adore ? ie not the fizzies but not too clean either... with the bb metal rt's i find myself cleaning em' up often. cos i hate too much 'fizzes' in my metal or punk or classic rock. but i do like the comic strip 'get fuzzy'..lol cos reminds me a lot of a cat n' dog we once had.

GH happiness/best to you.
om

rharv.
will do. maybe i'm too demanding of gear.
happiness
om

i heard some pretty nice demos on you tube..includeing halen n' may. just search 'you tube nux mg 300 rock'.

this bloke does a pretty interesting intro to the unit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tal_L_5STP4

still tho' with this unit you can get 'fuzzies' if thats what you want. but not for moi.
my conclusion is some pretty nice rock tones just sitting in the pocket good as well as clean tones.
might even be able to get marvin tones on it.

i'm still on the fence. gonna do more research.

om

I like the modellers that have an amp. The Spark 40 looks interesting. I gig a lot with a quilter superblock. Its got a 25 watt amp. A tube equiv 25 watts. Plenty loud in a club.
I use 12” speaker i made from a bee brood box (pine).
Compact and sounds great
I mostly play pretty clean and the quilter has the clean tones (fender) perfect. The verb is nice also.

It also has a direct (xlr and 1/4) if I’m going into a PA.


I agree that the $2k modelling folks are going to feel some price pressure the next few years.

Here's the same guy with the SPARK 40

I watched this and learned a few things. I use it strictly as an amp... but it does so much more....



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHa4Cyal-Ek

Well sweetwater has an interesting 12 recommended rock pedals.
So i went thru each youtube demo.
The only one that cranked me up a bit was the evh 5150 pedal…but if i’m asking my wife to spend lots i expect more tone features.

As i cant find anything that totally cranks me up big time or has too many menus which i find frustrating…and as my b’day is imminent…and as wife derives great joy from not letting me play with a new toy till my b’day…lol…
And for short term use….

I’m gonna see what i can do with the little fender mustang micro which demos well, has thousands of likes and some nice sounds…, and with money saved i can order for my wife a present for putting up with my making songs craziness.

She is a total sweetheart ..and as i put on an anniversary card this year for her..…lmao
‘the women of the world would like to thank you for saving them from this crazy cockney music guy you put up with every day ’...

I’m gonna see what i can do with the micro plus some pedals n guitar vsti plug ins as well as amp models built into reaper etc.
Yep i reckon the 2k crowd will be undercut by new products in the coming few years. ..

GH..yep the spark is real nice, with oodles of tones/features, but i know i would get antsy dealing with the settings on a celphone. whereas the mustang micro might work for this keep it simple bloke.

best
om

Simple is always good. It's how I played for the vast majority of my professional days on stage. On stage, it has to be reliable and not so complicated that you can't work it live. My main system was a guitar plugged into a tube amp with a cord. No pedals or FX other than the reverb in the amp.

The Spark is nice and I used it for a time with my phone app. It worked well but the screen and the controls were a bit small so I picked up an inexpensive BT capable tablet. Its much larger screen lets me see and work the controls a bit better now.

GH.

You know what would be neat , and ive never seen ?
Either a YT vid or a pamphlet showing the settings to get all the old classic rock tones we all love on various platforms ie modellers like sparky or nux or line6 etc , and/or using vsti modeller plug ins.

To clarify…ive seen various vids dotted around the net and articles but no central collection per above.
Others can add to this, but i’m thinking guitar rhythm and lead tones from artists like…

..marvin shads
..halen panama lead break
..hendrix obviously
..knack my sharona nice lead break tone.
..benatars talented lead player / lead break on best shot.
..38 special loosely lead break tone
..doobies china grove lead break nice tone.
..acdc leads of course
And of course some of the bto and guess who tones.
And cheap trik budokan.

I ‘know ‘ ive missed many classics…but i think you get the idea GH.

What i’m saying is i like to play along with the classics for an hour or two,
But find i’m always spending loads of time futzing with settings instead of just having fun playing along with each song …and as i bring up a new song to play along with would just be nice to just tap on a tablet one time via simple menu ive entered of my favorite classic songs...
and bingo tone patch change.

Maybe i’m asking too much.


Best
om

Getting the Jimi Hendrix sound is easy. Take a Fender Stratocaster, restring it upside down, plug it into a Marshall Plexi....


....and give it to Jimi Hendrix.


Seriously, though, I honestly recommend finding your own tone instead of trying to sound like someone else because you never will.

Hendrix tone - there's a pedal for that, Tony Iommi - there's a pedal for that, Brian May tone - there's a pedal for that etc.
Here's a chap who used AXE-FX & deoms lots of those sorts of sounds nad makes the patches available.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0gLRfQjF4A&list=PLKpnUcCpN28qu-YrpVPOZwtVJYupKGlpI

Hendrix & SRV - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMhVzPHUDco

EVH - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfUKFtUD39U

Then again, you could make a play list of all those Utbu vid you've watched about tone, sit down with you modeller and tweak/set up.

Sometimes it's about putting in the time n effort OR spending the money for someone to have done it for you.

Byron.

i cant disagree with you. Your spot on.. , In fact let me add even the original ‘guitar heroes’ who played on the big hit record cant emulate ‘their tone' live sometimes.

Over the years ive seen a few of my personal ‘guitar heroes’ live…and been very deflated when some breezed through their lead breaks.
Often just a basic approximation to the one on the record. I got the impression of ‘lets just keep the punters happy’..lol.

To be fair Its different of course ‘in studio’ where one can take ones time over a lead break.

Otoh i HAVE been impressed by a few groups live….like…
Cheap trick being one and Steppenwolf another. To name a couple.
Steppenwollf had an amazeing young lead player prolly a session musician who totally blew me away live playing marshalls if i remember and i suspect some added pedals. Even my wife was full of praise which is rare for her.

Sometimes PBS in the states have some impressive live tv shows also.

sometimes even my wife would turn to me and say at a live show with one of my heros playing…‘thats not close to the record …right ?’...she was right.

Frankly i’m no great guitarist (isnt comping a great tool ..and editing and many takes..?..thank you computer…lol..)

Best
Om

Rayc.

I’m not sure its a question of buying certain ‘gear’.
(also lots of folks dont have the funds for the gear).

Ive seen in the past articles that suggest that even if one buys ‘the gear’ to emulate ones ‘hero’....the person might be using a different guitar/pickups/strings etc etc from said 'hero'.. lets not forget the fingers used..people in big studios have told me the same.

Lets not forget also the big studio recording chain gear the ‘hero’ originally used OR he/she might have used a heavily modded/custom guitar or amp etc etc.

In conclusion there are a load of different factors from what ive read and been told imho.
Even myself , ive recorded a track one day …and recorded a guitar tone and went ‘yummy’. So i noted every darn single setting…et voila…next day same settings/nowt changed..i cant replicate it. Go fathom.
I call it ‘the demons of rock’ effect. Hmm…maybe i’ll record a song with that title.

om

Well, the sound you hear on the record is not the same as what was in the room.

Its been compressed, EQed, etc. Mic choice and placement makes a dramatic difference. Try playing around with that in Amplitube sometime.



Most of the time, these guys are improvising. Of course its gonna be different.

Actually......

Spark has come out with a HENDRIX package....However, some of the amps are in the original setup.

Regarding the rest....

If you simply go to the TONE CLOUD for Spark... type in the name of a song or the name of the artist... you will get a bunch of preset tones that you can download and instantly get that sound you are looking for.

For example..... AC/DC... and the tone from Back in Black...or perhaps Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap..... there's a number of them. I like to DL a few, test them out, decide if I like them, because obviously, I'm not doing a cover of BiB, but I might want to use that tone in the new country song I'm working on..... so I find one I like, edit it to my liking....and save it with an overwrite and I'm ready to rock. Jason Aldea, Joe Walsh, Satriani, Beck, You name it... and it's likely there.

You can get the Spark app and explore this before you ever buy it..... however, you need the spark to hear it. But you can look around. See what's there. Listen on Youtube to some of the folks who create the tone preset and hear it on their rigs.

GH.
WOW MATE great info re 'sparky'//tonecloud etc
thank you sooo much.

mebe its my own fault i dont have lots of patience lol.

well my mustang micro just arrived from amazon.
gonna see how it performs. but my lovely wife wont let me open it till b'day next week. we like to do this cos it gives her a fun few days dangling a present.
her and her mates always say 'boys with toys'.lmao.

happiness

om

ps re ACDC yep i love em'. i'll prolly get next iteration of sparky if a nice price.

AC/DC tones are also really easy to nail.

Take a Gibson SG plugged straight into a Plexi Super Lead and a Gretsch Firebird plugged into a Plexi Super Bass and hand them to Angus and Malcolm Young respectively.

Spark has released a Spark Mini. It's not as big or as powerful as the Spark 40 BUT.... it has all the same tone cloud access. A buddy of mine has both the Spark 40 and just got the mini and he commented that he loves the spark mini and it has quickly become his favorite and says the tone is freaking amazing.


If you like AC/DC... grab your best headphones, your favorite beverage, and watch this.....



Full concert and it rocks.....!!!!

GH.

Re ac dc argentina vid.

too many superlatives for it. Its amazing what acdc does with simple beats often.
And how they can deliver live, but lots of big names cant.
To be fair performing live can be very wearing, particularly as one ages. (except for the triangle player…lol.) donnington live was great too.

Would love to hear that vid thru’ a pair of 10k corner klipschorns a mate once had n’ play along with it.
Speakers today are too wimpy. Small woofer cones…jeesh.
Often the ones you want you cant afford. Same with cars.


Darn, you just had to point me to that vid didnt ya ??. …lol.

you just had to make me wanna get my rok mojo/urge all cranked up to do a new rok song. Didn't ya ?..lol.

I told my wife tis time for a new rok song, she thinks i’m crazy anyway since we met at a function after my amp blew up years ago.
(i did warn her first week we were together…she wouldnt listen..lmao)
She bought me a mustang for b’day not car..lol. Fender micro.

That acdc rock snare sound (with oomph) is what i’m always looking for.
Often find it difficult to get. Drives me nuts. But gonna see if i condition a biab rd.

Was thinkin of a title like ‘ i warned her’ or ‘she’s so bad (in a good way)’.....or
‘she only wants to rok n’ tease’. or ‘brunettes with red lipstick’ or …
’rock girls with guitars rule’... lol gonna google n see if any those titles are taken.
Tell me if you like any title that appeals. Or if you hate em all..i can take it..
Twas just off the cuff titles on the fly anyway as i was typing this.

If it turns out a junk rok effort on my part at least will be a fun journey.

You just had to get me going didnt ya GH ???? ..lol
Now i’m off to biab/rb all excited n’ cranked up. Loads of work to do.

Best
om

The AC/DC gig...good sound, good playing but I can't stand Brian's squeal n shout.
AC/DC were a pop rock band in Australia when they hit the charts...they played dances, they played the circuit and became too big so didn't fit the pub circuit when it emerged.
Their best songs are still the Malcolm/Bonn ones for me and the best sounding albums were produced by Vanda & Young as it was they who FOUND the sound for the band. The Albert's Studios had a "sound" that was cultivated from the top down.

I highly recommend that you search for a decent rendering of the doco. It's about guitar tone.
Part one is fun but the rest is best.

Look up Heartbreaker. There's several different songs I can recall that use that title. Titles are not copyrightable. I googled it and turns out to be way more than the couple I was thinking about

1 Mariah Carey Heartbreaker 1999 US Billboard 1 - Sep 1999 (20 weeks)
2 Dionne Warwick Heartbreaker 1982 Sweden (alt) 1 - Oct 1982 (21 weeks)
3 Pat Benatar Heartbreaker 1980 France 3 - Apr 1980 (2 weeks)
4 Led Zeppelin Heartbreaker 1969 DDD 13 of 1969, Scrobulate 31 of classic rock, TheQ 156, Rolling Stone 320, Acclaimed 911 (1969), RYM 49 of 1970
5 Sam Browne Heartbreaker 1948 UK 40s Sheet Music 2 - Jun 1948 (22 weeks)
6 Grand Funk Railroad Heartbreaker 1970 France 4 - Sep 1970 (4 weeks), US Billboard 72 - Feb 1970 (6 weeks)
7 will.i.am Heartbreaker 2008 UK 4 - Mar 2008 (26 weeks)
8 Rasmus Heartbreaker 2002 Finland 1 for 5 weeks - Mar 2002
9 Dolly Parton Heartbreaker 1978 Holland 27 - Feb 1984 (4 weeks), US Billboard 37 - Aug 1978 (10 weeks)
10 Ferko String Band Heartbreaker 1948 US Billboard 21 - Mar 1948 (3 weeks)
11 The Andrews Sisters Heartbreaker 1948 US Billboard 21 - May 1948 (5 weeks)
12 Teriyaki Boyz Heartbreaker 2005 Japan (Tokyo) 15 - Oct 2005 (6 weeks)
13 Art Mooney Heartbreaker 1952 US Billboard 24 - Dec 1952 (1 week)
14 Justin Bieber Heartbreaker 2013 US Billboard 13 - Oct 2013 (2 weeks), ODK Germany 32 - Oct 2013 (2 weeks)
15 Blue Lagoon Heartbreaker 2005 ODK Germany 22 - Jul 2005 (9 weeks), Austria 30 - Aug 2005 (1 month)
16 Mstrkrft & John Legend Heartbreaker 2009 UK 50 - Aug 2009 (2 weeks)
17 Glitterati Heartbreaker 2005 UK 45 - Jun 2005 (1 week)
18 Color Me Badd Heartbreaker 1992 UK 58 - Feb 1992 (1 week)
19 Dean Christie Heartbreaker 1962 US Billboard 87 - Nov 1962 (4 weeks)
20 Musical Youth Heartbreaker 1983 UK 44 - Apr 1983 (3 weeks)
21 Lisa Wohlgemuth Heartbreaker 2013 ODK Germany 8 - May 2013 (6 weeks) (1 week in top 10)
22 Ray Charles Heartbreaker 1953 RYM 81 of 1953


BTW: I really like that one She's so bad in a good way".... I might have to steal that one myself.

GH.

1.. nah, wont use word heartbreaker in the title, lyrics or the song. vibe/lyrics...Another title i was kinda liking is…
“Brunettes are the best.” (wifes a brunette..why she puts up with and EVEN contributes to my song madness over the years…i cant fathom..love is blind.)

Ok i have a fee for using one of my title ideas…lmao. One of these tasty treats…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knickerbocker_glory

2.. ive been working away on song arrange in biab. Its gonna be a rock chugger/throbber.
Gonna be loads of work even with pretty simple rock chords. But i dunno if i can pull it off.

I’m very open as to rd’s that might get me close to the ‘snare audio picture’ in the first song ,for example, in that superb river plate vid you posted.
As sometimes i have trouble as i said before finding approp snare in a rock song. I often compromise.
or have to condition. also i'm open to any geetar acdc like geetars//rt's. i'm gradually going thru all rt's.
3.. My concern is whether I can pull off the vocs like i used to do easily.
I cant hit the very high vocal rock notes and screams like i used to as i age..sigh.
So now ive got arrange down in biab, gonna do vocal tests in rb n’ reaps.
Lotsa fun.

Best
Om

Rayc.
One reason i give acdc big respect is how close they come to the studio recordings.
Which is often difficult for any group doing live gigs per Byrons excellent reasoning upthread. different environments etc etc.

for me i love any acdc vocs includeing that argentina vid. i like that gnarly voc character.
it aint easy to do.

thanks for the vid yt link. yep ive been told in the past the acdc history from the beginning. but it was a good vid.

best
om

AND most of the people in the thing are Poms too! 90% immigrants too. We were the lucky country to get 'em.

Guitarhacker.

Re Mustang Micro.

Well ive had time now to test it out.
Gonna return it. Didnt crank me up…sigh,... high gains i found ‘sizzly'.

The search continues ..lol.

best
om

I think Guitar Center is now carrying the Spark line of amps.... go listen and play one and I believe they have a 45 day return policy as well. I think you might actually like it.

The metal models tend to be very high end heavy....sizzly as you say, BUT... the blues and rock models are quite nicely rounded and you can control the tone from top to bottom.

GH.
forgive my gear skepticism.

what baffles me mate is before this tech we have today and dsp chips (which obviously the modelers use) and plug in vst's …huge records were done with the amps of the particular era. so why arent the guitar amp manufacturers able to do it today ? every time ive gone to my local gear store in recent years (before covid) not even the pricey amps cranked me up.

maybe the dsp chip tech isnt there yet ?

when i listen to all the tech today and the 'sizzles' that drive me nuts (so i have to 'condition' the guitar trak ) i wonder if the gear manufacturers ever listen to classic rock records like 38 special hold on loosely and loads other songs.

actually to be fair to peavey mate, one of the few amps i got here now is a vpyr that i like . i can get close to the classic tones i want…but not all the way there.
if ya know what i mean...sigh.

and heres whats amazeing one of the best lead classic rock tones ive ever heard was in a big studio from a huge talent session guitarist who only had a cheap 'pignose'
and a few pedals. he was just magic on the recorded traks.
just nailed the classic tones i love.

best
om
ps...lol just to screw up my week, my headphones gave up...so i need new open backed around ear. a great pair of cheapo phones. under 100 buckies. someone posted a recommend recently , but i lost the pg thread.

Headphones...

A quick look at Sweetwater showed only two openbacks between 80 and 130. AKG K240 MkII and Yamaha HPH-150B.

For many years I used the original K240-sextet and they were superb, but after around 40 years the cable started to disintegrate ... run over too many times by my office chair. The K240 MkII are not as good as the Sextet version, but they're still pretty good, IMHO. Of course my ears are less good now.


I did wonder how much more for my K702 headphones, which are notably better, but they were way out of the target price range ($409). :-( Curiously they're not priced soo far away from my usual dealer in the UK (£175). I guess that reflects demand and geography.

Another example of great hard rock no 'sizzles'.
last night i was playing along to judas priests rocking out to 'youve got another think comin'.
a very catchy song imho. with some cute ways its played on guitar.
just pure great hard rok….and no sizzles.
i got very close with my jackson + peavey vpyr amp combo. .
and no silly sizzles on the jp record or my amp. i think jp used uk amps ?
marshalls ? for hard rock i used to be kinda partial to crates myself.
now question…..
what amp in a pedal will give me that rhythm and lead rock tone ?
it amazes me that these sorta rock songs were done without the tech/impulse responses/vsti
plug ins many use today which i find often frustrates me.
i just wanna plug in n' rock out instead of fiddling for ages with IR's//vsti's//menus etc etc lol.
which is one reason i like the vpyr , not much fiddling about.
any ideas ?

happiness.
om

Gordon.

cheers for the recommendations // phones.
but i managed to fix my akg's.
soooh many new brands eh ?

Your starting point in almost certainly going to be a Marshall 2203/ 2204 (JMP master volume/ JCM 800) with EL34 power tubes and not 6550s along with a healthy dose of either phase shifter or chorus and delay.

At that time, KK was probably playing a Flying V and Glenn an SG.

You also need to be aware that there is a ton of post processing.

I get the whole aversion to the modeling amps. I was that person too. Give me a Mesa and a 20ft cord and a Gibson guitar with humbuckers, crank it up and screw the rest. I played professionally like that for quite a while. No pedals, no FX, just tubes, guitars, and a couple 4x12 cabinets.

However, as a studio player now.... I can't get the versatility I need from just one amp when I'm covering everything from rock to country and more. It's nice to have options.

In addition, with the S-40, I run direct so the volume issue with the Mesa cranking to get that sweet roasting tube tone is not an issue. The modeler does it. Yeah, some of the tones in the modeler can be "sizzly" but I can normally dial in a good EQ that removes that high end fizz. However, a modeler is just that...a model of the original. It might be close, but you're going to be hard pressed to put a modeler side by side with the amp it's trying to emulate and do a comparison and not hear a difference. If you want a cranked Marshall or Mesa.... get a Marshall or Mesa and crank it up. Unfortunately, I have neither the space nor the money to afford to have every amp in the S-40 modeling list....so.... the S-40 is the trick for now.... unless I decide to use the Mesa...

for what I need it to do, the Spark 40 does a reasonable job considering everything.

For the record, what I have an aversion to is not amp modeling but presets. Particularly ones that allege to make you sound like a particular record because it's nothing but BS marketing hype.

Byron.

you make very good points. unfortunately i cant justify the high end marshals, some costing several thousand unless i win a lottery lol.. i just looked up the latest prices...goodness.

you also make excellent points bout post processing.
ive seen this 'magic' in big studios.

as i said upthread i was blown away once in a studio by
a session pro gtr player who brought in nothing more than a pignose amp and a few pedals. he was an amazeing talent what he could do with little. but again there was post done.

re marketing, yep ive been disappointed before more than once.

happiness/best

GH.

i think what i will do is try n' rent sparky from my
local gear store n' see if it meets my needs.
as i was uk born i think its amazeing all the great guitarists uk produced over the years. (not moi).

i'm in awe with the shads for example n' h marvin.
and what they could do before all the tech we have today.

happiness/best

om

So... those presets are based on someone else's opinion and gear that is connected to that particular amp/modeler. If they used a guitar with dual humbuckers and I use a different guitar with perhaps single coils, or even humbuckers of a different kind.... nope... it's not going to sound exactly the same. Close, but still not exact.

However, what I have learned is that to get a certain sound, whether it's a guitar model preset or a preset in Ozone or some other FX processor, the preset is often a very good starting point. I take that preset, tweek it and then save it with an overwrite and it's now MY preset and even then, when I go to use it in a project.... it's almost always nothing but a starting point for the sound I seek.


NOTE: Here's something else I have learned.... Even when I played professionally, I would have nights where I just couldn't seem to get the tone dialed in while using the same gear nightly on the same stage I had played before. Then there were other nights where it was sweet from the sound check and throughout the show. Mesa Boogie and Gibson tended to give me the tone more consistently once I got the Mesa. Point being.... tone varied for me even using the same gear from night to night. Not by much, and others in the band didn't notice or say anything.... other than "it sounds good to me" .......

Nope, but some of the amp sims are real good these days.


See! A great player can plug into anything and sound good.

Bingo.

That perfectly illustrates the points I've been trying to make.

Thinking that you are going to buy Jimi Hendrix, Slash, Eddie Van Halen or anyone else's tone and have it in a box, available to you at the push of a button, is foolishness.

What I've learned about presets is that I spend too much time scrolling through them looking for one that is almost right and then having to spend more time tweaking it and too little time actually playing.

Its a lot faster once you learn how your gear works and how to get the sound you're after from scratch.

I know a chap with a Kemper.
He's found that A LOT of the presets shouldn't be tweaked as they fall apart very quickly where as a profile can be managed well. Starting with a basic amp and work from there in other words.
I'm no fan of such tech but the fellow writes & records a lot of guitar music in his apartment so the Kemper is his best option.

Then again - for those into specifics...

or



or



or


etc.

I have no interest in such things but they exist and there's a market for them.

A full disclosure I use Amplitube 5 for all of my guitar recordings. But getting a Hendrix pedal, a Mosrite guitar, Les Paul, any amp sim, etc will not make you sound like the idol you are trying to emulate unless you have the chops to go with them. No matter what guitar, amp, amp sim,etc you give me I will always sound like Mario. I am not that good of a guitarist to emulate anyone but at this stage of my life I have fun and I am happy with my playing and that is the only thing that matters. YMMV

PS - Playing in wedding bands for years made me a jack of all trades but a master of none.

well i have to say after listening to lots of you tube vids, and given the age of my peavey vpyr ,
and the fact i got it cheap. i'm certainly not gonna let it go. compared to lots of gtr gear ive heard for me anyway i think it does a pretty decent job. i like the ease of use.

ive struggled to find anything better for what i paid for vpyr. i use it in conjunction with reaps built in IR amp models often.

i'm not willing to spend at the kemper or helix level cos outside my budget and concern bout gear obsolescence. same concern , even tho i love the processors. re apple macbooks.
ie now the m2 cpu is coming out, can m1 systems be upgraded ? i'm glad now i didnt plop for a m1 mac.

on the subject of 'getting those sounds we all love' , i had an interesting discussion once in a studio with other musos way better than i on why with the same settings next day one couldnt reproduce the sound one liked the day before. this has happened soo many times to me over the years. one discussion centered bout maybe it was differences in temps or humidity.
and 'fingers' of course.

frankly like mario its all bout great enjoyment to me doing songs.
cos i'm not a great guitarist i resort to often several test traks, and i'm comping of course.

i'm a good comp/cut/paste jockey…lmao.

but then if i get very self critical i remind myself how many times ive seen big name guitar players completely muck up at a live concert i went to.


best
om

ps listened to the vids up thread (thanks Rayc)...frankly didnt crank me up cept maybe the hendrix pedal in some places.

I recently bought a Lester-G Pedal not to sound like Buddy Guy or any other top name who use Leslie Pedals. I bought it because it had the sound I wanted. If an item has the sound you want - go for it. But to attempt to sound exactly like Hendrix or any other person is going to be a waste of money. IMHO.

...Deb

I agree - there's a huge market for it though....there can't be that many tribute bands out there so it must be the hoe chugger's desire.

The Peavey VPYR is quite popular with metal heads I see...it does have the top end fizz/sizzle that is common on modern metal.
A few of the amp models sound like they have a turbo phaser blended in.
if it works for some one then it's a good thing.

actually when i got the vpyr my initial impression was same ...its for metal heads.
(i'm not a metal head even though I've sung such in the past for fun. rocker yes.)

what i discovered with vpyr was its very flexible. including pretty decent clean tones.

the key is backing off a tad the separate gain pot on the vpyr and/or the vol pot on gtr…then it cleans up rather nice. also vpyr on its amp model selection pots..one only need push one and one gets a cleaned up tone setting.
another variable is which gtr pickup one opts to use etc.
in summary there are lots of settings on vpyr that i like.

so in summary having listened to a load of modelling gear/pedals etc i guess i was taking the vpyr for granted. the key with it is to work the many amp models built in both clean and odrive.
in conjunction with IR vsti plug ins in the daw.

but still , …i'll keep an open mind and try 'sparky' out at my local gear store….once my docs feel its safe . (me getting covid is my docs concern.)

best
om

Looking for something affordable to take with me for vacation I bought me a NUX MG-30. I have always been in favor with the "real stuff", like valve Marshalls, Fender Twin Reverbs and the respectice cabs, but I think those times are over. Just too much heavy stuff to move around and too expensive in the end.
Those modelers have become pretty good in the recent years and offer a lot of options and sound flexibility for recordings, that would not so easy to be achieved with the legacy equipment. I had also used the VOX Tonelab SE in the recent years and a lot of my expensive legacy equipment just stood in a corner of my basement since.

Compared to Amplitube 5 and Native Instrument's Guitar Rig, the NUX MG-30 is a very good alternative for me, offering the same flexibility and sound quality or it even goes beyond. I think it was a good choice to get it.

The setup and handling complexity related to the NUX device flexibility can be dramatically reduced by using the remote editing tools for the PC, NUX offers for free. But be aware: You should elaborate some strategy on how to sort your presets and how to wire it up. And like with every legacy guitar/amp combination you have to adjust the parameters for what you have in mind. Generic factory preset sounds can be a starting point, but not more than that.
If you are willing to try out, everything should somehow be possible with those machines nowadays. I doubt that there is too much of a difference between them, apart from features, brand name, marketing and price. But it takes effort to learn how to handle them.