Best Amp sim for a newbie?

[orica77]

Hi all rock stars.
I'm a newbie to amp sim and recoding in the box, and with Black Friday coming soon I'm thinking about purchasing some amp sims....(I have an audio interface and DAW)
From your experience what do you think is the best amp sim out there today?
And what is a definitely no no?
Cheers

[BBFG#]

Not focusing on "best", but on the fact you identify as "newbie"...

I suggest Guitar Rig.
Mainly because:
1. You can download the free version.
2. It's instantly gratifying.
3. If you do decide to upgrade and then later decide to sell, it's relatively painless to do so.

To start, stay away from anything that's NFR or that requires iLok/PACE/EDEN or other authorizations that lock you into a lifetime ownership or that makes it nearly impossible to get rid of with out taking a substantial loss in time and/or money.

I have a few, and they're all good in their own way.

Blue Cat. Audio Axiom is the one I use most these days, but it's a NFR product so I won't suggest it as a start. (Although they do have a free version which is worth the download.)

There's the free Black Rooster Cypress Canary that's limited, but is worth the download also.

Peavey Revalver was a favorite also, but it became a non-sequitur when they went to making any USB device the key dongle. (It starts okay, but as time goes on, disables the USB port and requires a complete reformat to get it back.)

Overloud was great, but lead to a very specific range that wasn't really in my wheelhouse.

Studio Devil is great also. Can be had fairly cheap. Not sure why I don't use this more. Perhaps another not really in my wheelhouse?

IK-M never worked correctly or consistently on my systems. And reselling it is a complete PITA.

There's also a list of others I often see mentioned on KVR, but when researching them again, always find some weird type of authorization scheme that turns me off.

[Hewitt Huntwork]

I have almost all of them and if I were starting today I'd probably just want the United Plugins one, which I forget the name of. Also, UJAM's Finisher Voodoo has relatively little flexibility but sounds fantastic. The amp simulation is under the hood, so there's no build it yourself amp/pedalboard with that one.

I thought I'd use Line 6 Helix native all the time, but it's just so fiddle-y. One great option is better than a hundred great options, y'know?

[thecontrolcentre]

Try some freebies before buying anything. Audio Assault make some good amps. When you say you're a noob, do you mean new to guitars or amp Sims?

[orica77]

Try some freebies before buying anything. Audio Assault make some good amps. When you say you're a noob, do you mean new to guitars or amp Sims?

I'm new to amp sim and recording in the box, not a new guitar player

[orica77]

Not focusing on "best", but on the fact you identify as "newbie"...

I suggest Guitar Rig.
Mainly because:
1. You can download the free version.
2. It's instantly gratifying.
3. If you do decide to upgrade and then later decide to sell, it's relatively painless to do so.

To start, stay away from anything that's NFR or that requires iLok/PACE/EDEN or other authorizations that lock you into a lifetime ownership or that makes it nearly impossible to get rid of with out taking a substantial loss in time and/or money.

I have a few, and they're all good in their own way.

Blue Cat. Audio Axiom is the one I use most these days, but it's a NFR product so I won't suggest it as a start. (Although they do have a free version which is worth the download.)

There's the free Black Rooster Canary that's limited, but is worth the download also.

Peavey Revalver was a favorite also, but it became a non-sequitur when they went to making any USB device the key dongle. (It starts okay, but as time goes on, disables the USB port and requires a complete reformat to get it back.)

Overloud was great, but lead to a very specific range that wasn't really in my wheelhouse.

Studio Devil is great also. Can be had fairly cheap. Not sure why I don't use this more. Perhaps another not really in my wheelhouse?

IK-M never worked correctly or consistently on my systems. And reselling it is a complete PITA.

There's also a list of others I often see mentioned on KVR, but when researching then again, always find some weird type of authorization scheme that turns me off.

So NFR is basically a non transferable plugin?
Cheers

[BBFG#]

NFR = "Not For Resale".

[Uncle E]

IK Multimedia is currently doing a Group Buy where when you buy 1 plugin (amp sims included), you get 24 for free. This is particularly great if you're interested in a lot of different amp sounds.

If you're looking for a more specific sound, check out the Overloud TH-U expansions. You might not love them all but there is probably at least one that will completely floor you. The BHS expansions sound like records.

[zerocrossing]

Last year, I went from a Kemper to an AxeFX 3 (both different but equally good, I just wanted dual amp capability) and during the time between the selling and receiving, I tried out a bunch of amp sims. IMO, the best were the Neural DSP models. Choose your poison, but I felt they all sounded excellent. The Brainworx ones were pretty good too, imo.

[jamcat]

AmpliTube Custom Shop is free and you get the best JCM 800 model around with it.
You can add models of just the gear you want, as you go.

What you don't want to do is start out on a limited or inferior ampsim only to move on to something better and have to start all over. An ampsim isn't really difficult to master, nor should it be. You just grab knobs and tweak 'em. So you should start out with something that will grow with you instead of something you'll outgrow.

If you know what gear you want, AmpliTube probably has a model of it, or something close, and the experience will be pretty close to using the real thing, especially if you get the cab VIR tech. It's like the flight simulator of ampsims. That's not to say it's perfect, no ampsim is. But it is the most well-rounded and expandable one out there.

[Bombadil]

Scuffham Amps. Great presets out of the box. More quality than quantity. Basically, as close to plug in and play as you can get.

[voidhead23]

It would help a little to know what guitar tones/genres/bands you're into to help with suggestions.

For example, i'm mainly a guitar player but have spent most of my life playing through sims and listening to recorded music. This has created a weakness in my preference where i usually go for a more produced, record-sounding sim that still creates the touch-sensitivity and dynamics (especially in regards to the volume knob on my guitar) that i learned from the sparse years playing in bands and working with tube amps. NeuralDSP's stuff is my favorite for this: a produced sound but it still feels like a good amp, and i mix electronic elements with it so i find this slightly polished sound works a bit better. I use only the Fortin Nameless for all my clean, low gain, and higher gain stuff, but all their stuff is great. I think it helps to stick to one great sounding piece of software. I also like the versatility of the cab section.

But when i get to crank up my actual Orange amp through my Mesa cab, it's an entirely different experience. It's raw, it roars, it's unstable and all over the place. It's just ferocious. For this sound, i find the Nembrini (and by extension, the Brainworx) sims work way better, like i'm actually sitting next to a blazing tube amp. I don't like the way the cab sims are done in the Brainworx plugins, though. I prefer to position the mic myself. If i were going for an organic rock sound, i think i'd look at these companies first (or just mic a real amp).

I used S-Gear for a long time and thought it did great cleans, but was never really satisfied with the dirt. What i loved, though, was that the guy made his own idealized versions of certain amp designs versus slavish recreations of real-world amps (apart from the Champ clone that was added a bit later). That's just a fantastic idea and reminds me of what Neural would later do with their Archetype plugins.

[sQeetz]

To start, stay away from anything that's NFR or that requires iLok/PACE/EDEN or other authorizations that lock you into a lifetime ownership or that makes it nearly impossible to get rid of with out taking a substantial loss in time and/or money.

ilok licenses are easy to transfer. Not free, but easy

[e@rs]

+1 for Studio Devil's offerings. The most organic sound imho.

[imrae]

Try some freebies before buying anything. Audio Assault make some good amps. When you say you're a noob, do you mean new to guitars or amp Sims?

I'm new to amp sim and recording in the box, not a new guitar player

Tell us more about what kind of amps and tones you like? Do you have pedals you’d like to keep using?

Basically the options are a big complex suite with many modes, or a more focused model of one (or a few related) amps. For a beginner I’d suggest spending some time with the latter style - but it should be one that suits your music!