How do you like to hear amps demo'd online?

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More than how you mic the amp I'm interested in what you play. IMHO vids of someone chugging away tells me nothing about the amp. I want to hear some power chords and lead lines as well as some clean stuff if its a 2 channel amp.

I don't care for it in a mix. I want to hear the amp alone
 
splatter":ioo1jgc9 said:
More than how you mic the amp I'm interested in what you play. IMHO vids of someone chugging away tells me nothing about the amp. I want to hear some power chords and lead lines as well as some clean stuff if its a 2 channel amp.

I don't care for it in a mix. I want to hear the amp alone
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Yeah I do my best to do chords, chugs and leads. I'll also do a full mix as well.
 
99% of my playing is me hearing myself in room. So that's what I judge more so.

As far as mic'd, I think if you are more used to hearing mic'd tracks behind the desk I would imagine that you would like mic'd.

I don't fuss about either a whole lot. I generally do a lot of research if I don't know much about it. Odds are that if the amp has been around for a few years I have heard all of the buzz about it and know what to expect

But I would say in room straight up for me
 
splatter":c2sdbjfq said:
More than how you mic the amp I'm interested in what you play. IMHO vids of someone chugging away tells me nothing about the amp. I want to hear some power chords and lead lines as well as some clean stuff if its a 2 channel amp.
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Good point. I like to hear rhythm playing mostly, with a bit of lead. A demo is not the time to show off your chops :no:
 
Playing more styles than Rock would get a lot more people interested. Playing only one type of music is extremely limiting - particularly when trying to sell a product.

Jazz, country, hip hop, disco, funk, rock, blues, heavy metal, R&B, punk, indie, alternative, psychedelic, world, grunge, progressive, Latin, hard rock, etc.

Showing the versatility of it's entire range.
 
Videos are cool, any which way can sound any which way, tone is in the fingers in my world. Has anyone played through a mini Boss Cube? That records great!

Everywhere I play, I get compliments like, "Wow, fucking Boogies sound completely awesome, I'm going to get one!" When a guitar player plays through a C+ for the first time in a band setting they inevitably say, "I get it now, the whole C+ thing, I was skeptical, not anymore." That's something that will never come through a video, you need to feel it right from the speaker/amp.
 
Markedman":3aj790ub said:
That's something that will never come through a video, you need to feel it right from the speaker/amp.
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I'd bet my left nut that everyone agrees on that - a video is a far cry from playing the real thing. The question is more if you can't play it in person, what's the next best thing - even if it's a very distant second? :thumbsup:
 
I feel like none are very good options. I feel like in-room mics tell me nothing. Most of my playing with amps is through impulses or miced up, so I care more about those tones. But unless it's a select few creators doing the demo, most of the guys who mic their amps up don't actually know how to do it, so I have no frame of reference for what the amp sounds like. The ideal scenario for me is to just give me the signal of the head through a loadbox with no cab, so I can apply my own impulses and get a feel for how the amp would sound if I had it. But noone does that, so I just go by amps used on albums and amps I get to try and hear in person.
 
thrashinbatman":yuav8z8r said:
The ideal scenario for me is to just give me the signal of the head through a loadbox with no cab, so I can apply my own impulses and get a feel for how the amp would sound if I had it. But noone does that, so I just go by amps used on albums and amps I get to try and hear in person.
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Interesting. For the recording guitarist that's actually a really clever idea. It'd have to be a good quality reactive load of course, but yeah that would eiiminate many of the the variables like speaker, cab, mic and room.

A further step, you send the amp manufacturer a DI of youself playing and they run it through the amp and provide you with a direct clip. Complicated and fiddly but can't think of a better way if you can't try an amp in person.
 
Somebody just posted an old Lugo ampfest video in the CCV thread to make the point that a stock JCM800 (straight in, no boost) sounds similar to a CCV. That video had mic'd speakers in a band mix (sounded quite good imo). I think that video is a good example of what many have mentioned here...that this method (option 2) doesn't give a good representation of what the amp sounds like in person.

One thing I did learn in this thread is that there are a lot of people that don't really care what it sounds like in person, that's not what they're after. They specifically want to know what it sounds like mic'd up (and maybe in a mix). Optimal clips will have to somehow satisfy both camps.
 
all 3 have their benefits, and will appeal to a larger audience to include them all.

The ONE thing that always drives me nuts is when these guys will demo an amp that drenched in reverb, chorus and or delay... completely washed out the tone, and makes the amp sound like shit. sure there is a place for those things, but DON'T make the entire demo with that crap on. seriously will be the quickest way for me to move on to another demo.
 
Juggernaut completely agree about the effects. I prefer none. I remember hearing some where they had a phase shifter on during the entire clip.
 
stephen sawall":264b46vn said:
Juggernaut completely agree about the effects. I prefer none. I remember hearing some where they had a phase shifter on during the entire clip.
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Another in concurrence.

If it is not built into the amp, I don't want to hear it demo's with the amp.
 
I actually prefer 3. While these clips lack high quality, I feel that they give you the rawest, most uncolored representation of the amp. 1 and 2 are too colored by someone’s recording skills, preference, available recording gear, etc. And more times than not, they all end up sounding the same anyway, I.E. Reza, Ola, Bearded guy, Lamert. If it’s an amp demo, I want to hear the amp, not your recording skills. I’ll take LP Freak’s and Psychodave’s phone recordings any day of the week.
 
close mic and room mic, no processing!!!! I dont care what your band mix sounds like after its all been smashed by processing...
 
So from talking to mates and gathering opinions from places such as this the consensus is... it's impossible to please everyone! :)

These are my generalised observations though:

1. If you close mic and process it to be 'mix ready', it'll probably be considered bright and thin by many.
2. If you close mic without processing, it can feel a bit thick/muddy (especially if using a 4x12), or not cutting/aggressive enough.
3. if you stick it in a mix and make it sound awesome, some feel this is 'trickery' and you can't hear the tone properly.
4. if you do an iphone or similar recording some may like it, many will say it's useless/pointless.

Personally I like to hear 2 if it's just guitar, and 3 is very useful as context is everything.
 
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SpiderWars":1n5u1b4d said:
I think they key is that whatever you choose, make it represent how the amp sounds 'in person' and by that I mean how it sounds without having outside factors like cabinet/speakers/room/mic placement dominate. Some clips do this with either 1 or 3...or both. Some clips sound good but don't reveal many of the differences between amps, they kind of all sound similar. To me that's not as useful in this context.

Hearing in a band mix is a very distant third for me...but still cool to listen to. I just think that without a 'control' it lacks perspective. My old stereo always sounded pretty good...until I got a new stereo. Then my perspective changed.
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Agreed.

Band mix or song, hard for me to rely on that. If anything I'd like to see guys when doing this, just give me the raw track. One track, and don't double the rhythm...keep it as raw as possible.
 
Option 2 and Option 1. Hearing a room mic of what it sounds like in someone else's room is pointless. It won't sound like that in my room. Ultimately Option 2 is the make or break for me as I want to actually make music with guitars and amps and that usually involves more than solo guitar. But I also understand there's a place for hearing a guitar by itself for some things for some people. I generally like Thorn's videos where he starts with an actual song and then spends some time explaining features and twirling knobs. If the actual song doesn't do much for me, I'll never listen to the other stuff, though.
 
I don't despise cam or iphone stuff but I've found that especially phone recordings are anything but represantative of the amp sound. They have if not terrible mics at least compromised and then their compressor kicks in (or limiter or whatever) to not clip the signal and it processes it some more.


End result? A million videos on youtube from guys with great and big collections end up with overpumped bass and chopped off treble like you are in a concert. And it's not a bad sound to be honest and I get why some people like it. But it's not what I want to hear to get a taste of what an amp can do.


Close miced amps produce that recorded sound you use in the mix...if you want to hear that, it's the most "correct" way. At least you get an idea of how the amp will track or feed a signal to a PA.


If you check out ola englund's videos he actually put small bits of cam audio or in the room sound. It's radically different than what he is tracking. One of the reasons he uses that specific lewit M something mic is not because it's the greatest ever for recording but because it sounds closer to what he hears in the room sound-wise.



In hi gain where the add up of overtones (harmonics that are not present in the original signal...pretty much) is most prominent and most critical...the demos can be anything but true.


For cleans and breakup sound I don't give a damn but I'd say it's easier to represent...so to speak.
 
Personally my DSLR and Rode Videomic Pro do what I think is pretty good for in room.

I would take that over a phone clip, but I would take a 'high end' in room than the rode, but then you still have to screw with video shooting.

I don't really make many clips, but for me it does better than an iPhone, and you can set it back -20dB so at least you can get some decent volume recorded with out it sounding like shit.
 
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