All these Rig Captures... how do you guys deal with it?

[wasi]

I recently took up my guiar playing again and have been enjoying some of my classic guitar plugins - others I've been surprised to see how things have evolved beyond what was considere 'gred' a few years ago.

One thing I can't quite wrap my head around are Rig Captures. I own TH-U and always enjoyed their modelling and low CPU (but hated their GUI). A while ago they added rig captures and I never bothered trying it out. I did now, with all the hype about IK and their own take and I'm completely torn.

On one side its a cool way to get a specific sound - ready to record - on the other hand, it feels super clunky clicking through various 'rigs' until you hear something you like. Basically what I hated about cab-IRs has now taken over my amp too. And then you find one and - just like with IRs - afer a while you start thinking maybe it's a little off, a bit too much high-end or maybe it the other mic will give it more fullness.

Contrast that with Mercuriall's AmpBox, that has reluctantly blown me away, it feels so much more like when I'm playing on my real amp.

So how do you guys handle these things? Do you have a favorite rig and tweak that or do you preset surf or do you avoid it altogether?

[monkeymanx]

I tried out the rigs aka amp captures. Like you stated, it’s pretty much the same as digging through a bunch of IR files. Also, when you go to change the “amp” knobs for a capture it just doesn’t sound right so you need the capture to sound right without modifying. I’ve gotten over the next best thing syndrome. Plus if you are actually recording and being productive all this buying new stuff when it drops actually hinders forward motion so I tend to find what I like and stick with it for a bit.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I've been doing a TON of rig captures using TONEX, and I love it. I've never been an IR guy. I've tried, and it's always more hassle than it's worth. But the rig captures are a different thing entirely.

First: when I'm using my Princeton Reverb, or my Supro, I'm not constantly changing amp settings. I'm going to turn on the Princeton, and the amp will have the Treble around 6, the Bass around 4, and the Volume from 4-6.5. If I change guitars or rooms, that will change a bit, but it's usually in the ballpark. I've got two or three settings on my Supro I use, but mostly, I've got one that sounds good with pedals and the nearest guitar (usually my Jazzmaster) and it just stays there. The guitar part is key because what sounds great on a Jazzmaster can be way too dark with a Les Paul, same with a Strat.

So why bring that up? I think people with a lot of real world experience with amps will tell you the same thing: you find a sound that works with your amp+room+guitar+ears and just keep it there most of the time. You're not constantly adjusting amp settings like you tend to do with modelers. This is where Rig Captures come in. Capture that sound! Now you've got it ITB. I just load up my "Princeton Edge" preset in TONEX, add some input gain and reverb, and that's the sound of my amp.

When it comes to captures I didn't create, they're awesome for playing amps you don't own. How to deal with finding the right one? I search for the amp in TONEX like "JMP" and audition a few, mark the favorites, then pick one. Note: I'm not bothering with anything that doesn't have a cabinet included, and I'm only downloading tone models that sound decent to me on first audition. But it's great when you're like, "I want a classic Plexi type sound"...well, just type in Plexi. Or "I want a jangly AC-30", just type in AC-30.

The thing for me in the end is, once you find a few captures of each amp you like, you can favorite them and they're easy to find and will sound great going forward. But the key thing is how much better these sound than other modelers to me. The great stuff is killer.

But yeah, in a month TONEX has over 3,000 captures in the user library and it can be overwhelming. I've made over a hundred, and honestly, only use the ones I've deemed as favorites. But the others can sound great too with the right guitar.

[jens]

Personally I completely ignore all this stuff... give me a simple, good simulation of a good amp and keep all that caupturing stuff (and what not).

[vurt]

i just use my amp. one neighbour is deaf and the other is now dead, previously was an alcoholic who made plenty of noise himself

im more likely to get complaints from across the road than from next door.
well, if i get complaints or knocks on the wall from the right, im moving out

[wasi]

But yeah, in a month TONEX has over 3,000 captures in the user library and it can be overwhelming. I've made over a hundred, and honestly, only use the ones I've deemed as favorites. But the others can sound great too with the right guitar.

Yeah, that's what I mean. I can see capturing my own amp and I have found a few in TH-U that I like (the Bogner XTC ones, specifically), but the overall experience is ultimately just plain uninspiring.

And that's even though I have to say the Overlound rigs react quite well to turning the controls or putting pedals in front of them or swapping out the cab for another IR. It does work, but it's just not a pleasant experience. For all the great tones, I feel like a sound engineer, not a musician, I guess.

Maybe that's a better approach for me. Record things in a good amp sim, then fool around with rig/amp captures.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Maybe that's a better approach for me. Record things in a good amp sim, then fool around with rig/amp captures.

My approach is the opposite: find a few rig captures that work with a given guitar and stick with them. Don't bother fussing about much else. It's less work when you're like "oh, this is my main amp sound, and if I need to, I can add pedals in front" versus "let me scroll through a bunch of amp sims, dial in the amp settings, dial in the right microphone and position, etc." I feel like the lack of options with the rigs is a strength and makes me feel like more of a musician. Like, I did all that boring engineering stuff (phase aligning microphones, yawn) when I did the captures. Now I've got my go-to sounds ready to go. Just plug and play!

But yeah, stick with what works for you.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Think of the rig captures this way: these things are presets. It's not an emulation of an amp. It's a preset you can't edit. Either you'll love the preset, or you won't. But it's kind of like a DX7 in the 80's...it's a preset box.

[pekbro]

I just like real valve amps and quality guitars, I don't spend my time chasing different amp tones. So much of the sound is in the guitar, one or two boutique amps covering basically 6V6 and EL-84 valves and I'm pretty much all set. Moar guitars though, that's another thing altogether. For me, I don't have any interest in the capture thing at all.