HX Stomp: First attempt at comping to a real amp

[guitarboy_02451]

I've had L6 products that go back to the first bean. Great for what they were back in the day, but given the opportunity to own a real amp in their model list, I'd always take the real one. Had the HX now for little over a year. This ain't your daddy's modeler for sure. We all know that, but I never tried A/B'ing between one of the models and a real life version of it.

 

So I built my little vocal / amp booth (walk-in closet) and set my Dr. Z MAZ 38 with Z-Best 2x12 in there. Pulled the attenuator out of the mix and set up two mic's on the bottom speaker of the cab. Bottom speaker is a G12H 30, the top is a Vintage 30. I used a Fat Head Ribbon on the speaker cap and a 57 right next too it on the cone. Both mic's were aligned and about 5" from the speaker. (That's by design, the Doc sets the speaker about 4" back from the grill in the ported cab). Checked for phase, none, so mic's were aligned properly.

 

Pulled up two tracks using UA Apollo Twin X / Console, with UA610 pre's unison. For giggles I put 1176's as inserts and sent them to two tracks in pro tools. I did a little blues vamp. Then I did another take for crappy guitar solo. For that, I stomped on my Xotic BB Pre and Wampler Comp. I didn't use any effects. No delay / no reverb. The room is two rooms over, so with all the doors shut, I couldn't hear the guitar. So my only means of hearing the Z, was through cans or monitors. I chose cans. So my aesthetic feel was the same as an amp in a live room, and me in the control room. Same way you'd use the Helix direct. 

 

I then quickly dialed up a patch in stomp, Zed Interstate and native cab (the modeled Z-Best 2x12), no IR"s. Again, no effects, just the amp/cab with a comp at the end of the chain, via USB into ProTools. Did the same vamp, same crappy guitar solo. Again, I chose cans over monitors. 

On playback of my disastrous impromptu jam, I discovered that while there are differences, I would expect that. Different mic's, different rooms, I'm in a closet, etc. L6 modeled a RT66 (KT66 tubes), I have a Maz 38 (EL84's), so serious differences. But here is where it got interesting. No one (friends /wife) could tell which was mine or Line6. Actually the wife liked the Line6 better. She said it was tighter. Hmmmm. That's damn good! 

In conclusion, I know there have been some good shoot out videos out there (I'm not a You Tuber), but I have to say, If you're not taking the L6 lineup seriously, start rethinking it. While the real z was a bit warm, and had some natural compression and sag with some fat mids, I think that if you were just given a mix you probably wouldn't know. Z's aren't rare amps, but they're usually not the first amp everyone is comping against. So as a Z-Natic, I'm here to say... The Doc may have the cure, but Line 6 has the supplement. :)

 

Anyway that's my rant...  

[DunedinDragon]

That doesn't really surprise me at all.  As much as musicians go on and on about the benefits of tube amps and the amp in the room stuff, that's not what everyday music listeners ever really hear whether it's from a recording or from a live performance where the amps are mic'd and sent through the FOH.  They're used to the polished/finished sound rather than the room sound which they rarely ever hear.