Guitar Plugin with the best high gain amp sims?

[Elric]

Themionik is decidedly mediocre, IMHO. I've had it ever since it came out and it is unimpressive. I can't believe some of you guys are talking it up like its great. :-/ At least no one said Bias. Most of the plugins suck for high gain. The new Mesa Amplitube is pretty darn nice and the Engls are solid everything else in AT4 is weak, though (the "SLO" model is laughably bad and those new Marshalls are disappointing), and Revalver has always been solid thanks to the Peavey sims and customization features. So I guess those are the lesser of the evils.

 

[Slippery When Wet]

What software do i need to jse these different sim companies?

 

[Elric]

Most have demos so you don't have to rely on our opinions. Check out the free ones too: LePou, Ignite amps, etc.

You need a DAW program that supports plugins. If you are on a PC look at Reaper for a cheap solution on the Mac you could demo them with Garage Band.

 

[jimmy906]

check out the u530 by mercuriall
U530 | Mercuriall Audio Software

 

[blckrnblckt]

Free plugins I have in my collection:
Ignite Emissary
Lepou Le456
Nick Crow 7170
TSE X30 Sovtek

And some Mercuriall free stuff for lower gain.
I use GuitarHack and OwnHammer IRs with Ignite NadIR.
But I still like my Eleven Rack over the plugins for dynamics, but as someone said before, high gain is limited to a few amps.

If you're just looking to play amp sims and don't really need to record, you could use VSTHost or Podium Free if you're on a PC. I sometimes use my Eleven Rack as a USB interface just to see what amp sim plugins sound like and use ASIO to get low latency.

 

[Aymara]

If you are on a PC look at Reaper for a cheap solution on the Mac you could demo them with Garage Band.

I would recommend Reaper for a Mac too, because Garageband is a toy, that only supports 16 bit at 44.1 kHz ... good recordings require 24 bit. Reaper is much more powerful and easy to learn due to the many tutorials on Youtube and the superb forum.

 

[Thermalic]

+1 on Reaper. Used it for 5+ years with no problems. Had Cubase as my first DAW before that but had pretty big stability issues with it.

 

[RuslanK]

Fourteen Tanas, ENDL Lead E530 and other plugins from Vadim Taranov... but only 32-bit version.

 

[GuitarBizarre]

Reaper is the best DAW on a budget. Cubase is much better but also expensive and there's no free trial.

As far as amp sims - I've been using Ignite Amps Emmisary for a while now, in combination with Recabinet 3 (I've not upgraded to 4, no reason to in my case). Best sound I've ever had.

Before that I was using Legion, but I found it incredibly harsh and "washy" in the 4K region. Lots of pick attack but also a "white noise" type sound in that area.

To the guy using Legion with a Tubescreamer VST in front of it - You're actually insane. Legion was literally designed not to need a TS in front of it to remain tight. I have no idea how you can stand the sound of it with one in as well - it's washy and harsh to begin with...

 

[tedtan]

Free plugins I have in my collection:
Ignite Emissary
Lepou Le456
Nick Crow 7170
TSE X30 Sovtek

The LePou and Nick Crowe plugs are probably the best free amp sims available. I used to prefer them over the paid options, too, but I find myself preferring Thermionic since it came out last month.

Themionik is decidedly mediocre, IMHO.

Are you using the amp models in Recabinet 4 or the just released Thermionic? If you haven't tried the new one yet, give it a shot. If you tried it and didn't car for it, well then, carry on with Amplitube.

Reaper is the best DAW on a budget. Cubase is much better but also expensive and there's no free trial.

I get what you're saying if you mean that you prefer Cubase. But how is it better than Reaper (Reaper is so much more customizable)?

 

[GuitarBizarre]

I get what you're saying if you mean that you prefer Cubase. But how is it better than Reaper (Reaper is so much more customizable)?

The best example I can give is what a friend said to me - Cubase is a program that is "As complicated as you want to make it".

It's not that it's customisable, exactly, it's just that it hides very little from you in terms of putting options in menus etc. Almost everything is out on display behind some sort of icon or button, but even though that's the case, it never feels cluttered - if you don't know what that icon means, chances are good you can ignore it and be absolutely no worse off for what you want to do.

Also, Cubase's midi input and midi editing is just worlds more intuitive than reaper's - If I could port one cubase feature into reaper it would, without a shadow of a doubt, be the way midi input is handled.

 

[tedtan]

Cool, I can appreciate that if you want to use toolbars rather than menus or keyboard shortcuts, Cubase is probably a better initial fit for your workflow. Reaper has them, too, but you'll have to build most of them yourself.

As for MIDI workflow, they're different in how they handle things. But I hear about the same number of people complain about Cubase and Sonar (which started out as MIDI only sequencers) as about Reaper and Pro Tools (which started out as audio only). So this is probably a matter of personal preference and workflow.

 

[Aymara]

Reaper is much more powerful, than many people claim again and again.

If Cubase is so much better than Reaper, why then do so many Native Instruments Kontrol-S users cry in the NI forum about issues, while I as a Reaper user smile and enjoy it, both on Mac and Windows?

Cubase has some advantages in the MIDI field, yes, but that's it ... nearly. "Bug fixing takes ages", is what you hear from converts in the Reaper forum.

So, I have no problem, when someone prefers another DAW, but calling others much more powerful, is a theory, that requires proof

Btw, can Cubase do video productions? As far as I know, that requires Nuendo and a much bigger budget. Well, Reaper can, thought it's not the best choice for that task.

But maybe anybody wants to tell us now, that Protools is also much better ... well, then read this:

REAPER In Shangri-La – Designing demon voices for Far Cry 4 – The REAPER Blog

Reaper, especially the new V5, is not perfect, sure, but it is by far the best and most easy to learn DAW for beginners, due to a huge free manual, many Youtube tutorials and the most powerful community of all DAWs. And it is definitely powerful enough for most home recording needs.

But the situation drastically changes, when we talk about it's use in a pro studio ... Cockos has no on-site support.

But maybe we should come back to topic, instead of starting a DAW war

 

[WarMachine]

Reaper is the best DAW on a budget. Cubase is much better but also expensive and there's no free trial.

As far as amp sims - I've been using Ignite Amps Emmisary for a while now, in combination with Recabinet 3 (I've not upgraded to 4, no reason to in my case). Best sound I've ever had.

Before that I was using Legion, but I found it incredibly harsh and "washy" in the 4K region. Lots of pick attack but also a "white noise" type sound in that area.

To the guy using Legion with a Tubescreamer VST in front of it - You're actually insane. Legion was literally designed not to need a TS in front of it to remain tight. I have no idea how you can stand the sound of it with one in as well - it's washy and harsh to begin with...

From the guy that tried Legion with the TS up front.....easy fix




Noise gate

 

[GuitarBizarre]

From the guy that tried Legion with the TS up front.....easy fix




Noise gate

I'm not... talking about noise?

I'm talking about the tonal character of the amp already being designed around the traditional "High gain with a TS in front of it" sound. It literally has that tubescreamer built into it already, and you're adding another. That amde it incredibly thin and icepicky when I did it by accident. I have no idea how you can stand doing it all the time.


Aymara - Reaper has it's own issues with Native Instruments stuff. For example FM8 and many similar NI plugins have a problem where certain sliders constantly reset to 0 in the GUI. Try opening an FM8 patch and trying to adjust the ADSR settings. The damn things won't stay put.

 

[WarMachine]

I'm not... talking about noise?

I'm talking about the tonal character of the amp already being designed around the traditional "High gain with a TS in front of it" sound. It literally has that tubescreamer built into it already, and you're adding another. That amde it incredibly thin and icepicky when I did it by accident. I have no idea how you can stand doing it all the time.


Aymara - Reaper has it's own issues with Native Instruments stuff. For example FM8 and many similar NI plugins have a problem where certain sliders constantly reset to 0 in the GUI. Try opening an FM8 patch and trying to adjust the ADSR settings. The damn things won't stay put.

Ah, gotcha. Well, lightly boosting it gave me that extra something. IMO it didnt have the sustain without one. Combined with the right IR and EQ I got it to sound pretty gnarly. Just wanted to add to the OP that some great tones can be had from free vst's as well.

 

[Kazrog]

Really quickly, I thought I should post some high gain Thermionik user clips for you guys to check out:

In a mix:


Just guitars:


Also, here's a Soundcloud playlist with more clips:
[SC]https://soundcloud.com/kazrog/sets/thermionik-5-clips[/SC]

The 14 day demo is feature unlimited, so you guys can try all 25 amp models, and purchase whichever ones you like in any number or combination you want.

I'm a metal guitarist myself, and my main guitar is a Ran Crusher 7 string. I started out modeling high gain amps before I got to the vintage/boutique stuff.

If you guys have any questions, I'm happy to answer here, and I'm following the thread.

 

[Aymara]

Try opening an FM8 patch and trying to adjust the ADSR settings. The damn things won't stay put.

I'm a Komplete 10 user and did that some time ago without any issues, sorry ... with R4.7 on OSX 10.10.5, so I don't know, if it works the same on Windows. But I never saw such reports in the NI forums too. Is FM8 up to date?

 

[GuitarBizarre]

I'm a Komplete 10 user and did that some time ago without any issues, sorry ... with R4.7 on OSX 10.10.5, so I don't know, if it works the same on Windows. But I never saw such reports in the NI forums too. Is FM8 up to date?

Yes, and there are reports of this problem from as far back as 2009, in relation to preset saving.

A dealbreaker it is not, but I've noticed you have a tendency in threads like this to tout whatever you use personally as the best thing since sliced bread.

It's cool that you like reaper, I'm using it too, it's a great program. It's also cool that you like your Classic T, but you do tend to overegg the pudding about how good things are that you personally enjoy, and it comes off as insincere.

 

[Slippery When Wet]

Really quickly, I thought I should post some high gain Thermionik user clips for you guys to check out:

In a mix:


Just guitars:


Also, here's a Soundcloud playlist with more clips:
[SC]https://soundcloud.com/kazrog/sets/thermionik-5-clips[/SC]

The 14 day demo is feature unlimited, so you guys can try all 25 amp models, and purchase whichever ones you like in any number or combination you want.

I'm a metal guitarist myself, and my main guitar is a Ran Crusher 7 string. I started out modeling high gain amps before I got to the vintage/boutique stuff.

If you guys have any questions, I'm happy to answer here, and I'm following the thread.

I like dry high gain tone like the deliverance 60 and loose fat meaty like the randall rm100. Im just a drummer who likes to play a little guitar. I play a schecter hellraiser hybrid 7. Just looking for balls to the wall high gain... no recording... just jamming