Digital/Modelling amps..a thought ;)

[paul h]

I think amp manufacturers are missing a trick here.

Pretty much all digital/modelling amps are sold on the fact that they can have an almost limitless array of sounds and options. Personally, I don't want that. I just want one good sound from an easy to operate amplifier.

My ultimate digital amp would basically have the sound, for example, of a Fender Twin but in a lightweight 1x10 or 1x12 combo with volume, gain, and bass, mids and treble. That's it. Everything else I can get with pedals. No need for menus and switches for banks or patches. No editing apps, no bluetooth, no usb connections. Just the sound of a great vintage amp that won't break my back or my bank balance.

I think pedal manufacturers have been going that way with all the "amp in a box" style pedals. Mooer has just released a series of amp style pedals mimicking various classic amps including Vox, Fender and Marshall etc. But then of course you still need some kind of amplification device or PA.

I actually use a Joyo American Sound which does a pretty good job of making my £70, 30w, Gear4Music solid sate combo sound like a Blues Junior!

I would absolutely bite Fender's hand off if they offered a sub £300, sub 10kg digital Princeton!

[blank20]

Then You should consider amps like these
https://musicsquare.co.uk/163079_Fender-Bassbreaker-007-combo-guitar-amplifier.html
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/V22InfiCombo

[Jack]

Forgetting the troll up there....

Don't Fender make something like that already? The Mustang or something?

[PaulWarning]

I've been of the opinion that amp modeller pedals are just fancy preset EQ and distortion pedals for a while now, if they really worked you could just use a cheap Behringer set up and sound like anything you wanted

[paul h]

@Jack...the Mustangs have something like 100+ presets. That would just totally blow my mind and give me option paralysis!

@PaulWarning...I use a Joyo American Sound that cost me less that £30 into a Gear4Music Belcat 30w combo and it sounds pretty Fender'ish to me.

I think you are right though PaulW, the idea is that you use an amp in a box pedal and then it no longer matters what amp you use. I think that works to an extent but it will always be a compromise. I'm fairly pleased with my set up however if I'm truthful, my little combo probably doesn't sound quite as rich or sparkly as a Fender blackface and I'm fairly certain it won't last as long!

[randythoades]

I am with Paul, I have the same need, I only need one (2 at the most) settings but would like to have that without all the extra bells and whistles and have the solid state for the weight etc. I actually accept the limitations of Fender solid state in preference over heavy and bulky valve tones just for convenience, weight and consistency of sound. I did go through the phase of using just a Zoom G5 multi effects into a power amp but again, too much to fiddle with. Playing with Bass I now just use a Tech 21 VT bass DI to keep consistent sound ad plug into effects loop of whatever amp happens to be available.

Why can't they make some solid state amps with just good power amp and speaker with the option to add sounds via PC like TC Electronic do with Toneprint? I have a Fender Superchamp X2 (I know it has a valve in the preamp but still technically solid state I believe) and just set one sound, deactivated the rest and works well, but I actually prefer my Fender Frontman 65w 'beginners' amp with it's default sound, just wish I had the confidence in it's reliability.

As Paul says, being able to choose the basic amp in whatever format you need then add the amp model afterward would make a lot of sense and surely make it easier for manufacturers to appeal to a wider audience.

[Jakester]

Aren't the Tech21 Landmark amps exactly that? Solid state, but able to get close to the classic sounds of Fender, Marshall etc?

[paul h]

Nice tip Jakester

Just looked into it and it looks like the Tech21 Trademark amps are the ones you mean. The Trademark 30 is ridiculously light too...probably not loud enough to gig though. Although my 30w Gear4music ss combo is crazy loud!

[Jakester]

That's it. I've got a 60w I picked up for a bargain price a few years ago, and whilst I can't really play guitar very well (or bass, for that matter ) it sounds great, and has held its own in a live environment. The beauty of it is is that it has a DI so once you have the sound dialled in, you can go straight into the PA.

[BigRedX]

The reason you get lots of presets and user programmable memories on modelling amps, is because they are essentially a free extra once you've put in the processing power to do all the other stuff.

[Musicman20]

Boss Katana 50/100. Job done!

[DorsetBlue]

Not strictly digital but these might fit your criteria:

http://voxamps.com/MV50

[ezbass]

The Roland Blues Cube is worth looking at. https://www.roland.com/uk/products/blues_cube_artist/

[MoonBassAlpha]

[quote name='DorsetBlue' timestamp='1501670002' post='3346379']
Not strictly digital but these might fit your criteria:

http://voxamps.com/MV50
[/quote]
I tried the MV50 clean yesterday with a view to helping my guitarist go lightweight. Through my 1x10, I don't think it was quite loud enough to stay clean with our drummer. I think it's only 25W into 8 ohms. Tried the Orange micro Terror too, similar results. Don't get me wrong, I think they would both be loud enough if you don't want crispy clean sounds. The Vox is even small than you think its going to be!

[Kiwi]

Joyo have released a simulation amp called the Klonz which replicates the pre and power sections of something like 15 amps IIRC. No digital modelling involved apparently. The tech is licensed I believe and the amps are around £1500 which isn't cheap, particularly for Joyo.

[paulmcnamara]

Having tried various digital amp/multi effect options I have returned to a good old fashioned (modern) valve combo.

I love the simplicity of operation and the purity of sound.......

My feeling is that the purity of the basic item is always ahead of even the best imitations and far more straight forward to use.

I think as humans we like routine simplicity; the little nag in the back of our minds...... what can I do, or what do I need to change with my set up, can sometimes be a psychological question of insecurity, which plays well into those companies advertising and the economic necessity of upgrading to keep our musical instrument companies going......? So often you hear people referring to previous set ups, which they had regretfully sold on.......

[MacDaddy]

On 08/05/2017 at 19:12, PaulWarning said:

I've been of the opinion that amp modeller pedals are just fancy preset EQ and distortion pedals for a while now, if they really worked you could just use a cheap Behringer set up and sound like anything you wanted

I used to use the floor version of the Behringer V-Amp. I used the Marshall amp setting for pretty much everything - clean and dirty - because it sounded so good. 

[uncle psychosis]

https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/electric-guitar-amps/amp-simulators/fender-tone-master-twin-reverb-2x12-guitar-amp-combo

The amp the OP asked for (admittedly, years ago) now pretty much exists. It looks like a twin, it (supposedly) sounds like a twin, but it weighs like a modelling amp (because it is). There's a Deluxe Reverb one too. 

[fretmeister]

The makers aren't missing a trick.

At the moment they get to make 1 unit that can do everything. That is 1 production line, 1 price, 1 set of manuals, 1 training course for repairers and product demonstrators, 1 set of product testing, 1 supply chain, 1 order book, 1 inventory list etc.

 

If they did do a "Plexi only" model or something it wouldn't be a plexi only model. It would be the full fat version that has been crippled and packaged differently (different tolex = more production costs. Different box, different manual etc etc). Even that would need slightly different software to limit it. And then people would complain if that was the same price as the all access version. But if it was a bit cheaper people would then try to hack it to get access to all the features at a lower price. Then the flood of warranty claims would start, or complaints that a jail broken unit can't get firmware updates. 

 

Just like what happened to the Digitech XP series pedals when it was realised £3 of parts and some computer knowledge could turn any of them into any of the other ones.

 

I get option paralysis - I have a Helix and sometimes spend more time fiddling than playing. But that's my fault, not Line 6's.

But sound design can be just as fun as playing.

 

[Japhet]

I recently picked up a mint (used) Fender Champion 100 off Ebay for £160 and am very impressed. i'm not into all the modelling stuff but this has a range of amp sims on the 2nd channel. The 'Jazz' setting is a very nice clean sound that takes pedals very well.Then it goes through Tweed and Blackface to a Marshall type sound. All good basic sounds. The 1st channel is clean but not as good a clean sound as the Jazz setting. It's an easy 1 hand lift and would be easily capable of a full volume loud gig too. There's a range of effects on it too with tap tempo on some (delay, vibrato, trem etc) although I generally prefer pedals. There are smaller versions too which would be well worth checking out if they sound anywhere near as good as this thing.