The Dire State of Guitar Amp Sims

[paramita123]

I don't know if the Klevgrand one is any good but I like how it looks

https://klevgrand.com/products/stark

The UI is certainly free of fake hardware looks which is nice on the eyes.
Sounds good too !
Perhaps a good option for those who want an easy package.
Also for $80 it is not cheap and many free plugins can get similar results.

Overall all these amp sims still only try to recreate hardware stuff, I am waiting to see more innovative creations like the synths plugins have been seeing for a while !

[pekbro]

Just now playing with TH-U 2 for the first time since getting it, the UI isn't really much better imo, still for free, I can't complain...

I definitely preferred the UI for Supercabinet before...

[ToneEG]

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Interesting thread. Disclosure first: I’m building EG Tone, so I’m speaking as a developer rather than a neutral user.

I agree with the general point that a lot of amp sims already solve the basic tone problem, but the workflow/UX side still feels behind. For the beginner/intermediate guitar players I’m aiming at, the confusing part is often not “which virtual amp is most accurate?” but things like input gain, latency, preset overload, controller mapping, and simply understanding what each control is supposed to do.

That is the angle I’m trying to work on: plugin + standalone app, short help text for every control/effect, and a practice path that does not require opening a DAW first.

Site for context: https://egtone.com/en-US (https://egtone.com/en-US)

Curious what people here think is more valuable for an amp sim in 2026: deeper MIDI/modulation features, or a much clearer beginner workflow with sane defaults?

[metalifuxx]

Interesting thread. Disclosure first: I’m building EG Tone, so I’m speaking as a developer rather than a neutral user.

I agree with the general point that a lot of amp sims already solve the basic tone problem, but the workflow/UX side still feels behind. For the beginner/intermediate guitar players I’m aiming at, the confusing part is often not “which virtual amp is most accurate?” but things like input gain, latency, preset overload, controller mapping, and simply understanding what each control is supposed to do.

That is the angle I’m trying to work on: plugin + standalone app, short help text for every control/effect, and a practice path that does not require opening a DAW first.

Site for context: https://egtone.com/en-US

Curious what people here think is more valuable for an amp sim in 2026: deeper MIDI/modulation features, or a much clearer beginner workflow with sane defaults?

I think it starts with knowing how to dial in your own rig and what real controls do on an amp and pedals and how EQ/tonehsaping works across different tonestacks. You’d be surprised how many guitar players, including ones that gig live regularly, don’t really know how to use their own pedals/amps and dial it in for a tone they want or several go to tones, or know how to tweak it on the fly to fix cutting through a band mix that isn’t mic’d up or going thru a PA/monitors with a sound guy. If you don’t understand those very basic concepts, you’re going to feel lost and overwhelmed when you open up any ampsim, basic/simple or advanced. I wouldn’t even mention midi/controller/parameter assigning if someone cant get past doing basic tone shaping/signal path management…midi would seem like needing to have a PhD or masters degree if you don’t understand basic tone shaping and signal chain routing etc. I’ve shown regular gigging musicians ampsim software before (that have never used it) thinking it would just be intuitive to them, but it wasn’t at all because they don’t really even know how to use the real life hardware properly. The software plugin Ampsim community of users is a smaller niche than you think, and we just assume that everyone has used it before or would be intuitive enough to just start using it with no prior computer DAW experience.

[jamcat]

I agree with the general point that a lot of amp sims already solve the basic tone problem, but the workflow/UX side still feels behind.

The biggest problem I see with ampsims is the speaker interaction. Everyone pretty much uses static convolution for that. But speakers aren't static, they move, and they have their own dynamically responsive compression and distortion that reacts to the player. The louder the sound they're reproducing, the more distorted it is.

I used to use AmpliTube, because of its quality, versatility, and wide range of gear. It looks great, has just about any gear you could want, and is fun and intuitive to work with. I could recreate the precise rig of a famous artist, and dial in their settings, and on the surface, the tone would be incredibly close. But when you take an isolated guitar track and A/B it with the ampsim recreation, you immediately notice that the ampsim version sounds flat and gauzy, like you're listening to a mimeograph copy of the original tone.

AmpliTube has the added complication of using layers of both convolution and deconvolution to first remove the "imprint" of the original captured speaker or mic before artificially replacing it with another. But even without that, a single pass of static convolution is going to leave you with that telltale ampsim tone.

[Cuauhtli]

Haven't read the entire thread so apologies if it's been mentioned but:

Have you checked out Bogren's IRDX Studio? Iirc it deals with the speaker response issues. I haven't tried it myself yet.

[aMUSEd]

I agree with the general point that a lot of amp sims already solve the basic tone problem, but the workflow/UX side still feels behind.

The biggest problem I see with ampsims is the speaker interaction. Everyone pretty much uses static convolution for that. But speakers aren't static, they move, and they have their own dynamically responsive compression and distortion that reacts to the player. The louder the sound they're reproducing, the more distorted it is.

Softube's Amp can load their speaker sim plugin instead of IR based speakers (if you own that too)

https://www.softube.com/uk/plug-ins/cel ... ker-shaper

[Ah Xoc Kin]

Interesting thread. Disclosure first: I’m building EG Tone, so I’m speaking as a developer rather than a neutral user.

I agree with the general point that a lot of amp sims already solve the basic tone problem, but the workflow/UX side still feels behind. For the beginner/intermediate guitar players I’m aiming at, the confusing part is often not “which virtual amp is most accurate?” but things like input gain, latency, preset overload, controller mapping, and simply understanding what each control is supposed to do.

That is the angle I’m trying to work on: plugin + standalone app, short help text for every control/effect, and a practice path that does not require opening a DAW first.

Site for context: https://egtone.com/en-US

Curious what people here think is more valuable for an amp sim in 2026: deeper MIDI/modulation features, or a much clearer beginner workflow with sane defaults?

For my needs, I would like a more comprehensive practice app.
Standalone is good https://getstandalone.com/
I would add a practice log with goals, notes, progress, etc.

The metronome is a bit limited. This one is a better choice for me, particularly with the timer and speed variation options. https://www.tonalenergy.com/

I still switch to Guitar Pro often.

In the case of EG Tone, I did not see an intro price or a demo. The features shown here https://egtone.com/en-US/play are good. Not as thorough or focused as I would like, though. I would really enjoy a comprehensive practice app and have everything integrated there.

[EyeCloud]

I used amp sims for quite a few years, and slowly figures out what I liked, didn't like, what was getting better over time, etc., but I haven't had any installed for some time.

When I want to record a real amp, I have a 5W no-name practice tube amp with a pretty decent Celestion 8" speaker in it. Sure, that won't sound like a decent amp that would work in a gigging environment, but if I record to Logic I can use IRs and maybe try to match a known setup that I'm close to by using Match EQ. You can get a small amp to sound huge and much more 'live' with the right amount of tweaking.

Also, 'amp in a box' pedals have come a long way. I have a relatively cheap NU-X Amp Academy and it sounds fantastic - I would put it alongside the real thing and bet that it would be hard for people to say it's not the real thing.

[jamcat]

Softube's Amp can load their speaker sim plugin instead of IR based speakers (if you own that too)

https://www.softube.com/uk/plug-ins/cel ... ker-shaper

I'm not totally up on how it all works. How would you use Celestion Speaker Shaper with Amp Room Marshall Suite?

Also, do you know if Softube is using deconvolution→convolution like AmpliTube does for things like swapping mics, or is every speaker+mic combination a unique IR capture?

There is a distortion parameter, but are they really using multidimensional convolution (Volterra kernels) or dynamic ML profiling, or is it just a waveshaper slapped in front of a static IR?

There's also Bogren Digital IRDX Studio which seems interesting. It does some kind of dynamic processing on your IRs. Just don't fall for signing up for IRDX Studio Free. It's literally IRDX Studio without the IRDX. So just a standard IR loader.

[aMUSEd]

Softube's Amp can load their speaker sim plugin instead of IR based speakers (if you own that too)

https://www.softube.com/uk/plug-ins/cel ... ker-shaper

I'm not totally up on how it all works. How would you use Celestion Speaker Shaper with Amp Room Marshall Suite?

Also, do you know if Softube is using deconvolution→convolution like AmpliTube does for things like swapping mics, or is every speaker+mic combination a unique IR capture?

It's just there to be dragged into the chain alongside the other Cabs so you have the option to use something more flexible than the usual cabs (not sure if they are also modelled or IRs)

Screenshot 2026-07-08 at 22.28.37.png

Don't know about deconvolution for the mics

[jamcat]

It's just there to be dragged into the chain alongside the other Cabs so you have the option to use something more flexible than the usual cabs (not sure if they are also modelled or IRs)

Can you do this in Amp Room Marshall Suite, or is there some base software you need in addition to Amp Room Marshall?

[pekbro]

The Celestion Speaker Mix software is great, they are not so good at maintaining or developing it. That’s the main problem with them.

I like the overloud version as well.

[concealed identity]

Why is everyone here talking about Dire States as a bad thing? I always thought Mark Knopfler had a good sounding guitar tone

[Ah Xoc Kin]

The Celestion Speaker Mix software is great, they are not so good at maintaining or developing it. That’s the main problem with them.

I like the overloud version as well.

I tried the Celestion 3 years ago. I don’t remember much about the trial. Later they had a sale, similar to the one they currently have, and I wanted to try it on my current system. Never heard back from them. Easy pass.