Your fav Amp Sims as of 2023?

[zerocrossing]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but whatever.
Tonex. I am re-doing template patches to take Tonex out of Amplitube and use 3rd party fx in the chain. The big thing coming, for me, is a Surfybear spring reverb, because I have yet to hear a plugin do it convincingly. I like Fender amps, and a Fender capture without a proper spring isn't quite 'there.'
There's pretty much any tone I could want on Tone.net.

I’m not a Fender super fan, but I have had what I think of as very good results just using the Fender amp models with an Ownhammer cab IR. Amplitube’s reverbs are generally meh, but if I really want something better I’ll run Twangström after it.

For some silly reason, I'm into rockabilly right now. When I was young, I dismissed the Stray Cats as a retro fad (while I was, cough, into 'progressive' rock), but now I enjoy the guitar licks and playing style. I've got Twangström, and it doesn't sound anything like what I would expect from a Spring.
So, I'm gonna try a real spring reverb tank, based on a Fender unit.
I'm also unimpressed with the spring reverb in my VOX AC-15C. It sounds separate from the guitar and I find distracting.
I also want Hawaii 5-0 and the Munsters theme to sound right.

Ah, I lived in the liminal space between two worlds. I was super into King Crimson and The Stray Cats.

I’m probably the worst person to give advice on this, so I’ll shut up. I’ve never liked the reverb in any amp that I’ve ever owned, including a Fender Twin. I put up with it until I had enough for a Yamaha REX50 (odd SPX90 variant) and never went back. Oh wait, I did pick up a Dreadbox Hypnosis, and found that Colour Copy and Twangström sounded way better to me.

[Flying Samurai]

Here is how I do it. Since I only like clean or mildly overdriven guitars I go straight into my studio preamp (Presonus Studio Channel; compressor set at ratio 4). Then Two Note Torpedo Wall of Sound for power amp and cab simulation. Add a little saturation/drive/EQ to taste with plugins. Done.

[Agreed]

Got Tonex Max in the recent sale, it's my new favorite. It's just that good. I don't have a Capture interface at this time but I'm using my audio interface to do some pedal captures, and they're excellent also. Takes some fine-tuning but you can get that slice of the pedal's behavior replicated to a remarkable degree. I'm pretty blown away by what this is doing for me. I hope to put some captures of cool pedals or pedal combos from my collection on my blog as I get more into the software - and how cool is it that you can do that? I can't send you a pedal, but I can let y'all borrow one of my favorite tones from it, far out!

[greenmind72]

I really shouldn’t be reading this thread….trying to resist the Tonex/Amplitube combined sale on at the moment.

[lajosuti]

I bought all before the Tonex release (neural, mercuriall, kuassa, overloud, brainworx, stl tones, so many ir packs, ...). After Tonex release I haven't bought any new amp sim or ir pack, it's Tonex for me.

[Agreed]

I really shouldn’t be reading this thread….trying to resist the Tonex/Amplitube combined sale on at the moment.

I completely understand. This won't help, I wish I'd bought it last year instead of waiting. It's shocking my process and I'm really enjoying it. Feels like the excitement I used to feel when I first got into amp modeling technology in the 2000s, when they started showing more potential on PC in the late 2000s. The whole neural network machine learning approach seems to be a technological leap that has improved fidelity of amp & pedal modeling in general, and Tonex puts that kind of power in your hands in a very accessible way. It's gnarly to be able to put together signal chains involving the sounds of your real gear without having to get it out and plug it in, plus it enables easy sharing and all that too.

[_leras]

Here are mine

NDSP; Boogie, Omega, Gojira, Nameless, Soldano, Cali.
Nembrini; 8180, MRH159 , MRH810 some pedals
Softube; All Marshalls-Marshall Suite, Metal + Vintage Suite, Celestion speaker shaper, Tube Tech set, acoustic feedback, Tube delay, Saturation Knob, Transient Shaper.
Kuassa; Calliburn, Creme, Vermalion, Matchlook
Plugin Alliance; Friedman DS-40, B100, SUHs 100w, Fuches TrainII. ENGL Savage, Diezel
VH4, plus Ampeg and 90% f all their other plug$ including Brigade Flanger etc.
STL Tones: Howard Benson, add Soundtoys decapitator and you basically beefed it up to have all their best tones., then LIBRA IR Loader.
JST Tone Forge: all guitar sims, especially use the Jeff Loomis
Mercurial; AmpBox, Everything, Including Spark.
IK Multimedia Amplitude, Tonnex
Kazrog's 5150, very good, so is TSE but its PC (I think)
Overloud TH-U with out any of their total garbage Is!
UAD important to mention they are very up their quality wise and dimension D, their brigade and other focused with guitar stuff are great!

In addition to the amp sims I have a whole arsenal of DIs, Pres, Comps, ODs based on KLONE, RAT, SD-1, DS1, TS9, many colouring plugins like (Soundtoys decapitator, Kush, etc etc) as well as Tube type simulations (EL34, AX7 etc), modulation effects, both pre and post on the stereo bus like to widen chorus the guitar tracks and sends to bus tracks for time based effects.

I tried everything out there and these are the sims I like the most, AmpLion, Scuffman and some others deserved to be mentioned as well..

Im very curious what others found, I can normally tweak all the amps to match, EQ match, using tons of IRs in Libra, recently checked out the facial IR loader but not too sure I want to bother investing in this, not even a demo set of IRs, Celestion's Speaker Shaper is possibly the best there is if they sort the bugs, then Libra or celestial speaker shaper depending on your sweet spot, but Mikko2 is hot, its just so dam expensive yet the demo is great as is.

I'm glad you've narrowed it down to just a few.

I have mostly just been using Guitar RIg.

[sonidomolino]

Scuffham S-Gear here (still),
supplemented with Tonex for a few Vox captures and a couple of interesting/oddball 3rd party specialties

[mgriff]

Scuffham S-Gear & Studio Devil VBA Pro

[DCrown]

Line 6 mainly, rarely neural dsp
no Amplitube any more
I even forgot I still have Scuffham

[Agreed]

Here's a capture I made today with Tonex, of a Critter Electronics CFR (Klon-style with mods) running into a Wampler Pedals Ecstacy. I wanted to see how it could do for me capturing more than one pedal stacked. Amp is clean, all the dirt is from the capture.

https://vocaroo.com/1drrqOFjGXAd

I'm really enjoying the idea of getting some favorite "presets" together from my pedal collection, as I often like to stack pedals. It'll be cool to have the ease of use of just loading them instantly instead of having to get pedal chains together physically if I don't have them hooked up already.

[MacSpares]

I can't believe how rare Helix Native is in here. All of the models are incredible, and the updated cab block is so good. That's all I use, and honestly is kind of an end game plugin as far as amp sims go IMO. PLUS, the sheer amount of effects are so great not only for guitar, but for running anything through.

[trmupstage]

I had a problem (defective) Two Notes Captor X, so I wasn't able to use my Deluxe Reverb (real) on a session last week. I needed a nice clean sound and some gentle breakup. I used the Fuse Audio F59. Really great Fender sound. I will definitly use it again. I have a lot of PA amp sims and Softube's earlier amp sims. I never really liked any of those at all, which is why I decided to get a load box and IRs for my Deluxe. I never was able to get the sound I wanted until I used F59. There's always something missing in amp sims, to my ears.

[metalifuxx]

Here's a capture I made today with Tonex, of a Critter Electronics CFR (Klon-style with mods) running into a Wampler Pedals Ecstacy. I wanted to see how it could do for me capturing more than one pedal stacked. Amp is clean, all the dirt is from the capture.

https://vocaroo.com/1drrqOFjGXAd

I'm really enjoying the idea of getting some favorite "presets" together from my pedal collection, as I often like to stack pedals. It'll be cool to have the ease of use of just loading them instantly instead of having to get pedal chains together physically if I don't have them hooked up already.

How’d you hear about Critter Electronics and end up with one? Are you local to Detroit/Waterford area? Ronnie (Critter Electronics builder) is my buddy. A lot of my friends use his drive pedals. He does a great modded Klone with a gain mod switch. I’ve told him about getting some of his pedals as profiles for NAM or Tonex.

[Agreed]

Here's a capture I made today with Tonex, of a Critter Electronics CFR (Klon-style with mods) running into a Wampler Pedals Ecstacy. I wanted to see how it could do for me capturing more than one pedal stacked. Amp is clean, all the dirt is from the capture.

https://vocaroo.com/1drrqOFjGXAd

I'm really enjoying the idea of getting some favorite "presets" together from my pedal collection, as I often like to stack pedals. It'll be cool to have the ease of use of just loading them instantly instead of having to get pedal chains together physically if I don't have them hooked up already.

How’d you hear about Critter Electronics and end up with one? Are you local to Detroit/Waterford area? Ronnie (Critter Electronics builder) is my buddy. A lot of my friends use his drive pedals. He does a great modded Klone with a gain mod switch. I’ve told him about getting some of his pedals as profiles for NAM or Tonex.

Scuttlebutt at TheGearPage. That's the one I have, the C:FR - love it, I have profiled it extensively now and have used it as a boost for other thing I'm profiling too. Absolutely nasty in front of the right fuzz. I think it's actually becoming one of my favorite pedals, quite quickly but it just keeps nailing what I want from it.

Tell Ronnie I'd appreciate it if he could check his shop texts, been trying to get in touch with him all last week But the pedal sounds amazing and the electronics work is top quality. I got a minor enclosure issue with mine, cosmetic and internal only, nothing you'd notice from the outside, and it's nothing that'll keep me from getting more Critter pedals - can't believe the value on them, he's punching way above that $100 price point weight. Thinking next I might try his take on the TS, as his take on the Klone is my favorite of all time now and I'm wondering how his ear might agree with my tastes on his other offerings! (Edit: I got in touch and Ronnie explained everything, if you see a "Blue Tag Special" label it means that there is some cosmetic issue that makes a unit what you might call B-stock, but they will work 100% and should still be great looking pedals, as mine is).


Last night I captured some fuzzes - ProTone Monster Fuzz, D.B.A. Fuzz War II, Earthquaker Hizumitas, and Way Huge Red Llama (well, ok, it's a CMOS distortion, kinda reedy n' tweedy, but it's fuzzy too and has a lot of gain available). I used the CFR to boost the two Muff-derivatives (Monster Fuzz and Fuzz War II), and it was siiiiick. Monster Fuzz grinds like the old Swedish chainsaw but different, less flubby lows to cut - Fuzz War II is the heaviest, punchiest 4-transistor Muff I know of, tone knob on it is like a bazooka filled with razor wire. Tonex nailed all those captures with the CFR in the chain as well. Not being able to make a big dynamic model of all the knob positions and every sound is basically a "preset" may be a limit, but the ability to model a slice of the controls of a complex signal chain and have it ACTUALLY sound and respond like the real signal chain you just captured is so freaking far out to me. Feels like more "from the future" stuff, relative to my small ape-descended brain.