Entertainment For Lively Minds
Nerdy
Posted by Twangothan on 31 January 2011 - 9:25pm.
Can you spot the real amps amongst the software simulated ones? Do you care?
http://emusician.com/web_clips/listening_test/#1_1,1_0_ad21b23c
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I won't even try
I'm always of the opinion that I'll fail nearly all blind tests. (Although I reckon I can distinguish between Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi.)
It's like Stradivarius violins. Even trained musicians can't reliably tell the difference between a Stradivarius and a modern high-quality violin.
I'll listen later, but
I'm pretty sure I could pick them live in the room, and, more importantly, when I'm playing through them (I actually have two of those software modelers). From the player's point of view they react very different to an actual amp.
I got 2.5
I got the two Twins right, and had it down to two on the AC30 but had to rush off on boy duty and fudged it. So a moral 2.5 out of 5.
Chance
If you pick at random you should get 2.5 out of 5.
Not a reply, as such
I know nothing about amps, but good to see you back, Podicle, after your watery woes. Have you managed to clear up yet?
#fail
A good friend sent me this.
I failed.
I blame it on my laptop speakers (and my over-gigged ears)
I don't believe many of us...
...would score high.
For me the difference in amps isn't so much their sound in isolation - it's their dynamic response to my playing, my pedals, my guitar. It's where they break up, how hard you can push them before their headroom maxes out. Amps are an instrument like any other: I can never tell how they're going to sound until I've played through them.
I only listened to one of the AC30 ones
And it jumped at me. And that was only through ultra-shite laptop speakers.
Thanks for the link!
I've actually got Guitar Rig 4, but my poor tweaking skills can't get me anywhere near the "sounds like the real thing" ballpark, so it was a bit depressing hearing some of the more authentic-sounding simulations. I'd agree with the above posts about needing to play them to feel the difference, but even still, an enjoyable test.
Home Recording Show
The Home Recording Show podcast did some good segments on tweaking sim amp sounds to sound more authentic. You can download them or listen on their website. Presonally I have a little valve amp I record with!
I always used to record...
...with a silverface Fender Musicmaster bass amp. It's very similar to a little Princeton, but much more basic - about the most basic valve amp circuit imaginable. God alone knows how they ever got away with marketing it as a bass amp: no headroom whatsoever. But it was a fabulous recording amp.
I kind of miss it.
Thanks
I've got a lovely little tweed Blues Junior, but living in a flat means it almost never sees the light of day. I'll look up the Home Recording Show and see if I can up my game! I find it especially hard to get authentic drive sounds with just a bit of bite. Too often it's either totally distorted or totally clean.
The thing I find...
...about software amp sims is that they can't do slight crunchy breakup in a way that doesn't sound fizzy and thin. The harmonic richness you get from a cooking set of tubes just doesn't seem to be replicable except as cleans or full-on distortions, which is a shame: valve breakup is just about my favourite guitar sound.
Maybe I'm just being a fussy old gear-head though.
Whenever I want to record - home recording at breakup volumes not being an option for me either - I book into a rehearsal space for a few hours and record all my guitar parts then and there. It just means being organised about knowing what I'm going to play before I get there so I can do it efficiently.
Incidentally: Blues Junior. Yum. Nice one.
That's a great idea
and it's fun to be able to let the amp stretch its legs sometimes. And thanks, it's a pretty sweet amp. As you know, living in a flat means I often can't do much more than sit and look at it longingly...
I totally understand.
We're in a 2-up-2-down semi and have small children, so the only time I get to play amplified is if I'm at home during the day.
I'm back down to one amp now: my evergreen, wonderful, long-trusted Marshall Jubilee. Any excuse:
But like you say, it's really nice to properly give the amp its head for a few hours. I still go back to my band's old regular haunt, Bush Studios in Shepherd's Bush, to do my recording. Love it.
Smokey Joe
If you don't have one of these I suggest you get one immediately. Amp in a fag packet. STAGGERING sound through the internal speaker, and incredible through a 2x12.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guitar-Amp-Portable-Practice-Amplifier/dp/B0013N...
I know I've asked you this before
What's the pink one, top left? And the silver one bottom right?
...
Pink is a Maxon AD999 analog delay. Silver is an Electro Harmonix LPB-1 booster.
HRS
Unashamed plug - they are also really good about answering questions which you can post on the site. I've had useful direct email chats with the guys too which has been very helpful.
http://www.homerecordingshow.com/
I too have a tweed BJ. Fabulous eh! But my recording amp was a kit from Guitar magazine which I hand built myself so I know every lovely individual hard wired bit of it! It is now commercially available as a Cornell Romany. There are some great tiny valve amps now though. Little Epiphones, Peaveys and Fenders of 1 or 2 watts. A tip I read in a mag was to build a mini isolation chamber with a cardboard box, cut hole to jam mic in at right level, put in amp and set sound, place on bed/sofa, pile cushions/duvet on top and blast away. Volume is highly muffled. The results can be a little, err, boxy, but still very usable.
Bob and Twangothan...
you're going to give me a recurrence of Gear Acquisition Syndrome, which I thought I had cured myself of!
GAS
is one of those nasty viral things like a cold sore, you can treat it (better asap after it strikes) but it doesn't cure it because there is no cure. You just have to deal with the symptoms to get temporary relief. So buy a Smokey Joe immediately and you'll feel better.
Well...
...if that's what the doctor recommends, then I guess I'd better get one...
trust me
it works. Till the next time.
Ta!
Thanks for all the advice!
My little Roland Cube 30 does a fine job.
The COSM circuits are pretty good. They struggle a bit when you roll off the volume but at high gain levels the sound is admirable. Especially the MESA/Boogie rectifier setting. Goes like a bastard.