Originally Posted By: Guitarhacker
Quote:
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 Dickens



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" .......


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.

Byron Dickens

BIAB. CbB. Mixbus 32C 8 HP Envy. Intel core i7. 16GB RAM W10. Focusrite Scarlett 18i 20. Various instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency.

https://soundcloud.com/athanorsoundlabs