Torpedo Live dynamics

oscarraap

New member
Hi,

I'm wondering about the dynamics of the Torpedo Live. I notice the vast majority of recordings on youtube are metal. So much distortion/compression; it's hard for me to get a good impression of dynamics.

Any comment on dynamics? Is this unit really as versatile in terms of musical styles as the many different cabs suggest?

cheers Oscar
 
Well, the most active users we have with the Live are involved in Metal, but I think you can find some examples of other styles, for example:

https://youtu.be/8Mn9116AxiE

C.A.B. and Live have the same motherboard and overall same sound, so you can have an idea by watching C.A.B. videos. ;)

Of course, the Torpedo product are not dedicated in any way in one musical style or another.
 
I'm a both a Two Notes & a Marshall endorser & I'm using a 2061x Handwired into a VB-101 for all of the guitar tracks on my next album. I'm the sort of player who gets all of my tones from riding the volume knob & from varying the attack of my playing; the Torpedo responds beautifully & I'm able to play the exact same way that I do when using my actual cab in a live environment (if we were to nit-pick, the only thing you loose is the natural feedback that you get from the cab/room interaction when at gig-volume). If (like me) you just can't get on with the multitude of modelling products out there & the response of a dynamic old-skool tube amp is crucial to how you play, then I really don't think you'd find a better solution than your favourite head plugged into a Torpedo. ....I hope this helps answer your concerns. :)
 
+1 to what Raven said. I have the Torpedo Live and it really does work as advertised. The sound of your amp cranked up and mic'ed up nice. I play hard rock, classic rock, jazz, blues, pretty much whatever...I usually play a LOT of leads and add plenty of subtle tonal colors to rhythm work in my projects...simply put, I wouldn't use it if the dynamics weren't there. One thing I wish it had was a 16 ohm input, as I feel 8 ohms is a bit harder with less give in the feel for certain amps that I own...that said, it's not a dealbreaker and everything else about the unit and the software is great and super well thought out.

I know there's a lot of clips from the metal guys, but they really don't do the unit justice, because they're typically using more gain than even their favorite metal bands use...Anyways, if you have your amp cranked up, the Torpedo Live responds like a cranked amp to your playing and makes recording a breeze. A nice plus for me is the power amp sims...For example, if you want to get your EL34 amp's clean channel into Fender territory, turn on the 6L6 sim, max the presence and add turn the depth knob to taste. You can then have separate patches for each channel of your amp if you wish. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for these enthousiastic responses.

I was quite impressed with some of the metal vids, but it good to know this unit can deliver the dynamics.

Can't wait to try it for myself. I promise to post a non metal vid for a change.

cheers Oscar
 
Just wanted to hop on this thread and second everything that Raven said earlier.
I'm a VB-101 user, and someone who heavily depends on dynamics in his playing. I use very sensitive guitars and like to vary my pick attack and level of attack aggression to go between warm/overdriven sounds to harder edge rock tones. I use a Mad Professor CS-40 which I feel is one of the most touch-responsive amps out there. I can safely say that VB-101 does an incredible job and I am completely thrilled with it.

Having said that I do want to add a few minor things I noticed. First off, when using a speaker cab out (and thereore disconnecting the internal load) rhere is a slight difference in feel. Here's the catch though, I did some experiments and realized that the difference has more to do with real life physics of the strings reacting to the sound coming from the speaker, then with VB-101's performance as a load. I'd say that as a load it is more then 95% true to the load character of a real speaker.

The other thing I want to mention is that when one plays with a speaker load, there is usually this need to want to crank the amp to '10'.. just cause you can and cause its awesome. What I'm about to say of course depends a whole lot on the specific amp you use, but in may cases this isn't the best tonal idea. Some of the incredible feel of CRANKING your amp is lost when there is no dynamic interaction between speaker and string. And also, when turning up too far, the power tube saturation starts resulting in considerable compression.. this in turn kills the dynamics. In other words, the sweet spot of your amp may be far lower on the volume dial then you think. Of course this isn't a problem with Torpedos but is a part of understanding how to get whet you want out of one.

Ian
 
Hi Opiante, thank you for the very interesting and articulated feedback.

Having said that I do want to add a few minor things I noticed. First off, when using a speaker cab out (and thereore disconnecting the internal load) rhere is a slight difference in feel. Here's the catch though, I did some experiments and realized that the difference has more to do with real life physics of the strings reacting to the sound coming from the speaker, then with VB-101's performance as a load. I'd say that as a load it is more then 95% true to the load character of a real speaker.

Well, the load in the VB-101 is quite different from your speaker, but the Load Compensation helps. Actually, the way you feel the difference depends a lot on what kind of tone you're aiming at, and the topology of your power amplifier. There are a lot of variables here that can make the opinions of the various Torpedo owners differ. But basically, we try to stay as close as possible;

The new Torpedo Studio will open new interesting possibilities on that subject.

The other thing I want to mention is that when one plays with a speaker load, there is usually this need to want to crank the amp to '10'.. just cause you can and cause its awesome. What I'm about to say of course depends a whole lot on the specific amp you use, but in may cases this isn't the best tonal idea. Some of the incredible feel of CRANKING your amp is lost when there is no dynamic interaction between speaker and string. And also, when turning up too far, the power tube saturation starts resulting in considerable compression.. this in turn kills the dynamics. In other words, the sweet spot of your amp may be far lower on the volume dial then you think. Of course this isn't a problem with Torpedos but is a part of understanding how to get whet you want out of one.

I am in total harmony with that. ;) Most guitar players think their amp will be best at max, or near max volume. In most cases, that's entirely wrong, and some amplifiers simply won't stand working at max volume for some time. Tubes are not different to solid state amps in that matter: when it's running too hot, for too much time, well, it dies. ^^
 
One studio trick is to excite the the guitar mechanically to emulate the physics of standing in front of a stack. Perhaps the most well known application is Dokken's "Mr Scary" featuring George Lynch using the original Sustainiac.

While this device is high impractical for live playing unless your stage moves are a combination of Bill Wyman and Steve Hackett, in the studio it can work really well. Basically, a vibrating transducer (fed the amplified guitar's signal) is attached to the headstock.
xd1-1.jpg


Andy
 
opiante":2j7wy6w3 said:
Just wanted to hop on this thread and second everything that Raven said earlier.
I'm a VB-101 user, and someone who heavily depends on dynamics in his playing. I use very sensitive guitars and like to vary my pick attack and level of attack aggression to go between warm/overdriven sounds to harder edge rock tones. I use a Mad Professor CS-40 which I feel is one of the most touch-responsive amps out there. I can safely say that VB-101 does an incredible job and I am completely thrilled with it.

Having said that I do want to add a few minor things I noticed. First off, when using a speaker cab out (and thereore disconnecting the internal load) rhere is a slight difference in feel. Here's the catch though, I did some experiments and realized that the difference has more to do with real life physics of the strings reacting to the sound coming from the speaker, then with VB-101's performance as a load. I'd say that as a load it is more then 95% true to the load character of a real speaker.

Ian

Hi Ian, great to hear your thoughts match with mine, it's always good to hear of other players that get their tones from their hands rather than tap-dancing. :)

I just thought I'd add something reference the difference in feel of the load though. I fully agree with you reference the feel being slightly different but, in my experience, this doesn't really affect the tone (just the feel). This is one of the reasons I think that the Torpedo Studio will be a great upgrade as the feel is something that can often affect how one feels while tracking. For instance, I often sit there for ages tracking with my VB-101 feeling as though I haven't really gotten into the zone & nailed it, yet I come back the next day & listen to find that the very first take sounds perfect! I believe that this is down to the fact that; although the VB-101 is spot-on tonally, it doesn't physically feel exactly the same way & you don't get the same visceral feedback when you're playing as you do when connected to a real speaker that's pumping it out at ungodly levels. interestingly, when I reviewed the Live I actually found that the load felt more authentically like a real speaker than it does in the VB-101 & I found it more pleasurable to play through as a result ...the old reactive vs. resistive thing I guess (the VB-101 is certainly the daddy tonally though :).

The other thing I want to mention is that when one plays with a speaker load, there is usually this need to want to crank the amp to '10'.. just cause you can and cause its awesome. What I'm about to say of course depends a whole lot on the specific amp you use, but in may cases this isn't the best tonal idea. Some of the incredible feel of CRANKING your amp is lost when there is no dynamic interaction between speaker and string. And also, when turning up too far, the power tube saturation starts resulting in considerable compression.. this in turn kills the dynamics. In other words, the sweet spot of your amp may be far lower on the volume dial then you think. Of course this isn't a problem with Torpedos but is a part of understanding how to get whet you want out of one.

Another good observation, although you are correct to add the caveat about it varying from amp to amp. Lord knows that a Handwired Marshall is made to have everything on 10 & with these old-skool type amps this is where everything starts to bloom & sing the most (If I had my way my amp would have an 'On' switch & that would be it! Haha :). With more modern designs that have gain stages up the wazoo & rely on preamp saturation etc. more so than the power amp though, this is where you are of course 100% correct. I guess it's all about knowing your gear & using it accordingly. :)

One studio trick is to excite the the guitar mechanically to emulate the physics of standing in front of a stack. Perhaps the most well known application is Dokken's "Mr Scary" featuring George Lynch using the original Sustainiac.

While this device is high impractical for live playing unless your stage moves are a combination of Bill Wyman and Steve Hackett, in the studio it can work really well. Basically, a vibrating transducer (fed the amplified guitar's signal) is attached to the headstock.

Hi Sysexguy, another option that I've considered trying is Softube's 'Acoustic Feedback' plugin, but I haven't had the chance to get around to it yet (it seems to get pretty positive reviews though). ...it would be great if Two Notes could build something like this into the Torpedo software.
 
Raven":32ultjha said:
Hi Sysexguy, another option that I've considered trying is Softube's 'Acoustic Feedback' plugin, but I haven't had the chance to get around to it yet (it seems to get pretty positive reviews though). ...it would be great if Two Notes could build something like this into the Torpedo software.

Quoting the Raven :LOL: :LOL:... It would be really amazing if Two Notes could create some algorithm to get controllable feedback...I really miss that ability.
 
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