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This page: User Interface; Controls Behave Differently; Final Thoughts
User Interface
'With a modeling amp, the knob's position may not indicate anything about the current sound.'
In many ways, a modeling amp is the guitar equivalent of an android. It looks like an amp and acts like an amp, but that's just so humans or guitarists can interact with it. Under the surface, it's a computer that needs to be programmed to serve you better.
Controls Behave Differently
Like any digital device, a modeling amp is a data storage warehouse. You tell it what you want, and it reaches into its memory banks to get it for you. However, because of this, its controls -- even if they look like the chicken-head knobs of your dad's prized vintage tube monster -- are merely data entry knobs.
On a traditional amp, the position of a knob relates to an absolute value: If the volume is up all the way, the amp is at maximum output. You can look at your amp and in a glance get an idea of how it should sound.
But with a modeling amp, the knob's position may not indicate anything about the current sound. Here's an example: Let's say you've just maxed out the midrange knob of your favorite preset Monster Mush. Your next number calls for your second favorite sound, Lush Lounge Lizard. You recall the preset and notice a hole where your midrange had been seconds before. You look at the knob, and it's still maxed out. Lush Lounge Lizard uses the same basic amp model employed by Monster Mush. What gives?
When you recalled Lush Lounge Lizard, the midrange setting reverted back to the data stored in the preset. It ignored the position of the midrange control -- as well as most of the other front panel controls. In order to get the midrange boost back, you must grab the control again and move it back into its boosted position. In some cases you may have to actually turn the control to the position stored in the preset before you can alter the sound. Welcome to the world of data entry.
This seems completely counter to the visceral grab-it-and-go guitar ethic, but there are advantages to this approach. The integrity of the preset -- in other words, all the tonal tweaks you've slaved over to create Lush Lounge Lizard -- remained intact when you brought it up. And once you're used to the way the knobs need to be reset, it's not that big a hassle to make changes on the fly.
But if you find this arrangement disconcerting, you may want an amp that offers the option of operating in a global control mode, where the current position of the EQ and gain controls affect all the presets. In the above example, the midrange boost you performed on Monster Mush would carry over to Lush Lounge Lizard. An interesting alternative used by the Yamaha DG series is to have mechanical knobs that physically move to the position demanded by the preset. Like a conventional amp, what you see is what you get.
Final Thoughts
Remember, the most important thing about any piece of gear is how
well is serves your musical vision. As you evaluate these amps, stay aware
of your own sound, your own style, and, most important, your emotional
relationship to your own music. Pick the gear that most lets you be
yourself.
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