Guitar-amp simulation, '15

losthighway · Post by **losthighway** » Sun Apr 19, 2015 8:38 am

Yes, neck. Damn typos.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Sun Apr 19, 2015 9:12 am

I here ya.

leftodial · Post by **leftodial** » Tue May 05, 2015 6:46 am

I've been through a lot of these gizmos- PODs, Amplitube, Axe-FX, Eleven Rack, and I've discovered what works for me is simplicity. I don't want a million options and menus. I want something with physical knobs that can take pedals well.

To that end, I'm currently using a Tech 21 Character Series VT Bass on both guitar and bass. You can get some really nice 60's guitar tones out of this thing, though I will probably pick up the Blonde to get those tweed-y Fender sounds when I have some extra scratch.

apropos of nothing · Post by **apropos of nothing** » Tue May 05, 2015 1:55 pm

Still like my Tech-21 also when going DI (less often these days).

You guys tried a RAT in front of that action? They do have settings other than ridonkulous.

grendel · Post by **grendel** » Wed May 06, 2015 6:51 am

Always been an amp guy but recently bought the Fender package for Amplitude from IK Multimedia. Pretty realistic, especially in a mix. I was lured in due to this deal, which is still on:

http://www.ikmultimedia.com/atgb/

I was pretty impressed with the sound and responsiveness.

leftodial · Post by **leftodial** » Wed May 06, 2015 10:35 am

apropos of nothing wrote:Still like my Tech-21 also when going DI (less often these days).

You guys tried a RAT in front of that action? They do have settings other than ridonkulous.

Haven't tried a rat yet, but this guy does videos of all 5 of the original lineup with pedals going into them. I imagine a rat would sound pretty decent on low gain settings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nneS4DWIPV4

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Wed May 06, 2015 12:53 pm

Somewhat OT, but FWIW, I have one of the allegedly valuable vintage Rat 2's with the LM308 chip - very nice. That said, I bought a clone offa the E-Bog called a RatTack by some Hong Kong builder named "Little Bear" that has 3 switchable chips - very cool and inexpensive.

sound for sandwiches · Post by **sound for sandwiches** » Wed May 06, 2015 1:40 pm

I used an ITB amp simulator (eleven free) for the first time ever last night. I've always been a "nothing fake, mic'd sources only" type of person, but I am learning pro tools by doing some incidental music for a video project, so this seemed like as good a time as any to try an amp modeler.

I'd agree with others upthread, that while it doesn't, and probably won't, ever compare with a good amp in a good room with a good mic in front of it, the sounds I got were definitely usable and pleasing. It has that instant "produced" quality that works very well in the context of some simple clean guitar figures under dialog. The other thing that's nice was there wasn't any 60 cycle hum or hissing to deal with in the silences between notes.

I am sure I will continue to use tools like this down the road, when they make sense.

The Soundman Furry · Post by **The Soundman Furry** » Wed May 06, 2015 2:15 pm

I recently started helping a friend dial in sounds using the Fractal Axe FX II. He's trying to recreate the sounds from his bands albums for live shows. For their last tour we built a rig with Dave Freidman using all analog pedals and a Switchblade midi switching system. This was a lot of work and hugely expensive. The Fractal runs about $2500 (without the foot controller) vs close to $12k for the analog setup, it's footprint is also much smaller and shipping costs for fly-in dates will be vastly reduced.

That's all a little off topic, how does it sound? It sounds incredible!

Any type of high quality amp is going to cost you close to $2k, in fact you can spend much more than that on just a boutique head. The Fractal has models of over 30 highly desirable amps and a similar amount of speaker models not to mention pretty much every well known stompbox. None of that would matter if it didn't sound good. Plus it feels like playing into a great amp.

Eleven and the other systems sound ok and you could use them in a track and get away with it, but the Fractal might be able to replace my amp collection. Even if you're not convinced that it sounds that good, you can dial up just about any sound in moments and start recording, which can really help a session move along.

Did I mention the SVT model sounds great too?

I have no connection in any way to the Fractal folks. Just my 2?

leftodial · Post by **leftodial** » Wed May 06, 2015 6:09 pm

The Soundman Furry wrote:I recently started helping a friend dial in sounds using the Fractal Axe FX II. He's trying to recreate the sounds from his bands albums for live shows. For their last tour we built a rig with Dave Freidman using all analog pedals and a Switchblade midi switching system. This was a lot of work and hugely expensive. The Fractal runs about $2500 (without the foot controller) vs close to $12k for the analog setup, it's footprint is also much smaller and shipping costs for fly-in dates will be vastly reduced.

That's all a little off topic, how does it sound? It sounds incredible!

Any type of high quality amp is going to cost you close to $2k, in fact you can spend much more than that on just a boutique head. The Fractal has models of over 30 highly desirable amps and a similar amount of speaker models not to mention pretty much every well known stompbox. None of that would matter if it didn't sound good. Plus it feels like playing into a great amp.

Eleven and the other systems sound ok and you could use them in a track and get away with it, but the Fractal might be able to replace my amp collection. Even if you're not convinced that it sounds that good, you can dial up just about any sound in moments and start recording, which can really help a session move along.

Did I mention the SVT model sounds great too?

I have no connection in any way to the Fractal folks. Just my 2?

Between the AxeFX v1 and the Eleven rack, I actually preferred the Eleven Rack. I'd believe if you told me that the AxeFX v2 smokes the Eleven, but I preferred the amp modeling in the eleven. Axefx V1 gets the vote for straight up effects though.

tonejunkee · Post by **tonejunkee** » Wed May 13, 2015 8:07 pm

Guitar Rig has done me well. i believe its version 3. EZ Drummer is incredible as well. The tools available are staggering, but the problem is focus and endless knob-twiddling as well as the guitar wankery and what have you

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Thu May 14, 2015 8:25 am

Sorta related, that H&K Grandmeister 36 looks like a hella practical amp, sorta the tube equivalent of an amp modeler with digital effects. Especially the preset manager function, and iPad/PC editing. I am seriously tempted to pick one up and ditch my current rig.

redshift108 · Post by **redshift108** » Fri May 29, 2015 1:30 am

I use a combination of things. I either run a low-wattage amp and mike it in an isobooth. Or, I have the Mesa Boogie Cab Clone for some stuff. The third option is to us a real amp head with an THD Hotplate, record the signal into the computer and then use an IR for the cab sim. I think that the 3rd option sounds as close to miking an amp as you can get these days. And, it doesn't break the bank.

I'm Painting Again · Post by **I'm Painting Again** » Sun May 31, 2015 9:36 am

Just did a bunch of mucking about with amp sims and reamping with expensive gear (on keyboards) and I really like the sound of BOTH at the same time so for most of the record that's what I used. I noted that for the price of the gear used to reamp vs. amp sim it's almost like a joke. They can be really close where to justify the cost can really make you think. Mind this is for distorted sound on keys though. It would probably be different for clean electric guitars. Like tube combo vs. direct to sim might not hold up as well.

happy amping and simulating

ott0bot · Post by **ott0bot** » Sun May 31, 2015 6:09 pm

I was just putting my new Apollo through the paces and did this little guitar amp simulation with a riff I was playing with. Playing is sloppy?but I was trying to go for an small overdriven tube amp like I use alot in the real world. I think it sounds pretty good...although the pickups on my Mosrite are buzzy as heck.

I used the API Vision as a Unison Preamp, used some light compression, and a little eq. Pushed the input pretty hard, and dialed it down on the output. They I used the EMT 140 plug in, with the wet signal just barely in the mix. Then I used the LA2A to push the signal a bit more & do a small amout of gain reduction. In the UAD mixer I also ran an aux with the Soft Tube Half Stack Room/Amp simulator & blended that with the straight DI track.

In protools I used a few more UAD2 pugs. A little EQ with the Helios 69 & the Pultec to even out the low & high end, then ran an aux to the EMT 140 for some more verb and stereo imaging.

What do the you think?

https://soundcloud.com/rarecurrencyreco ... k-roughest

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