Simon Dorn
Well-known member
Thanks!
MetalHeadMike
Well-known member
They can give a general sense of the voicing I think in some instances but I think Racerxrated's point is one I have said like a broken record, you'll never get an in the room sense, the feel under the fingers, the air moved, the harmonics, etc. Not saying I don't listen to clips because they can be very entertaining, but I never expect an amp in a clip to be what I get out of the same amp if I pull it into my room. Soooooooo many variables that affect everything.You'll never know unless you play it. But Clips are useful nevertheless. You get the idea.
I like watching crappy clips, when i want to talk myself out of a buying decision.
Clips have less than zero to do with my amp purchases...I much prefer getting descriptive feedback from folks that have owned an amp I'm interested in. Even though semantics can skew that too, to me its far more valuable than any clip. But we are all for sure different.
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Racerxrated
Well-known member
So, back in 14 I used the EVH settings on the lead ch, which if I remember right were: B 8-10, Mids 3-5, Presence 10, Treble-bring up from 0 till it just gets bright enough...Gain was 5-7, then I boosted it with a simple Dano Fish n Chips EQ pedal, frown mid bump. Through a G12 65 cab it was glorious. With that boost it was tighter too...maybe not metal tight but def 80s HR tight.
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Racerxrated
Well-known member
So much this....
I totally get that we just can't always play before we buy, so clips are helpful but they just don't tell the whole story. I'd rather get a good description from one of us here at RT, than just write something off because of a clip that doesn't do much for my ears.
MetalHeadMike
Well-known member
Absolutely. Detailed conversations are worth much more to me than clips. Honestly I've only ever had two or three duds, amps that I absolutely hated and flipped almost immediately. The rest have been enjoyable to very enjoyable...some purchases I've made based on chats with folks and their descriptions and many purchases result from me developing an interest and just saying phuck it..I just buy it. If I like it cool, if not no biggie...just flip it.
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ChuggNorris
Banned
Well-known member
I found all of this similar and really unpleasantly clanky. Only sounds good after the chord is ringing out for a minute. The picking and notes all sound so scratchy and clanky when you're palm muting.
My own opinion of course.
VH1R2
Member
Damn that 5150 growls, I like both. The 5150 FTW
Rex Rocker
Well-known member
I know you prefer the Marshall, but I personally couldn't disagree more.
Not to say it sounds bad. But since it came after the 5150, to my ears, it certainly doesn't sound better. I don't hear it as being more dynamic whatsoever. If you look at the waveforms, I'd bet a million bucks the 5150 has higher peaks because of how that low-end responds. The Marshall doesn't sound nearly as full. The low-end sounds thuddy and spongy by comparison. The attack also sounds kinda soft. Somehow I feel it sounds both looser and thinner.
I'm overly exaggerating, TBH. But it's kinda hard not to when you're comparing both so directly.
But I don't mean to come off as a douchebag hater. I just liked one tone more than the other, but both were great and I wished I had either amp, LOL.
Not to say it sounds bad. But since it came after the 5150, to my ears, it certainly doesn't sound better. I don't hear it as being more dynamic whatsoever. If you look at the waveforms, I'd bet a million bucks the 5150 has higher peaks because of how that low-end responds. The Marshall doesn't sound nearly as full. The low-end sounds thuddy and spongy by comparison. The attack also sounds kinda soft. Somehow I feel it sounds both looser and thinner.
I'm overly exaggerating, TBH. But it's kinda hard not to when you're comparing both so directly.
But I don't mean to come off as a douchebag hater. I just liked one tone more than the other, but both were great and I wished I had either amp, LOL.
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Rex Rocker
Well-known member
Also on the clips debate, well-mic'd clips like this do give you an idea of how an amp records. For me, that's as important as how an amp sounds in the room.
Simon Dorn
Well-known member
That's always extremely subjective.
Simon Dorn
Well-known member
Sure.I found all of this similar and really unpleasantly clanky. Only sounds good after the chord is ringing out for a minute. The picking and notes all sound so scratchy and clanky when you're palm muting.
My own opinion of course.
Simon Dorn
Well-known member
I think you are right.
I tried to match the gain and the fullness of the 5150 with the Marshall, by cranking the gain and boosting the Bass.
That did compress it quite a bit.
I have totally different settings now.
I change them constantly.
I'm always fighting with the Amp.
And i'm waiting desperately for my JP-2C to arrive which i ordered 2 and a half years ago.
Of course i had one before, but i sold it too fast.
Simon Dorn
Well-known member
Btw.: I hope you use at least good Headphones.
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braintheory
Well-known member
Yes, but for me at least I like descriptions/reviews from others where I know they have experience with lots of legit gear and know them well enough to know their types of general opinions and if that checks out then for me as well it tends to help me more than clips. I like restaurant or hotel reviews for similar reasons
I joined this forum in the first place for user opinions/experience with amps I hadn’t yet been able to try and was curious about. For clips I always had YouTube to go on, but it quickly had its limits for me like not the best clips or with most of the rare amps I cared about no clips period
There are great sounding clips of not great sounding amps in person and vice versa and once I realized that, I realized clips are not always the best resource to go by. If recording were easier to do well I guess it would be more reliable and we could all demonstrate our gear better
I think because recording is a learned skill of its own much like playing guitar, we can have great sounding clips of bad amps that misleads us and also bad sounding clips of great amps that also misleads us. There still is no substitute for trying the amp ourselves in person, but I still like reading intelligent/informed opinions and hearing well done clips
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Racerxrated
Well-known member
Let's revisit the 5150II SLO clip. By that clip, yes they both sound nearly identical. Yet, I've played both, and they are VERY VERY different in person than that clip can show. For example, the 5150 is a tighter amp by a good margin straight in. The SLO is an amp that has the clarity to make the 5150 sound smeared at best. The SLO has a 3D bloom to it, that not many other amps have...ime only a Wizard or a good vintage Superlead/Rev C Recto/C+ has. I'm sure there are more amps that bloom like that but my experience are those I mentioned. But the 5150, any of them, they don't have that. The voicing OF COURSE is going to be close since it's common knowledge that the 5150 was the amp that Peavey designed after EVH gave them his SLO and said "make it this!".
For some, these differences I mention are small and don't matter. But, for me and many others these differences end up HUGE in our opinion of an amp, and they can make/break our decision on a purchase. That's why clips just don't tell me much other than a 'general' tonal example, which is cool, but to me it's less than half the story I want to know about an amplifier.
Bram576
Well-known member
I think majority of the time people say clips aren’t representative of how an amp sounds are listening to stuff on an iPhone. If you have a monitoring system or hook your phone up to your Bluetooth on a system, or car I can definitely get a real feel of what an amp sounds like. I think some factors like compression and overall clarity may differ from there depending on how high an individual runs the gain themselves... But I don’t feel like I’ve ever got an amp and been shocked one way or the other after hearing it; again I hear these on a good system.
I’ll add that 9/10 people don’t even know you can turn your iPhone sideways to get an actual stereo image and is how they designed the speaker set up lol
The other thing worth thinking about is if you’re listening to a mono signal or stereo signal. Obviously listening in real life you have a full stereo image vs some videos that are mono and not fully engulfing. Why some guys like iPhone videos vs a mono sm57 signal.
I’ll add that 9/10 people don’t even know you can turn your iPhone sideways to get an actual stereo image and is how they designed the speaker set up lol
The other thing worth thinking about is if you’re listening to a mono signal or stereo signal. Obviously listening in real life you have a full stereo image vs some videos that are mono and not fully engulfing. Why some guys like iPhone videos vs a mono sm57 signal.
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Simon Dorn
Well-known member
Yes. You need to know them and their taste.
Simon Dorn
Well-known member
You need to know and consider all the variables in the Clips.
Yes. Of course. All of that But i don't hear the SLO as being an amp with clarity.
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tjnx
Member
I prefer the 5150 as the percussiveness lends to a bit more clarity. Your mic setup may be contributing to this, or you may need to dial the 800 more towards what the mic hears & translates vs how it sounds in real life. I'm sure the marshall sounds sick in the room but here its a bit smear-y.
I think if you lowered the gain a bit and added a high pass filter it would help.
I think if you lowered the gain a bit and added a high pass filter it would help.
T
tjnx
Member
A big part of the reason most people don't pick up on is his signal chain. Doing the reactive load into his daw + a speaker sim makes most of the inputs sound the same. The sims do a lot of coloring and the AD / DA conversion destroys it further.
I understand the convenience but I'm kinda tired of hearing $$$$ amps all through the same IR. Never heard it sound better than through a mic, even a room mic would be better