Has A Modeler Tempered Your GAS?

Modelers are cool and, depending on a player's situation, may be all that is ever wanted/needed. I currently have three very different low watt tube amps that I enjoy. But you never know...

 

i've got, I dunno 18-19 amps, some modelers, some tube, some sort of in-between.
GAS comes and goes, and thus-the amps come in the door...
they don't seem to go anywhere, though

 

Hasn't yet anyway, but I am waist-deep in amps these days. I actually like the visual aspect of each amps as much as the tone coming out of them, so one amp to do it all wouldn't satisfy me.

If I was to lose my house or something and had to streamline to the basics....maybe then, but I hope that situation never shows up.

 

That means you have both AAS and ASS.

Amp Acquisition Syndrome
Amp Storage Syndrome.

 

I'd say it means more that I've got the means and the space, and feel no pressing need to keep a rotating door going, in and out

bottom line=it means i'm not married, and I'm my own man

 

Idk, I’m always just looking for “the one.” Even when presented with modeling stuff i try to only use one model and pivot to different points either by what “cab” or what guitar I use.

IRL I modded a tweed deluxe to go from stock through brown princeton, and now am working on getting it beefed up to do the 5e5 thing too. At that point I just only want to use that amp and have a couple of cabs for it, swap tubes as necessary for the gig. I wish I could mess around with SHARC DSP well enough to just replicate it exactly when using modeling.

Sure it’s fun to try on an or-120 or a jtm45 through a full stack once in a while, it’s like going to a costume party. but ultimately, if you’re not playing out with one in a project on a regular basis, what’s the point of owning one?

I guess I also admire a lot of famous dudes who basically had two or three signature tones and never deviated.

 

nope. I now have the hots for a Morgan AC-20 after playing the Fractal model of it. The only thing stopping me is that I don't have the money and I don't have anyplace to put it.

 

I keep wanting more amps. But I mainly run everything direct through my computer. So once I add something like a SSL channel strip plugin with a tape saturation plugin, the modeler or amp sim is just easier to deal with. Less wires and clutter.

 

I started off recently with a modeler, then the grass appeared greener, and I bought two tube amps just to be sure. I'm keeping them all for the time being.

 

Aha! AES. Amp envy syndrome. Blowtorch probably has one sitting in his basement.

 

Maybe I'm mostly alone on this, but I think the answer for me is a tentative yes. I got a high end modeller. It's pretty much all I use now and I have no strong urge to buy another amp. Or pedals, for that matter. It's flexible enough to get whatever basic sound I want, does my bread-and-butter sounds well, and sounds and responds correctly at most any volume. I agree with loopfinding that in practice you find a small number of settings and stick to them, so the flexibility angle is overselling things. But I have the ability to create the basic sounds I want in the event that I do want something different. That does help with the GAS. I haven't bought an amp or pedal since I got my modeller and it's been more than six months so I'm reasonably certain the honeymoon period is over.

The only downside that I can see is that it still isn't quite the whole body experience of playing a cranked tube amp with the guitar right in front of the cab. The way the two start interacting with feedback etc...that's special and you don't quite get that with a modeller. But it's also finicky and hard to manage, especially if you're doing most of your playing in a residential area. It also doesn't help you if you're big on the satisfaction of just having the thing around. Some people just love the idea of having a marshall halfstack or a Twin whether it's practical or not. I get that.

On the whole I like modellers now. They used to have obvious shortcomings, but the new ones are pretty great.

 

Most of the time when I want to play with a particular sound, ballpark is close enough. Sometimes it’s not; it just depends on the ballpark.

At those times, I usually turn to pedals. Sure it costs money compared to settling for whatever’s in the amp, but it’s a lot cheaper than that $3,500 half-stack I don’t have room for.

One thing that has saved me a lot of money has been the Line 6 M5. Just having all those pedal models available has probably kept me from spending $2,000 on more of those little foot ticklers.

 

My GAS comes and goes in phases. I hit a hardcore amp phase a little while back, now it’s a pedal phase, as soon as spring hits a little harder it’ll be a golf phase.

There is very little chance escaping...

 

Not really, but I don’t need more than one of each, so I guess my GAS is satisfied with one modeler and one tube amp.

One can’t do all that the other can do and vice versa.

I use the modeler for recording. It’s quick and easy, sounds good, and I don’t need to worry about the volume of the amp, microphone placement, and background noise (which there is often a lot in my house).

But for pure enjoyment and jamming, it’s the tube amp. Can’t beat that tube amp warmth and feel.

 

My opinion is that the modeler (not modeling amp) needs to run through a tube amp. So you need one tube amp that will do cleans. And no, I don't like them through a solid state amp. They should sound good, but they seem to be missing that edge that tube provides.

Would one of the modeling amps with tube power section fill my needs? Maybe. But I'd have to try one . Perhaps post Covid.

Meanwhile,

The difference being that those guys only had to produce their sound. If you're doing covers, you need a lot of people's sounds. They also usually had an engineer... and he had tricks to add. .

 

I've got a storage room full of amps, a dozen or so of all types.

I've been using a tube amp with a modeler for a couple of years now, and that rig does pretty much everything I need it to do.

I still like dragging this amp or that out every once in a while, though, just for grins.

- D

 

I have a Helix LT and I don't really have much desire for anything else right now.

Although, a I recently played a Blackstar Studio 10 6L6 10W that sounded pretty good.

 

well to be fair, a lot of us too only need to produce our sound. i've never made a living off of music, and i've only played originals in every band i've been in. absolutely if you're a hired gun you need a tool for every job, and if you're a studio you better have a bunch of amps or high end modeling.

but i always get a chuckle out of the weekend warriors who are essentially in the same boat as me, agonizing over emulations or their collection or bringing multiple amps to the gig for the local drunks at the bar, as if it were all so mission critical.

 

My problem with tube amps is I get them home, play them in the room and fall in love. Then I hook up a load box and plug it into my Helix to pick up an ir. Then I bring up a similar Helix amp with the same ir. I switch back and forth until I get the Helix amp sounding almost the same as the real amp. Then after a few months, I look at the real amp and think “Why do I still have that?”

If I gigged, it would be different. I’d probably use the real amp, even if direct.