Comparative analysis of electric guitar tube amplifiers with profiling, hardware modeling and VST plugins

Music has played a huge role throughout history as an important element of people's emotional transmission. The guitar is one of the most popular and common of these expressive instruments. The desire to use the impressive sound character of the guitar in the orchestra, the limitations of the loudness, and the loss of it as the orchestras grow have turned into a problem that needs to be solved over time. The invention of the electric guitar is directly related to the development of technology. This relationship contributed to the increase in demand and interest in the guitar and revolutionized the music world by opening new paths. It is obvious that amplifier technologies have developed along with the guitar. Tube amplifiers seem to evolve into VST plug-in derivatives over time, with solid-state modeling and DSPs getting stronger. The fact that all these technologies are still actively used as alternatives to each other, sound quality, functions, validity, advantages and disadvantages are a matter of curiosity among the people in the sector. In our research, it is aimed to examine the differences between hardware amplifier, profiling, hardware modeling and VST modeling, which are the most preferred guitar amplifier technologies today. It is thought that the data obtained for this purpose is important in terms of providing resources to sound engineers, studio players, guitarists, beginners and individuals who serve in the field of music technologies. Spectrum analysis and THD data were obtained with the "Voxengo Span" software from the sounds obtained from the electric guitar hardware amplifier, profiling, hardware modeling and VST modeling determined in this direction. Then, arpeggio and arrangement were prepared with a certain melody and recorded with hardware amplifier, profiling, hardware modeling and VST modeling and re-amplification method. It was presented to a total of 60 people, including 30 sound engineers and 30 guitarists, through a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researchers and approved by three experts. Findings were obtained by applying content analysis to the data obtained through the semi-structured interview form. In summary, the closest technology to Bassman and Twin Reverb tube amplifiers in terms of THD data is hardware modeling, the closest technology in terms of spectrum analysis data is profiling, the majority of sound engineers and guitarists participating in our research prefer VST plug-ins during recording, with hardware amplifiers. As a related disadvantage; the problems such as transportation, high cost and weight problems, and the advantages and reasons for preference, such as frequency balance, full/bulky tone and saturation/temperature are included. Keywords: Amplifier Modeling, Guitar Amplifiers, Profiling, Tube Amplifier, VST Modeling.