The impact of digital profiling amplifiers.

4 comments

  1. Well from one prick to another, its an interesting point and I am afraid we are all brand conscious to one degree or another. as social animals we are hardwired to conform and be part of a group or tribe, unfortunately this can then polarise opinion and it ends up with two tribes going to war (sorry for that couldn’t help myself). Even leaving this comment I face the choice of making it public on youtube and being part of the gang with all the other pricks that watched it all to the end or I can stand here alone as a solitary prick….Oh well at least I’m standing. I have a modeling amp and my electric guitar is a modeling guitar and I am very happy but I still get yearnings for a Gibson and an Orange valve amp no matter what sounds I can make. It reminds me of a big rift between video and film a few years ago, video just was not film. So now we have all sorts of ways of taking an almost perfect video image and manipulating it until it is indistinguishable from film stock. There are some purists that still argue that film is best but their numbers get less almost everyday, I am just scratching the surface here but I think you get my drift. Film was exclusive it was an expensive statement and required comitment and skill to process, it was a brand of quality and said something about the film maker……Even if the film was shit. Bring on technology, let science light our way and make it easier and cheaper to achieve our aims, I just hope it looks pretty and has a nice label…..

    1. Interesting. I sit here with a Jack Daniels and ice… the proof that we already have time machines. One sniff and I’m eighteen again. The taste of youth. //drinks and realises he’s spouting shite! (But it really is MY time machine!)

      Video vs film is a good one. Tarantino still uses real film stock. And his most recent film went on a 70mm tour round the cinemas (of America I think…. I doubt it happened here). The verdict from those that saw it seemed to be they’d rather have just watched it digitally projected. I know what you mean about pristine, hi-def footage being run through a grinder to make it look like film. So many topics here for so many future videos? I can already imagine a debate about 24fps. Remember the outcry when Peter Jackson filmed the Hobbit at 48fps? Did you see it? I didn’t. If you did, what did you think? I’ll tell you what… maybe you could do a film-related skit for me to stick on my channel? It’s a thought.

      Still dwelling in my time machine. Leather clad girls and heavy metal. What a drag it is getting old.

      With regard to the digital amplifier thing I think it’s much the same as film to video, CD to streaming. etc etc. There are always etcs. Digital amplifiers will become the norm. The days of the tube amp are numbered. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow… but soon. Tube amps will always be around. I bought a record player again recently and love to put jazz records on and kid myself that it all sounds sooo much better. I mean… it DOES sound better. But then what’s ‘better’? I used to hate the sound of the dust. And the general faff associated with vinyl. When CDs came along I embraced them. I threw away the records. Smashed them. But now, with the easy availability of music, I enjoy the hassle of having to put a record on. And I have to turn the damned thing over? REALLY? Oh yes. I like it now! Ha ha!

      Vinyl could be a topic of many future videos. Music piracy is another important topic. Henning touched upon it with his discussion of amplifiers…. but he veered from the topic, lost his way and ended up in a ditch with his pants down. Piracy and streaming in general HAVE destroyed ‘certain’ aspects of music. This WILL be a future video.

      For now though I am gagged by something which I did not know about. My internet provider is ‘choking’ me for uploading too much data. I genuinely was unaware of this. I can’t even watch Netflix now nevermind YouTube. I can’t even watch my own videos. Perhaps that could be another rant? Still… I can type. Oh yes, I can type!

  2. Like you say so many topics and as is often the case one thing leads to another, I have a bad habit of digressing! I did not watch The Hobbit at the cinema, I have a 3d set up at home and watched it on that so I can not say for sure. The whole topic of image “quality” is a big one and full of myths and subjective opinion…Just like the tone wood issue, but ever increasing resoulution is a little misleading akin to the processor gigahertz myth. A great way to market something. I have read that because we are so used to 24 fps at the cinema that we have come to associate that “filmic look” with quality and our reactions to it are quite real even though we have in effect trained ourselves to respond to it. This perception of what we see and hear can now be identified and explained (to some degree) with the aid of the latest brain scans. We often see and hear exactly what we expect to, fascinating stuff and quite unnerving for those who place great faith in their ability to think and make good decisions based on data and logic. I remember just before CD’s went into full production, my brother in law had been on a visit to the first manufacturing plant in the UK and he was full of the wonders of this new technology that was really all about increasing proffit. I thought what a load of rubbish, I was wrong and now ironically I think that the return to vinyl is proffit led (at least that remains constant). But if you think you hear a difference the truth is that in your mind you actually do…..Now thats a real tone wood shocker that could end in a complete meltdown of all those egos competing for attention. I am more than happy to do anything that I can to help with your channel, or anything else for that matter, as time permits of course and I would not expect any mention or credit. I do things because I like to do them. I am interested to see what you come up with over music piracy its a contentious but serious issue. My Mom and Sister have worked in the industry pretty much all their lives so i do hear bits and bobs from time to time. Particularly from mom who was involved in the early jazz scene in 1960’s London and now in New York. Some great stories from “the good old days” . I think it could be time to review your internet provider now that you have launched your website!

  3. It seems a lot of the digital modelling amps try as hard as possible to not actually mention the name of the amp they’re copying, but at the same time, letting you know exactly what they’re copying. British Crunch, USA Tweed etc, we all know what they are. It’s a good point made about the larger companies licencing out their names..Those Label Whores are gonna love to see Marshall and Fender written on the front of their amps, and those companies get kudos, , money, free advertising, and possibly brand new fans who’ll switch to their products later in life.
    I guess it’s in the main manufacturer’s interest however, to control and limit these licences, not least from a quality point of view..if Marshall is splattered on everything, it’ll lose some of it’s mystique and exclusivity..You want Marshall to mean Marshall, and not ‘just another amp’.
    As for the modelling thing, my Brother just bought an amp, he’s learning guitar, isn’t going to play gigs, just jams with himself and the hi-fi..I recommended the Roland MicroCube..yes, a modelling amp, but for his use, the perfect bit of kit.
    Would I buy one ? Yes, but I already have a Marshall stashed away under my bed.

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