Tube Amp vs Amp Sims Blind Test

You may want to develop a different master's thesis or go back to the drawing board and rethink this one. Presenting a couple of compressed YouTube clips and asking can you tell which is which is a highly flawed experiment. You have no reference point, no null hypothesis, no description of how equipment was set up. All we get is a couple of poor audio clips. What amp was used? What sim was used? Did you use a high quality sim of a Marshall amp and a poor quality Crate tube amp? You could easily and unknowingly be introducing confirmation bias with how you set things up. There's more flaws with this I can point out that basically points in the direction of your thesis being pseudoscience.

I'm not trying to be a dick about it. I just think you're setting yourself up for failure
 
My point on not informing the amp and the sim was to get an unbiased opinion, that won't make the listener actively look for differences that might be on the amp and sims that he/she already know. The sims used are based on the exact amp used, and licensed by it's brand, and one of them is a profile made from the amp itself, on the same recording settings as the real amp samples.

About the audio quality, that's how people usually listen to music, in compressed audio files on streaming services, on which the guitar tracks would be mixed and mastered and would be even harder to distinguish.
 
TicianoV said:
About the audio quality, that's how people usually listen to music, in compressed audio files on streaming services, on which the guitar tracks would be mixed and mastered and would be even harder to distinguish.
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And right here is one of the biggest flaws in your experiment. You're introducing bias into it by using a format that significantly alters the sound samples in a way that makes them sound alike regardless of the source.
 
MadAsAHatter said:
And right here is one of the biggest flaws in your experiment. You're introducing bias into it by using a format that significantly alters the sound samples in a way that makes them sound alike regardless of the source.
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Yup, this.

If you really wanted to do a master thesis on this, what you really need is test subjects PLAYING both the amp and the sim - and to really make it apples to apples, the sim should be thru FRFR - in a live monitoring situation where THEY cannot see what they're playing.

Players don't prefer tube amps only because they 'sound better' to the end listener, it's because they respond differently and that makes them play differently.
 
DanTravis62 said:
Yup, this.

If you really wanted to do a master thesis on this, what you really need is test subjects PLAYING both the amp and the sim - and to really make it apples to apples, the sim should be thru FRFR - in a live monitoring situation where THEY cannot see what they're playing.

Players don't prefer tube amps only because they 'sound better' to the end listener, it's because they respond differently and that makes them play differently.
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Yep
 
DanTravis62 said:
Yup, this.

If you really wanted to do a master thesis on this, what you really need is test subjects PLAYING both the amp and the sim - and to really make it apples to apples, the sim should be thru FRFR - in a live monitoring situation where THEY cannot see what they're playing.

Players don't prefer tube amps only because they 'sound better' to the end listener, it's because they respond differently and that makes them play differently.
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This might be the next move, this blind test is about the recorded sound and not the process of recording. Later I'll do a studio test. But anyway the performance part is not really what my master is about, my degree is in Sound Production not music, so I won't focus on subjective stuff.
 
How are you ensuring that each person is assessing the recording under consistent circumstances? One person's listening device may favor upper mids, while another person's maybe lower fidelity and bass heavy. How are you going to factor out those and other variables in your conclusions? In order to draw any conclusions about differences between amps and sims, you have to be able to factor out other possible causes for the differences in the perceptions of listeners.

A 300 level course on experimental design would go a long way with this if you are planning to be able to defend your thesis.
 
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These are 2 different tests in my opinion.

1) can a guitarist tell the difference between a sim and a real amp when recorded. WAV files needed for this.

2) can the average Joe tell the difference between listening to a song that's either real amp or a sim. YouTube or streaming is fine for this test because that is how people listen to music these days.
 
saxxamafone said:
These are 2 different tests in my opinion.

1) can a guitarist tell the difference between a sim and a real amp when recorded. WAV files needed for this.

2) can the average Joe tell the difference between listening to a song that's either real amp or a sim. YouTube or streaming is fine for this test because that is how people listen to music these days.
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Actually 3 would be preferred.

1) can a guitarist tell the difference between a sim and a real amp when recorded. WAV files needed for this.

2) can the average Joe tell the difference between listening to a song that's either real amp or a sim. YouTube or streaming is fine for this test because that is how people listen to music these days.

3) can a guitarist tell the difference between a sim and a real amp when played live in same room with FRFR like Dan suggested (or maybe the same PA) and then provide written comments as the differences. It will be much more apparent here which is what everyone is saying.

3 would most obvious followed by #1 followed by #2
 
311splawndude said:
Actually 3 would be preferred.

1) can a guitarist tell the difference between a sim and a real amp when recorded. WAV files needed for this.

2) can the average Joe tell the difference between listening to a song that's either real amp or a sim. YouTube or streaming is fine for this test because that is how people listen to music these days.

3) can a guitarist tell the difference between a sim and a real amp when played live in same room with FRFR like Dan suggested (or maybe the same PA) and then provide written comments as the differences. It will be much more apparent here which is what everyone is saying.

3 would most obvious followed by #1 followed by #2
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No need for tests, I can already tell you the answers:

1) No
2) No
3) No
 
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