Looper's Delight Archive Top (Search)
Date Index
Thread Index
Author Index
Looper's Delight Home
Mailing List Info

[Date Prev][Date Next]   [Thread Prev][Thread Next]   [Date Index][Thread Index][Author Index]

Re: Tubes versus Modeling Caged Death Match



So, you're point (I think) is that the clown (or the model) is in the 
eye of the beholder, eh?  If that is your point, I think I'll agree.  I 
was listening to the Variax's sitar model, and I thought they sounded 
great, a lot better than any synth sitar I've heard.  However, I've 
never owned a sitar, or played one, so what I think is a good model, 
might be a bad model if you're Ravi Shankar.  Since I hate clowns, 
anyone I see dressed as a clown is close enough to a clown for me to 
say, it's good enough.  Since I like Sitars, but can't afford a good 
one or find time to learn and play one, I'd take a Variax or what seems 
equally as good, the Roland VG-88.  Actually, I'd for sure go with the 
Roland, as I already have the hex pickup, so that makes it one less 
thing to have around.

My guess is companies like Line6 mostly hedge the bet that the dozen or 
so amp or guitar models they give you for $400 are "good enough" as 
most people don't have 12 tube amps or 12 guitars.  Maybe they should 
call their devices, "amp aproxamators."

So this is where the Pod and other similar devices really shine.  They 
give you a lot of decent variety for the dollar, as someone earlier 
wrote.  Maybe a few get close, maybe some sound better in some ways.  
Nothing is *exact* as even batches of tubes vary from one to another.

Now I'm going to do a mime simulation and shut up!

Mark Sottilaro

On Monday, April 28, 2003, at 04:29  PM, Steve Lawson wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "mark" <sine@zerocrossing.net>
>> Nope, I totally disagree.  If you put on big shoes and a red nose,
>> you're a clown.
>
> I know professional clowns who would have a severe hissy fit at that
> suggestion, in the same way that I get all upset when guitarists pick 
> up a
> bass, play it like it's an oversized guitar and call themselves 
> bassists -
> they look like bass players but are in fact guitar playing bass 
> holders. The
> difference is only clear and label-able to the initiated, but the 
> effects
> are felt by all. In the same way that if I dressed like a clown, you'd 
> look
> at me and say 'Clown', but anyone who was really a clown would watch my
> attemts at CLOWNING (a real verb, that describes a creative pursuit, 
> not
> just an idiosyncratic dress sense) and see in a secnd that I didn't 
> have a
> clue what I was doing. I looked like a clown, and to the uninitiated 
> could
> pass for a clown. But a real clown could behave like a clown without 
> the
> shoes and nose (Charlie Chaplin, anyone?) and you'd know what they were
> doing...
>
> Where this fits with the valves/modelling debate is so beautifully 
> poetic,
> I'm not going to spoil it but reducing it to some form of didactic
> left-brain thingie... ;o)
>
> big love
>
> Steve (solo bass noodling purveyor of clown-chic - coming to a venue 
> near
> you soon)
> www.steve-lawson.co.uk
>
>