The Problem with Modern Amp Sims

Do you procrastinate by chasing "perfect" guitar tone?

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Contemplation - Maarten Schellekens

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[maxrice]

Another thing to consider: we don’t usually listen to electric guitar in a vacuum. If you have an amp tone dialed in and it feels like it’s lacking something, try layering more tracks and recording other instruments with it. You might find the guitar doesn’t sound so bad as you start combining it with other elements. :)

[thomastucker]

I was recording an artist who has a JP 2C in the studio. We were short for time and wanted to track an entire song in just a few hours, we did just that. I pulled out a plugin, had him go through the rhythm track and dialed in what I thought was the perfect sound in a couple of minutes. Had we started firing up amps and mics, we wouldn't be able to just sit in front of the monitors and drop tracks. I pulled a Mesa Dual plugin for the lead, added just a chorus pedal plugin, sounds great. I took the simple approach, didn't dig too deep into speakers, mics, none of that. Where I thought this video was going, my thoughts, most of this stuff sounds about the same. It comes down to the performance. I love plugins because I have zero concern of external noise, like somebody opening a door, a cough, whatever. I have only been recording live drums and vocals. I love my Fryette amp and it sounds fantastic, but time is often hard to come by and the speed I can drop tracks with amp plugins has been huge. Of course, the times I cannot get to the studio, I sit at my desk and record track after track and when the wife yells, "dinner time" it doesn't become a song lyric.

[nosidemusic]

As a husband, father, producer, and artist this definitely resonates with me. Workflow is so important and I simply don’t have the time to drown in an ocean of options. Sometimes simplicity is the key and less truly is more.

Fantastic video Mick!

[Tt-ntiu]

Actual amp, load box, IR of your cab you made.

Easy peasy.

[stiman]

This is the first video of yours that I watched, it was recommended by the almighty algorithm. This is really well done, good job!

[fallenshallrise]

The problem with all these amp sims is that they are all getting super close to cloning a tube amp sound, but it's the same amp. A JCM800 through a V30 - or a modded JCM800 style circuit with more gain - all with a tube screamer up front to rip out all the low end. The dream of modelling is not to have 1000 versions of the same sound, it's to have 100 different sounding amps without having to buy and store them all. Props to all the companies making their own unique tones or modelling all the weird and rare amps out there.

[ghost.bird.studios]

Awesome video, this is something I'm constantly struggling with as well. The better you get at production, the more gear you accumulate...the less creative time you have. Thanks for highlighting that, much needed right now!

[mrnelsonius]

I went through a horrendous divorce (still am) a year and a half ago. I became broke with no savings over night. So the last year, I decided to never buy new software because I can’t, so don’t even look. I’m writing SO much now being forced to work with what I have. The biggest danger in todays plugin world is that we keep chasing the new without ever REALLY learning what we have. There’s a time for exploration but what an artist really needs to get work done is a finite set of tools to start and finish a project.

[TheMetaldudeX]

I’m learning guitar. Bought a boss Katana in 2020. I fell into this trap and spent more time finding a sound then practicing. I can’t play but fell into the gear trap. I returned it. I fell in love with the Amped roots free plug-in. Sounds good, models an amp bands I listen to use, don’t need to fidget around to get a decent sound. I just get to practicing.

[animaegray]

Yeah, it's a real problem, but I would argue that one of the chief reasons in not the option paralysis per se, but rather not having experience with the production side of things. One of the biggest lightbulb moments for me was realizing that human hearing is very adaptive and you quickly get used to a certain tonality, whether it's objectively (in some sense) good or not. Meaning, you cannot simply tweak knobs until it sounds good because the brain can compensate massively for sketchy frequency response. A good example is to try and pull down a narrow frequency band, ideally around high midrange, try 2khz-6khz, very narrow Q, and pull it down around -6db to -10db. Listen for a bit, and disable the EQ. You'll hear a very very nasty screechy resonance now that you swear wasn't there before. It's because your brain got adjusted to hearing the tone with that cut on and when you turn it off it emphasizes the difference. It's the same exact issue with tweaking - you get used to how a certain IR sounds, you get used to how you tweaked the tonestack, the amount of gain, the EQ you put after the cab, and all that. It can be a terrible fatiguing sound, but if you got used to it you will be entirely oblivious of this fact.

The only way to get out of this mess is to first have a monitoring system that you're reasonably sure is somewhat flat and then A/B your guitar tone to guitar tones found on records. There's a really big catch though - tones on records are double tracked (or even quad tracked) and it's relatively rare to catch a moment where the guitar is playing just by itself. But this exactly what you need to find - songs where there are snippets of just the guitar. Then you should grab either the left or right channels of this snippet to get rid of double tracking, and only then you can A/B this tone to yours.

Also, as you get more into production, you'll realize that tone is not that important. Or at least not in the way that guitarists absolutely obsess over it. A great example is simply tweaking the amp knobs - when you do it while playing by yourself, changes are immediate and you're able to discern very minute changes. In a mix the situation is vastly different, the mix tends to bury the small details and those minute knob adjustments you were obsessing over are totally irrelevant, you just cannot hear them. The guitar is just one part of the mix and you need to leave your guitarists' obsession with tone and all that stuff behind, that's the point.

[materedai]

And that's why I minimalized my setup and I try to take it even further. Try to use one device for tones, get 2-3 good tones (clean, dirt and lead) out of it, then delete everything else (from the computer and from the material world too). I have 4 electric guitars now, all in different tuning and i'm thinking about to sell some of them too and get only one that has a lot of guitar in it (i'm talking about an 8 string in standard tuning). I feel like you, I tried a lot of pedals, amp sims and a lot of fancy plugins just to find out that all I need is an HX Stomp and a Whammy V with one or two guitars really. We always seek perfection but we end up without a happy ending. Set the line just a little bit lower and you will be actually more productive and happier with your resoults. Cheers!

[buwumet]

This is exactly why when I get a new amp sim or try one out, I usually give myself a week or two to constantly work on a few custom presets to match my taste with one to three for each standard sound (high gain rhythm, high gain lead, low gain rhythm, clean, and so on), so I have a few to choose from when writing. After that tone search period, I often get tired of crafting sounds in that plugin/sim, so I naturally gravitate toward writing and just choosing the right custom preset for the moment. If something is still missing like some weird modulating flanger delay effect chain, I will still add it later but can just start with one of my custom presets and add the desired effects, without really having to craft the sound again.

[CreativeMindsAudio]

yuuup! Great video with amazing delivery and backing track! This is why templates have saved my life! got a good enough tone to start and write and record. when a new amp sim comes out i often pass on it. Though I DID buy softube's new amp room suite since the marshall and mesa clones are top notch. didn't have anything that could match them so i bought them. I try not to rebuy amp clones i already have that get the tone for a specific amp at near perfect levels. most new things are just as good as the real thing these days. neural dsp i often avoid (though their bass amp/pedal sims are top notch) mainly because when i think of a tone in my head i already have the mic position i want, speaker/cab brand, and amp brand in my mind. so i wanna be able to reach for that no compromises.

[panorama_mastering]

This is so good; I really hope your channel blows up!!

Such incredible care and intention put into this video; great work!

[jasonstallworth]

Great video and solid points! I like to keep things simple as well!

[lacssbb]

You're right man, many of us has jobs and college degrees to finish or even to give some attention to our family and the little time that we had became even shorter by the phenomena of searching the right tone instead of focus in our songwriting and etcetera. Great video dude 🤟

[JWVLL]

I agree with your take (also amazing video production, very captivating visuals and straight to the point). I went through phase of buying and trying each new amp sim, wasting so much time scrolling through presets and adjusting parameters. Though the past few months i started using ML Sound Lab amp sims because of their simplicity and it has changed my approach tremendously in a great way. My only issue (a recurring one for a long time) is latency, maybe a more expensive interface would help solve that.

[Unusednickname_]

This resonates with me. I’ve been down the modeling/profiling rabbit hole a few times and, in retrospect, it’s been a huge waste of time. I take full responsibility. These are powerful tools. However, I tend to spend a lot less time tweaking when I just stick to a good tube amp with pedals.

[HimalSaru]

Very well put into words,
I will love to watch more of your videos.
Subscribed ✌️

[alexdenton]

In fact, the issue at hand stems from the abundance of choices. Having numerous options is undoubtedly fantastic, but it can also be paralyzing.

In the past, the options for amplifiers were limited. There wasn't a wide selection available, and the control over them was fairly minimal. The same was true for effect pedals. Moreover, owning several was a costly endeavor, so people often made do with what they had. This limited selection was sufficient for most, as there was no alternative. Consequently, many musicians honed their skills with the equipment they had.

One might think that the amplifiers of yesteryears were superior, but in reality, they were not. To be honest, they were inferior since they didn't offer the range of controls that are available today. However, their limited nature was, in some ways, advantageous.

Today, my setup consists of a Positive Grid Mini and a Go, which I use daily, coupled with a JBL Party Box 310. They are exceptional in comparison to the tube amp that I used to have. Not only is the sound quality better, but it is also more minimalist, which I find to be a huge plus. However, it’s true that sometimes the sheer volume of options available today can be overwhelming.