Great video. There are so many contemporary young musicians on their tone journey doing things that few others do and finding their own sound. I've really enjoyed content from guys like Dave Simpson who champions solid state vs tube, Nita Strauss touring without cabs, or Kelli Mayo of Skating Polly and her three string bass, or Starcrawler's Henri Cash and his 3 string approach in open G, or Joel Plaskett and his open C tenor 4-string guitar work. I enjoyed the irony of the quick clip of Rob Chapman mic'ing a Boss Katana - one of the few amps on the market designed to play nice direct to a mixer and laden with digital goodies. The plug-ins are just another part of the landscape and those who want to do something with them can certainly enjoy the benefits of the technology. I don't think there's any reason to look down your nose at the results of any digital modelling - they sound great now. I wonder if going to digital/plug-ins/DI 'too soon' does keep one from finding their own sound. From experimenting with those alternate tunings. Do you find it in the 'real world' and then bring it to your computer so you can take it with you? Or can you find it by dialing it in on your mouse? I think either way, if you want to sound different the onus is on you. The cool and innovative combination of high-tech with instruments that are at times not much more than cigar box guitars is part of what is making today's music so amazing. The computers are just another tool to make music more accessible - and I guess in the end making it your own is still in the hands, and in the ears, and between the ears, of the musicians. If you're all using the same programming and sound the same as everyone else on instagram, well that's no different than a generation of guitarists in their garages 40 years ago and every one of them had the same amp, on the same settings, with the same guitar, playing the same songs trying to sound like the same guy.
Wow! Thank you so much for your comment. I completely agree. I couldn't have said it better myself. As long as people are making good music, I'm happy. I definitely agree one should go into creating your sound activity. Thanks again for your comment!
"Yaaay!!! " - my wife and I seeing a new Peter Cleff video drop. Good stuff! I'd like to pick my guitar up again in the next year or so. I've been contemplating Amp vs. Virtual, and I think you've sold me on Virtual. Amped for your video on plug-ins :P
You are well studied in your field, young man. And what you do, you do well. Proud to be your father. Gaan groot. Dit gaan goed met die honde en katte en blah blah, whatever.
I've owned a bunch of both. For non-recording purposes, real amps always sound better than plugins, mainly because of the way they cast sound from the guitar cab instead of the all-purpose studio monitors. For recording, plugins will no doubt become the mainstream due to the great freedom they offer. Another thing that I find is that the amp section plugins are not the most important for the tone. With a boost pedal plugin and a good cab ir (high sample rates preferred), I can make a free amp plugin to sound as decent as a Neural DSP preset (dry tone). Especially if you play high gain lead, after applying all the effects to the chain, you can hardly tell what amp model is being used.
I completely agree. Like I mentioned, I so often find myself in a situation where the casting of sound is a negative, but I love the sound of a cranked amp. I completely agree. IRs are genuinely the most important part. I like the Neural stuff largely because they've been designed to work well live. I'm going to try combining the Neural IR section with a few different plugins. Free plugins are absolutely insane these days. I neglected to mention that, but as you said, you can get free plugins to sound just as good. Thanks for the comment!
@@PeterCleff Hi Peter, theoretically there can be software making those flat-sounding studio monitors react like a 4x12, but it takes a lot of work to model and build one and most likely is not cost-justifiable. Try using IRs in high sample rates (>48 kHz) and you will see what I mean. There are free ones on the internet that can get you better dynamics than IRs coming with the Neural DSP (I purchased the Nameless but always use it with 3rd party IRs). Good luck!