Your fav Amp Sims as of 2023?

[zerocrossing]

Bought a kemper 12 years ago. Don’t need anything else. Sure, I’ve tried a few amp sims thru the years. Sure they’ve become better but still lack the depth and 3d. Still can’t compete with a kemper. Hybrid stuff like tonex, kemper, helix etc are the best solution

That’s plain and simply not true. I’m also a previous Kemper owner, and while it could sound very good, it’s prone to a low-mid mushy mess with higher gain sounds, and in this respect, Tonex is superior.

Why I really ditched my Kemper is that it was limited to a single amp-effects path. Back when I was using actual amps, I was using a lot of dual amp stereo systems that sounded amazing, especially for my ambient soundscape work.

I replaced it with an AxeFX 3, which I felt was better suited for my needs. The models were easily as good, very customizable, the effects superior, and a lot more flexibility. Its weakness was in IRs, but that was easily fixed. In the end, I found that Amplitude with Tonex gave me more of what I wanted and didn’t have an annoying fan sound.

Anyway, a lot of this is subjective, and almost everything I’ve tried is capable of producing good results. At this point, if you can’t find a good sound from any of the major modelers or capture plugins, that’s on you.

[Agreed]

Another example of ToneX, captured this rig yesterday and it came out great. Critter LEGEND -> Does It Doom Walpurgis -> Chase Tone Secret Preamp is the chain. In the clip, from the start to ~53 seconds is the real pedal setup. From ~53 seconds to ~1:43 seconds, it's the capture. And from ~1:44 to the end, it's both of them, one panned hard left, one panned hard right.

https://vocaroo.com/1aepSScMnIVa

I am finding in general with ToneX captures there's an individual process to get the gain matching just right. I have not got it to be 100% consistent between captures even though I am using the same method; I think it's just down to the nonlinearities inherent in the gear. For this one, on my setup I need to boost input gain by about 2.8-3.2dB for it to match the behavior of the gear it is capturing as closely as possible. Sometimes I need a boost of 6db or even higher, but not this time. I am going to include some notes about possibly needing to add input gain in captures that I share, but I think if I include clips like this it should make it pretty easy to calibrate it "by ear." And, I mean, when it sounds good it is good, in the end, you'd have a different experience if I loaned you the same pedalboard too

Here's the capture for that clip if anyone wants to play around with it.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/t3ruemef ... 1xw5z&dl=0


And while I'm at it, here's a link to a file with a few other captures if you want, including the Critter CFR->Wampler Ecstacy capture I put a clip up from earlier in the thread: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/c7wvhw74 ... c1vyb&dl=0

[ashfire]

I’m a big fan of the Neural stuff too. A Tone King Imperial MK2 is one of my dream amps, so being able to play it in plugin for has been awesome! Considering the price of the real amp, I think I’ll be sticking with the plugin for a while!

I’m a little surprised that nobody has mentioned Mixwave. Other than the Neural stuff, Mixwave’s Milkman and Benson amp sims are my go-to’s. The quality is on par with Neural IMO and they offer some really cool boutique amps that aren’t easy to get (Bensons especially). They are expensive but worth it! Definitely worth a demo at least.

Helix Native is the only other amp sim I use regularly. It has a ton of variety and the more recent cabs have really improved the package overall. Many of the newer amps are great. I’m also a big fan of the delays and reverbs, though I think the digital drive pedals sound better in the Neural products. This is my go-to for bass amps too.

Also a shout out to Two Notes. I really like their cabs, and I often disable the cabs on the amp sim I’m using and replace them with Two Notes cabs. The cabs that come with Wall of Sound aren’t great, but some of the more recent cabs you can buy are fantastic. The recent Jeff Stinco and Anniversary collections both sound great!

[metalifuxx]

This is new-ish, by no means a favorite tho. No tweakability though, just plug in and go

"Mini Fenrir is a single snapshot of one tone from the Fenrir virtual amplifier, condensed into 1 free plugin."

https://solemntones.com/products/mini-fenrir

[markp]

APFX Primo is my favourite this year. simple interface with limited options. Limits my analysis paralysis (Tone chasing).

[a006751]

Hi, I mainly use Scuffham and Tonex at the moment but I have tried most of the well known sims as well. The problem is that sometimes one sim sounds great, then the next day however it does not and you are looking out for something else…. One hidden gem imho is a free amp sim by axp called Flextron. When I cannot find a goud sound, I launch up Flextron and I always ask myself why I keep spending more money on amp sims

[TVbene]

APFX Primo is my favourite this year. simple interface with limited options. Limits my analysis paralysis (Tone chasing).

Thanks for the tip! Exactly the kind of amp sim I needed.

[DCrown]

I have Neural DSP Mesa, it's ok, but Helix native is even better imo.
If you play Neural DSP the first impression is wow it sounds great, but it's not at easy to make it sit well in a mix, also a very limited choice of effects. Helix nearly always sits well in a mix with a huge choice of effects and with the best cabs of all guitar plugins imo.
Before I had Helix , I used Two Notes cabs and who knows what, but now primarily Helix native cabs.
I demoed almost every guitar plugins and I have several amp sim plugins, but in most cases Helix is the choice for a final mix.

[acousticglue]

Is it possible to sell everything you have in IK Multimedia account? A4/5 Max, Tonex medium, T-Racks?

[Agreed]

I have never had trouble getting NDSP tones to sit in a mix. Glad you're sorted with a tool that clicks so well for you though DCrown!

[electro]

[kevinsparks]

Is it possible to sell everything you have in IK Multimedia account? A4/5 Max, Tonex medium, T-Racks?

It is possible to sell just about anything that isn't NFR. Fees aren't crazy, and the process is almost instantaneous.

[martinjuenke]

Are Tonex and Amplitube complementing each other or are these redundant?
In other words: is there an advantage to have both programs?
(the capture function of Tonex is not relevant for me)

[Etienne1973]

Are Tonex and Amplitube complementing each other or are these redundant?
In other words: is there an advantage to have both programs?
(the capture function of Tonex is not relevant for me)

You don't need Tonex, the paid versions at least b/c you don't want to capture gear yourself. Tonex CS is free. You can buy, if you want, captures there. AFAIK then you can use/integrate these Tonex CS captures in Amplitude.

[LunarKitten]

Hello,

what is the best cab sim out there? I have tried the amplitube 5 cabs, and they seem to be much better than IRs (even if they are based on IRs as for as I understand it). Is it worth trying other cab sims like guitar rig, wall of sound, amp room, positive grid or is amplitube 5 the best there is?