This is very likely to be a to do with my own lack of knowledge vs a limitation of the QC - but I am looking to replicate what my old valve setup could do. In essence I want to be able to replicate the classic tube up edge of break up that is then significantly powered up turning on a tube screamer in front of it, at full volume.
It’s hard for me to explain exactly what I’m looking for, but from gut feel the power and volume increase by smashing the front of the amp is always more than what I can achieve from the QC with an identical setup. Whatever amp sim I go for seems to always get compressed more than I’d hope. Basically the head room is not there.
One part of me thinks It’s down to the sheer volume that a tube amp can belt out that I take for granted, and the fact that I wouldn’t naturally crank the QC setup as loud, another part of me feels I just haven’t got my amp levels setup correctly in the QC to achieve this kind of shift. Any suggestions welcome! as I say, I don’t have a deep knowledge of gain structures etc… as to be honest I was able to wing it with my old tube combo
My use for the QC is exactly the same as yours - replacing a Vox AC30 with a TB in front of it, enabling me to use the guitar volume for clean, edge of breakup and full gain (look at my avatar and nick and you find out why I want this )
Anyway, I’m able to achieve this but I use a capture I got from the cloud and not the amp models on the QC. However, when I first go the QC I put the Rage Booster + UK C30 model and was able to get this exact dynamics.
Of course it might not 100% match the “amp in the room feeling” you got. Have you tried to adjust input level and/or impedance to check if you can get closer?
My best advice would be to try whatever you are doing through a real cab in a room. So much of the dynamics and added feel of boosting an amp gets lost (or doesn’t come across in the same way) when it’s mic’d up and heard through studio monitors.
Add the cab/IR afterwards and it should sound the same recorded as your previous setup.
In my experience; as in the real world, a lot of achieving a good edge-of-breakup tone is in choosing the right amp. Some do it better than others. I’ve had good success with AC30 and Mesa Loanstar models and captures. Also, using the low‐pass filter in the cab block can help trim some of the buzz and rattle that you don’t hear when listening to a real amp at a distance and off center. Don’t be afraid to roll off down to 4K or even 3K, as long as you still have the amoun’t of chime you desire. That way, when you dig in, you just hear the smooth onset of harmonics without edgy high frequency artifacts. Again, this is very amp and even cab dependent. Let your ears be your guide. Concerning using boost and drive pedals to hit the front end of the amp, most add a fair amount of compression, even when set relatively clean. If you’re looking to keep plenty of attack, they may not all be your friend. Try overdriving the amp without pedals first, use low (and high) pass filters to roll off the edgyness (and mud) to taste. I hope this helps.
I would suspect this has to do with absolute volume - if you listened to a bedroom-level recording of your tube-amp setup, it would also sound a bit unsatisfactory. Hard to beat the sheer volume of moving air from a powerful tube amp - you’d rarely crank up a modeler to the same levels. Part of this is the Fletcher-Munson effect - at higher volumes, things just sound different and more powerful than at bedroom volumes.
I try to build all my core sounds at (roughly) gig level using a powered P.A. speaker - if you build them at room level or using headphones, you’re up for interesting experiences once you get into a live situation… Far better to create the core of the sound (amp, cab, tone-stack) at live-like volumes - you typically get used to the changed sound at room level very quickly.
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