I'm James: I'm a Tube-a-holic.... recently, i've been heavily considering going digital. thoughts?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimAnsell
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dcburn said:
I just saw a Marshall DSL40 on my local CL for $400.
That is exactly what I would do.

Tube amp.
Cheap.
Sounds good.
Sounds good at low volume.
Loop works good.
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Agree. I have two of them. They’re cheap and consistent. With a little SD1 push on OD1 with the gain on 6, they sound great. Loop is good as well.
 
MusicIsLife said:
I have no doubt some people can't dial in digital to their liking. If they want to believe it's the technology's fault, then let them ;-)
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Those Brainworx plugins are close enough with Diezel, I’ve used them and mixed with my amp recordings and can’t tell the difference. If they wouldn’t crash my Logic sessions all the time I’d use them more often to record ideas.

Some models in the modelers just don’t sound as good isolated and it’s not a user problem.
 
When I got my divorce back in 2017, I got an electronic drumkit, lol.

For anyone who has gone thru this or currently, I'm sorry. It sucks and is sad, overwhelming, etc. but it will get better.

Don't sell your stuff. Get some type of equipment to harness the power and into an interface. Most of us have our sound. Just keep doing thst and find a way to have super low volume. Keep your amp away from the neighbors wall, etc. I did that for 20 years before getting a house.

I loved having a Fractal but with my 5150-III amps and Friedman, I play way more. My 5150-III amps are whisper quiet until band practice.
 
Sounds
JimAnsell said:
So here is my situation. i am going through a divorce, and i'm not 100% sure where i'm going to be living when this is all over. I might get a house, i might rent an apartment, i just have to see how money looks when this is over. I'm living with my 65 year old mother and then my 3 kids half the week, and i can't really play loud here. So my beloved mark IVa combo that i've had for like 10 years is getting neglected. i don't even have an extention cabinet anymore, so i'm relying on intensive eq'ing (para in the loop always being fiddled with), to get a decent tone when i do play.
When i get the urge and or time to play, it is generally in the extreme early morning hours, or after everyone else is in bed.
I also want to start recording more and producing stuff, rather than just aimlessly noodling for the rest of my life. i'm not in a band anymore, even though the opportunity is for cover band gigs is always a phone call away. Most cover bands are doing the digital thing with in ears

I've had a kemper 3 different times. i love the way they sound and i already have a ton of great profiles if i decide to go back. If i sell my mark IV i can probably get enough for a used Kemper stage, and some type of monitoring solution whether it be a powered speaker, or some decent studio monitors. I'm leaning towards the monitors part because again, i'm mostly playing guitar in one room, sitting in front of a computer anyway, and if it take it to a gig, just going to go through their pa. Kemper would make recording a breeze, and i wouldn't have to invest in mics that are going to sound only so good because of the room i'm in. I also feel like i would actually sit and play more if i had one because i know they sound great with the headphones i have, and every other time i had a kemper, i found myself playing more guitar. so thats another thing kind of pointing me in that direction.

So really all signs seem to be pointing me to going back to digital. I think i'm not in the position in life anymore to have the luxury of owning multiple tube amps and cabinets. money is going to be tight for a while with child support and paying my cost of living. It feels like i'm "giving up" in some weird way, by going digital, but it seems like it would be the smart thing to do right now.

Thoughts? who else went totally digital because they kinda "had to"?
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Sounds like you've made up your mind on the Kemper. That said, even with your situation I'd do my best to hang onto that amp. You never know when things will change, and they will change.

Been there done that with divorce and it truly sucks. I cleaned alot of stuff out (amps, 4x12's, guitars) but saved my most important pieces to me, grateful that I did. Because when the worm turned that stuff was there when I wanted it, which I still have.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Hard to counsel folks . Digital makes alot of sense and it seems like they sound great WHEN SOMEONE BESIDES ME is using it but man they fall short compared to how a tube amp and guitar and cab responds to the room and your fingers. If you need lower volumes and portability it might be the way to go but I still don't think I would sell my amp.
 
Sorry about your situation. I’m in the same positions I’m going to a few amps but not go digital . I play really quiet on my mark III++ . I just add a little more drive than usual on my boost to thicken it up . I do that with a Soul Food atm . But ya these changes suck. I feel ya bro
 
mchn13 said:
That does sound killer! I love mine through ir’s in my monitors but through a poweramp and cab its a little flat I guess.
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Next time you can crank up through your cab, try fucking with the Speaker Impedance Curves in the amp block. I was just curious how they’d interact with everything, coming out of real cabs, I was pretty surprised with what it did. While not technically “right”, it doesn’t so much change the way it sounds coming out of the cab as much as it does how it comes out of the cab at all. Hard to explain, but you’ll notice it right away. It’s like it shifts the focus/direction of the sound coming out of the cabs, even though that’s not what it’s doing.
 
Oh, even as a modeling fan, if you don’t have to sell that Mark IV, DON’T!

I got divorced 2 years ago, lost my studio and I’m in an apartment now, I’m all AxeFX in my studio but still play through real cabs in my living room….just at whisper volumes. I always feel the need to have a functioning live rig ready to go for whenever I feel like dealing with band members again. Best of luck to ya, man! It sucks at first but life got pretty damn good soon after!
 
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Just grab a Boss Katana for times when you need to rock headphones.

It's cheaper, and if you want to deep dive you can just download the boss software and tweak away.
 
RevDrucifer said:
Next time you can crank up through your cab, try fucking with the Speaker Impedance Curves in the amp block. I was just curious how they’d interact with everything, coming out of real cabs, I was pretty surprised with what it did. While not technically “right”, it doesn’t so much change the way it sounds coming out of the cab as much as it does how it comes out of the cab at all. Hard to explain, but you’ll notice it right away. It’s like it shifts the focus/direction of the sound coming out of the cabs, even though that’s not what it’s doing.
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Thanks man. Ill check it out tomorrow. The learning curve is a mofo for me. I literally have it on a desk beside my triple rec dialing in a triple rec model. Its so dumb.
 
Devin said:
I could never go totally digital but tbh my little Yamaha THR10X gets 95% of my playtime. Love that little fucker; sounds good even at mousefart volume and can be used as an audio interface for direct to pc recording (with the ability to simultaneously record a DI track along with the "amp" track for virtual re-amping thru plugins)

They're cheap too
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Unfortunately Yamaha doesn't offer that X model anymore .
 
I view the opposite sex from a distance , much safer that way and besides I now get to take the garbage out whenever I damn well feel like taking it out .

Lets not forget who's imitating who with the real tube amps vs digital debate.
 
RevDrucifer said:
Next time you can crank up through your cab, try fucking with the Speaker Impedance Curves in the amp block. I was just curious how they’d interact with everything, coming out of real cabs, I was pretty surprised with what it did. While not technically “right”, it doesn’t so much change the way it sounds coming out of the cab as much as it does how it comes out of the cab at all. Hard to explain, but you’ll notice it right away. It’s like it shifts the focus/direction of the sound coming out of the cabs, even though that’s not what it’s doing.
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To me, the speaker impedance curve selection is the single most important thing in the axe for getting the tone right to me. It’s so crucial and so extremely important and powerful. Cant imagine not having that anymore.
 
VESmedic said:
Where’s the fucking eye roll emoji for the “digital can’t hang” crowd?
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We don't have one in the RT custom set unfortunately brother. :dunno:

Jim, I hear you 100% on every point you made in your OP.

IMHO one of the main (and perhaps-relevant) advantages of going digital is that mic'ing a cab in a sub-par room, even with top-notch mic's and preamps, doesn't capture a rig in all its intended glory, room reflections and resonances' being responsible for all sorts of unwanted colouration.

IOW, if you're going to record, there can't be a simpler solution IMHO.

EDIT:
A cab sim / load box would be the next-best option IMHO 'cause it eliminates the bad-room problem, but of course this wouldn't afford you the luxury of scrolling through and auditioning thousands of complete setups the way the Kemper does; you'd still be stuck with 1 amp.
 
ccn said:
Unfortunately Yamaha doesn't offer that X model anymore .
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I haven't played one of the new THRII's but supposedly they have every model from the previous THR's built in; if I didn't already have the X i'd snag one for sure

But either way I'm sure a used X can be found for cheap
 
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Jim, Sorry you are going through a divorce, they suck. I know when I went through mine, I could not sell stuff till everything was signed. I am not sure where you are in the process, but something to keep in mind.

I like the idea of just getting a cheap used yamaha THR and keeping the mark IV or a used suhr RLIR that you can use with the mark IV to record.

Hang in there man, there is life after divorce.
 
FWIW, I have an SLO and a 101B, totally a long time tube amp user/recordist....but I also added an AxFX III to the home studio a couple years ago and umm, I've been recording more with it than the others. Keep your tube amps/cabs for a while of course to be safe after you've added a modern modeler and start making tracks with it, see for yourself if its "all that" (I'm betting it will be).
 
I would keep both. Attenuator load box so you can jam your amp, but also pick up a second hand AxeFX 2 or something for digital fun.

Been recording amp and digital guitarists for years and I've done experiments in the past to see if the "purists" can back up their claims. They can't tell what mix is a digital amp or a tube amp when I A/B. They can't tell what they are playing through when I do blind tests with Fractal/Amp Room feeds. Audience don't give a shit either. People on forums will write paragraphs on why you should feel a certain way about a analog/digital but never show you any real world examples, so it becomes an emotional argument. Not worth the time.

If it sounds good, it probably does. Just play loud what ever it is \m/
 
1. Sorry to hear of your divorce. Good news is there is a VERY BRIGHT light at the end of that tunnel to look forward to, I promise you that. It will take a little while to get there, especially with kids involved.

2. I know the Mark series is your all time favorite line of amps and how romantically you’ve talked about them for the past 15+ years I’ve seen you on all the forums. Don’t get rid of yours. Much like all the legendary classic cars that are pretty much all snagged up, the same is going for all the good vintage guitar gear. It has gotten expensive and not easy to replace.

Get an attenuator and be done with it. The Fryette Power Station raw output into a good IR and there is your recording setup right there. Those are even hard to find so maybe go for the Power Load IR or Suhr Loadbox IR.
 
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