X3-style "Live Modes", or Powercab-style speaker modelling on non-Powercab amps... just a discussion...

[zappazapper]

I've been thinking lately about a feature I miss from my X3 - Live Modes.

 

For those that are unfamiliar, Live Modes were a setting on the 1/4" outputs that would bypass the mic and room simulation and revoice the cabinet models depending on what setting you chose, in some kind of attempt to make those models sound accurate in the speaker being used (the manual actually says that it bypasses the speaker modelling as well, but I can confirm from testing that selecting different cabinet models in the AMP+CAB block did drastically change the sound, and that different MIC and ROOM settings did not, and that the same cabinet model sounded different depending on what Live Mode was selected).

 

There were 4 settings to choose (in addition to "Studio" mode, which outputted the same signal as the XLR outs, with the mic and room simulations active and no revoiced cabinet models):

• COMBO PWRAMP - which was for connecting to the FX Loop Return/Power Amp In of an open-back combo amp
• STACK PWRAMP - which was for connecting to the FX Loop Return/Power Amp In of a closed-back stack
• COMBO FRONT - which was for connecting to the front panel input of an open-back combo amp, with controls to help the user neutralize the tonal effect of the amp's tone stack
• and STACK FRONT - which was for connecting to the front panel input of a closed-back stack, with controls to help the user neutralize the tonal effect of the amp's tone stack

 

Now, before everybody goes insane with responses about the inherent inability to revoice a speaker cabinet model accurately with such broad options - I KNOW. There's no way that my Mesa Boogie .50 Caliber+ 1x12" combo sounded exactly like a Marshall 4x12" with Greenbacks just because I set the live mode to COMBO PWRAMP, and there's no way that I could ever prove that it did even if I thought it did. But I think it was a good first attempt at the kind of speaker modelling that exists today in the Powercab, and I wonder if there's a way to apply the concept to non-Powercab amps. Hear me out.

 

The speaker in my .50 Cal+ is a C90 Black Shadow.

One of the speaker models available in the Powercab is the C90.

Clearly Line6 has found a way to measure the response curve of a C90, at least in comparison to the speaker that exists in the Powercab.

Could that information be used to negate the response curve of MY C90 and then use speaker modelling to make it sound like any of the other speakers offered in the Powercab?

 

Like, I understand that the speaker included in the Powercab is likely unique among guitar speakers in that it has a wider frequency response in the high end so that it can reproduce the frequency response of all the speakers it models, and I understand that a C90 probably wouldn't be able to accurately model ALL the speakers the Powercab has to offer because its HF rolloff is lower than some of the modelled speakers. But would its HF rolloff be high enough for ANY of them? ONE of them?

 

Anyway, it just been something that I've been thinking about. I think the Live Mode feature was an interesting approach to using modelling with a guitar amp in 4CM, and I would love to see something similar return with all the advancements Line6 has made in that area. I also think that the Powercab is probably a much better solution to the problem, and that it's quite unlikely that such a feature will ever appear in the Helix, and I don't have a problem with a company making money by creating a great product. Truth be told, I've been eyeballing Powercabs for some time now, and my only fear is that it will make my Boogie obsolete and expendable. I love my Boogie so much and I can barely stand the thought of it just sitting on a shelf collecting dust, or worse, the thought of selling it because I don't use it. I've always embraced the old and the new, but the concept behind the Powercab is just such a game changer, and I guess I'm just desperately dreaming of a way that I can get similar performance from my Boogie. I'm not to proud to say that I just like showing up at gigs with a vintage Mesa Boogie. Maybe it's lame, but it does help to alleviate the apprehension that some musicians have when some wanker walks in and plops the multi-color light show nuclear football on the floor.

 

I'd just love to read any thoughts on the matter.

[cruisinon2]

28 minutes ago, zappazapper said:

 

I'd just love to read any thoughts on the matter.

 

I think if I had a thousand years to guess what is or isn't theoretically possible to do with a particular combination of amps/ speakers, and algorithms that I won't even pretend to understand, two things would happen:

 

1) I'd get a migraine.

2) 99.97% of those guesses would probably turn out to be wrong.

 

So I'm not gonna bother...;)

[zappazapper]

45 minutes ago, cruisinon2 said:

So I'm not gonna bother...;)

Ya, fair enough. 

 

:/