Bill Walker's amp modeler

[Mark Sottilaro <sine@zerocrossing.net>]

I think I've seen enough people using the Line6 Pod Pro effectively to 
realize that amp modeling technology as arrived.  I've noticed the last 
couple of times I've seen Trey Gunn he seems to use them for his stick, 
and his tone was also one of the best I've seen in a live situation (to 
those who don't know his work, do yourself a favor and see one of his 
live shows, my wife and I thought he was one of the best performers 
we'd seen in quite some time)

It just stands to reason that eventually computing power and good 
software would eventually be able to model a tube amp effectively.  
It's a complex system, to be sure, but hell my ex girlfriend got her 
doctorate writing code that modeled gravity wells in black hole 
situations.  Anyway, I swear by my Johnson.  It's less fragile, quieter 
and more powerful than my Ampeg Reverbrocket, and it has great tone.  
When I got the Reverbrocket I did A/B tests, and I swear some of the 
models on the Johnson sounded embarrassingly good.  I've also heard 
people who use vintage tube stuff exclusively that sound like crap.

Part of me waxes nostalgic about what's sure to be the end of tube 
amps, but the other part realizes that tubes are the result of a pretty 
nasty manufacturing process (so are microchips but they're not 
disposable like tubes are) and will for sure be ever harder to get as 
time goes by.  Oh well.

Then again, every time I hear Andre Lafosse play out of that 
Mesa/Boogie he uses I think, "wow, such tone..."

Mark Sottilaro


On Sunday, April 27, 2003, at 02:30 AM, Steve Lawson wrote:

>  if ever I'm talking to tone-purists who go on about the
> feeble-ness of modeling amps, I have to agree in lots of cases, but 
> suggest that they somehow get to hear Bill - better tone than most 
> guys I've heard using matchless amps...