Hey. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't  :face-orange-raised-eyebrow:

"I need more bass, I need more bass"
No, that's what the bassist is for.

The Fletcher Munson scale is the reason a sound guy will say "turn up your mids" instead of "turn up your amp"

Another thing many guitarists forget when they make presets at home is, at home you are just hearing you. The guitar is the only thing taking up the sonic space, so the tendency is to fill all the frequencies to make it sound full. Then at the gig, The guitar is fighting with the drums, The bass, keyboards, singers, other guitarists, etc for that sonic space.

So as a guitar player, it's helpful to learn where your frequencies are in the sonic landscape. If your mids are too low, you'll disappear in the PA and then turn up your volume which will make the highs ear piercing and the lows uncomfortable. Don't shy away from the mid range frequencies. It may sound nasally at home, but in the band mix, you'll punch through at a more reasonable volume.

Dude at this stage I feel like I'm just taking advantage of you. I've enrolled in a Master Class on my Tone Master Pro. Thank you!!

Truth. Most people don't even scratch the surface of modeler abilities and tone shaping.

People need to remember also that many headphones, unless designed for monitor use, will boost the low end for music enjoyment. So it may sound great in phones but be thin in the mix. According to the Bonamassa vid you referenced our great studio sound is lost in the house mix and needs to generally be brighter anyway. Thanks.

Steve, hope you’re having a great weekend! Just wanted to say thanks. I revisited this and saved myself a ton of grief. Great tips and a great reminder. It’s like I totally forgot how sound perception works at non-gig levels and have been seriously frustrated lately with some new gear going through the PA in a larger venue. Thank you 😎🙏🎸
I made a mistake too with a Headrush flex prime and had the line selected into a direct box 🤣
Almost sent it back then after watching this again, thought it had to be me!

Really helpful. Thanks for posting!! PS the Fletcher Munson info for varying volumes was great 👍

I just got my first “modeler” (the Nano Cortex). There is SOOOO much to learn, but this is by far the best video I’ve found yet. Thank you for doing such a thorough breakdown. It was a HUGE help to a tech noob like myself!

Excellent video Steve. You touched on all the key tone parameters, with simplicity, clarity and good paractical advise. The only thing that could be added is that there's a tendency to set gain/saturation too high with modelers, because you can and still control the overall volume. A highly scooped and distorted tone might sound good to you when you're by yourself, but it may get lost in the band mix. Good advise is to use the minimum amount of distortion needed for the song to maintain clarity, dynamic range and cut throught the mix.

As a long time tube amp guy, the learning curve for modelers/profilers is always what holds me back from getting one.
I’ve never come across a tube amp I couldn’t dial in on the fly in minutes or even seconds, and get the sound I want.
BUT, I am getting very tired of carrying those things and not being able to hit the sweet spots anyways because I’m always told to turn them down.
So I’ll be making the jump soon, and videos like this are super helpful.

It works the other way around too: I use my Holy Preset (the battle-hardened sound which I have tweaked and tweaked in a live situation) as a template I will keep A/B-ing new presets too. Every time I'm surprised at how low the high frequency level should be, and how easy it is to let the preset overall level get completely out of control.

It's because most modeler users only listen to the stock presets, and those usually sound bad.
I always start with a blank patch and add everything myself, overdrive - amp - cabinet - modulation - EQ - volume pedal. I've often gotten compliments on my sounds, and I'm using modelers that are $300 or less!
It also depends on what you're listening from. I have seperate patches for headphones, interface, amp, or PA, because they all use different sized speakers so the bass response will be different on all of them.

I've watched this 4x now and will probably keep rewatching until such time the info is set in stone im my brain. I'm new to modelers, just got a tonex one. This video is very helpful. Thanks man! 🙏🙏🙏

Great explanation of EQ and problems with modelers sounding great at volume. I’ve been a casual watcher of your videos for a while but you earned a sub from me with this video. Cheers!

Excellent information Steve. The Chart explanation was very helpful!

I 100% agree. I think most people don’t really understand just how much work and also personal tastes goes into to making those sick presets you hear X or Y using.

It’s definitely part of the experience where it sucks to have bad tone but working your way to good (to you) tone and your sound is the most life changing experience ever.

I really enjoyed this video! You went into enough detail that I feel smarter for watching… But kept it real enough that I’ll be able to apply what I learned.😎

man, that was incredibly helpful!   I just realized that's why my patches sounded great at home,  but like a sizzling steak through the front of the house.  AND I radically lowered the levels of my lead vs. clean patches.  Thanks very much!