Methodology:
-Total presets used = 1,146
-Line 6 = 118 presets
-Custom Tone = 526 presets
-Pro = 502 presets
-The data was gathered from the Line 6 "Default & Factory 1" settings, over 150 Custom Tone users, & 9 Pro preset makers.
​
-The SOAS-Presets are Ante-Presets because they come before the presets that the player creates. They aren't arranged to necessarily sound usable. Rather they are meant purely for sharing the values themselves. Yes, some of the Snapshots do sound usable, but the idea is for the player to mix and match these suggested settings in order to create their own unique presets. Here are the ingredients, but you need to come up with the recipe for baking your own cake!
​
-In purchasing Pro and selecting Custom Tone presets, I tried to get an even sampling for all of the main amps. But my own personal preferences may have influenced which amps are best represented here (aka what models I'm willing to buy the most of). For Custom Tone presets, I searched for the highest rated and most downloaded presets per amp model. I also focused on Custom Tone users who had the most/highest rated uploads. I then demo'd each preset and if it sounded bad, I tossed it, if it was pretty good, it joined the data set.
​
-The bracketed number next to the amp model name represents the number of presets in the summary chart. Amp models with more presets = more "statistically sound".
​
-Each amp model's SOAS summary chart consists of:
-Line 6 Default settings
-Low value
-High value
-Average value
-Median value
-Popular values
​
-The Low & High values effectively determine a usable range per parameter.
​
-The Median values are the "surest bet". Remarkably I found that the Line 6 Default & Factory settings were often also the median values for a given amp model, which tells me that not "all factory presets suck!" But this could also be explained by the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality; a lot of users might not change a default setting if it sounds right, especially some of the more esoteric settings such as Sag, Ripple, Bias X, etc..
​
-For the SOAS 2.0 Popular values, many are "micro-averages"; rather than offering a range as I did in 1.0, I simply averaged the cluster of values together. I always tried to keep these ranges under a +/-0.5 spread.
​
-Often in the Popular 2 or Popular 3 Snapshots, there'd be times where I wouldn't have a complete set of values to plug in. For any blank spaces in these snapshots, I substituted in the Average value for that given parameter.
​
​
​
​
​
​
-All SOAS-Preset's Snapshots were leveled to ~ -25dB (ITU BS.1770) by running Pink Noise into the Helix and metering with the Orban meter pictured below. I tested several Line 6 Factory 1 presets and the result was that the Average and Median volume levels were -25dB. After leveling with Pink Noise, I went in to each SOAS-Preset to manually level each Snapsot, in order to account for the differences between actual volume and perceived volume.
SOAS 2.0 Update:
-I got lazy and only leveled the recent presets with the Pink Noise & not by ear/with a guitar sample. After publishing the SOAS2 Setlist/Presets, I realized that the levels were way off on some Presets. My apologies. You can use this information make any necessary corrections.
Effects:
-I Followed the same methodology for determining (most of) the effects that are featured in the SOAS-Presets. I did three things:
​
1) I focused on the effects that affect tonality the most: Overdrives, Compressors, & EQs.
2) I focused primarily on the Pro presets and what effects/settings they were using.
3) I totaled up the most popular effects overall & per amp model. Each SOAS-Preset will (generally) have the two most popular Overdrives & the most popular Compressor.
​
-The SOAS-Presets only feature the Average values for each effects summary chart. I built the template for the SOAS-Presets before assigning the amp values and I added the effects towards the end of this project. Meaning, I was too lazy to change the Snapshot settings for each SOAS-Presets Snapshots and chose to feature only the Average values instead.
​
-BUT! There are 3 bonus SOAS-Presets that are "effects only". In these presets, all of the charted effects are featured with their default, average, median, & Popular 1/2/3 values. These SOAS-Presets are BYO-Amp; just plug in an amp+cab/IR of your choosing and play away!
​
-I also did the same thing for Noise Gate & High+Low Cuts for the Impulse Responses. Both sets of those values are the averages of the results I got from reviewing primarily the Pro presets.
​
-The Delay & Reverb are NOT the result of this statistical analysis. Rather they are merely two of my basic/go-to settings. In a future update, I will include the proper SOAS values for the most popular delays, reverbs, & modulations.
