First of all let me explain something that I was and still am a proud Amplitube version 1,2 and recently released 3 customer and own and played with almost all the commercial and free amp sim VSTs out there, I was using IK AT for more than 5 years now for all my projects, but just 4 days ago I discovered this Vandal amp sim and Man what a wonderful discovery !! and as I explained in my posts here on KVR (Topic: New Vandal Amp sim coming) and on GAM website, this Vandal thing just blown my mind away, I usually don't write or add a new topic on forums, but this thing is so amazing I could not resist and also because I think this Vandal does not have that bells and whistles that some other amps sims has so I just felt Vandal needs a new thread here so I started one and for the beginning of the discussion I will copy my previous post about my first impressions here because Yes I'm too lazy to write new stuff again
BTW, don't kill me if you are not agree with me, THESE ARE ALL MY OPINION and TRUE TO MY EARS ONLY.
Also I'm just another fan of these high quality amp sims and nothing more, I'm not working for any company or people.
Also again sorry for my bad English as usual.. .
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Thank you so much for this absolutely unique amp sim plug-in because I honestly did not expect to hear a different sound and quality after trying out almost all the commercial and free amp sims around say GR 1,2,3,4 , AT 1,2,3, overloud TH1, Alien revalver 2 and peavy revalver 3 (and yes I own them all !) and some others plus almost all free amps which I got from GAM website and all IRs I could find online.
However my go to amp sim was and still is Amplitube series from IK Multimedia, and at the present I'm using AT3 which is wonderful, so powerful with great sounds and I do use it for almost all my projects.
But since yesterday when I tried THIS VANDAL though I did not expect to hear anything new I SUDDENLY WAS SHOCKED AND SURPRISED ! and I thought Man this thing is just different, I suddenly could recognize the richness and natural sound of it as I can hear them with my actual real Amps.
Honestly I was thinking Amplitube 2 and then 3 are the best amp sim around to my ears (and I still believe they are great) but since yesterday I just can't use the AT2 and AT3 anymore, I was playing and testing my guitars ( 2 fenders, tele and strat + 2 old and new gibsons, 2 Ibanez RG and Sat models, a 10 yrs old Squire and a hand made one which I made it myself) through this Vandal and and man its even more cool to play than my real miced amps! .
I don't know what you guys did but It just fills the gaps and problems I always had with AT which unfortunately are still present in the AT3 as well, Well I'm not a sound engineer, I'm just a guitarist and song maker, so I dunno the pro terms, but I always felt AT 2,3 sounds a bit muddy and off, well it was and still is my go to amp sim for everything from clean to crunch and high gain so don't get it wrong but I still feel the muddiness, way too curved sound especially on high gain stuff, because it shows itself more on high gain sounds for some reasons.
also I always felt the sound though has that meatiness and punch is still AWAY, the clean and crunch are into my face and wonderful, but when I try to make a high gain sound or even using and tweaking other people presets I don't know why but sound will suddenly goes back into the background, just like you put your actual amp into bedroom and play your guitar in living room, I just don't know how to describe it better, and yes I already tried all the possible solutions, I was playing with that new cabinet thingy in AT3, used some new IRs I got from GAM forum and so on but it is still there.
Sometime I even feel the sound of AT or other sims are not Gluey as my real amps, its like I feel the amp sim sound is separated from my guitar strings. and yes I know the fact that these amp sims are the result of guitar to stomps to amps to cab and so on not just guitar into the amp and cab but anyway I was not satisfied with the sounds completely. but since yesterday this Vandal just shocked me and I can say for sure that almost 95% of the problems I explained above ARE NOT present in VANDAL, I simply could get some almost studio quality Clean, Crunch and High Gain sounds out of it in less than 10 mins, I just loaded some presets and tweaked them and then It was ready ! and though I have experienced some crashes in LIVE 8 and also could not make the MIDI works for me it did wonder in terms of sound quality and realism, it seems it filled the gaps and problems I had with other amp sims ( especially my main amp sim AT3) quite perfect.
this Vandal does not have that muddiness and glassy feeling sound of AT while its not off and dead as GR or TH1 (sorry guys I believe TH1 is one of the worst amp sims I have ever tried ) and also does not lack the loss of sustain and dryness (not dry in a good way) in Revalver series, as I said before I was and still using AT for all my projects, but since yesterday after working like 5 years with AT , Now I believe I did find another amp sim which is better than AT in sound quality and almost all terms and I think IK Multimedia will lose me as an old customer and probably more customers in the future if they don't try to enhance their sound soon in the future to compete with others, especially this new Vandal . Well I recently bought AT3 but I think I have and need to buy this Vandal as well, Damn it would be wonderful if you guys could just release it a bit sooner so I could try both demos and choose Vandal instead.
Great Great Great job people from Vandal and keep up the good job, I do appreciate all the hard work you guys did and I'm happy to say that in my honest opinion and to my ears you have the best amp sim in the market for now. And while the sound quality is the most important thing but Please solve the bugs and midi problems and I will buy a copy without a doubt. so again keep up the great job and good luck ! .
Regards
