Rob Chapman: "Gear has reached a level where it's good enough." Whaddya think?

I love my tube amps! But, my FM9T sounds killer too. It's so much easier to deal with in small bars where room for the band is at a premium.

Last Friday's gig:

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As you can see, I'm already on the dance floor area. The bass player is right behind me.

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I had another guitar player ask me where I hid my amp. He wanted to know what amp it was. He said my tone was killer. His jaw literally dropped when I showed him the FM9T and QSC CP12 setup. He even took pictures of my setup.
 
I went to digital load boxes around 2017, I absolutely loved the convenience of being able to play my amps in their sweet spots any time of day or night without disturbing the wife or kids.

I tried the Helix family, while it was ok sounding I struggled with getting it to a point to even consider replacing my amps and pedals.

A few months ago I bought an Axe FX3, and was absolutely blown away with just the stock patches. I haven't even bothered to power up any of my amps since I got the Axe.

I do not have the luxury to play my amps though normal cabs with volume like I did when I was younger and single. I am able to power on my Axe and get great tone without disturbing the peace of my house, and my digital rigs are more consistent when moving from place to place. I don't see myself getting rid of my amps because on that rare occasion I can blast them and its great, and I don't want to lose that. Its also pretty cool seeing someone play through a cranked plexi for the first time.

I will say this though after going from analog to hybrid to digital... while it took a little while to get use to not feeling the sound pressure from the cabinets, I have gotten to the point where I really don't understand the amp in the room argument. As soon as you try and transition the sounds coming from the guitar speakers to any other speakers.. the amp in the room is lost. If you're micing up in another room... amp in the room tone is irrelevant, using an iso booth, again its irrelevant. As soon as you put a mic in front of that cabinet and send that signal to another listening source, then the amp in the room doesn't matter, you can record dry and play through a loud speaker in different rooms to get the room reverb.

But back to the point of the video since I did watch it.. gear surpassed the "good enough" point years ago... he is saying that now it should be a matter of what you can do with said gear that should be important, what are you creating with that gear.

One final point on how much closer can digital get... there is always room for improvement in analog and digital, how many boutique versions of a Vox AC30 are there? The amp has been improved upon but just because a Matchless exists doesn't make the surfaced mounted pcb versions not sound like a Vox AC30, one can sound better without removing the ability for the other to sound good.

I don't think analog will ever be fully replaced by digital, there is no scarcity to digital, there isn't much of a collectors market for digital. There isn't a code equivalent of the NKT275 transistor, in that aspect of it becoming unavailable. Besides, digital needs something to be able to model.
 
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I still enjoy my tube amps: Marshall / Bogner / Mesa / Engl / Diezel 100W amps; my pair of Fender Super Twin amps (180W)) - one still needs to go to the shop.

Sold my FM9 Mark II Turbo, plan to sell my Helix Floor.

I'm really enjoying my ISP Theta Pro Michael Sweet and ISP Theta MSX preamp/effects direct into a pair of powered monitors, or into an Engl E850/100 power amp and a pair of Engl 2x12 cabs . The ISP Thetas remind me of my old rack rigs in a floorboard format, with multi-band parametric EQ, '80s hair metal and thrash in a box.

That said, I use my computer software plugin rig more than anything else these days; I have several Neural DSP plugins (Plini, Henson, Petrucci, IIC+), Helix Native, and a few others, but mostly use PolyChrome DSP McRocklin Suite, and Nunchuk plugins, and I can get any sound I want, so far.

I'm done with hardware modelers unless something really blows me away more than my computer rig.
 
I'm not going to watch the video, though I will say that I have amps and Fractal.

Every single release that Cliff drops is incrementally better than the patch before.

Glass half full, not glass half empty.

MY SLO is better than my old one (for me), my SL67 MKII is slightly better than the original. Roasted maple is better than maple for my toolbox. I like stainless steel frets. On and on. I'll embrace progression over complacency.


Go ahead a limit yourself, I'm squeezing the fruit and enjoying the juice.
 
CoreyW said:
I went to digital load boxes around 2017, I absolutely loved the convenience of being able to play my amps in their sweet spots any time of day or night without disturbing the wife or kids.

I tried the Helix family, while it was ok sounding I struggled with getting it to a point to even consider replacing my amps and pedals.

A few months ago I bought an Axe FX3, and was absolutely blown away with just the stock patches. I haven't even bothered to power up any of my amps since I got the Axe.

I do not have the luxury to play my amps though normal cabs with volume like I did when I was younger and single. I am able to power on my Axe and get great tone without disturbing the peace of my house, and my digital rigs are more consistent when moving from place to place. I don't see myself getting rid of my amps because on that rare occasion I can blast them and its great, and I don't want to lose that. Its also pretty cool seeing someone play through a cranked plexi for the first time.

I will say this though after going from analog to hybrid to digital... while it took a little while to get use to not feeling the sound pressure from the cabinets, I have gotten to the point where I really don't understand the amp in the room argument. As soon as you try and transition the sounds coming from the guitar speakers to any other speakers.. the amp in the room is lost. If you're micing up in another room... amp in the room tone is irrelevant, using an iso booth, again its irrelevant. As soon as you put a mic in front of that cabinet and send that signal to another listening source, then the amp in the room doesn't matter, you can record dry and play through a loud speaker in different rooms to get the room reverb.

But back to the point of the video since I did watch it.. gear surpassed the "good enough" point years ago... he is saying that now it should be a matter of what you can do with said gear that should be important, what are you creating with that gear.

One final point on how much closer can digital get... there is always room for improvement in analog and digital, how many boutique versions of a Vox AC30 are there? The amp has been improved upon but just because a Matchless exists doesn't make the surfaced mounted pcb versions not sound like a Vox AC30, one can sound better without removing the ability for the other to sound good.

I don't think analog will ever be fully replaced by digital, there is no scarcity to digital, there isn't much of a collectors market for digital. There isn't a code equivalent of the NKT275 transistor, in that aspect of it becoming unavailable. Besides, digital needs something to be able to model.
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That's it though. We adapt as necessary. You grew to love the dig because you had to for your environment. It gave you the best you could hope for, for your circumstance. I record at home with a cab in the room with me. I want to have feedback and response at my fingertips. But I'm also doing this now for fun, not professionally. It takes me no time to get a recorded tone I like. Plus I'm in a house with a basement.
I actually don't mind the uncertainty of what the amp and pedals will do that day because I'm always coming across super fun variations as I search for what will work. That to me is the fun, when I come across a random pairing that lifts my skirt. I feel I'm also more creative when given limitations.
But I'm also someone who really misses tape machines, analog boards, patchbay's and outboard gear. It just works for my brain and my gut.

That all being said, there is no right or wrong in how you do it, if it makes you happy.
 
No rules only tools.

Lately I'm digging the results of my FM9 (with power amp sim off) into my DSL100 power section into a Suhr RL back into the FM9.
 
NeubyWanKaneuby said:
I'm not sure how you make digital gear/modelers much better. Outside of making the interface idiot proof.
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^^^There's definitely this! As someone who struggles with figuring out and remembering software commands, IMHO there is much improvement that can be made in the user interface section of some modelers. The faster we can dial in our sound, the quicker we can start playing and stop tweaking.

I've met many people who are naturals and very quickly pick up editing and modifying different software, not just modeling software. I've also met many people that are very intelligent and smart in other areas, however software commands and pull down menus are very difficult for them. So maybe modeling manufacturers can work on making user interfaces more intuitive for those of us that struggle in this area.

However I do like the knobs and labeling on some of the simpler Boss and Line 6 modelers.

And the quality of modeling sounds today is definitely very good to excellent.

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comes of different here:

differences are bigger than i would have guessed, but yeah no Axe, kemper...
 
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As other said, tools in the toolbox.

Personally I think we live in great times to be musicians and guitar players. I remember back in the late 80s when I had to wait for my copy of Guitar for the practicing musician to arrive each month so I could see what new riffs, licks of full tune I could learn. Where I lived back then, if I would break a string I would have to wait until we go to the closest town to buy some new ones and I only had a tiny amp with just one pedal. Even the radio sucked and was not much aware of the new music coming out as we didn't have cable tv.

These days, new gear is a few clicks away and even affordable gear can sound good. I got a ToneX one not too long ago, packed with tons of features I could only dream of back in my early days on the guitar. Add to this, streaming services to hear that newest tune, YouTube for zillions of tutorial, sites with tabs, slow down software to help you find the notes to that fast lick... Even cheap guitars are now pretty good.
 
BenoA said:
As other said, tools in the toolbox.

Personally I think we live in great times to be musicians and guitar players. I remember back in the late 80s when I had to wait for my copy of Guitar for the practicing musician to arrive each month so I could see what new riffs, licks of full tune I could learn. Where I lived back then, if I would break a string I would have to wait until we go to the closest town to buy some new ones and I only had a tiny amp with just one pedal. Even the radio sucked and was not much aware of the new music coming out as we didn't have cable tv.

These days, new gear is a few clicks away and even affordable gear can sound good. I got a ToneX one not too long ago, packed with tons of features I could only dream of back in my early days on the guitar. Add to this, streaming services to hear that newest tune, YouTube for zillions of tutorial, sites with tabs, slow down software to help you find the notes to that fast lick... Even cheap guitars are now pretty good.
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Yes agree also; and sometimes it's even too easy IMHO.
Some things could be said about the benefits of having to work harder to achieve a goal / get a vision to come to life; some creativity / "uniqueness" may have been lost along the way also, and "more" is not always better.
 
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