Virtual guitar rig recommendations

[User41]

I mean I don’t think you are going to beat NAM for tone. You could argue TONEX is easier to navigate. Or that sims are easier to dial in and optimize workflow.

But I don’t see how you can say anything sounds better than NAM.

[audiojunkie]

The developer is currently in the process of building NAM natively into Guitarix.vst. The best free/Open Source guitar amp just keeps getting better and better!

[Milkman]

We (partner and I) are on this subject at the moment, and its probably going to be the Line 6 HX stomp xl. We've had guitar rig for decades and while its fun, easy to use, and very creative, it just isnt the endgame for us in terms of guitar tone. Dont get me wrong -- I find a lot of use for GR, but mostly in the creative/experimental spaces.

A good combo, for me, has been to use the guitar amp features inside SSL's Guitarstrip + Valhalla Delay. Obviously Valhalla isnt a "guitar plugin", but it has a lot to offer and in a similar way as Guitar Rig (I use 7 and have used every version since 3) in the creative space. After a LOT of listening, we are about 90% confident in the Line 6 HX stomp xl(also price), but definitely like the Tonex / Amplitube ecosystem as well. We havent made the final decision yet, but we are definitely moving beyond Guitar Rig (as our primary guitar processor).

[zerocrossing]

We (partner and I) are on this subject at the moment, and its probably going to be the Line 6 HX stomp xl. We've had guitar rig for decades and while its fun, easy to use, and very creative, it just isnt the endgame for us in terms of guitar tone. Dont get me wrong -- I find a lot of use for GR, but mostly in the creative/experimental spaces.

A good combo, for me, has been to use the guitar amp features inside SSL's Guitarstrip + Valhalla Delay. Obviously Valhalla isnt a "guitar plugin", but it has a lot to offer and in a similar way as Guitar Rig (I use 7 and have used every version since 3) in the creative space. After a LOT of listening, we are about 90% confident in the Line 6 HX stomp xl(also price), but definitely like the Tonex / Amplitube ecosystem as well. We havent made the final decision yet, but we are definitely moving beyond Guitar Rig (as our primary guitar processor).

I’ve got the Stomp XL, and I like it a lot, though you’ll most likely want a couple of expression pedals to go with it. It can’t quite go to all the places Guitar Rig 7 goes, but it can get quite interesting. I’d definitely recommend it over the Tonex, even though I think Tonex might have a hair’s width of advantage in tone. You’d have to supplement it with a lot of extras before it reached the level that’s 1/10th what the Stomp XL does.

[Uncle E]

There's also the new Pod Express. Supposed to be the same sound as Stomp XL, only with a much faster and easier interface.

[Milkman]

We (partner and I) are on this subject at the moment, and its probably going to be the Line 6 HX stomp xl. We've had guitar rig for decades and while its fun, easy to use, and very creative, it just isnt the endgame for us in terms of guitar tone. Dont get me wrong -- I find a lot of use for GR, but mostly in the creative/experimental spaces.

A good combo, for me, has been to use the guitar amp features inside SSL's Guitarstrip + Valhalla Delay. Obviously Valhalla isnt a "guitar plugin", but it has a lot to offer and in a similar way as Guitar Rig (I use 7 and have used every version since 3) in the creative space. After a LOT of listening, we are about 90% confident in the Line 6 HX stomp xl(also price), but definitely like the Tonex / Amplitube ecosystem as well. We havent made the final decision yet, but we are definitely moving beyond Guitar Rig (as our primary guitar processor).

I’ve got the Stomp XL, and I like it a lot, though you’ll most likely want a couple of expression pedals to go with it. It can’t quite go to all the places Guitar Rig 7 goes, but it can get quite interesting. I’d definitely recommend it over the Tonex, even though I think Tonex might have a hair’s width of advantage in tone. You’d have to supplement it with a lot of extras before it reached the level that’s 1/10th what the Stomp XL does.

Nice! Thank you for that feedback! We've got the mission audio ep-1 pedal for expression(I bought it a while back for synths), so we are good there. We may grab Tonex also some day, but Im about ready to grab the Stomp XL right now. My partner is the guitar player and she's feeling it.

[zerocrossing]

We (partner and I) are on this subject at the moment, and its probably going to be the Line 6 HX stomp xl. We've had guitar rig for decades and while its fun, easy to use, and very creative, it just isnt the endgame for us in terms of guitar tone. Dont get me wrong -- I find a lot of use for GR, but mostly in the creative/experimental spaces.

A good combo, for me, has been to use the guitar amp features inside SSL's Guitarstrip + Valhalla Delay. Obviously Valhalla isnt a "guitar plugin", but it has a lot to offer and in a similar way as Guitar Rig (I use 7 and have used every version since 3) in the creative space. After a LOT of listening, we are about 90% confident in the Line 6 HX stomp xl(also price), but definitely like the Tonex / Amplitube ecosystem as well. We havent made the final decision yet, but we are definitely moving beyond Guitar Rig (as our primary guitar processor).

I’ve got the Stomp XL, and I like it a lot, though you’ll most likely want a couple of expression pedals to go with it. It can’t quite go to all the places Guitar Rig 7 goes, but it can get quite interesting. I’d definitely recommend it over the Tonex, even though I think Tonex might have a hair’s width of advantage in tone. You’d have to supplement it with a lot of extras before it reached the level that’s 1/10th what the Stomp XL does.

Nice! Thank you for that feedback! We've got the mission audio ep-1 pedal for expression(I bought it a while back for synths), so we are good there. We may grab Tonex also some day, but Im about ready to grab the Stomp XL right now. My partner is the guitar player and she's feeling it.

If IK was smart, they’d make an Amplitube stand alone floor pedal that allowed you to use Tonex captures. That would be a slam dunk, IMO. I just need something way more complex than a Tonex pedal, and I need it to be able to change presets instantly and have all my effects change with reverb and delay overflow. I used to have an AxeFX 3 that did all that, but I wouldn’t buy one again. Too big and bulky. I might look at one of their floor units. Doubtful I’ll ever do live shows again, though.

[Uncle E]

FWIW, the TONEX pedal has reverb, compressor, gate, and EQ built-in.

[Milkman]

Sweetwater was out of the HX Stomp XL, so we got the full Helix instead.

[audiojunkie]

Sounds like a fair compromise!

[electro]

No. What they want to do is a ToneX pedal with stereo FX Loop. You can always put analog pedals or toneX pedal in front of it.

If IK was smart, they’d make an Amplitube stand alone floor pedal that allowed you to use Tonex captures. That would be a slam dunk, IMO. I just need something way more complex than a Tonex pedal, and I need it to be able to change presets instantly and have all my effects change with reverb and delay overflow. I used to have an AxeFX 3 that did all that, but I wouldn’t buy one again. Too big and bulky. I might look at one of their floor units. Doubtful I’ll ever do live shows again, though.

[sprnva]

It's in early stages, but MOD Audio are bringing their system to the desktop. There's a beta version of MOD Desktop and an even more beta plugin variant.

They're still fairly usable in their current state but very much still under construction.

And Guitarix has NAM support now, both the standalone and plugin.

I wonder if Jatin will add NAM support to BYOD. Its GuitarML support only loads Proteus captures and there are far more NAM captures out there now.

[zerocrossing]

No. What they want to do is a ToneX pedal with stereo FX Loop. You can always put analog pedals or toneX pedal in front of it.

If IK was smart, they’d make an Amplitube stand alone floor pedal that allowed you to use Tonex captures. That would be a slam dunk, IMO. I just need something way more complex than a Tonex pedal, and I need it to be able to change presets instantly and have all my effects change with reverb and delay overflow. I used to have an AxeFX 3 that did all that, but I wouldn’t buy one again. Too big and bulky. I might look at one of their floor units. Doubtful I’ll ever do live shows again, though.

That’s fine if you want to tap dance during shows to switch your clean-chorus sound to a distorted Dumble with phaser and delay on it. I’ve always preferred something that lets me do it with a single press.

[Uncle E]

You can midi it up to your HX Stomp and control them both with a single press. But I get what you’re saying, it would be cooler if they make something all-in-one.

[Milkman]

Oof. Welp. So we have the Helix en route, and we've spent some more time reading all about amp/cab modeling, so of course we learned that Line6 also have the Powercab series as well as the "HD guitar" series. We will be picking up the powercab 112 soon, and maybe some day one of those crazy Variax guitars! We fell down a rabbit hole here lol