Guitar Tone and Amp Modelling. The ultimate question...

[RobRideout]

Howdy, fellas!

I was watching a series of Frost* Reports the other day (namely all of them), and realised that I don't think there's a guitar amp in the cube...

...Could it be?

I really loved the tone of the guitars on EIMA, how did you get them so bowel shakingly brutal and so tooth whiteningly lovely?

[Pedro]

I think Jem uses Guitar Rig a fair bit but probably not that much for guitar(!).
Let's see if Jem will answer....

*writes letter....tears it up and throws it in the fireplace....the pieces float up the chimney....

[E.S.]

Guitar Rig is cool. I'm an Amplitube user myself, but I'll have both when I buy the NI Komplete.

Amp snobs can whine all they want, but the simulations are awesome, and no one can tell the difference in a mix. Besides, does it matter as long as it sounds cool?

[JakeWorrell]

*totally* agree with E.S. here - Amp sims are just too convenient to be ignored and they sound great these days. I'm also an Amplitube user, and have been since the very first version. I remember when I first demoed Amplitube 1, I was just amazed by it.

[Pedro]

This might be a silly question...but can feedback also be modelled or do you need a real cabinet to do that "properly"?

[E.S.]

You just need to play loud enough through the speakers, and it's a proper feedback.  

There is a distortion thingy I use for all my brutal synths called Ohmicide, it has some kind of "feedback" function. Obviously it's not the same, but very fun to mess around with and do sound design. Apply it to a drum loop with the frequencies split, different settings on each band, and it turns into a strange melody.

There's also a guitar emulation software called Slayer or something, it does feedback. Used to have it way back to simulate heavy guitars, but even my crappy playing on a real guitar sounds better.


Oh, and a silly question must have a silly answer: Potatoes! :mrgreen:

[RobRideout]

I've been using guitar rig 4 since pretty much day one and it took me a while to get a sound I was really happy with out of it, but I think once you know how to work it properly it's a fantastic piece of software. I don't know where I'd be without it, to be honest. That and Superior Drummer

[johninblack]

I'm confused, I always thought "The ultimate question" referred to biscuit choice. :?

[Brom]

Being a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to buying things for making music, I have for quite a few years now stuck with Line-6's Guitar port. True, it has its faults, I have one mate who won't touch it due to some of the ghost notes churned out by some of the amp models. However, I have found a couple of tones I really love and I'm more than happy with them.

I also have Zoom's 503 "Amp Simulator" which is OK-ish, but I've yet to use it in anger!

If you want to experiment with feedback effects, and don't want the house shaking to bits and the rest of the family complaining that they can't hear "Emmerdale*" try an E-Bow. With a bit of practice you can get some great feedback type sounds and of course it will sustain until the cows come home!

*That's really not fair as they don't watch Emmerdale... Insert "Downton Abbey"

[RobRideout]

In terms of feedback, I think the problem could be fixed with loudness or different speakers, because at a gig I played a while ago, I DI'd(odd word) my guitar into a laptop running GR4 and then output to L and R PA speakers and that played fine, feedback and all.

[Jem]

Eez nothing to do with me, The Mitch brought his Marshall thingy along. I just took a feed out of that. For my stuff I use Digidesign's Eleven which is nice and crunchy if you play around with it a bit.

[gav]

Good ol' Marshalls

Personally, I've found when using an amp sim when recording guitar, the best thing to do is have the mix coming out of the main monitors, headphones, whatever, and then send just the guitar through a separate output and into any old crappy little guitar amp. This way if you're playing and want the feedback to kick in, you can just move the guitar closer to the amp to get it sustaining

[Mouse]

Speaking of feedback, I love the story of how Snowy White gets the reeeeeeeeally long feedback note during the solo on Hey You on Roger Waters' current tour of The Wall. He has to stand in an exact spot the exact distance from his amps to get it right whilst making sure to hit the note precisely on cue to be in time and to get the full effect with the rest of the show. The audience don't get to see it of course, because there's a bloody great wall in the way, but there is a behind the scenes video on YouTube somewhere...

[JakeWorrell]

Good ol' Marshalls

Good old 'proper' Marshalls. The cheaper models (for example anything with built in digital effects) are dreadful, I've not owned one myself but I've had at least 2 friends with them - 1 guy's broke after a couple of years. the other guy's broke after a few months so he had it replaces and that one also broke.

I suppose you get what you pay for but I've got a Fender Eighty Five solid state amp here that was presumably a cheap version of one of their fancy valve amps and its has been absolutely solid for years.

I also have an Orange Rocker 30 which is awesome but that wasn't cheap so it doesn't count either for or against my argument - gorgeous tone though. phwoarr.

[BrizzleRocker]

Eez nothing to do with me, The Mitch brought his Marshall thingy along. I just took a feed out of that. For my stuff I use Digidesign's Eleven which is nice and crunchy if you play around with it a bit.

Marshall JMP-1 pre-amp I believe with the clever doo-dads including a splendid speaker emulated output option!

For me the Eleven rack or Axe-fx would be preferable to a software modelling solution - because it could be gigged thereby keeping the same or very similar sounds live as on the record.

B