cruisinon2

Personally, I'm waiting for Apple to get into the modeling game...tweaked with voice commands, of course: "iAmp, sound awesome". Problem solved...;)

Anybody charging $300 for that model has balls. They were $100-$110 at most places for years on end...price drop was fairly recent, when they released an updated model, which are essentially the same, only slightly tweaked. But they never stopped making the original ones, as far as I know. I know you can still get them...but $300 is insane. Somebody's price-gouging.

You think that's bad? I just lost my last quill, I broke the ink well, and I'm out of parchment! Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for my weekly blood-letting. ;)

Can't go wrong with AKG240S...they're about $80 brand new. It's hard to spend less than a hundred bucks and get quality cans, but these things have been a studio standard for years. I find that I can tweak patches and get very close to what my L2T sounds like, even at volume. Not identical of course, but nothing ever is. Only minimal tweaking with the global EQ is required to make a headphone patch gig-ready.

All depends on one's goal, I suppose. Now I haven't watched it, but if the underlying sentiment is "modeling sucks, and real amps will forever sound better", or "modeling is awesome, but only Fractal, Kemper, and the Gorton's Fisherman know how to do it properly", it wouldn't surprise me for a less than flattering Helix example to be displayed for the masses. Everybody's got an agenda. The internet is a terrible place...;)

What you need to understand is that nothing you choose is going to sound exactly like your surround sound set up. Diffrent box, different tone...just the way it is. However, a traditional guitar amp and cabinet vs. FRFR powered monitors (or in your case the surround system) are about as dissimilar as it gets in terms of frequency response. It's also highly unlikely that your surround sound system is true FRFR either, but it'll be closer than a guitar cabinet, almost by default.

"You wanna do what? Put a penny in the light socket? You go ahead and try that out...hurts, don't it? Don't do that no more." - Jeff Foxworthy on child-rearing. ;)

I can only think of one....a speaker cable.

We live in a disposable economy. The giant TV on your wall is not gonna last you 30 years. We can argue all day long whether that's a good thing or not, but that really isn't the point. Yes, they expect you to toss out the old guitar and buy the new version, and the next new version after that. And yes, that kinda sucks if you're inclined keep everything you've ever purchased forever. But the simple fact is, you just can't think of theses things the same way you would a vintage LP or Strat. They're just not...and I like mine. But one day, my 69 is just gonna be another Strat clone with a humbucker. Oh well. I could complain about that fact, but it would be about as productive as whining about gravity. It is what it is, and it ain't gonna change.

The guitar? Essentially forever, flood, fire, and earthquake damage notwithstanding. The fancy electronics IN the guitar?... "Until they don't feel like supporting it anymore".

DING! DING! DING! What else could be said? "Here's the new firmware. It kinda sucks, but I was hung over most of last month, so suck it."? Of course it sounds impressive...it's supposed to. Plenty of the vague, if not outright meaningless terms like "chunk" and "thunk" that get used to describe guitar tones, sprinkled with just enough techno-babble to make it sound as if it was born from a black-budget defense project at Lockheed/Martin Skunkworks. That'll be $3500 please, but you'll have to wait for your "invitation"...

Just to play Devil's advocate for a minute...and it probably isn't what happened, but since it seems you experienced the opposite of what was expected, is it possible that it's just something as goofy as having pulled up the wrong set of patches the first time? A good old fashioned "DUUUUUHHHHH" moment? We all have'em...

Nope. Give me magic, give it to me right now, and for free. That's the world we're living in. And let's face it...there is a contingent who simply don't WANT to like modelers. For those who approach the whole concept with the pre-conceived notion that nothing will ever live up to their favorite amp or pedal, disappointment is inevitable. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. All the perspective in the world won't help. And here's the best part....everyone might wanna take a seat. NOBODY'S RIGHT! It's all 100% subjective. There's nothing to measure or quantify. And no one preference is any more valid than another. You like it, or you don't. Don't like it? Move on...sooner or later you'll find something that works for you. Unless you're a complete malcontent, in which case you'll go to your grave miserable, and with sub-par tone. ;) Use whatever gear blows your hair back. And for the love of all that is decent and holy, everybody stop asking other people if X, Y, or Z will fulfill your wildest guitar tone aspirations. It's an unanswerable question, and no one has the slightest idea, but YOU. Might as well be soliciting someone to pick you a new favorite color.

Are you on a canoe trip in West Virginia? If so, paddle faster....;)

I've used a Macbook pro running on the battery with Workbench countless times without an issue, as recently as yesterday. Aside from the possibility of running out of juice entirely, how could this possibly make a difference one way or the other?

And this was decided by what means? Executive order, Royal decree, or asking a Ouija board? Again, you've decided..."Fractal better", and that's fine. If you haven't been able to get what you want from this unit, and today's the deadline to decide, having someone (or a dozen someones) promise "yep, it can do it, no worries" doesn't help you. Time's up...

Ugh. Organic. (I get it, really I do...who wants antibiotics or pesticides in their musical equipment?) Better this, better that. Easier to fix...because? You might not realize it yet, but you've clearly already made your decision. Happy Fractaling. Let us all know when you're promoted to Cardinal in the Church of Cliff. ;)

Lol...some days I just can't. Perhaps I need more coffee. I seem to be a bit cranky this morning. ;)

Glad it gave you a chuckle, but I wasn't kidding...I gave up trying to use someone else's patches long ago. It works about as well as trying to play a tune by handing your guitar off to the guy who sat next to you on the train this morning, and yelling out notes whilst waving a whip and a chair. ;) Good luck to you all the same!

Not a blessed one. Personally, I think Customtone is a psych experiment...they want to see how many times you have to listen to something labeled "Joe Satriani"...that actually sounds like Joe Walsh...before you go insane.

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This has always been, and will always be the case. The gear is irrelevant. Our perception of sound varies with volume. Period. Biology is undefeated, and will win this fight every time. It was like this in 1968 when everybody's rig was a guitar, a cable, and an amp, and it's true now with all our fancy digital crap. Trying to EQ your way out of this problem by guessing at global EQ settings ahead of time is a colossal waste of time. There are no magic settings that apply to every player and listening environment. Global EQ is for minor changes from one room to the next. Turn up, tweak, save. Those are your gig patches. Turn down, tweak, save...those are your comfy living room volume patches.

Lengthy warranty periods generally only exist for products that are practically indestructible. Why? Because the company has little to lose...if it's a product that you basically have to try to destroy, there won't be many warranty claims anyway, so they can warranty it forever with little financial impact. Plus, then they get to say: "Check out how we stand behind our products, ain't we swell?".

Perhaps you misunderstood my point. I have no interest in how things could, would, or should be. My only concern is how things ARE, and figuring out how to operate within those limitations, so that my little corner of this communal litter box we all exist in stinks as little as possible. The world's myriad injustices are beyond my control, and I have neither the time nor the energy to be a crusader. I'm certainly not gonna waste time lamenting the length of the manufacturer's warranty on a guitar, the garbage disposal, or the A/C in the den. Hell, hip replacements fail after a few years sometimes...and guess what? Your surgeon ain't banging in a 2nd set of hardware for free, out of the goodness of his heart. The world is what it is, and much of it...well, let's just say is "less than ideal". Tuck in, and get a good whiff. Pungent, ain't it? As Dennis Leary would say: "Life sucks. Get a f#!#/^!@ helmet..."

I really don't have a dog in this fight, and you can use whatever you like...if you like oily strings, so be it. But just for the sake of argument, any oil that dries up quickly is of little use as a lubricant, as it would soon fail in its primary mission...that's why nobody dumps water or rubbing alcohol on a squeaky door hinge. Five minutes later, you've got the same problem. Squirt puddles of WD40 and contact cleaner next to each other on a counter top, and see which one is still there a few minutes later...or a week. It won't be the contact cleaner.