Guitar Rig 6 / Amplitube 5... what else compares?

[AudioBabble]

Hey all,

Just want to preface this by saying I've always been a hardware guitarist, stomp boxes and amps, so I'm used to that kind of sound. I do have a BOSS GS-10 which I use for effects but was never overly impressed with the amp/cab modelling so never used them.

Lately, I've been trying to recreate my "real" sound with plugins since they've come a long way in the last few years.

Been using Guitar Rig 6 for a few months and am generally impressed with the effect sounds, but felt it was a bit lacking in flexibility on the amp side, namely the lack of ability to insert fx into the amp's loop and lack of amps with dedicated gain channels. I run a 100w Albion TCT100 with a 2 x 12 cab wth a removable back panel (which can sound like a Marshall OR a Fender depending on what you do with it) and a Laney 30W LC30 open-backed combo in "real life", both have fx loops and dedicated switchable gain channels with independent level. I like to have both amps with a clean channel, overdriven channel (just breaking up) and a ProCo RAT, set to just after halfway on the drive. So I end up with three overdrive gain stages: 1. Amp overdriven channels, 2. RAT overdrive, 3. Full overdrive (Amp overdrive + RAT together).

So, I got hold of Amplitude 5 as the amp modelling looked much better... and it is... but the effects (from what I've checked out so far) are not that impressive - particularly the overdrive pedals sound harsh. One thing I know for sure, the PRoCo Rat and VOX 47 in Amplitube are in no way accurate (since I have both hardware versions), whereas the so-called "cat" and that standard wah in GR6 give me a sound that's pretty close to my real-world pedals.

So at the moment it looks like I'll be running two VSTs: GR6 for floor effects and Amplitube for amp modelling.

One other thing that would be uber-cool that neither have is the ability to insert an external VST into the effects chain. For example, I've found that Blue Cat's octave effect has far superior tracking to anything else, but ideally I'd want it after the RAT and before delays. Maybe I'm wrong, but I imagine trying to run multiple instances of GR6 and Amplitube just to get other VSTs into the right position in the fx chain might be a bit taxing on my processor!

So... just wondering what other people's thoughts are on this... are there any other guitar fx/amp sim VSTs I should check out that might do a better job than what I'm using?

[Echoes in the Attic]

Kuassa amps and pedals are cool.

[Dirk Diggler]

Scuffham Sgear
Overloud TH-U

[AudioBabble]

Kuassa amps and pedals are cool.

mi kuassa, tu kuassa! Looks excellent, well worth a look.

Seems as if they are individual VSTs as well as there being a "Host" plugin available (the 360) - could suit my needs very well, cheers

[AudioBabble]

Scuffham Sgear
Overloud TH-U

Cheers! Rapidly becoming aware there's more competition in the market than I at first thought... time for a shoot-out

[jamcat]

Try the X-GEAR DRIVE pedal in AmpliTube. There is a new RAT model in it which is much more accurate. There are several wah pedals to choose from, too. The Brian May Wah is the most subtle.

Neural DSP has a pretty good wah in the new Tone King Imperial MKII which should also get your amp tones. It's definitely worth checking out.

Something else you could do is use AmpliTube for your amp, and just not use the stomps, opting to chain individual plugin models of the pedals you want. There are several standalone RAT models out there which are good, such as the Nembrini Black and the free TSE R47.

[NinjaToon]

Give this a demo for fun.

https://neuraldsp.com/plugins/tone-king-imperial-mkii

[SLiC]

Helix Native is the best simulation and I have all of those mentioned) and also has a hardware version for when you play live…nothing else really makes sense to me as a guitarist that plays outside of a studio….on sale at the moment I think, try the demo….it’s not as pretty as some of the others as it is basically the hardware Helix pedal dumped in to a VST…but I actually find it simpler to use than most. It also has regular free updates, you honestly can’t go wrong.

[hotmitts]

Kuassa amps and pedals are cool.

mi kuassa, tu kuassa! Looks excellent, well worth a look.

Seems as if they are individual VSTs as well as there being a "Host" plugin available (the 360) - could suit my needs very well, cheers

Another thumbs up for Kuassa from me, they often have sales too and the copy protection is not intrusive.

[Jafo]

eXe Consulting has some free amp sims that perfectly match the Spice models; I find them beautifully detailed and responsive. Haven't tried the stomp boxes (I'm not big on guitar fx), but I'll bet they're likewise excellent.

Swanky Amp also kicks some major ass. There's also a paid version which gives you effects.

[AudioBabble]

Yikes, it's a jungle out there! Thanks for many more suggestions, looks like I'll be engaged on the quest for perfect digital tone for quite some time...

Makes me want to go plug in the real stuff for a bit of therapy

[AudioBabble]

Try the X-GEAR DRIVE pedal in AmpliTube. There is a new RAT model in it which is much more accurate. There are several wah pedals to choose from, too. The Brian May Wah is the most subtle.

Neural DSP has a pretty good wah in the new Tone King Imperial MKII which should also get your amp tones. It's definitely worth checking out.

Something else you could do is use AmpliTube for your amp, and just not use the stomps, opting to chain individual plugin models of the pedals you want. There are several standalone RAT models out there which are good, such as the Nembrini Black and the free TSE R47.

Bit confused about the X-DRIVE, I don't see it in Ampltiube - seems it's a hardware pedal with digital modelling. Is it available as an add-on or something?

And yes, I'm tending towards setting up a custom chain of VST stomps in front of whichever amp sim has the most accurate sound... although so far, Amplitube is the only one that seems to let you insert things into the amp's FX chain, which is quite important as it's something I do in my actual amps

[AudioBabble]

Anyone ever used Positive Grid's BIAS AMP 2 and/or BIAS FX ? Just found them, and certainly looks ultra flexible on the amp side of things with pre-amp / power amp and even transformer as separate components!!

https://www.positivegrid.com/bias-amp/

[fese]

Why not put the distortion pedals you have in front of the amp sims instead of endlessly searching for the ones that “come close” to what you already have?

[Echoes in the Attic]

And yes, I'm tending towards setting up a custom chain of VST stomps in front of whichever amp sim has the most accurate sound... although so far, Amplitube is the only one that seems to let you insert things into the amp's FX chain, which is quite important as it's something I do in my actual amps

I believe you can do that in Kuassa 360 by inserting effects between the head and cabinet modules. And even with individual plugins you could have only the head active and then another plugin with just cabinet.