This isn't about this piece of gear, but about this type of gear. If we all had the Time, Money and Space . . . we'd all have all of our faves of the very best gear. No, the modeling amps don't do the tube amp sound quite as good, but they do save money, space, time, etc . . . 9 out of 10 plus times, I'd rather run out of a modeling amp than go to through the time and trouble of recording a half-stack in a hall. If you have the time & space & funds, by all means get as good as you can get. There will always be some special piece of gear you have to have. But if you can get by with replacing a pile of gear with one unit? Go for it!
Here's a perfect example. When Ace Frehley was recording his album, his producer suggested he cover Fox On The Run - and he did a great job - but that one song was completely done in the producer's home studio plugged into a modeler. Still sounds great, and is not just one of the best songs on the album, it's one of the best versions of that song, ever!
If Jack White can make a slide guitar out of a 2x4, a piece of wire, a Coke bottle and a pickup? You should be able to make your music with, or without, this piece of gear, or the ones it's emulating.
Neil Young plays with a cobbled together Franken-Guitar & Rig. Look it up. The Beasty Boys record with mics off of cheap Chinatown Karoke machines. When the engineer asked if they wanted to use with noise-reduction, they asked, "Why would you want to get rid of the noise?' Listen to demos of some classics. Sometimes they're pretty good, but many times they're crap, but the song is still there, and the reverse can be true.
Phil Collins said he had to transfer some of the tracks from his 12 track Akai because he couldn't get "The Sound" the demo had when they went in the studio to record the song "properly" for the album. You should worry more about trying to capturing the sound you want, and less about whether the gear is up to it. If you need to buy an all-in-one to achieve that goal? Do it! Others can be acoustically anal about sound quality.
Steely Dan were so dissatisfied with the sound of the album caused by a faulty
DBX unit that they apologized for it on the album's back cover, and for years refused to even listen to it. And that album had hits on it.
For the most part, computers sound worse, and get in the way more, than the gear they replaced, but so many have accepted the convenience of non-linear editing that it's harder to find and maintain a tape deck than ever. There are always trade offs.
Sure, Paul McCartney had George Martin producing him at Abbey Road Studios with the rest of The Beatles, and load of studio musicians backing. But Band On The Run was recorded in a studio in Africa where they had to tell them how to build a vocal booth because the studio didn't have one. Don't let your gear, or lack of it, get in the way. Work with it, around it, or whatever you have to do. Inspired yet? Then hit RECORD and let the chips fall where they may!
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Originally Posted by RooFuss  well said, i'm using one in the session i'm working on right now...it just has so many great sounds...and of course, nothing is going to exactly replicate the 'real deal' so it's completely unfair for us to jusdge it by that...even if focusrite wanted us to do so intially. |