Which vst based guitar amp sims should I check out?

[Kaboom75]

Amplitube free then use the custom shop to try out the not free amps and bits and bobs. The Slash one is really good you can get a really nice Whitesnake tone with that and Soundtoys plugins.

[hibidy]

Kuassa!
Win/Mac 32/64 and demos available online.

The Creme is actually 3 models with 3 channels each and 3 distortion/overdrive pre-fx, two cabinets/mics can be mixed and stereo-panned. Everything in there, from soft and clean over raw and bluesy up to really high-gain metal. High gain settings are usually the absolute death for any amp-sim, not for this one!

Even if I tend to skip the preamp section for clean sounds (IK's Jazz Chorus = god), the cab section is better than anything I ever heard, and I own ReCabinet and some ReWire Impulses.

I also have / had AmpliTube CS, Guitar Rig LE and Vandal CM, but Creme is the only amp sim so far that delivers this kick-in-the-stomach thump of energy in the low-end like a real cabinet can. Chugga til the woofers blow!

Haven't used the others from Kuassa yet, and I don't really like their free one, but Creme is an awesome and very versatile piece of software that is -in my opinion- way above the others in "realistic" sound.

You should definitely check that one out!

Yeah, I own creme too. Like I said, I basically have them all. They all have their pluses and minuses.

[ObiWonder]

Tone is VERY personal, some tools may sound better to 1 players ears than anothers. With that said, thanks for the AmpliTube Custom Shop shoutouts.

[yessongs]

so I am about to buy some more software and this thread came up in google. What is up with all the hatin on RE Valver I thought tone wise they were suppose to be the best. Did the newer amplitube stuff surpass it? I am still using pod farm by the way but after my last computer crash and losing all my presets I am having trouble getting into it and thought maybe something different might get me more motivated to play. I am looking into at3 with the total studio bundle and then thinking of adding to it so what is the stuff I can consider as newer models earlier in this thread someone mentioned fender I remember that came out quite a bit ago what else has come out since then?

[freddemillio]

so I am about to buy some more software and this thread came up in google. What is up with all the hatin on RE Valver I thought tone wise they were suppose to be the best. Did the newer amplitube stuff surpass it? I am still using pod farm by the way but after my last computer crash and losing all my presets I am having trouble getting into it and thought maybe something different might get me more motivated to play. I am looking into at3 with the total studio bundle and then thinking of adding to it so what is the stuff I can consider as newer models earlier in this thread someone mentioned fender I remember that came out quite a bit ago what else has come out since then?

Hi Yessongs,

For me, S Gear from Scuffham Amps ( http://www.scuffhamamps.com/product/the-amps ) is the most like playing through a real amp. For me this becomes especially true when going for clean tones and light crunches. My second choice for amp sims is the Poulain series of freeware amps. There are some high gain models that also have very convincing clean tones. But S Gear beats the Poulain amps for me and so I invested in them. I am very unimpressed by Guitar Rig and Amplitube. They can do heavy crunch and high gain but their cleans and light to medium crunches are very lacking for me. I preferred Poulain to both of them.

I have never used Revalver so I have nothing to say about it.

Using S Gear with the Valhalla Room Reverb makes me even more convinced and inspired. Add the Variety of Sound freeware Nasty DLA and then things are really interesting. If you need a boost/overdrive the TSE 808 is a convincing freeware choice.

Since tone is very personal, YMMV and I could be full of $h!t but this has been my personal experience.

[frankz00]

I personally love Amplitube Orange but I set it up with ReCabinet which sound better to my ear than the Amplitube cabinets... not that they're bad either. It would be mega cool if Amplitube could host VSTs too but DAW routing works for me now.

[frankz00]

Amplitube is clearly superior to my current amp sims (Guitar Rig 4 and Pod Farm 1.0). I'm a big fan of AmpliTube. It is absolutely worth it's $200 price tag. However, the last thing I want in my sacred creative space is to experience product marketing hype through an app. That sucks in my world. (for instance: hopefully there is a way to configure the browser to display only presets actually in my possession) That said, AmpliTube is so good I'll probably purchase a license for use down the road anyway.

+1 on both! My other pet peeve is the popup ad as you enter Custom Shop for Amplitube Orange. ESPECIALLY since I already have it!

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

Amplitube is clearly superior to my current amp sims (Guitar Rig 4 and Pod Farm 1.0). I'm a big fan of AmpliTube. It is absolutely worth it's $200 price tag. However, the last thing I want in my sacred creative space is to experience product marketing hype through an app. That sucks in my world. (for instance: hopefully there is a way to configure the browser to display only presets actually in my possession) That said, AmpliTube is so good I'll probably purchase a license for use down the road anyway.

+1 on both! My other pet peeve is the popup ad as you enter Custom Shop for Amplitube Orange. ESPECIALLY since I already have it!

You don't need to ever open Custom Shop in order to use AmpliTube so there are is no "product marketing hype" using AmpliTube standalone or as a plugin. Only when you NEED to open Custom Shop (to try/buy/restore gear) would you ever open it. Also, I believe that there is supposed to be a filter for what shows up when you open it too (meaning not showing a collection you own), so I'll forward that information to see if there's something not working correctly there. Especially since that particular Orange feature is not currently marked active as I'm told.

[frankz00]

I do go in to see a list of what I have under My Gear. Is there an equivalent within Amplitube besides look for the "lit" items? It would be nice to filter out anything I don't own with a simple toggle switch.

[tadam]

I like the softube Vintage, Line6 Bassman Sims, Marshall from Guitar Rig and SimulAnalog, Soldano from Amplitube 3.
I didn't try S-Gear, but I've seen it recommended together with Revalver...

[Compyfox]

I recently started using any guitar bundled cabinet sims and rather go this way:

Stomp -> Amp Head -> Cabinet Sim

Three different plugins, maybe more if I want more stomps.

But so far, I basically (mostly) only use a TubeScreamer, a Delay, an amp head of choice (Mesa, Engl, Soldano or the classic "Marshall" ones - read: LePou, Line6, TSE, IKM, Ignite Amps).

And that goes straight into TwoNotes Torpedo WoS III.


I tested it for the first time a couple of days ago, and I'll never ever use anything else from now on in terms of ITB cabinets (unless something better comes along). It's IMO way better sounding than IKM, Line6 and other algo cabinets bundled with software alltogether, and way more flexible than your most go-to IR's.

Still waiting for an update to WoS though, since I ran into certain ASIO spikes that should not happen in the 32bit version. But the value balance (price/value) is IMO way better than Line6 (closed system: either Standard of Platinum), NI and IKM (Custom Shop) together.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

AmplITube cabinets are not "algo cabinets" just to make a minor correction to the above post.

[Compyfox]

Sure aren't plain IR either. Just to make an addenum to the above two posts.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

Edit - Never mind. I'm not going to give away the trade secrets either way

[AC222]

so I am about to buy some more software and this thread came up in google. What is up with all the hatin on RE Valver I thought tone wise they were suppose to be the best. Did the newer amplitube stuff surpass it? I am still using pod farm by the way but after my last computer crash and losing all my presets I am having trouble getting into it and thought maybe something different might get me more motivated to play. I am looking into at3 with the total studio bundle and then thinking of adding to it so what is the stuff I can consider as newer models earlier in this thread someone mentioned fender I remember that came out quite a bit ago what else has come out since then?

I don't think Revalver is being hated on as much the lack of development has been disappointing since they haven't come up with anything new in the last half decade, which is practically a lifetime in the digital world.

Revalver was one kind of revolutionary in that it was one of the first digital amp sims that responded at all to dynamics. They did physical modeling down to the component level so there was a little more going on and the result was a more complex sound than earlier attempts at making guitar amp sims.

But the amp sims sound way brighter than the real amps they are modeled on, lack depth, are too thin, and are missing that low end punch. There's also something off about the mids that just makes them sound like its a toy or fake.

Some of the competitors meanwhile worked hard at development and it shows. For example, I can vouch for Amplitube Slash models sounding and responding like the real thing. They seem to have nailed the tone, character, and response. The Custom shop models are a world of difference from the older generation models. The IK 5150 model, for instance, lacks the dynamic response and feel that Revalver does (even though I'm not crazy about the tone versus the real amp).

There are others - a lot of people are high on S-Gear but its just not my thing. It's the most sophisticated in terms of responsiveness to your playing like a real amp. But to me, I have yet to hear an S-Gear clip that would ever convince me that it's someone playing through a real amp. All of the amp models have some kind of ringy sound in the mids that can't be dialed out (even scooping the mids). I don't like those artifacts and it sounds to thin. But the S-Gear stuff is great at responding to your playing, it just doesn't sound anything close to a real amp for me.

I've owned or played them all and I honestly feel that the Amplitube stuff (newer Custom shop models) sound the most like real amps. Though some of the old Amplitube 3 models aren't the best. For example their Mark II model is great and so is their Randall but their 5150, old Marshall models, and Dual Recto have something about them that gives them away as fake digital sounds. There are a few other exceptional freebies like the TSE X50 (5150 II model) or stuff like Alu's The Anvil by Ignite.

I'd also throw an honorable mention out to the Overloud stuff. It doesn't have the fizz that most of the digital models do but it also can sound a bit darker and more lifeless than the real amps as well. The Overloud amp models are generally very dark sounding, Revalver is super bright sounding, and the IK stuff is somewhere in between and hit and miss on some models.

I do have high hopes for the new Revalver stuff though (when that gets released), since I last heard that they redid all models for more realism.