rwinking

I used to know people that would take a certain drug and stay up late writing things that didn't make sense.

That gets into the territory of almost too nice to play!

True. However, My main rig for bigger shows is a Synergy/Egnater MTS set up and I use 5 different tube preamps. It is a heavy mother for sure. The Quad Cortex can get reasonable models of all of those plus others as needed. I may not use 20 different amps at one gig but I might use a lot of those models over the course of a month. 20 years ago I was hired to do all of the guitar stuff on an album by a young sort of pop rock band....not really my cup of tea but I got paid. I used a Line 6 POD Pro XT for the whole album.....no external amp cabs or anything. I just carried a 4 space rack to the session. I ran across it the other day and was blown away by the sounds I got. And that was when this modeling stuff was fairly new. The volume swells were a modeled volume pedal. All FX, Delays, Verbs. etc even the wah solo at the end of the second tune was a modeled wah. And this stuff has only gotten a lot better in the 20 years since. I still love my tubes for sure but have no problem using models either. Like I have said in the past, I can no longer tell the difference between tubes and models on playback. I still feel a slight difference while playing them.

Maybe.....But the ability to have 20 different amp models in one package is pretty cool.

True. But for that amount of money you can also get a Marshall or a Soldanoin buyinh one of the other modelers....or at least to my ear, a pretty damn close model of one.

The high end modelers (Fractal, Line 6 Helix, Quad Cortex, etc) are all used a lot with touring bands. The low end is the Boss Katana and also the Line 6 Catalyst, which has some of the Helix models and FX and sounds great. I have also seen a move toward the lower end Tone X and HEADRUSH run through powered speakers as a lot of companies are buileding powered cabs. For a while, the Fender Tonemaster Twin, Deluxe and Super were getting popular and I have to admit they were great. Their drawback was that they used all of their DSP recreating the Fender tone which was great if all you wanted to do is have Fender tones.. I still use tube amps for my more serious stuff but have lately been using the Quad Cortex along with the Line 6 powercab for smaller gigs. Nobody has complained at all about my tone in using it. The models sound great but I still can feel something lacking in their response to my fingers. I would have no trouble using the Katana or the Catalyst soundwise. Using a Fender Tonemaster is simple in that it is built exactly like a Fender, so plug in and play. The Tone X, Katana and Catalyst require a few minutes of figuing out how to set them up in order to get the most out of them

It sounds great but what about the headstock?

I have the Seth Lovers in my H-535 and I think you are right as far as them being smoother (If that is what you are saying?) especially on the top end. I have Dimarzio Anniversary PAFs in a couple of other guitars and they seem to have the same great tone and an identical high end. I am not sure that I could tell the difference btw the Seth Lovers and the Dimarzios. I love them both.

I always learn a lot just from watching his fingers so effortlessly glide around the neck. HIs fingers have looked a little arthritic for years and yet he is so smooth. What I usually learn from watching him is that my technique has a long way to go......

He has that economy of motion thing down to an art form.

I noticed that they have a really nice compression to them. I have a C&W gig tomorrow night and will use the H-137. It's a great guitar for grit but it can sound almost Tele like when used with a twin or deluxe.

Thanks! No wonder they sound so great!

So I pulled out my trusty H-137 and as usual was blown away by how cool it sounds and plays.....just the right amount of twang and grit coming from the P90s. What did Heritage use for the stock pickups? Mine has an AA SN# which would put it around 2012? Did they use different pickups over the years? Like any great P90 they have a bit of hum but the sound is really cool.....real similar to my 58 LP JR P90 for sure!

Wow! I think I can do the chord stuff on in the arrangement and will try this afternoon. However, he has that harmonic thing down like Lenny Breau or Eric Johnson that i will not even attempt! Thanks for that! Maybe my favorite xmas song!