About two and a half years ago I decided I had enough of carrying around heavy amps (I’ve always had a dodgy back), maintaining multiple amps as well as storing three or four amps around the house. I first tried a modeller when I was about 15, but the technology was nowhere near it was today. The amps used to sound very trebly and thin, and the interface’s complicated and cumbersome. The modellers of today are much higher quality machines and sound, in context of a full band, pretty much the same as a real amp.
I’ve never really subscribed to the ‘feel of a real amp,’ it’s just another type of speaker that you have to get used to. I also concluded that when you’re playing a gig and your amp is mic’d up, the audience isn’t really hearing the amp, they are the sound through a PA speaker that has been manipulated by the sound engineer so the ‘real amp tone and feel’ isn’t what everyone was going to be hearing live or on a gig.
The other reason that I decided to stop using amps was because many gigs these days require either quiet or silent stages. As you can get the intensity of a loud band at quieter volumest to combat volume limiters that plague lots of venues/bands around the UK as well as giving the Sound Engineer a more isolated signal to work with so they can manipulate the sound more effectively and easier. A result of silent stages is the lack of monitor speakers on the stage to hear each other, so to counter this In-Ear Monitors (IEMs) are used, which are basically headphones with your own personal mix. I love using IEMs as I can exactly what I want as I haven’t got to share a stage monitor with someone else, at a comfortable volume so my ears don’t get damaged!
I love using amp modellers, I can’t see myself going back to using an amp as the practically of turning up to a gig with one box that does everything is perfect. If you’re interested in learning more you should check out this article on my site, I give an overview of different amp options including modellers.
I’ll probably write a blog later explaining what models I’ve used and what I think of them, or maybe a gear review post of each one? I haven’t decided yet!
Thanks for reading!