Top 10 best selling amp heads on Reverb are almost entirely mini's.

[thrashinbatman]

i dont think it's solely modelers, but more the tone you get out of them. ive seen shows where bands used modelers direct to FOH and sounded amazing, and then there were both times i saw the Bay Strikes Back tour and Testament were the only band to use modelers with no cabs and also the worst sounding by a lot.

[Drew]

I’ve been seeing a bunch of Mesa Rockets and Subway Blues

I owned a Rocket-44 for a while. Great amp - great clean (as you'd expect from anything Mark-y), and the gain channel was basically a Mark with a preset V as a "Contour" mode. You lose the flexibility of the 5-band for it, so it's only "Santana" or "heavy," with no way to switch between the two on the fly, but if you are ok with one of the two sides of that, it's a LOT of amp for the money.

[Drew]

That kind of cuts both ways, though, because the advent of reactive load boxes means that you CAN crank that 100w Marshall in your studio without bothering anyone at all, yet still get the sonic benefit of a 100w power section. My 50w EVH is great, but I'm undoubtedly going to go up to a 100w amp for my studio once I have the budget for it.

Your point is well taken, though, that an amp you intend to both gig out AND record with needs to be less crazy.

I probably should try a reactive load some day, to be fair. I haven't bothered though, because I'm actually kind of shocked just how good my Mark V sounds at "sane" volumes, even in 90w mode, and for most of the situations where I would want a little more power amp engagement, I can easily get it up halfway in 10w mode on channel and master output, without really getting outside "apartment friendly" range.

It really helps that gain sounds these days are mostly preamp, and not power amp, saturation. You just need to get the amp to a point where the power amp fills out the pre and makes it a little "squishier" - unless yo;re doing like extreme technical metal.

[jacksonplayer]

I record quite a bit actually, I just don't post much of it. Making music these days is something I do to relieve the stresses of being a dad with two young kids and two reasonably stressful jobs.

I use just the Kemper (rhythms) and just the FAS (leads) for recording, but I'm not a professional musician and I'm not recording most of the time I'm playing, so I like to have options. If I'm just jamming out to blow off some steam, or jamming with some buddies, I tend to go for something with a tube power section just because I like that cool tube feel you get when they're working.

I don't think the extra hassle of micing everything up is worth it, especially when there are a zillion fantastic options out there for silent recording these days. Having said that - it's hard to deny the results you get with a 57 in front of a cab.

My whole post was just a counter to the usual suspects saying that they hate modelers because they don't have that tube power section feel. I'm saying that Mesa (and other amp companies) clearly think otherwise, which is why there are a wealth of awesome options (as Vince pointed out) at modeler-esque price points. And that rules.



I completely disagree here though, but to each their own.

Eh, I was in a really shitty mood this morning when I I posted that stuff. If you've got things working the way you want, then that's perfect. Also, the album I'm in the middle of reamping is mostly low-mid gain, and the modelers just don't cut it for that. It's closer with metal.

You need to post some of your shit ASAP--you're a good player and should get your music out there. We won't rag on it. At least not too badly.

[jacksonplayer]

I probably should try a reactive load some day, to be fair. I haven't bothered though, because I'm actually kind of shocked just how good my Mark V sounds at "sane" volumes, even in 90w mode, and for most of the situations where I would want a little more power amp engagement, I can easily get it up halfway in 10w mode on channel and master output, without really getting outside "apartment friendly" range.

It really helps that gain sounds these days are mostly preamp, and not power amp, saturation. You just need to get the amp to a point where the power amp fills out the pre and makes it a little "squishier" - unless yo;re doing like extreme technical metal.

Yeah, for modern Mesa sounds, it's different.

I increasingly love driven EL34 sounds with the preamp providing more color than saturation. Heavy preamp gain seems to get things grainy/wooly faster than I like. Even with the classic Fenders, the records I like with great tones mostly seem to have had the amps cranked into the earbleed zone.

[Chris]

Eh, I was in a really shitty mood this morning when I I posted that stuff. If you've got things working the way you want, then that's perfect. Also, the album I'm in the middle of reamping is mostly low-mid gain, and the modelers just don't cut it for that. It's closer with metal.

You need to post some of your shit ASAP--you're a good player and should get your music out there. We won't rag on it. At least not too badly.

I'm just going to keep nagging you until you give us a shred album about vikings recorded with a block letter set to 6/6/6, sir.

[Chris]

You need to post some of your shit ASAP--you're a good player and should get your music out there. We won't rag on it. At least not too badly.

Lately it's a lot of "for posterity" stuff for my kids. They are young (2 and 5) and we have a bunch of various bedtime songs that we sing together that we made up. I've been arranging them (sort of) with drums and bass, and then strumming some acoustic behind them so that 50 years from now when I'm gone they can remember the shit dad used to sing to them when they were scared/tired/etc.

Once they're a little older I'll ruin them all with blast beats and pinch harmonics, as is proper.

[Budda]

Darkest hour ran 5153’s with axe 2’s for effects for a long while, maybe a silent stage test run? Doesnt seem like them though

[scole]

Look at Charlie Waffles over here!..

[Mike]

What I now want is the JMP-1 into a 9100 AND 9000

Planning on knocking down buildings?

[Mike]

i dont think it's solely modelers, but more the tone you get out of them. ive seen shows where bands used modelers direct to FOH and sounded amazing, and then there were both times i saw the Bay Strikes Back tour and Testament were the only band to use modelers with no cabs and also the worst sounding by a lot.

Well, let's be fair: There was Death Angel sounding ridiculously great, especially Cavestany, Altus sounding good and Holt sounding like shit, and Testament sounding like...modern Testament with the Kempers.

[Chris]

Well, let's be fair: There was Death Angel sounding ridiculously great, especially Cavestany, Altus sounding good and Holt sounding like shit, and Testament sounding like...modern Testament with the Kempers.

Last time I saw Testament all I could hear was Gene's rave-style kick drum mix.

[RevDrucifer]

Darkest hour ran 5153’s with axe 2’s for effects for a long while, maybe a silent stage test run? Doesnt seem like them though

Oh you know what, I think I confused them with Upon A Burning Body. I’m quite certain I did now. I don’t remember seeing Darkest Hours’ heads, but I do recall seeing cabs onstage and they played after Upon A Burning Body, so it was probably them who sounded considerably better.

[thrashinbatman]

Well, let's be fair: There was Death Angel sounding ridiculously great, especially Cavestany, Altus sounding good and Holt sounding like shit, and Testament sounding like...modern Testament with the Kempers.

your judgement on Exodus' tone is incorrect, and also assault on me personally

[desertdweller]

I probably should try a reactive load some day, to be fair. I haven't bothered though, because I'm actually kind of shocked just how good my Mark V sounds at "sane" volumes, even in 90w mode, and for most of the situations where I would want a little more power amp engagement, I can easily get it up halfway in 10w mode on channel and master output, without really getting outside "apartment friendly" range.

It really helps that gain sounds these days are mostly preamp, and not power amp, saturation. You just need to get the amp to a point where the power amp fills out the pre and makes it a little "squishier" - unless yo;re doing like extreme technical metal.

Reactive loads are game changers.

[jacksonplayer]

Lately it's a lot of "for posterity" stuff for my kids. They are young (2 and 5) and we have a bunch of various bedtime songs that we sing together that we made up. I've been arranging them (sort of) with drums and bass, and then strumming some acoustic behind them so that 50 years from now when I'm gone they can remember the shit dad used to sing to them when they were scared/tired/etc.

Once they're a little older I'll ruin them all with blast beats and pinch harmonics, as is proper.

That's cool as shit!

Years ago I had a couple things along those lines. The bass line for this one is a repetitive/meditative line I used to sing to my older son when he was an infant to calm him down at bedtime. It's also fairly similar to the bass line in Alice Coltrane's "Journey in Satchidananda", but we'll just ignore that...

https://councilofone.bandcamp.com/track/elder-son

On that same album, here is my track with both my sons. The older one was four and a half and made an awful racket on my old SG, and the younger one had just turned two and played the keyboards (dad did some post-production work to get the weird synth noises going along with the piano part). I only played bass and programmed the drums. We had a lot of fun doing that.

https://councilofone.bandcamp.com/track/brothers-in-noise

Too bad neither of them really cares what dad's doing in the studio anymore. I will say that the older one is studying the upright bass in fourth grade and the younger one has a pitch perfect singing voice. A couple years ago, one of the Roblox games he played used Nightwish's "Sleeping Sun" as a soundtrack, and he would sing along with Tarja right on pitch. And very loud. I was joking that he had power metal in his future.

[Lozek]

Planning on knocking down buildings?

Actually planning on re-building a building to house them, I guess we'll see what the quality of my work is.

[Mike]

your judgement on Exodus' tone is incorrect, and also assault on me personally

Dude, I love Gary Holt, and I know he's using Silver Jubs, but he...sounded bad in Silver Spring. Maybe it was an anomaly, but he didn't seem too happy about it, either.

[Chris]

I'd have to think that after a point bringing around several hundred pounds worth of extra amps and gear vs. a pair of 10 pound rack Kempers just isn't worth the tradeoff to have "your perfect tone" on tour.

I get to shows so rarely these days, I pay very little attention to how perfect the guitarists sound. I think for every one judgmental guitarist sitting in the optimal spot worrying about the dude's tone, there are 99 people happily headbanging along and not giving a shit. Even when I used to catch more than one concert a year I'd make a note of the tone and then just enjoy the show.

The only single time I really had a strong opinion about it was the G3 tour with Petrucci where his horrendous icepick tone drove us out of the room. Steve (old MG mod) and I ended up "hearing" most of his set from the bar just to get away from it.

[noodles]

We get it, dude, you really like your Kemper.

[thrashinbatman]

Dude, I love Gary Holt, and I know he's using Silver Jubs, but he...sounded bad in Silver Spring. Maybe it was an anomaly, but he didn't seem too happy about it, either.

id say so. like i said, i saw them twice on that tour and he just sounded like always does.

I'd have to think that after a point bringing around several hundred pounds worth of extra amps and gear vs. a pair of 10 pound rack Kempers just isn't worth the tradeoff to have "your perfect tone" on tour.

I get to shows so rarely these days, I pay very little attention to how perfect the guitarists sound. I think for every one judgmental guitarist sitting in the optimal spot worrying about the dude's tone, there are 99 people happily headbanging along and not giving a shit. Even when I used to catch more than one concert a year I'd make a note of the tone and then just enjoy the show.

The only single time I really had a strong opinion about it was the G3 tour with Petrucci where his horrendous icepick tone drove us out of the room. Steve (old MG mod) and I ended up "hearing" most of his set from the bar just to get away from it.

in like 2017 or 2018 i saw Havok live and David was using a Kemper. he had one of the worst guitar tones ive ever heard come from a band of that stature. all honk, no balls, no cut, got buried. his "boost the mids!!!!!!!!" approach backfired terribly. ive never felt more vindicated about scooping my mids in my life.

[Chris]

We get it, dude, you really like your Kemper.

If you weren't a neanderthal, you would too! I believe we've found this guy though:

one judgmental guitarist sitting in the optimal spot worrying about the dude's tone