Solid State / Modeler / Tube shootout!

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I think all three sound good and usable. (that should solve this debate lol. None of them stick out as obvious this or that, and none of them suck IMO)
 
Not in a good spot to make my picks yet but #3 sounds really thin, like it has no balls at all.
 
Ah, now that I am at home and can listen on better monitors I can hear them better. #1 is my favorite, but I bet it would go good with #2; one L and the other R. I thought #3 was thin at first too, but now it sounds like it has way too much low bass and not enough mids. I wasn't hearing all that woofiness on my little monitors; just the thin part. Also sounds a little cheaper than the other two.

Will you tell what amps those are?
 
I like the sound of 3. One is also good. My tastes I guess are different from a lot of people. I like the sound of the modeller. I think it fits my music style better than the tube amp. I think though for hard rock or heavy metal, the tube amp would sound the best. But for extreme metal like black,some doom metal and death metal, the modellers sound best. But I really havent even played a tube amp before. I've just heard sounds of it online or what not. I'm sure I could get a great tone out of a tube amp for my style of music but i'm saying I can get a sound that im happy with, with the equipment I have.
 
I'd have to agree with alot of that as well. However I do think that in a recording, the subtle differences really add up. The sound of the tube amp that I posted is really just a building block of a finished sound. I wouldn't be satisfied with that sound on it's own. I would however, dig that sound in conjunction with another high gain track or two to really build it up.
In a recording, I think that's what it's all about. I think that is also why the subtle differences really matter. (athough I don't think the differences between these clips are very subtle at all


I agree there metalhead. I think that's what I need to work on more. I have just been trying to come up with a good tone that sounds good on its own like if I were to play live or something. But in a recording it's a bunch of sounds that will make up your tone. Still think my modeller is great though! and i'm not buying a tube anytime soon.(but i'm sure I will in the future)
 
heh

I had that little riff stuck in my head for at least an hour at work.
Kinda grows on ya after A/B/C'ing it 10x each! :D

I won't even embarass myself by venturing a guess!
 
Okay, here are my entries for this shootout.
First a couple of things:
1. I didn't have the means to record once and then re-amp the signal, so each recording is a different take and because of that, played a little different.
2. This is metalheds riff - and it is not really my style of playing (my style is slower and sludgier), so forgive the rough playing. I just listened to his riff and played it from memory (yours was in D tuning right metalhead?), and I kinda rushed through it

I did things a little different. There are 7 short clips. The clips are recordings of either a V-AMP Pro, a Randall Solid State combo, or a Laney 100 watt tube amps, all using various settings. Not knowing which, decide which you like best for a modern metal tone. The V-AMP was recorded direct, and the other two amps were recorded with a SM57 stuck an inch off the speaker grille, into a Focusrite Penta Platinum preamp. The audio interface is an M-Audio Delta 1010LT. There is a text file at the end of the list that gives the answers regarding what is what. Listen to the clips a few times before you read it, if you would.

Here is the link already!
 
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amra said:
Okay, here are my entries for this shootout.
First a couple of things:
1. I didn't have the means to record once and then re-amp the signal, so each recording is a different take and because of that, played a little different.
2. This is metalheds riff - and it is not really my style of playing (my style is slower and sludgier), so forgive the rough playing. I just listened to his riff and played it from memory (yours was in D tuning right metalhead?), and I kinda rushed through it

I did things a little different. There are 7 short clips. The clips are recordings of either a V-AMP Pro, a Randall Solid State combo, or a Laney 100 watt tube amps, all using various settings. Not knowing which, decide which you like best for a modern metal tone. The V-AMP was recorded direct, and the other two amps were recorded with a SM57 stuck an inch off the speaker grille, into a Focusrite Penta Platinum preamp. The audio interface is an M-Audio Delta 1010LT. There is a text e at the end of the list that gives the answers regarding what is what. Listen to the clips a few times before you read it, if you would.

Here is the link already!
Click to expand...

I don't get it....after looking at the answers, did you use the Vamp modeler into the Laney?
 
I'mn probably going to embarrass myself

1) modeller
2) SS
3) tube
 
Outlaws said:
I don't get it....after looking at the answers, did you use the Vamp modeler into the Laney?
Click to expand...


Now that would be a pretty meaningless exercise; I assume he went direct with the V-Amp (as it's designed to be used).
 
My bad outlaw - I cut and pasted too much. The V-AMP was only recorded direct - the amps were each recorded with only a SD-1 for a gain boost.
 
After reading through the thread an re listening to the samples I have to go with the popular consesis of 1 tube, 3 modeller.

3 sounded the best off the top, and had a spongy bottom that sounded convincing, but there's some fizz behind there when you listen close. Go back to #1 and listen and it sounds a lot less complex. It was easy to pass up 1 because it sounded a bit thinner than the others and it's so well behauved I pegged it as modelled.

I'm about 90% sure, I'll be floored if 2 isn't the SS amp.
 
Okay folks.

#1 is a 5150 II tube amp

#2 is a Marshall VS100 solid state amp

#3 is a V-Amp pro modeler.

When I recorded the 5150 I wanted to showcase the fat midrange and the tightness that the others will not achieve. I really don't think it's a great sound by itself, but the other two amps are absolutely not capable of sounding anything like that. That's my point. This sound would work great if it was doubled up with another more saturated tone.

The solid state amp has a good midrange to it, but it just doesn't have the smoothness or the tightness of the tube amp.

The modeler sounds alright on it's own. Mind you that the mids and treble are cranked all the way up on that thing. That is just how it sounds. It gets washed out in a mix really easily. That's one of the things I hate about it. Plus it has a certain graininess to the sound that annoys the hell out of me.

I figured alot of people would like the modeler best because it seems more like a finished sound but to me it's all about what works better in a mix and what would mix the best with other sounds. I can listen to 5 seconds of the tube amp and be quite sure that it would work better, but that's just my opinion.

Feel free to continue the debate. :D
 
i think its a good comparision and i admit i was stumped but like metalhead even said its all about what fits into a mix. the modelers i used in the past got killed in mix.
 
I listened to all the clips, and found I really like all of them, just depending on the tone a song needs. I wouldn't be unhappy with any of them myself.
 
I liked this experiement. I think I will add to it, as I don't really get off on the metal thing. I will have some time tomorrow to go to my space and I will record a couple of different amps and a couple of models on the POD. What I will attempt to do will be to showcase the amp sound by itself, no "artificial" distortion. I may set every amp the same way, like volume at 4, one middled out or something like that. Would anyone be interested in this?
 
metalhead28 said:
When I recorded the 5150 I wanted to showcase the fat midrange and the tightness that the others will not achieve. I really don't think it's a great sound by itself, but the other two amps are absolutely not capable of sounding anything like that. That's my point. This sound would work great if it was doubled up with another more saturated tone.
Click to expand...

The modeler sounds alright on it's own. Mind you that the mids and treble are cranked all the way up on that thing. That is just how it sounds. It gets washed out in a mix really easily. That's one of the things I hate about it. Plus it has a certain graininess to the sound that annoys the hell out of me.
Click to expand...

That's not a very fair test. The V-AMP or any modeler in fact, sounds like ass with the mids and treble cranked all the way up. Especially when compared against a tube amp with the mids and low mids accentuated, and the highs rolled off. Very slanted comparison, man... doing it the way you did it was a sure way to get everyone to notice the tube amp, even if it was a completely wrong distortion for metal. I thought the idea here was to get some good metal tones, not try to make a sound that sounds as tubey as possible.

P.S. You can make a solid state amp AND a modeler sound like your 5150 if that is the test - to make everything sound mid-rangy and tubey.
 
amra said:
That's not a very fair test. The V-AMP or any modeler in fact, sounds like ass with the mids and treble cranked all the way up. Especially when compared against a tube amp with the mids and low mids accentuated, and the highs rolled off. Very slanted comparison, man... doing it the way you did it was a sure way to get everyone to notice the tube amp, even if it was a completely wrong distortion for metal. I thought the idea here was to get some good metal tones, not try to make a sound that sounds as tubey as possible.

P.S. You can make a solid state amp AND a modeler sound like your 5150 if that is the test - to make everything sound mid-rangy and tubey.
Click to expand...

Dude, the reason I did that is becuase the V-amp HAS NO MIDRANGE PRESENCE. It is very thin and maybe a little bassy. I only mentioned that because someone said that the modeler sound had no midrange to it, I wanted to assure everybody that it was indeed turned up!

And I didn't roll off the highs on the tube amp. I didn't accentuate anything. All I did was record with pretty low gain. The same way with the SS amp. I think that is where they shine. In fact the midrange and treble controls on both of those amps were pretty high. The low midrange from the 5150 is just what it sounds like. I didn't make an effort to make it that way. The fact of the matter is that I always record more than one track to get a finished sound. The tone you hear is exactly what I would use from that amp for any type of heavy metal. It would just be mixed with another brightrer, more saturated sound. There are limitations when you're mic'ing a cabinet as opposed to using a modeler. I didn't think anyone would like it if I layered up a couple tones to demonstrate the amps. I figured what I did was the most even comparison. After all, the point was to show the differences, not to try and make them sound the same.

And you can't get the V-amp to sound like that tube amp sample. It just isn't happening.
By the way, I didn't try to make the V-amp sound bad, I tried to make it sound as good as I could. Perhaps you didn't notice but alot of people thought it was the best metal sound! Did you think it sounded like ass or what?
 
Amra, I got to thinking about your post a little more. Would you like me to post a finished, mixed guitar tone that I achieved with a tube amp and then compare it to a finished, mixed tone captured with just the modeler? Complete with rhythm section so you can hear the difference in a mix? Perhaps I could just do the tube amp and you can do the V-amp so that we won't have to worry about me being biased.... :D

I'd be game for that. ;)

P.S. I'm not trying to be a smart ass. I'm being totally serious.
 
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