One thing I’ve discovered about people I know who rave about guitar amps: It doesn’t seem to be the sound that they’re after. They may talk about “tone” and “tube saturation”, but I observe that it is really the feeling of playing in the room with a loud amp that they’re after. The way that when they hit the strings results in feeling the sound rather than just hearing it. But when these people record, they end up doing lots of post processing to make it sound better. I’ve even heard other guitarists playing through my rig say that it sounds “too produced” and like the sound on a record instead of the sound of an amp in a room. Because it isn’t really the sound that they’re after but the feeling. Which is fair enough. Things that help your performance can be worthwhile even they don’t end up being audible to the audience except indirectly in the effect they have on your performance. But personally, I’m much more inspired by a “like a record” sound than an “amp in the room” sound.
@@untartelette7545 It’s generally been a multieffects unit. Since the DSM+Humboldt Simplifier, though, I’ve fallen down the individual pedals rabbit hole. The current board includes a Boss DA-2, EHX Pitchfork, Source Audio Vertigo, Boss CE-2w, Boss DD-whatever the latest is, Source Audio True Spring, and the Simplifier. I’ll run that into my Roland JC-40 if I need to, but more often I run direct.
I've been playing guitar since the mid 80's through all kinds of tube and solid state stacks and combos, multi effects through headphones and PA's, DAW plugins and stand alone computer amp sims and even some of those newfangled modeling amps the kids are using these days. They all suck! [ _insert_ _old_ _man_ _yelling_ _at_ _cloud_ ] 😜 Nah, just kidding. ☺I think you're spot on. Arguably, if it's what you're used to, there's _something_ slightly more agreeable to the _player_ about the way a good amp breaks up, the dynamics, "feel" and whatnot, compared to a random distortion pedal, modeler or amp sim, but apart from the factors you've already mentioned, I'd write it down to habit and expectation. Habit since if you're used to the way a tube amp responds and know your way around the tone stack, drive stages etc, you might need a minute to adapt to a rig that responds a bit differently and feels different "in the room" but it's not the end of the world and adapt you will. You just have to want it and accept it. Also, it's might be a learning curve to get used to all the unfamiliar knobs etc, and people seem to hate having to learn new things. Expectation because many really seem to expect anything that's not technology from the effin' fifties to suck the big one and don't even really listen or feel what it's actually like. Development starts at the end of your comfort zone!
@@kostasmarinakis1459 look up cabinet isolation box, I built one out of records once it was very getto, but worked. Also like you said it proves where most of the tone is made. Also dummy loads fitted is another tip to get the "pro" sound
Thank you for introducing me to the world of IRs! I tried many amp sim plugins and I could never get the sound quite right. Now with only stock Ableton plugins and your loader I'm getting sounds I actually like, with infinite tweakability, for free!
You indirectly touched on this idea in your video, but a lot of people seem to overlook the concept that an electric guitar is a "system". Traditionally, that is a guitar with pick-ups, a preamplifier, a power amplifier, and a speaker. If you remove any of these it doesn't work. Of course there are exceptions, like in funk music when the guitar is sent directly to a mixing desk and/or a recording device. Another idea to consider is that sound is entirely subjective. When you plugged the guitar into a pedal and recorded the output of the pedal directly, it did sound "bad" but it did make sound so it theoretically worked. Only through aesthetic evaluation was the sound determined to be unacceptable. While I do believe that there are certain frequencies/sounds that are more pleasing to human hearing than others, I think that a lot of what we think is good and bad is due to conditioning, much more so than any of us would like to admit. Originally, electric guitar amp distortion was viewed as a bad outcome, one that was to be avoided. But eventually, people got used to it and eventually decided that they actually liked the sound of distortion and sought to increase it rather than avoid it. The only thing that changed was people's relationship to the sound.
I think debunking the voodoo in guitar tone is really valuable.. Keep going. There is a lot of historical inertia and nostalgia to the way things are done and it’s good to question that. I would try to be careful not to over simplify your analysis. It makes sense that a pedal works well in a larger system. That’s what it was designed for. Most of these things were designed in a time when a fully flexible EQ in a DAW was not available. I also think that pedals are kind of like presents. Someone who cares a lot tries to use electronics to create a sound people might like. It now may be theoretically possible to fully recreate that by layering plugins in a DAW but that takes a lot of time. If someone is creating music they want to think about music - not fiddling with guitar tone. Anyway, I think your videos are great. Keep going. You are insightful and (just as important) very funny.
I just want to say that if you are looking for good amp distortion then look as these three multi-channel amps. 1. 5150 II/6505+: when I first heard this amp (in person) it blew my mind 2. Mesa Boogie: JP2C or Mark IV 3. Fender: EVH III on the fire breathing channel. There are many RUclips videos of those amps in particular being demonstrated. If you can't hear how good the distortion of those amps for modern metal playing than I suggest you don't really like/appreciate that type of music. That being said Jim Lill has some very interesting things to say about the amps EQ and making any amp sound like any other - including the use of solid state components/distortion pedals with his "Toolbox" amp. Like I get the idea of what Jim Lill is saying but I don't know how to put in into practice.
could you make a episode of GAS therapy, that also gives you the hands on control. because always when you make a certain instrument for free, you always give away all the hands on control, and you have to use it on a touchscreen or mouse and keyboard, which for me is a absolute huge creativity blocker
Thank you, your presentation of the subject as well as the subject itself is very interesting and convincing. The subject goes as far as whether an amp or IR would be needed at all as pedals DI to the DAW also provide a fulfilling sound, without the need for any “amp distortion” but own accurate EQ.😅👏🏻👏🏻👋🏼
Hey I love your videos with your dry sense of humour and very clever insights. Just ignore idiots and keep doing what you are doing. I really appreciate all the effort you are putting in to share music making with people.
A concept I find myself explaining to new bands that I record is that when I add eq in the daw and compression and echo or reverb, whatever, all those alterations to what was captured by the microphone are often needed to make the played-back recording of that capture more natural. Nobody listens to a cranked-up distorted guitar while watching a band with their ear pressed against the cloth of the speaker cabinet, but that's where the microphone may have been! The person hearing the amp in real life is some distance away, with he sound of the echo of the room and the absorption of higher frequencies due to the distance and surfaces absorbing and dissipating the sound, so what an ear on someones head catches is not what the close mic catches. It takes effects to remove the effect of the microphone being close to the speaker. Same thing with drums, see how natural a snare drum sounds when you put you ear two inches from the top head as the drummer plays. With perfectly mic'd real amps and/or perfect IR distorted tracks, it's still important to keep in mind that you are getting what the microphone picked up (or the characteristics for the IR to generate same) at the microphone's listening position, which is an unnatural place to be listening for a human head in a room. So to use a distortion and the IR (or real microphone recording) without applying steps to compensate for the characterists of the mic position, the guitar track can still sound wrong. Often I find that simply applying a low pass filter will be enough to get things nicer.
These days I love using pedals like this with guitar. But if you play guitar and haven't played through a big loud tube amp with a stack of speakers, you're really missing out
This is gold! Thank you for doing this. I’m trying and searching tirelessly to find a tone or sound that I like and that fits in and cuts through the mix. I’m just now learning about sound and frequencies but there’s so much I don’t know or understand. I don’t know how compression works or how to use it but I know it’s important. I watched that video from Jim a few weeks ago and that blew my mind too and I just came across your videos today. I don’t quite understand how your plugin works (shows how much I don’t understand things) but with my little bit of knowledge I feel like you’re doing the right thing and showing us we don’t need the expensive toys to get the sound we’re all searching for. Please keep making these videos! Just subscribed!
The best guitar tone I ever got was running through a 30w Peavey tube amp and recording straight from the FX out. People said it sounded like Joy Division... I'll take that. But that amp has been out of repair for a while. Lately my favorite tech has been to run through a modular synth's external input, into a patch that's set up to approximate the features of an actual amplifier's signal path, especially rectification and feedback loops.
I own a Jackhammer and use it along with my cheap ass amp dist to boost the signal. It’s actually a fun pedal to fiddle with once you turn off EQ, put it in OD mode and crank treble all the way up.
Fun video. Keep up the good work. If people are mad about your videos, i think they dont get your dry humor. I pray you and bad gear make a video together.
Im going to guess the main reason people like it is because it's louder. A lot of the time i add distortion I think it's better, until i loudness match it. As far as amp sims go, since they simulate a limited amount of electricity, its pretty hard to make a "bad" sound. If you turn everything to 11, it's not truly turning everything to 11, unlike a digital distortion. This prevents you from ruining the sound but it also prevents you from making precise changes. Looking forward to seeing your conclusion on this topic!
Yeah I never understood why distortion was always bad and just assumed I just didn't know how to set it right. I had an old Peavey back in the 80s and it sounded pretty good with some overdrive. Now I have a Bias Mini and it sounds horrible by itself. I added a Tom Quayle Overdrive stack pedal, but didn't improve it. If I use a 4-cable method with Plethora FX, and use its compressor at the start (and also a vintage Hush IICX after the Tom Quayle overdrive), it starts to sound better. I still don't think it sounds as good as what I'm hearing from the professionals though.
That was very amusing and interesting. Thanks for the humorous take on it all. Guitarists get very emotional about this stuff. As a bass player I’ve always found it mystifying. From my observation a good valve amp sounds amazing live but as soon as you try and record it there’s going to disappointment.
I once read that the secrete sauce for AC DC live was a special plywood box. Inside was an amp and mic, this took a feed from agus,s guitar and pumped it through a mashal cranked, the mic picked this up and is was mixed back into the over all sound of the guitar
What are your thoughts on things like Neural Amp Modeler that have cropped up recently? Is IR enough, or do you think this new kind of machine-learning-based emulation is the next big step in replicating that "tone" that folks are after?
To me the distortion right in front of the cab is actually not usable, I explained my user case in last video, I need to add more effects like delay and reverb to spice up the guitar tone. I also don't want a distortion effect take up most of my computer CPU resource, I have more instruments to spend... So NAM can be fun for metal heads, but not really my thing.
D'you think it's possible to make irs using reafir and amp sims ? like I like some of my presets in Bias or Overloud but they run heavy: could I use something like Reaper's ReafIr to make IRs and run them in AnyAmpIR?
Dude your video really got me interested in Signal Processing. Could you kindly share how you learnt to code plugins? I did try googling but there are so many resources, got overwhelmed pretty much. Its alright if you don't want to share it, its still cool. Would definitely give your plugin a spin after I get me an audio interface. Thanks a lot for these videos. 😁
idk man, I really do truly appreciate the idea and effort here, but I just don't think it's really true for what a lot of guitarists actually want here. Like, I have a few different distortion pedals, but they all sound significantly different from one another (I'm also not buying overdrives here, but different distortion units with wildly different compression settings and such) and it just sounds different for actually playing, even through the same speaker or even a digital IR cab emulation. I think there's actually a lot of value in those little differences, even if the "sound" is made from adding everything up together.
Distortion sounds like a crap because by definition it is distortion. But it definitely adds something to the tone, namely upper harmonic frequencies. It basically changes sine wave to square wave with some added funk when two tones meet.
Could you PLEASE make a video on how to "re-create / get for free" the monomachine from elektron? some of the most iconic artists i look up to, including late sophie xeon, used it in ways unimaginable and I havent seen anywhere on the internet where someone could recreate those sounds on software
Yes, I just need more time for this one man band, stay tuned 🪴 btw, someone mentioned there's a VST3 bridge host for Linux, you can search and try it first.
No, these marshall stomp boxes are not REPRESENTING overdriven marshall sounds, they just try to mimic it. That ´s not a bad thing by itself, but they do not compare to - let me name a few - an old Plexi, an AC30 or a Champ (no master volumes) when they break up by increasing the volume and the power amp starts to compress . And that´s not distortion btw. Don´t get me wrong, I don´t feel offended and I don´t want to offend you, but I really think you don´t know enough about what you´re talking here when it comes to tube sound and dynamic response of amplifiers... Anyway, I worship your mission to showing people no-budget-alternatives for music making instead of falling into the trap of synfluencerism and gearlust.
You’re correct, but your also missing the point. The easiest way to play with other musicians is with an amp. If the amp has two channels the distortion in the amp removes one step. It’s plug and play. Simplicity is what is gained. Playing at home with an amp IR is great but introduces complexity if you want to play live with other musicians.
You came after my teenage engineering gear, you came after my broken DX7, please back away from my Boss EQ, Michael…! I can see the hammer in your hand!!
When I saw a genuine King of Tone my immediate thought was "don't you dare say that is shit!" but you were right - on its own, it is very underwhelming. It's strange how this is one of the only effects that is acceptable to sound "bad" out of the box, unless you have everything else in the signal chain. Even guitar gear demos seem essentially impossible to use as a basis for buying a distortion, fuzz, overdrive etc. and yet here we are with the $200+ Bad Monkey...
there’s something to be said about analog clipping and signal processing over digital. this is extremely obvious when you are doing similar processes on a hardware synthesizer. these distortion pedals let you crank in a different way than a digital distortion, supposedly.
I don't really see the point of this video. Of course guitar gain pedals are designed to be used in front of an amp, you can't be surprised when they sound bad straight into an interface when that's not what they were designed for. A more fair comparison would be an analog amp/cab sim like the Simplifier DLX vs. a plug-in. Those are actually designed to go direct in to the computer.
With all due respect, there are several aspects to getting anything to sound good. So I quickly just typed JH-1 in the search and this is the first video that came up. Never heard of this guy. Can you honestly tell me if you hear similarities with your e.g? ruclips.net/video/Lmbuu41m6rY/видео.html
Similar, but you need certain cabinet speaker and mic to shape the tone like this, what you're hearing from pedal demo is not the pedal itself at all, it's the entire signal line.
@@playpm Again, I appear to be missing something so apologies but who plays any drive pedal without an amp, directly into the DAW? Granted there are a couple that provide an output (the CHUG pedal immediately comes to mind) but for you to rattle through a bunch of pedals and say "shit,...shit,...shit" when they're not being used in the way they're *designed to be used* makes these tests moot IMO. I guess I'm missing the point you're trying to make.
@MoreMeRecording actually I play od&dist pedals without amp directly into DAW, tone shaping from amp is just so easy to achieve, which makes my workflow simpler and more practical without annoying people live around me. Plus I can always switch shaping amps if I don't like the tone afterwards, makes my life easier too.
Yeah I thought this video was really stupid once I realized THIS is what he was going for. Like yeah no duh guitars sound bad without speakers/cab modelers/IRs, etc… it’s why literally every guitarist uses them instead of only going DI and calling it a day. It doesn’t matter what guitar or pedal you’re using, it’s going to sound bad, unless you purposefully are going for a blown out DI’d guitar sound a la “Revolution”. This video is like him saying “Guitars sound bad!” and him playing a wildly out of tune guitar, then explaining in the video that they don’t sound good unless the strings are tuned. Yeah, no duh dude lmao.
I love your projects and overall perspective... but... The sarcasm and defensive attitude makes your good ideas and products a bit harder to love. Good luck and keep streamlining the workflow!
You made a nice intro and I kept waiting for something important but this was pointless. Use the looper, stay on one IR and just change the pedals. Just like you can't test guitar strings without a guitar or car tires without a car, you can't test distortion without speaker. They meant to go together. If you find out they all sound the same and people can't tell the difference, that's a different story, but as it is... You're not exploring anything.
@@playpm Well yeah, obviously, it doesn't matter. Use either IR or speaker and mic. But stick to just one choice. And then change the distortion pedal or preamps. Only then you can see the tonal difference between them (or lack of it) and that's what guitarists are testing and talking about.
I can assure you that none of the haters ever wrote their own plugin(s), but have a weirdly strong opinion on others work. Don't let those comments come close to you.
One thing I’ve discovered about people I know who rave about guitar amps: It doesn’t seem to be the sound that they’re after. They may talk about “tone” and “tube saturation”, but I observe that it is really the feeling of playing in the room with a loud amp that they’re after. The way that when they hit the strings results in feeling the sound rather than just hearing it. But when these people record, they end up doing lots of post processing to make it sound better. I’ve even heard other guitarists playing through my rig say that it sounds “too produced” and like the sound on a record instead of the sound of an amp in a room. Because it isn’t really the sound that they’re after but the feeling. Which is fair enough. Things that help your performance can be worthwhile even they don’t end up being audible to the audience except indirectly in the effect they have on your performance. But personally, I’m much more inspired by a “like a record” sound than an “amp in the room” sound.
What's your rig then?
@@untartelette7545 It’s generally been a multieffects unit. Since the DSM+Humboldt Simplifier, though, I’ve fallen down the individual pedals rabbit hole. The current board includes a Boss DA-2, EHX Pitchfork, Source Audio Vertigo, Boss CE-2w, Boss DD-whatever the latest is, Source Audio True Spring, and the Simplifier. I’ll run that into my Roland JC-40 if I need to, but more often I run direct.
@@RobertFisher1969 I didn't know about that unit (Simplifier), thanks for the reply
I've been playing guitar since the mid 80's through all kinds of tube and solid state stacks and combos, multi effects through headphones and PA's, DAW plugins and stand alone computer amp sims and even some of those newfangled modeling amps the kids are using these days. They all suck! [ _insert_ _old_ _man_ _yelling_ _at_ _cloud_ ] 😜
Nah, just kidding. ☺I think you're spot on. Arguably, if it's what you're used to, there's _something_ slightly more agreeable to the _player_ about the way a good amp breaks up, the dynamics, "feel" and whatnot, compared to a random distortion pedal, modeler or amp sim, but apart from the factors you've already mentioned, I'd write it down to habit and expectation.
Habit since if you're used to the way a tube amp responds and know your way around the tone stack, drive stages etc, you might need a minute to adapt to a rig that responds a bit differently and feels different "in the room" but it's not the end of the world and adapt you will. You just have to want it and accept it. Also, it's might be a learning curve to get used to all the unfamiliar knobs etc, and people seem to hate having to learn new things.
Expectation because many really seem to expect anything that's not technology from the effin' fifties to suck the big one and don't even really listen or feel what it's actually like.
Development starts at the end of your comfort zone!
"...we need accurate EQ ...that means serious business." Love it!
Keep doing what you're doing, Michael! 👍
It's sad to hear you've been getting hate for your videos. I think your videos and what you are doing is great!! ❤️
It's ALL ABOUT THE CABINETS!
You are 100% correct mate!!
yep AC DC have a ply wood box with amp and MIC with a feed from the guitar back stage for consistent tone
@@darrenwolboldtalk2 I didn't know that but yeah why not! It's possible
@@kostasmarinakis1459 I used to be a sound man for bands, it makes sense to me although maybe now it could be done with an input response
@@kostasmarinakis1459 look up cabinet isolation box, I built one out of records once it was very getto, but worked.
Also like you said it proves where most of the tone is made.
Also dummy loads fitted is another tip to get the "pro" sound
@@darrenwolboldtalk2 Wonderful information, Thank you so much mate!!
Thank you for introducing me to the world of IRs! I tried many amp sim plugins and I could never get the sound quite right. Now with only stock Ableton plugins and your loader I'm getting sounds I actually like, with infinite tweakability, for free!
You indirectly touched on this idea in your video, but a lot of people seem to overlook the concept that an electric guitar is a "system". Traditionally, that is a guitar with pick-ups, a preamplifier, a power amplifier, and a speaker. If you remove any of these it doesn't work. Of course there are exceptions, like in funk music when the guitar is sent directly to a mixing desk and/or a recording device. Another idea to consider is that sound is entirely subjective. When you plugged the guitar into a pedal and recorded the output of the pedal directly, it did sound "bad" but it did make sound so it theoretically worked. Only through aesthetic evaluation was the sound determined to be unacceptable. While I do believe that there are certain frequencies/sounds that are more pleasing to human hearing than others, I think that a lot of what we think is good and bad is due to conditioning, much more so than any of us would like to admit. Originally, electric guitar amp distortion was viewed as a bad outcome, one that was to be avoided. But eventually, people got used to it and eventually decided that they actually liked the sound of distortion and sought to increase it rather than avoid it. The only thing that changed was people's relationship to the sound.
I think debunking the voodoo in guitar tone is really valuable.. Keep going. There is a lot of historical inertia and nostalgia to the way things are done and it’s good to question that. I would try to be careful not to over simplify your analysis. It makes sense that a pedal works well in a larger system. That’s what it was designed for. Most of these things were designed in a time when a fully flexible EQ in a DAW was not available. I also think that pedals are kind of like presents. Someone who cares a lot tries to use electronics to create a sound people might like. It now may be theoretically possible to fully recreate that by layering plugins in a DAW but that takes a lot of time. If someone is creating music they want to think about music - not fiddling with guitar tone.
Anyway, I think your videos are great. Keep going. You are insightful and (just as important) very funny.
Yes! You and Jim Lill are busting so many tone myths. Thank you for your service :)
Shout out to Jim Lill 🙌🙌🙌
You're a great resource today and invaluable to the future. Thank you
im honestly very happy i found your channel, has helped me a lot in understanding things i didnt know.
Love your sampler!
“Use an accurate EQ. Like the one in your DAW.” 🤣 You are a mythbuster!
I've been bingeing on your videos after you were suggested.Well done with everything you achieve ! Very clever and humorous.Thank you
Much appreciated! More fun stuffs are coming, stay tuned~
Inspiring and informative as usual. Thanks for the great videos!
I just want to say that if you are looking for good amp distortion then look as these three multi-channel amps.
1. 5150 II/6505+: when I first heard this amp (in person) it blew my mind
2. Mesa Boogie: JP2C or Mark IV
3. Fender: EVH III on the fire breathing channel.
There are many RUclips videos of those amps in particular being demonstrated. If you can't hear how good the distortion of those amps for modern metal playing than I suggest you don't really like/appreciate that type of music.
That being said Jim Lill has some very interesting things to say about the amps EQ and making any amp sound like any other - including the use of solid state components/distortion pedals with his "Toolbox" amp. Like I get the idea of what Jim Lill is saying but I don't know how to put in into practice.
could you make a episode of GAS therapy, that also gives you the hands on control. because always when you make a certain instrument for free, you always give away all the hands on control, and you have to use it on a touchscreen or mouse and keyboard, which for me is a absolute huge creativity blocker
Oh yeah, I'll definitely make one for how I utilize the touchpad and keyboard.
Thank you, your presentation of the subject as well as the subject itself is very interesting and convincing. The subject goes as far as whether an amp or IR would be needed at all as pedals DI to the DAW also provide a fulfilling sound, without the need for any “amp distortion” but own accurate EQ.😅👏🏻👏🏻👋🏼
Hey I love your videos with your dry sense of humour and very clever insights. Just ignore idiots and keep doing what you are doing. I really appreciate all the effort you are putting in to share music making with people.
Appreciated, more excitements on the way, stay tuned~
A concept I find myself explaining to new bands that I record is that when I add eq in the daw and compression and echo or reverb, whatever, all those alterations to what was captured by the microphone are often needed to make the played-back recording of that capture more natural. Nobody listens to a cranked-up distorted guitar while watching a band with their ear pressed against the cloth of the speaker cabinet, but that's where the microphone may have been! The person hearing the amp in real life is some distance away, with he sound of the echo of the room and the absorption of higher frequencies due to the distance and surfaces absorbing and dissipating the sound, so what an ear on someones head catches is not what the close mic catches. It takes effects to remove the effect of the microphone being close to the speaker.
Same thing with drums, see how natural a snare drum sounds when you put you ear two inches from the top head as the drummer plays.
With perfectly mic'd real amps and/or perfect IR distorted tracks, it's still important to keep in mind that you are getting what the microphone picked up (or the characteristics for the IR to generate same) at the microphone's listening position, which is an unnatural place to be listening for a human head in a room. So to use a distortion and the IR (or real microphone recording) without applying steps to compensate for the characterists of the mic position, the guitar track can still sound wrong. Often I find that simply applying a low pass filter will be enough to get things nicer.
These days I love using pedals like this with guitar. But if you play guitar and haven't played through a big loud tube amp with a stack of speakers, you're really missing out
This is gold! Thank you for doing this. I’m trying and searching tirelessly to find a tone or sound that I like and that fits in and cuts through the mix. I’m just now learning about sound and frequencies but there’s so much I don’t know or understand. I don’t know how compression works or how to use it but I know it’s important. I watched that video from Jim a few weeks ago and that blew my mind too and I just came across your videos today. I don’t quite understand how your plugin works (shows how much I don’t understand things) but with my little bit of knowledge I feel like you’re doing the right thing and showing us we don’t need the expensive toys to get the sound we’re all searching for. Please keep making these videos! Just subscribed!
Appreciated, try pair whatever od/dist + eq before my AnyAmpIR, you will feel the magic. The most important part is to judge the tone by ear.
@@playpm thanks man! I’ll definitely give that a try.
The best guitar tone I ever got was running through a 30w Peavey tube amp and recording straight from the FX out. People said it sounded like Joy Division... I'll take that. But that amp has been out of repair for a while. Lately my favorite tech has been to run through a modular synth's external input, into a patch that's set up to approximate the features of an actual amplifier's signal path, especially rectification and feedback loops.
I own a Jackhammer and use it along with my cheap ass amp dist to boost the signal. It’s actually a fun pedal to fiddle with once you turn off EQ, put it in OD mode and crank treble all the way up.
Thank you! 🌻
I love blues, rock, punk, and heavy metal. Just something about the sound of a distorted electric guitar gets me excited.
Fun video. Keep up the good work. If people are mad about your videos, i think they dont get your dry humor.
I pray you and bad gear make a video together.
Yeah sherman, and i prey for a pink fury growth to engulf my nut sack. AudioPilz is as entertaining as a wet fart
Nailed it
Im going to guess the main reason people like it is because it's louder. A lot of the time i add distortion I think it's better, until i loudness match it.
As far as amp sims go, since they simulate a limited amount of electricity, its pretty hard to make a "bad" sound. If you turn everything to 11, it's not truly turning everything to 11, unlike a digital distortion. This prevents you from ruining the sound but it also prevents you from making precise changes.
Looking forward to seeing your conclusion on this topic!
Stay tuned, it's a more practical angle~
Yeah I never understood why distortion was always bad and just assumed I just didn't know how to set it right. I had an old Peavey back in the 80s and it sounded pretty good with some overdrive. Now I have a Bias Mini and it sounds horrible by itself. I added a Tom Quayle Overdrive stack pedal, but didn't improve it. If I use a 4-cable method with Plethora FX, and use its compressor at the start (and also a vintage Hush IICX after the Tom Quayle overdrive), it starts to sound better. I still don't think it sounds as good as what I'm hearing from the professionals though.
great knowledge and very concise. keep them coming
Thanks!
Appreciated for the support ❤️
Don’t let the negativity get to you, sir! Your vids are awesome! 😊
thanks
Guv'nor & Jackhammer - it's a very nice stuff, but yes - your finally sound it's more than only pedals
That was very amusing and interesting. Thanks for the humorous take on it all. Guitarists get very emotional about this stuff. As a bass player I’ve always found it mystifying. From my observation a good valve amp sounds amazing live but as soon as you try and record it there’s going to disappointment.
Now I understand why almost every session player in nashville records his tube amps with (mostly expensive) mics - it sounds disappointing.
These are boost pedals designs to be used with ur amps distortion
This guy is MAD ..... judge'in tones on amature amp !!
Great video as always! Which one is your interface?
Appreciated, for this video it's Apogee jam 96k.
I once read that the secrete sauce for AC DC live was a special plywood box.
Inside was an amp and mic, this took a feed from agus,s guitar and pumped it through a mashal cranked, the mic picked this up and is was mixed back into the over all sound of the guitar
Interesting story, from their work I guess the plywood box just never went broken 😄
@@playpm look up guitar isolation box loads of people use them, but not a lot of people know about them
@@playpm Put a SM57 in and you have all the big boys toys
What are your thoughts on things like Neural Amp Modeler that have cropped up recently? Is IR enough, or do you think this new kind of machine-learning-based emulation is the next big step in replicating that "tone" that folks are after?
To me the distortion right in front of the cab is actually not usable, I explained my user case in last video, I need to add more effects like delay and reverb to spice up the guitar tone. I also don't want a distortion effect take up most of my computer CPU resource, I have more instruments to spend... So NAM can be fun for metal heads, but not really my thing.
@@playpm it does have some pretty good clean amps tho
Sorry to hear people are being rude to you online, "gatekeeping" is not okay. Thanks for the great video
D'you think it's possible to make irs using reafir and amp sims ? like I like some of my presets in Bias or Overloud but they run heavy: could I use something like Reaper's ReafIr to make IRs and run them in AnyAmpIR?
Yes, but IR won't capture distortion effect, you need to pair distortion with IR to get heavy tones.
@@playpm Oh yeah ! perfect! Thanks, I'll try to find a tutorial on how to do that :)
Rock On!
Where do you guys find good IRs - impulse responses?
I linked one free library in description, good place to start your collection.
Dude your video really got me interested in Signal Processing. Could you kindly share how you learnt to code plugins? I did try googling but there are so many resources, got overwhelmed pretty much. Its alright if you don't want to share it, its still cool. Would definitely give your plugin a spin after I get me an audio interface. Thanks a lot for these videos. 😁
I learnt C++ basics and JUCE. Have fun.
@@playpm Thanks a lot man.
idk man, I really do truly appreciate the idea and effort here, but I just don't think it's really true for what a lot of guitarists actually want here. Like, I have a few different distortion pedals, but they all sound significantly different from one another (I'm also not buying overdrives here, but different distortion units with wildly different compression settings and such) and it just sounds different for actually playing, even through the same speaker or even a digital IR cab emulation. I think there's actually a lot of value in those little differences, even if the "sound" is made from adding everything up together.
Totally agree, but my point is the distortion tone you hear is not what it actually is.
any chance you could sample an ampeg v-4, vt-40 or vt-22 for your AnyAmpIR??
I don't own any of them, maybe try find them online?
@@playpm yes, I have and couldn't find any, was hoping you'd have some connections or any way to get ahold of those amps, thank you, nevertheless
Distortion sounds like a crap because by definition it is distortion.
But it definitely adds something to the tone, namely upper harmonic frequencies. It basically changes sine wave to square wave with some added funk when two tones meet.
Could you PLEASE make a video on how to "re-create / get for free" the monomachine from elektron? some of the most iconic artists i look up to, including late sophie xeon, used it in ways unimaginable and I havent seen anywhere on the internet where someone could recreate those sounds on software
You haven't tried Bad Monkey pedal!
Any chance of a Linux version of the Amp plugin?
Yes, I just need more time for this one man band, stay tuned 🪴 btw, someone mentioned there's a VST3 bridge host for Linux, you can search and try it first.
Is that an audio interface connected to the pedal ? Or a DI box ? What brand, model ? Looks very portable
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@@playpm the only audio interface in that link is the Apogee Jam+, but it doesnt look as the one you have connected to the pedal ...
Mine is Jam 96k, same stuff, only mine is lack of monitor port.
What do you use to connect your guitar to your Ipad?
Jam 96k from Apogee, super cheap nowadays.
No, these marshall stomp boxes are not REPRESENTING overdriven marshall sounds, they just try to mimic it.
That ´s not a bad thing by itself, but they do not compare to - let me name a few - an old Plexi, an AC30 or a Champ (no master volumes) when they break up by increasing the volume and the power amp starts to compress . And that´s not distortion btw.
Don´t get me wrong, I don´t feel offended and I don´t want to offend you, but I really think you don´t know enough about what you´re talking here when it comes to tube sound and dynamic response of amplifiers...
Anyway, I worship your mission to showing people no-budget-alternatives for music making instead of falling into the trap of synfluencerism and gearlust.
"Shit..." I involuntarily say that much too often during a day...concerning certain involuntary circumstances, you know. Lord help me.
We need accurate EQ!
Bruv, your videos, your music and your creativity are the BEST ANSWER to the clowns out there who throw shade at you. Keep on rocking man!
You may be interested in Mart's take on the subject. youtu.be/pkqjqOa7
The clone sounded good
You’re correct, but your also missing the point. The easiest way to play with other musicians is with an amp. If the amp has two channels the distortion in the amp removes one step. It’s plug and play. Simplicity is what is gained. Playing at home with an amp IR is great but introduces complexity if you want to play live with other musicians.
To me, that's what amp modelers are for. Just grab an FRFR for your practice space and you're good.
@@aneveningwithebola2727 What's an FRFR?
@@wonbangcho3687 A stage monitor, basically. Stands for "Full Range Flat Response"
You came after my teenage engineering gear, you came after my broken DX7, please back away from my Boss EQ, Michael…!
I can see the hammer in your hand!!
PS your hair is looking so long and strong!!!
When I saw a genuine King of Tone my immediate thought was "don't you dare say that is shit!" but you were right - on its own, it is very underwhelming. It's strange how this is one of the only effects that is acceptable to sound "bad" out of the box, unless you have everything else in the signal chain. Even guitar gear demos seem essentially impossible to use as a basis for buying a distortion, fuzz, overdrive etc. and yet here we are with the $200+ Bad Monkey...
Speakers are to electric guitar tone as tires are to cars.
It is too accurate!
there’s something to be said about analog clipping and signal processing over digital. this is extremely obvious when you are doing similar processes on a hardware synthesizer.
these distortion pedals let you crank in a different way than a digital distortion, supposedly.
You may be interested in this:- ruclips.net/video/-a5qAG1qtLs/видео.html
The boomer squad will freak out on this.
Let be honest, best guitar amps that I've played was solid state amps.
I don't really see the point of this video. Of course guitar gain pedals are designed to be used in front of an amp, you can't be surprised when they sound bad straight into an interface when that's not what they were designed for. A more fair comparison would be an analog amp/cab sim like the Simplifier DLX vs. a plug-in. Those are actually designed to go direct in to the computer.
With all due respect, there are several aspects to getting anything to sound good. So I quickly just typed JH-1 in the search and this is the first video that came up. Never heard of this guy. Can you honestly tell me if you hear similarities with your e.g? ruclips.net/video/Lmbuu41m6rY/видео.html
Similar, but you need certain cabinet speaker and mic to shape the tone like this, what you're hearing from pedal demo is not the pedal itself at all, it's the entire signal line.
@@playpm Again, I appear to be missing something so apologies but who plays any drive pedal without an amp, directly into the DAW? Granted there are a couple that provide an output (the CHUG pedal immediately comes to mind) but for you to rattle through a bunch of pedals and say "shit,...shit,...shit" when they're not being used in the way they're *designed to be used* makes these tests moot IMO. I guess I'm missing the point you're trying to make.
@MoreMeRecording actually I play od&dist pedals without amp directly into DAW, tone shaping from amp is just so easy to achieve, which makes my workflow simpler and more practical without annoying people live around me. Plus I can always switch shaping amps if I don't like the tone afterwards, makes my life easier too.
pure hypothetical questioning : those big company are scammers....just a pure fictional statement, of course they are not scammers...
Testing guitar pedals without an amp is like testing how your shoes affect the sound
Calla bobo.
Yeah I thought this video was really stupid once I realized THIS is what he was going for. Like yeah no duh guitars sound bad without speakers/cab modelers/IRs, etc… it’s why literally every guitarist uses them instead of only going DI and calling it a day. It doesn’t matter what guitar or pedal you’re using, it’s going to sound bad, unless you purposefully are going for a blown out DI’d guitar sound a la “Revolution”. This video is like him saying “Guitars sound bad!” and him playing a wildly out of tune guitar, then explaining in the video that they don’t sound good unless the strings are tuned. Yeah, no duh dude lmao.
Is this satire?
You have to use distortion from a tube amp and cab. Nothing sounds better than distortion from a 120 tube amp with a 4x12 cab with celestians.
I love your projects and overall perspective...
but...
The sarcasm and defensive attitude makes your good ideas and products a bit harder to love.
Good luck and keep streamlining the workflow!
📨♥
Ah well you know. Anything to do with guitars, you’re bound to get some nonsense. Don’t let it bother you.
You made a nice intro and I kept waiting for something important but this was pointless. Use the looper, stay on one IR and just change the pedals. Just like you can't test guitar strings without a guitar or car tires without a car, you can't test distortion without speaker. They meant to go together. If you find out they all sound the same and people can't tell the difference, that's a different story, but as it is... You're not exploring anything.
IR is already doing the work of speaker & mic.
@@playpm Well yeah, obviously, it doesn't matter. Use either IR or speaker and mic. But stick to just one choice. And then change the distortion pedal or preamps. Only then you can see the tonal difference between them (or lack of it) and that's what guitarists are testing and talking about.
I can assure you that none of the haters ever wrote their own plugin(s), but have a weirdly strong opinion on others work. Don't let those comments come close to you.
What are you trying here? Seriously, all the examples sound horrible.