Regarding The Use of "Modeling" Guitar Processors Live

12-01-2007, 06:33 AM

I have heard amps that sounded great, modelers/ sims that sounded great, amps that sounded flat awful, and modelers that made me want to shutdown and go home.

My point?

Live guitar using modelers absolutely can be done, and done well, but it helps to have a few things:

1. Patches made so that they actually have some midrange in them. The guys who disappear in the mix have a strong tendency to write patches with all kinds of frequencies appropriate to bass guitars and cymbals, while killing any frequencies that are actually in the guitar range. They then complain about not being able to hear the guitar when the rest of the band starts playing. :rolls eyes:

2. A mixing console with flexible channel EQ. If you can get one with a sweepable low pass (not just high pass), you can really kill some of the uber-high sizzle that's both useless and annoying. The rest of the EQ is good for judiciously taming problem spots.

3. Don't pile on the effects unless that's the sound you're actually attempting to achieve.

4. Make the apparent volume levels from patch to patch as close as possible. Not the volume setting! The APPARENT level.

When I mixed for Puddlestone, I eventually got the guitar player to go entirely direct. I never received a single complaint about the guitar sounds that came through the PA (although JP did take a little while to be convinced that he liked the whole idea).