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| 40 watt Stage.. $500.00 USD 80 watt Artist... $700.00 USD |
An obvious idea that was going to come but
Boss has actually done it.
The main trouble with digital modeling amps
is they are virtually playing back a 'picture' of the sound. They do not respond naturally to your touch and what changes they make while sustaining are fixed to do just one repetitive set of parameters. When you strike a note or chord thru a real tube amp the sound is not static it changes dramatically from your touch and continues making changes even as a note rings out. Even a change in room temperature will change them. Both the sound and the amount and characteristics are different depending on what kind of tubes are in the amp for a Fender they are 6V6 and 6L6 but for Marshall it is EL84 and EL34.
So Boss has designed a program to force the amplifier and speaker to react as if it is tube driven. In fact with a choice of 4 different tubes.
How well it works is at this point unknown since the 'yes men' will be the first to review the amp then comes the honest but nice guys.
Finally guys like me. The S.0.B.'s
The idea has been there since the first digital modelling amp was made. It is just time and cheap computing power that stops it from being perfected.
A lot of good idea's fail because they add their own problems of audible glitches
...or you can see the seams. In short the thing sounds like it is going thru a stream of
changes. Everything happening can only morph ...and then it also has to morph smoothly.
To do it right takes lots of computing power.
Ok...I digress
It has 2 channels an analog tremolo and digital take on a spring reverb.
They make a 40 watt and an 80 watt.
At present they come as single 12" combo's. There are 2x12' models expected.
They are $500.00 USD for the 40w and $700.00 USD for the 80w.
The price and wattage is good. Less would not be pro and more is unnecessary.
Conclusion
Brett Kingman
does reviews of both digital and tube amps. He likes both.
He is honest and one of the best reviewers for pedals. In my mind he is the very best.
With pedals you can compare two things that are doing the exact same thing and then decide who does it best.
With standard Modeling you are again choosing A against A but not A against B.
With the Boss it is faux tube against real tube.
So I can only guess. I think it will be just another amp for those that a solid state amp now is OK.
The Modeling converts are already accepting the trade off by getting endless clones of every popular amp.
Boss has found a way of doing what it does for one amp ..the Nextone. Although the Nextone doe a 'sort of' Fender sound and 'sort of' Marshall sound it is not the same as...for example giving you a Marshall 1964 JTM 45 Bluesbreaker knock off and a Fender '67 Deluxe Reverb.
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Finally the amp in the vid sounds overly antiseptic and compared to a very good pedal or a real tone stack it sounds thin and gutless.
I think I will be holding onto my Plexi for now.
Who has been able to sample the various products on this list and can be able to pick out the best one? Read more
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