Amp Simulator shoot out.

Brett Siler · Post by **Brett Siler** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 6:27 pm

So I am thinking about getting an amp simulator for my little PT LE setup. There are quite a few out there. I have had my eye on iZotope Trash. What do you guys think the best simulator out there is?

John Jeffers · Post by **John Jeffers** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 7:06 pm

Speaking of software, best I've heard so far is NI Guitar Rig 2. Still sounds like crap, but it's the least-crappy crap. I also have a PodXT which I think sounds better than any software, but it's still--you guessed it--crap. Simulators are damn convenient and nice for headphone practicing, but I would rarely choose them over a real amp for recording.

Oh BTW, I did check out Trash, and was unimpressed. I've also tried Amplitube and Waves GTR. Not much of a fan of any of 'em.

I suppose I should mention that what I'm going for, and what I use to gauge the "realism" of the sound, are high-gain hard rock/metal tones. Nothing in the amp sim world gets anything close to useable for those kinds of sounds. For clean tones and semi-distorted rock stuff, they sound a little nicer.

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 5:52 am

In the realm of cheap hardware, I am stunned by the Zoom G2. It sounds amazing.

More versatile but very very noisy is the Vox Tonelab...

junkstar · Post by **junkstar** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 6:28 am

A friend just cut an album leaning pretty heavily on AmpFarm and I gotta say some of the guitar sounds on the disc were very impressive. He is a remarkable guitarist so that plays into it a lot, but I'd look into AmpFarm if you are curious about what is out there.

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:21 am

Everybody rags on SansAmp for guitars (and worships it for everything else), but if you keep the SansAmp tone clean, add a compressor (I use a Maxon) and get your overdrive/distortion from a good pedal, you can get some great tones.

Another possibility: If your distortion/overdrive has tons of gain, run it straight through a RedBox.

;ivlunsdystf · Post by **;ivlunsdystf** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:52 am

Invalidink-

Are you looking for software or hardware?

hammertime · Post by **hammertime** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 10:45 am

I read somewhere that Jeff Beck just cut an album using the Line 6 Pod. I have the pod, and it's not bad for certain types of sounds. About the only presets I ever find myself using are the Fender presets -- probably because they're the easiest to model. I've heard people get decent high-gain sounds on recordings, though. I bought the Linn design one (I can't remember the name) a few years ago for about a week, but I didn't really think it sounded any better than the pod (here too, I kept finding myself drawn to the fender sounds), so I returned it.

pandatone · Post by **pandatone** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 11:29 am

amplitube is my go to plug for amp sim. ok, well i use the free MDA one sometimes too.. but more as EFx.. (i think it's called the "combo") untill my sansamp died, i used that alot.

i don't do alot of guitar stuff though.

panda

mertmo · Post by **mertmo** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 12:07 pm

I have gotten some pretty damn good tones from Amplitube, tones I would use on a final mix. Not always, but some of them. I think it's pretty good, but I haven't heard guitar rig, which is supposed to be better (unless you are after really hi gain sounds...)

But by far the most kickass application for Amplitube for me has been putting it on a DI bass track. Holy shit, instant ampeg! Seriously, if I hadn't scored Amplitube for free with PT, I would consider buying it JUST to use it on bass DI, it's that good.

touched1 · Post by **touched1** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 12:21 pm

mertmo wrote: But by far the most kickass application for Amplitube for me has been putting it on a DI bass track. Holy shit, instant ampeg! Seriously, if I hadn't scored Amplitube for free with PT, I would consider buying it JUST to use it on bass DI, it's that good.

I could not agree more on this one.
Amplitube on a DI Bass, reamped bass (as in just sending the amp signal to the plug in), or a synth bass really brings it to life.

I just got GR 2, and have not tried it with a bass yet. The presets in GR 2 are much better than GR1. They were really weak. So far I'm loving GR 2. It has bass cab an amp emulators that sound HUGE on guitars

I will say that Guitar Rig 1/2 has a much broader spectrum of sounds than any other simulator I've tried. I'm really happy with it, but I'm not a real guitarist, so not as critical as others might be.

i believe the demo fro Guitar RIg is free if you want to try it out.

workshed · Post by **workshed** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:07 pm

I've been forced to use the Logic Express built-in guitar amp and bass amp plugins lately, as my amp is being used by one of our guitarists while his amp is in the shop.

I have to say that the quality of the DI method has made a difference in the quality of the plugins, which are mediocre at best. I used to just go straight through a cheap passive DI box and into my soundcraft spirit folio board, which was kind of a dull sound. Lately I've been going through my Presonus MP20 and it's an amazing difference. A lot wider range of tones, really flatters and brings out the tones of my Tele and makes it shimmer. I don't do high-gain stuff with it though, so that may be part of it. More than anything, I'm impressed with Logic Express's bass amp plugin. Very nice.

Brett Siler · Post by **Brett Siler** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:22 pm

Tatertot wrote:Invalidink-

Are you looking for software or hardware?

Probably software but I am not ruling out hardware by anymeans. The idea I had was to use the ampsimulators like you would a guitar pedal. Of course i am not expecting the amp simulator to sound exactly like, say a Marshall Lead 800, but to just sound like some sort of generic amp/guitar pedal.

My main intentions were this. The recording space I have is pretty small. I was wanting to get an amp simulator so I could mic up the drum set, send the bass and guitars direct and have them sound decent in the headphone mix and then later re-amp the guitars and bass the get the real amp sounds. That way I can track a band live and still get decent results.

i have demo Amplitude and it was pretty cool. I listened to the Guitar Rig 2 and they sounded pretty good but I am using PT LE 6.4 (sorry I for got to mention that) and Guitar Rig 2 is only compatable with PT 7. Out of the software one so far to my ears I still the iZoptope Trash sounds most like an amp.

As far as hardware I have heard great things about the Zoom G2. I will probably buy that in the future, because its cheap now and if I could get it used that would b great.

I have heard some metal stuff that has been recorded with the Line 6 Pod XT that sounded pretty impressive. Anyone have any experiences with those?

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:44 pm

InvalidInk wrote:As far as hardware I have heard great things about the Zoom G2. I will probably buy that in the future, because its cheap now and if I could get it used that would b great.

If they put out a more full-featured rack version I will be on that shit in an instant...

operator_tape · Post by **operator_tape** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 3:54 pm

InvalidInk wrote:
Tatertot wrote:Invalidink-

Are you looking for software or hardware?
Probably software but I am not ruling out hardware by anymeans. The idea I had was to use the ampsimulators like you would a guitar pedal. Of course i am not expecting the amp simulator to sound exactly like, say a Marshall Lead 800, but to just sound like some sort of generic amp/guitar pedal.

My main intentions were this. The recording space I have is pretty small. I was wanting to get an amp simulator so I could mic up the drum set, send the bass and guitars direct and have them sound decent in the headphone mix and then later re-amp the guitars and bass the get the real amp sounds. That way I can track a band live and still get decent results.

i have demo Amplitude and it was pretty cool. I listened to the Guitar Rig 2 and they sounded pretty good but I am using PT LE 6.4 (sorry I for got to mention that) and Guitar Rig 2 is only compatable with PT 7. Out of the software one so far to my ears I still the iZoptope Trash sounds most like an amp.

As far as hardware I have heard great things about the Zoom G2. I will probably buy that in the future, because its cheap now and if I could get it used that would b great.

I have heard some metal stuff that has been recorded with the Line 6 Pod XT that sounded pretty impressive. Anyone have any experiences with those?

The last two meshuggah albums were don on it, it sounds great, I have one and I have cut a album with my band with it and it has some cool tones, if you know were to use them.

MikeCzech · Post by **MikeCzech** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 4:33 pm

Well, I own the POD XT Pro. As far as replicating the units it claims to emulate, I give it an F. It's a great contrast to mix with miked cabs, but I've rarely been able to use it on it's own..

I own 2 units which sound great when recorded direct, The Mesa Studio preamp, and a Rocktron Chameleon (IMHO Rocktron is the most underated company for guitar FX). Neither claim to simulate a particular brand of anything - just generic speaker emulation. Both sound outstanding.

Other than those two units I'd have to say the best direct recordings I've captured have been after a chain of stomp boxes into a passive DI, to a flavorful preamp and then into a tastey compressor. finally into a CABINET EMULATOR - generally bypassing any amp simulators.

Stomp boxes seem to sound a whole lot more realistic to my ears than driving any given amount of gain on any given emulator.

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