Why don’t guitarists use amps anymore? I don’t either……

[@samboermans6155]

I switched to BIAS FX a couple years ago. My guitar playing went downhill untill I stopped completely for 4 years. Recently I got a katana and started playing more again. Sitting behind a desk and a computer somehow took all the fun out of actually playing. Instead of playing I got cought up in the endless features and got distracted easy since I was behind a computer. Guitar playing started to feel as a drag instead of a relief. I will never go back to digital again except perhaps recording. The simplicity of just turning on an amp and starting playing beats the extra functionalities you have with digital.

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

Thanks for commenting and I definitely see your struggle. I’ve felt the same that I’ve been chasing my best tones since I stopped using my amp! All logistical for me 😢

[@mooseymoose]

The less there is between me and getting to playing the better. This is why 90 percent of the time I either play unplugged or grab an acoustic. 9 percent I plug in and flip one switch to turn on the amps. One percent I DI into the interface and muck about in digital madness.

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

Thank you for your comment! Yeah I get you, I have a video coming out this Friday about a device that probably saved my playing just purely for that reason you mentioned, it’s really difficult because playing guitar requires some sort of gear unless like you say acoustic playing!

[@jarredbaca8112]

Victory v4 pedal amps are awesome. All tube preamp, and two notes built in. Also powers a cab!

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

I’ll have to check them out! Thanks for commenting!

[@doctorscoot]

I approached this issue as if my guitar setup is my moog -- i went an all analogue pedals chain up to and including the preamp (i.e. a pedal that has a tube amp topology but with transistors) and then the digital time stuff (reverb/delay), and a cabsim on the end. all on a pedal board around the same size

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

Thanks for commenting and that sounds sick would love to hear that setup!

[@doctorscoot]

@@DavidMarkThomasMusic it’s fairly ordinary - the guitar first hits a Hudson Broadcast which gives it an initial clean boost and transformer isolation from the rest of the chain. Then an origin effects Cali76, couple drive pedals, a chorus, and an Origin Effects Magma 57 for the amp drive topology (and harmonic tremolo). Then via a reverb and delay (which one depends on what I am doing but mostly I am using an earthquaker devices Avalanche Run now) and a Two Notes CAB-M which usually runs a Hiwatt Fane speaker cab sim

[@vriendelijkegroet]

If ampless, I prefer simplicity. A small pedalboard with a NUX Amp acadamy will do. Sounds decent in the mix. We play with in ears over our own PA, our sound guy is part of the band. I have the Amp Acadamy also as a back up if I play a real amp which I prefer but it's easier to go ampless. For the crowd it does not make a difference and personally, I find getting a better in ear mix more important than the basic guitar sounds.

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

Thanks for commenting and yes the modelling or ampless set up is great for in ears! I find with my amp it sounds a lot different in the room than it does mic’d up (obviously many variables)

[@Newmusicreview]

....I have Kemper but recently got a Boss Katana....its light, sounds pretty good

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

Thank you for commenting! I’ve never played through a kemper or a katana, to be honest, I haven’t played through a lot of things because I’ve just used what works for me and I’ve been lucky enough to make a living using what I’ve got, but maybe I’ll have to check them out and make a couple of videos I’ve heard the katana is epic! And obviously the kemper is notoriously known for being wicked good

[@Newmusicreview]

@@DavidMarkThomasMusic Interaction is what keeps us going !...The Kemper is pretty cool I think, but I did a Jam day recently with the Boss Katana and was pleasantly surprised, though I found the setting up a bit iffy.,

[@Lez325]

As a gigging guitarist I use amps in fact I have 3 all valve too

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

Thanks for commenting! What amps do you use if you don’t mind me asking?

[@Lez325]

@@DavidMarkThomasMusic I have a Fender Princeton a Bugera 55w and a very old Vox AC 30 circa 1960

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

I bet that’s a wicked combo!

[@Lez325]

@@DavidMarkThomasMusic it is I lean towards the AC.30 For most gigs

[@Andreas_Straub]

I don't get it. I spent some time on my HX stomp to find/create a set of really good clean/crunch/high gain sounds and have used those ever since. Only if I need some additional effects I create a new temp preset for that purpose. So in then I use my HX stomp like a set of amps .... for PLAYING GUITAR.

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

Thank you for commenting! Yeah I pretty much have my go to preset unless it’s for a specific gig I rarely change it up!

[@0megalul309]

best thing i did to my music journey is to ditch pedals for multi channel amps.

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

That’s cool! What amp do you run if you don’t mind me asking?

[@gordonpelto1069]

Try a real tube amp and you'll see the difference. Nothing like a tube amp on the verge of break up and them control your clean and dirty sounds with you guitar volume and tone control. Or a fender twin with pedals into it. The response from the amp and guitar is amazing. Just by how hard or easy you play.

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

Yeah it’s such a good feeling too! It’s just night and day plugging straight into an amp as opposed to straight into a multi fx where it takes a little longer to get the tones!

[@kylebollendorf4856]

Guitarists should be playing not programming. Using modelers and in-ears in a live situation totally kills the band communication and ability to self mix onstage and play as a group. It’s like a musically Zoom meeting, no physical connection to the others through vibrating air.

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

Thanks for commenting! Yeah that’s a great point, we have a completely silent stage usually and it’s literally just drums.

[@kylebollendorf4856]

@@DavidMarkThomasMusic I have to do the same for a church gig. It really lacks the human element makes me feel isolated from the other band members. Maybe I’m just a control freak but I like to be able to have some understanding of how loud I am compared to the other instruments for real. when I played direct with the helix at church, I’m totally at the mercy of the sound guy as to my level. Sometimes it’s great other times I’m completely buried in the mix and I might as well have not even learned all the parts because no one can hear them.

[@kennethdarlington]

Love tube amps? Buy reactive power soak with built-in IRs and play through it in headphones.

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

Thank you so much! What is this? I’ve never heard of it?!

[@kennethdarlington]

@@DavidMarkThomasMusic RedSeven Amp Central(there are rumors of v2 around the corner) or Fryette Power Load IR - these are reactive power soaks with IRs I've narrowed down my search to. If you still want to use a cabinet but with significantly lower volumes there are Fryette ps-2a - reactive power soaks with built in clean tube amp (but without IRs)

[@roberteismann1929]

Valve amps all day, every day. With Suhr Reactive Load IR for recording. Modellers, Kempers and plugins are all fun but have that strange and nasty high end digital sheen that is just impossible to get rid off and I hate it. I tried all through 2023 to use and like them but no thanks. Use what you like but they are not for me.

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

Thank you for commenting! Yeah I get you. The high end thing is quite frustrating on times, feel like sometimes I’m rolling the EQ because all the way to like 6k which seems insane to me! Amps are the real deal but I think place for both

[@mixodorians12]

Tend to think helix has won comprehensively. . There is nothing for amps to do anymore, aside from create conversation and views for KZbin content creators, who won't let this subject die, as they know that amp owners (terrified their investments will be as worthless as vhs players) will blow up their comments sections. Jonathan Cordy changes his opinion on this subject every day for example, to keep it going. The analogue v digital debate is worth more to youtubers personal economies than anything they produce.

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

Some good points here! Yeah I definitely feel my helix is more than capable of doing every gig I ever do. My thing is sometimes is just that the amp I have I can switch on and I don’t have to do too much tinkering so it’s very much a luxury at this point. I have no doubt the helix could handle it though it’s a beast!

[@3rdStoreyChemist]

Amps still have a use. Last show I did FOH for a monitor failed, so having a guitar amp available helped a lot. Also the fact it was an Orange with the "Bedroom" switch for really low power also helped massively. However you are right that hyperbole around these topics on social media doesn't help. Use whatever you want, just understand it and use it well, nobody really needs the power of a modern modeller and nobody needs a vintage tube amp to sound great. Also I'm tired of hearing about "feel", it never gets brought up in a blind test...

[@3rdStoreyChemist]

Oh and the trend for "FRFR" speakers... It's just a powered monitor. There's one on the floor at most venues. I know that contradicts what I just said. But if a guitarist is going to bring an amp, just bring a typical guitar amp.

[@OtherTheDave]

@@3rdStoreyChemist You can’t change the type of speaker with each preset of you bring a traditional amp. And maybe that’s fine for you, but it’s not like there are zero circumstances where it’d be handy.

[@3rdStoreyChemist]

@@OtherTheDave I wouldn't argue that there isn't a use for such a feature. However for the vast majority of musicians playing typical small venues, it provides zero benefit with more drawbacks than benefits. The EQ controls on an amp, as well as other EQ options such as EQ pedals and tone controls pedals do the work of placing your guitar where you require it. A speaker is a more broad frequency response. But because anyone can access countless IR's, it's essentially being used in the place of pretty basic EQ'ing and with less control. That huge change in tone every guitarist is suddenly discovering is what you're giving FOH to work with when changing IR's within a usually pretty static mix around it. Which is the whole point, social media always blows up all sorts of aspects of a signal chain and create trends for each aspect. Right now speakers are in vogue.

[@ChrisM541]

Thanks for the upload David, certainly an interesting topic. Very nice playing there by the way! "Why don’t guitarists use amps anymore?" --> This really isn't true. There's an excellent very recent 2024 YT video of Vai, Satriani and EJ having a discussion on this very topic - kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZqrmZhveJ6ej9U Basically, every guitarist, without exception, who has extensively gigged with real amps will know what that 'feels' like. They will also, almost without exception say that that 'feeling' is completely absent from using modelers on stage. All three describe what that feeling is and why it's so crucial to a guitarist on stage...especially a virtuoso guitarist. Today's Modelers/plugins are excellent and getting better, and yes, through headphones or in the recording studio they can, in some cases, be difficult to distinguish from the real thing. They are also being uses on more and more recordings. Their clean sounds though generally still leave a lot to be desired. Take them on stage and an experienced gigging guitarist used to using a good valve amp setup will instantly feel that crucial aspects such as the dynamic interaction between guitarist and amp are sadly lacking. The #1 problem today, is that more and more guitarists have never, ever played though a real amp setup. Everything they know is from the modelling/plugin world. They are used to that...they like it (!!!). Damningly, the majority have never gigged on a live stage! Then, they say "modellers/plugins are as good/better than real amps". Quite frankly, almost all are not qualified to make that comparison, clearly. You do gig, so I do appreciate your point of view. Having said all that, today's digital tech is excellent, produces repeatable tones and is very portable/convenient. I understand that. I've gigged in front of crowds for many, many years. My last setup was a Mesa Triaxis/2:90/TC G-Force combo. About as flexible and reproducible as I thought I could get. But damn was it heavy. Today, I also have in the house, A Kemper and on my PC, lots of plugins. Damn, they're convenient and pretty good sounding...apart from those cleans!

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

Thanks for your kind words and for commenting! I 100% agree with the clean sounds, it’s a constant uphill battle I find, I’ve been thinking about maybe getting the universal audio dream to run as a clean amp into my helix but yeah they’re not the best they have to be really dialled in. And I gigged with just amps for 7 years but mainly solid state and some other bits. 4 years with this amp which is really really nice. And yes! We’ve definitely come round to that time that players are so young and they’ve had it so good really that they’ve never really known what a good amp in a room sounds like! And anyone that’s ever used one extensively knows that they’re always longing for something that the amp can give them. But yeah, sorry for the clickbait title 😂 when I meant guitarists I meant me 😂 Thank you so much for this though I’ll have to give that video a watch!

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

Because they’re traitors to the cause ….

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

😂😂 this could be a great helix patch name!

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

@@DavidMarkThomasMusic By the same token a helix could make a great headstone for someone, with their name and age as a patch name 😁👌

[@Suunder]

Digital will never beat the "human" and "Mechanic" right and wrongs of a real amp. Amp sounds more natural and warm. while going fully digital is like AI to me

[@DavidMarkThomasMusic]

Yeah I get you! It’s so instant with an amp you just tend to get an idea of how it sounds instantly!