Opinions on IK's amplitude cabs/amps

[Digivolt]

I'm looking for some cabs/amps to go with the guitar libs I bought from the Orange Tree groupbuy and it seems like getting a bunch of amplitude stuff looks a decent enough deal with their groupbuy bonuses.

Are they worth getting, if so which ones are the best and if not what are the alternatives ?

Thanks in advance

[Burillo]

my humble opinion - while Amplitube amps can be pretty bad to pretty awesome (depending on which exact amps you are considering - for example, Amplitube 4, Slash and JH Marshalls are very cool, while older Marshalls aren't that great), the cabinets are pretty much universally bad, perhaps with the exception of very latest stuff (Mesa, Amplitube 4, Fender 2). most of them will have lots of fizz and weird resonances, and the mics are not phase aligned (meaning, moving mics around will sound like crap if they're at different distances from the speaker).

if you want a specific sound (as opposed to just having "everything"), you'd be better off shopping around smaller developer stuff and impulse response libraries.

what sounds are you after?

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

You can demo them all directly and come to your own conclusion. The cabs are not universally bad, though everybody has a right to their opinion.

An unsolicited user opinion (well solicited by being asked by another user about AmpliTube's Cab Room vs IRs) that contradicts the above for example:

I think it sounds great and is orders-of-magnitude simpler to use than browsing IR files. Just my opinion as someone who has spent way too much money on CAB IRs and IR browsers/mixers. I don't have any hang-ups about dumping that stuff for something that works better for me.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

a video about Cab Room but I still feel that demoing AmpliTube (and using the free gear you get to keep with AmpliTube CS) is the way to go to form your own opinion on our leading modeling technology

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAx2OetvtyI

[pandashake]

a video about Cab Room but I still feel that demoing AmpliTube (and using the free gear you get to keep with AmpliTube CS) is the way to go to form your own opinion on our leading modeling technology

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAx2OetvtyI

That Cab Room is one of the best things about AT4. If something doesn't fit just right, chances are some minor tweaks to that screen will fix it.

[reggie1979]

The Red Pig is my absolute favorite cab sim I've ever used and I think I own just about everything

[Digivolt]

You can demo them all directly and come to your own conclusion.

It would be a terrible uneducated conclusion as I have zero experience with amps/cabs though, I'd prefer to hear opinion from those who have experience with these things and know what sounds good or doesn't, case in point see below

what sounds are you after?

I have absolutely no idea

[zerocrossing]

my humble opinion - while Amplitube amps can be pretty bad to pretty awesome (depending on which exact amps you are considering - for example, Amplitube 4, Slash and JH Marshalls are very cool, while older Marshalls aren't that great), the cabinets are pretty much universally bad, perhaps with the exception of very latest stuff (Mesa, Amplitube 4, Fender 2). most of them will have lots of fizz and weird resonances, and the mics are not phase aligned (meaning, moving mics around will sound like crap if they're at different distances from the speaker).

if you want a specific sound (as opposed to just having "everything"), you'd be better off shopping around smaller developer stuff and impulse response libraries.

what sounds are you after?

While I agree that the newer stuff is better than most of the older emulations (which I still got good results with back in their day) I disagree with you on the cabinet assessment. I heard a lot of talk about finding the right IR and I tried a lot of products and never found any of them to be an improvement over Amplitube 4 cabs.

[zerocrossing]

You can demo them all directly and come to your own conclusion.

It would be a terrible uneducated conclusion as I have zero experience with amps/cabs though, I'd prefer to hear opinion from those who have experience with these things and know what sounds good or doesn't, case in point see below

what sounds are you after?

I have absolutely no idea

If you can’t tell what sounds good, you should look into another hobby. Of course you can tell what sounds good to you. Just listen.

[Digivolt]

Of course you can tell what sounds good to you.

I agree but there's more to it than just my own perception of what makes a sound pleasing or not

[zerocrossing]

Of course you can tell what sounds good to you.

I agree but there's more to it than just my own perception of what makes a sound pleasing or not

Not really.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Here's my take on the Amplitube cabs: they can sound very good with the particular amp they were designed for, but mixing and matching [X amp sim] with AT cabs generally does not work. Particularly the older cabs, which can be super boomy. Whereas, I recently bought a bunch of Ownhammer cabs, and the 4x12s sound good on just about any Marshall amp sim I put them on, and the Fender cabs sound good on any clean amp sim I put them on, etc. Many of the Amplitube amp sims just don't seem to work as well when not paired with their specific amp. I think that's what Burillo is basically getting at, and if so, that's my experience too. But as others have pointed out, the newer amps/cabs have been an improvement.

[reggie1979]

I have a similar feeling toward IR's. I have the Nimbrini Soldano and it has an IR loader. You can get lost in a sea of IR's and then realize I've wasted too much time farting around with IR's that don't necessarily sound better.

The Ownhammer stuff I have, I don't care for

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Of course you can tell what sounds good to you.

I agree but there's more to it than just my own perception of what makes a sound pleasing or not

Not really.

Exactly! There's nothing empirical about this stuff. A lot of it depends on context along with factors that influence the results you get, both before and after the amp sim, plugin etc.

You will end up saving a lot of time and money by learning to respect your own sense of what sounds good/right. Even if objectively one amp sim is better than another, there's every possibility that you'll prefer the sound of the 'lesser' sim, or that it is more responsive to your playing style; or that it just has a sound profile that fits in your mixes more easily than the top amp sim

Ultimately, the same advice can be given for amp sims as for compressors, eq's etc. - that if you cannot hear why the supposed 'better' plugin is actually better, then you don't need it. Maybe at some point in the future your hearing will be more refined, and you may have a clearer vision of the sounds you are after. At such a point you may want to switch things up.

Until then, try the amps yourself. Demo them against the competition, and go with the ones you like.

[Digivolt]

Demo them against the competition

If you don't know the name of X company how can you demo their products ? Asking for opinion is useful because sometimes, people suggest products from companies you may not have known about, it also generally helps you to not waste time on the really crappy products that everyone usually agrees is crappy (when it pops up)

I enjoy reading peoples opinions on the products, where's the harm in that ? I can't always demo everything that exists in a specific category, like how many impulse responses exist ? How long would it take to demo every one of them to form an opinion on the "best" one, it's not really practical now is it