Bass Amp Sims - Studio Devil VBA vs Guitar Rig 4 bass amp?

[dickiefunk]

Hi,

I recently got NI Guitar Rig 4 which I absolutely love and am wondering how the bass amp sim in it compares to the Studio Devil VBA?

I am going to download the demo of VBA but to be honest I'm not a bass player and haven't had any experiences with bass amps!

The reason why I've only picked these 2 is because I already own GR4 and VBA is discounted to $49 till 31st Dec!!

I will be doing a mixture of live bass or use the Scarbee Jay Bass vsti.

Which of these 2 is capable of the best bass guitar amp sounds ?

Thanks and Happy Christmas!!!!

[K-Slash]

I say VBA all the way. I own it, it's VERY GOOD at it. Nice sound, from clean to crunchy, a must-have at this price.

[dickiefunk]

Thanks for the reply and votes!

Keep them coming!!

[zeoy]

I voted for VBA. Bought it this summer for the regular price and never regretted it. Instant great bass sound (even with my cheap bass) and more (tip: try it with full gain and boost with your guitar for some stoner tones).

[sightlessness]

Both suck. Really. Get Virtual Bass Amp from Softube. I don't get it why you'd like any of the ones you mentioned. Later you will find they really both suck. Oh, and asides from Trillian (which I have tried just a little bit) and maybe the Corebass (like the Cherry One) vst basses suck. Get a real bass. Honest to god. Oh, and I am not trying to bash any brand or anything, nor to sound harsh (I know many will take this as an offense or simply state my position is wrong). Really, get a real bass no matter what, record directly with your interface or whatever and add Virtual Bass Amp. Check their video. Is just that awesome. GR4 nor SD VBA is going to give you that sound. Besides, SD VBA is noisy as hell. Even a free plugin like Bass Amp from RolandPassion is a loooot better than any of that other stuff.
If you want of course simple lines, then yeah, a virtual bass will suffice and will sound good, I guess. But if you have some riffs that use the same note several times in a row (16ths at 112 bpm for example) it will never sound good. ALWAYS like a machine, no matter what. Scarbee Prebass was going to be my salvation with the alternated fingering, but nope. I am still trying with Trillian, but haven't had the time (from the videos you can tell at least that is VERY promising with the alternation of samples to make a bass line not sound like a machine). A yamaha Bb414 or something will do you a lot better. They are kinda cheap. Ok, maybe you didn't ask for this much rambling, but if I knew better then I wouldn't have wasted a looot of time. Manybass is nice though...

[dickiefunk]

The reason why I'm only looking at these two amp sims is because I only have a very small budget!
I already own GR4 and the VBA is currently on special offer at around £30!

The Soft Tube bass amp is $199 and requires a further iLok which is totally out of my price range!!

[zeoy]

Besides, SD VBA is noisy as hell.

I never understood how an amp sim can be noisier than another (given same amounts of gain and/or compression). Do you have some plausible explanation?
For me SD VBA is as noisy-quiet as all other amp sims I own or have tried.

[Aloysius]

They both sound as good as what you are 'feeding' them, and what outcome you desire. My personal fav' is IK Multimedia AmpegSVX. Also check out Audiffex GK Amplification Pro. Obviously, I didn't vote!

[Frantiac]

Might be worth trying this free one if you're on a tight budget: http://rekkerd.org/ronald-passion-updates-bass-preamp/ (although it's called a bass pre-amp it does contain a cabinet impulse)

[Klemperer]

You might already have spent your money . I like the IK multimedia ampegsvx by far the most, and got it "second hand" here at KVR. You might try the demo, it works 10 days without restrictions, so you would have some fun without having to buy it at all. Like, sadly enough, Amplitube Fender is very much ahead of GR4 still (and I own GR4, but not AT Fender, he he, so was sad to lose the 10 days-working demos without noise coming in, bssssssssszzzzzzz), for me the IK bass ampsim is ahead of the others still.

[dickiefunk]

Whilst VBA looks pretty good I think I'll need to save up for Amplitude SVX.

[Aloysius]

They both sound as good as what you are 'feeding' them, and what outcome you desire. My personal fav' is IK Multimedia AmpegSVX. Also check out Audiffex GK Amplification Pro. Obviously, I didn't vote!

I'm using the Free CM Version of Guitar Rig and some Orange Tree Samples the past few days. I'm very, very happy with the Bass sounds I'm getting right out of the box. So I finally voted for GR4!

[egbert]

The Fender Bassman 300 in Amplitube Fender is a great amp - I would check it out in the Amplitube Fender demo if you haven't already.

[ronaldpassion]

wew, thanx for mentioning my work!
The Bass Preamp version 1.1 will soon release in a week.
Much stable and fast processing...
just keep check at www.1ststudio.blogspot.com

When choosing a product, believe what u hear not price and design...

TQ, RP!

[Hink]

Both suck. Really. Get Virtual Bass Amp from Softube. I don't get it why you'd like any of the ones you mentioned. Later you will find they really both suck. Oh, and asides from Trillian (which I have tried just a little bit) and maybe the Corebass (like the Cherry One) vst basses suck. Get a real bass. Honest to god. Oh, and I am not trying to bash any brand or anything, nor to sound harsh (I know many will take this as an offense or simply state my position is wrong). Really, get a real bass no matter what, record directly with your interface or whatever and add Virtual Bass Amp. Check their video. Is just that awesome. GR4 nor SD VBA is going to give you that sound. Besides, SD VBA is noisy as hell. Even a free plugin like Bass Amp from RolandPassion is a loooot better than any of that other stuff.
If you want of course simple lines, then yeah, a virtual bass will suffice and will sound good, I guess. But if you have some riffs that use the same note several times in a row (16ths at 112 bpm for example) it will never sound good. ALWAYS like a machine, no matter what. Scarbee Prebass was going to be my salvation with the alternated fingering, but nope. I am still trying with Trillian, but haven't had the time (from the videos you can tell at least that is VERY promising with the alternation of samples to make a bass line not sound like a machine). A yamaha Bb414 or something will do you a lot better. They are kinda cheap. Ok, maybe you didn't ask for this much rambling, but if I knew better then I wouldn't have wasted a looot of time. Manybass is nice though...

did you understand the question? GR4 and VBA are bass amplifier sims, so it's common to plug a bass DI'd into your machine just as you suggest and then use the amp sim to get a mic'ed bass amp sound. Neither are virtual basses or samples.

Here's an example of one here, you needn't listen to the whole song (unless of course you want to, which I recommend). The bass is very pronounced when it first comes in and you can get a good idea of how it sounds. I'm curious as to what you think of the sound.