Presets: Love them or hate them.

[Marvin]

Several years ago I bought a new Yamaha TRBX504. I wanted a Yamaha and these were new to the market. I chose the 504 because the 304 had a preset toggle on it that had preset eq settings. ( It did have a flat option on it though).

Lots of amps and preamps seem to have ever more presets on them. Contours, deep, spangly...or whatever. I've always steered away from the TC Electronic amps because of the TonePrint feature. 

On multi fx pedals I always make my own patches, the preset ones have always been inappropriate for the bands I've been in. The preset patches are useful as a starter/guide to what settings produce a certain sound, but beyond that...

As you might have guessed, I REALLY don't like presets. I'd rather add/cut/twist my own knobs, not have someone decide for me.

What's your preference?

[Dad3353]

I only use Vst stuff, so no physical presets (my stuff is old school...), but the presets with the drum kits I use are excellent. Yes, I 'tweak' 'em, and compose my own, but they're useful when a synth comes with fourteen billion of 'em to scroll through the list, before ignoring all of 'em and making my own stuff. So... Love 'em..? Not really..? Hate 'em..? Certainly not. Mostly they're 'Meh', but there are some good'uns, too. I'm glad they exist (for Vst's, at least...).

Edited September 22, 2020 by Dad3353

[yonni]

I have a Fender Rumble (3 presets) and a Boss GT-1B (99 presets). On the amp they offer quick tweaks that can be handy. On the multi effect I maybe use 2 very occasionally but mainly have created my own patches. So my answer would be both. I use them but I wouldn’t want to have presets as the only option.

[Lozz196]

I’ve found that with the gear I’ve had that had presets they were just too full-on, and the levels of the preset effects needed reducing by at least half for my tastes.

[TheGreek]

I like the presets on my TE amps...but I also like playing with the graphic and using my own settings.

[hooky_lowdown]

I don't love nor hate presets, some sound good, most don't, not to my ears at least. After years and years of messing with presets and settings, I now keep everything flat, as this is the manufacturer's recommended setting, and tweak the eq a little depending on the room. Tone rolled off a little and I get the sound I like, add a bit of dirt when needed. These days I'm less interested in finding tone nirvana, but finding a good, punchy sound in the mix/band.

[Nail Soup]

I use the presets on for example the compressors in my DAW. I have no idea how to use a compressor otherwise. A few other more technical things would be the same.

Apart from that, most effects etc I'd rather find my own settings.

[fretmeister]

Depends on the individual preset.

Even among the crap on the Helix there are some good ones. 

[madshadows]

I have a HOTONE Ampero One which presets that can be altered to the player's taste, terrific presets for bass and guitar  

John 😎 

[stewblack]

I think preset setters are on a hiding to nothing. There are just too many variables and no two bassists will want identical settings. I have a pedal I'm learning today it has only 3 nobs. I just started working out how many variables just 3 controls give me and stopped when I reached a gajillion. And that's without factoring in which bass, pick ups, amp, cab, playing style.

In other words if I got the job of preset setter I wouldn't worry about whether anyone would actually use what I created.

[MacDaddy]

Depends.

Some presets are just to showcase the equipment and don't tend to have much  practical use.

But some sound great straight out of the tin, as it were.

[Oxnard Montalvo]

I like presets as a kind of demo ware. They show what the equipment can do but I'd rarely if ever user them. Toggle switch stuff like GK's contour, Ampeg's Ultra Hi/Lo I tend not to use.

[Woodinblack]

Presets on many things are essencial to give you an idea on what you can do, not necessarily things you would use. Whenever I get something I will flick through the presets to hear what the thing is capable of doing, and then often find something that is like what I want as a starting point and then continue.

As long as they are all overwriteable (but included on some download where you can reapply them) then I don't see any harm.

Although I never understand why digital effects pedals dont seem to have what many digital synths have, a random button. Most of the times the random button ends up with something unplayable, but just occasionally it can be the start of something pretty good!

 

[leftybassman392]

Presets can be very handy as jumping off points for your own mappings. I certainly wouldn’t avoid gear that has presets simply because it has presets. In fact I have a couple of TC electronic pedals that can access the tone print app, and although I haven’t done much with them yet I do plan to explore in more depth at some point. I don’t play live any more so there’s no imperative to get ‘that’ sound, so if it’s free and lets you tinker, then what’s the big deal? I still tweak the knobs on my amps and that isn’t going to change any time soon.

[yorks5stringer]

I like presents on my Birthday and at Christmas. The real bummer is that these events are only 1 day apart so there is no breathing space or time to play with them before the next lot arrive.