Are digital modelers killing tube amps?

[Aquila Rossa]

Hey guys, so I haven't read the thread but is the HD500 any good?

I had a HD500x. Not bad for modern hi gain sounds and scoop. Cleans are good too. Effects are good. Where it failed to satisfy me was more vintage overdriven tones emulating stuff like a Bassman or Plexi cranked up. Did not seem to do low gain but cranked amp vintage tones without sounding anemic. Common problem with modelling that is only just starting to be addressed in the latest generation stuff.

[jeremyb]

Hey guys, so I haven't read the thread but is the HD500 any good?

[sidewinder]

Having owed a POD 2 generation and a POD HD I can say that the jump in sound quality was phenomenal. The ability to change the mic made a massive difference to how a good few of the models sound "live" (any situation that isn't recording)

Anyone that's played the latest gen know if the difference is as big?

[jeremyb]

Helix is quite a step up in terms of toan, I've found the biggest problem with the HD500X I have is the cab sims, so I disable them now and use an AMT Pangaea IR loader, it's a night and day difference, really breathes some life into the models!!

[Lawrence]

its a step in tone, feel, complexity. ease of use, beauty of design, brilliance of interface, scope of use and sheer magnificence.

Not that Im impressed at all.

[jeremyb]

The routing options on the helix are freakin amazing, if you want to use outboard effects with it or multiple amps etc it's killer!

[philly]

Having owed a POD 2 generation and a POD HD I can say that the jump in sound quality was phenomenal. The ability to change the mic made a massive difference to how a good few of the models sound "live" (any situation that isn't recording)

Anyone that's played the latest gen know if the difference is as big?

have you used any of these "mics".. actual "mics?"

[sidewinder]

have you used any of these "mics".. actual "mics?"

Yeah I've used an SM57 a few times. But thats not really what I'm getting at, what I'm saying is that with a successive generation, I was able to tweak another facet of the setup that led to a better tone. It didn't have to be the mic or even based on real mics, they could have called "speaker receiver emulation" or whatever, its just another step in the software/hardware that is a POD.

Whether or not its a match for the exact same amp + mic ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Its natural to want to draw comparisons between it and "the real thing", but its not the real thing and never will be.

[Lawrence]

its a little bit funny that in almost every part of life people are downgrading their experiences....listening to mp3s instead of high res audio, watching movies on TVs or even iPads instead of the big screen, talking to friends via social media instead of actually getting together, eating ready made food instead of home cooking, playing adventure games instead of having adventures ...

yet, over here in guitar land we are still chasing a rather mythical "reality" that is so obscure that no two of us can agree on what it is .

[JHorner]

over here in guitar land we are still chasing a rather mythical "reality" that is so obscure that no two of us can agree on what it is .

Some of us are watching from the sidelines and playing red house 5 times in a row trying to get that bent vibrato "right"

[Lawrence]

over here in guitar land we are still chasing a rather mythical "reality" that is so obscure that no two of us can agree on what it is .

Some of us are watching from the sidelines and playing red house 5 times in a row trying to get that bent vibrato "right"

of course! because, like in guitar sounds, nothing has happened in guitar performance of any importance since 1967!


(just to be clear, this is an attempt at ironic sarcasm, not my belief!)

[WellyBlues]

over here in guitar land we are still chasing a rather mythical "reality" that is so obscure that no two of us can agree on what it is .

Some of us are watching from the sidelines and playing red house 5 times in a row trying to get that bent vibrato "right"

of course! because, like in guitar sounds, nothing has happened in guitar performance of any importance since 1967!


(just to be clear, this is an attempt at ironic sarcasm, not my belief!)

Your sarcasm is wrong, your original statement is correct.

[willow13]

yet, over here in guitar land we are still chasing a rather mythical "reality" that is so obscure that no two of us can agree on what it is .

I'm not mate...I have my tone nirvana and have no need to chase anything anymore.....the grass is very green over here

[Optical]

Ive previously used GR, Bias, Amplitube and SGear over the last few years
I thought Amplitube sounded the best, equaled by Bias but Bias has a laggy interface and is a bit of a pain to use. GR has the best workflow and interface design I think.

Then this weekend I tried TH3, wow! An interface about as good as GR, and to me sounds the best... A+ would recommend

[Optical]

For anyone interested, just found this youtube channel that has a lot of excellent TH3 sound design content.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcUeki ... EaZX6nOOiQ