Is this a Bad Sign for the Amp Industry?

Use the code JNC40 for a 40% discount off all courses, or JNC100 for $100 off all access membership!

00:00 intro
00:15 when Two Rock are involved in a plugin release, is that a sign?
4:25 the amp industry has said digital doesn't compete with the real thing for years?
5:24 Neural DSP have accelerated this recently?
5:30 does the Fortin plugin stuff show it can actually BOOST the profile of an amp company?
6:32 Didn't Blackstar do a simultaneous(ish) release of a real amp and a plugin?
7:45 in some ways I want Fender/Marshall to concentrate on REAL AMPs? Anyone else feel that?
8:45 traditional modeler arrangement doesn't do much to help the Amp industry?
9:15 hopefully if people embrace this concept, it can keep the amp industry ticking over?

only if you wanted, you could buy me a coffee!

only if you wanted, you could buy me a coffee!

[JohnSmith-isnq]

I'm 48 and spent an ungodly amount of cash on amps until 2009 when I found a Traynor YGM-3 in the trash. Yeah, it was in the trash. One of the cables of the reverb tank was faulty, that's it. I tried it, pulled out my milk crate of pedals from the closet... realized it was what I needed all that time.

I got my forever-amp for free. Everything else was just wasted time and money. It's weird how life works.

[dirk]

I actually sold my tube amp after watching your videos. I bought a pair of Yamaha HS5 speakers, and now I only play with plugins from Neural DSP. I am really happy, I only play in my apartment and I think it did not make any sense to own a real tube amp if I am not doing gigs.
Something that I love about plugins is that I have the presets I like saved, so it becomes "plug and play" and I feel that I can focus more on doing what I love which is making music.
Thanks for your videos John, keep the great work! :)

[RobertFisher]

Tube amps will continue to become luxury items that a few people will buy and most of them will only use them at home with other solutions for gigging. Part is that is the convenience and continued improvement of simulations, but another part is that more-and-more of us aren't caring about the same-old-sounds and are happier with something "good enough" or actually different. This is only bad for the "amp industry" if they don't adapt to the changing market. Just like with any industry, you have to adapt to the times. If you want a tube amp, this likely means that the prices will go up as the economies of scale decrease. Although the flip-side is that overall quality will increase.

[derrickmickle]

Do you know how McDonalds maintains its dominance in the fast food industry decade after decade? It hooks its customers while they are kids with Happy Meals and being a family friendly place parents want to go to. Amp manufacturers are finally getting hip to the fact that most younger players these days are digital natives and more comfortable interacting with their guitars via a computer/phone/tablet than an amp, at least at first. By publishing a digital model of its most versatile amp, Two-Rock is meeting its future customers where they are at, broadening the number of people who know about the brand, and giving more people a chance to experience the Two-Rock sound first hand. Smart move.

[Mr_Woodchuck]

For those of us who are in the market for boutique amps modelers and plugins are a great way to demo before buying. It's hard to find some amps in person to demo at a store. I have bought multiple boutique amps after I enjoyed using it on my fractal.

[digits]

People need to understand the difference between "sound" and "feel", sound can be easily recreated - it's the feel under the fingers that you cannot replicate, apart from that explanation - I'm all in for plug in's - I want a Marshall Silver Jubilee plug in 🙂

[jonseyrocks]

Amplitube has various plugin licenses for Fender, Mesa, Orange, SVT, THD, Engl, Carvin, Dr Z, as well as a number of pedal companies/models. They also held the license for the SLO100 before it went to NeuralDSP (they also have some specific Mesa models). I doubt that these have prevented anyone who actually wants (and could realistically afford) the physical amp from buying them.

They're just aimed towards a different market, one that likely wouldn't consider these amps normally due to financial or practical reasons (no point in getting a 100w plexi if you mostly play in a small apartment). Now, Two Rock can go after people who might not be able to afford the physical amps, but consider a sub-$200 plugin is much more reasonable.

Besides, the existence of countless Klon clones hasn't diminished the desire for the OG pedals, has it? Not even the made-by-the-same-guy KTR.

[yikelu]

From economic theory, having more price tiers typically benefits suppliers as they reach a wider audience.

I think plugins cannibalize amp sales a lot less than floor modelers and modeler pedals. You don't want to bring your laptop and an audio interface to a gig, but you will stick a UA Dream or HX Stomp on your board to replace your amp.

[hawedehre]

The intro jam was the best part of the video. There is nothing wrong with having guitar amps. That’s why it is called electric guitar. I can play a plug in grand piano over monitor boxes or spend a lot of money for a real piano, that you can’t take to a gig. That’s the extreme example.

[ThePlanarchist]

Interesting, as usual.
I'd certainly not ever considered a Dumble until I got the Helix I might go as far as considering the UAD pedal of it? But speaking of UAD I was considering the UAD Ruby until the plugin version came out and a quick trial suggested it wasn't better than anything I already had in either HX or Tonex.
As for marshall, I think they've left it far too late, the more logical thing for them would be to licence it to someone...and get back to aming amps (particularly the Marshall Mercury Combo from the '70's so I could more easily get mine serviced!).

[jordanguthmann]

Two Rock could either release a plugin and get $$$ or let others capture their amps and then sell those captures across every platform without Two Rock getting a penny. It's the amp industry's Napster moment.

[mattc]

I think digital is great and amps are great. They have different use cases. I feel very lucky to live in an age where we have both. Owning a Two Rock plugin would be unconnected to a decision on owning a Two Rock amp.

[martinreid]

An interesting video, I'm still old school my plug in is my strat into my pedal board into my amp. Thanks for posting.

[thedatabody]

The pedal models inside the L6 Helix LT turned me on to what physical pedals would work with my specific tube amps. I’m not sure if others go out and get the physical pedals, but for me, I prefer to use less complicated gear on stage and for the most part that means grabbing an overdrive or two and some staple effects. This has just helped me find what will work with amps what I have.

[ssiowi]

With you JNC and thanks for raising this topic; i.e., the viability of the digital alongside the analog world. Equally noteworthy and adjacent: ÷13 and Two Rock now operate within one holding company. I'm eager to know more about the owners' plans for these coveted brands. As always; thanks Sir and carry on!

[adamcogan]

I never would have discovered Morgan, Fortin or Omega amps if it wasn’t for plugins. Growing up, everything was controlled and ominated by Marshall, Peavey (the legacy brands etc). It’s been refreshing discovering all these brands and amps

[matejnovotny]

Nice to meet you, I work for one of ExxonMobil's distributor in Europe.

[mkds]

I’m a hardcore tube amp enthusiast but I’m needing something that sounds inspiring that I can use with headphones at home. I’m not opposed to getting a frfr cab with it to play live either. I’ve gone down the digital rabbit hole and I’m overwhelmed by the digital market. I don’t know which one to buy that won’t be pushed out of the market by new tech in 5 years and I have an issue spending $1500 on something with the potential of being irrelevant soon.

[ultimatescalerc]

Traditional amps will never go away, I think the shift from traditional amps to modeller tech has been on going and we are entering time where its viable for gigging and far better than the practice amps we had back in the day.

As for trying an amp model enticing you to buy the real thing. Depends on the user but I think most are going to be happy with the free modeller version. At least on the better higher tier modellers. Low end modellers those will drive away from the real thing. They will be like Oh god that sounds aweful!! I aint never buying one of those amps. lol.

I think the legacy companies should find a newer company to work with rather than push a completely new product thru development that will more than likely fall short. Like my IR-2 with the Celestrion IR's I had zero reason to replace those IR's I use that IR-2 as the benchmark to compare all other modellers too. Nothing has the feel or the dynamics of the IR-2 if you cant get that sound good. You are either deaf or you are doing something very wrong in your set up.


HeadRush really just changed the game with Flex Prime, the massive update, Desktop wireless editor and the insane super cloning tech that is pretty much going to destroy all other capture tech devices currently on market right now.

[TLMuse]

I tend not to be a fan of bright tones, and your Bloomfield tones here are brighter than I am typically drawn to, but I really dig them! Something in this plug-in adds a kind of creaminess to them that makes them work. —Tom