Suggestions on best Guitar Plugins

[Nashville Riff Co]

Looking to try out some guitar plugins. Primarily heavier tones but curious about what’s out there.

Not interested in modelers, just straight software.

Lemme know what you all like/are using

Thanks in advance

 

[Steadybeheady]

Own many, trialed most - STL Tones Tonality Josh Middleton & Lasse Lammert are my most used.

 

[Kosthrash]

Ignite Emissary (free)

 

[WillyTheMLGPro]

My favourites are Neural DSP Omega Ampworks and Fortin Nameless X.

Also shoutout to Otto Audio 11 11

 

[crushingpetal]

I only do modelers, so take this for what it's worth (not much): I'd go Helix Native. 60 or so amps, rather than the Neural route at like $150 for 3 amps.

 

[Matt08642]

After demoing a bunch of free trials I landed on Neural DSP Omega Ampworks Granophyre with a York Audio Mesa 4x12 IR as a base tone. From there I just use free delay plugins.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I've tried a lot of crap and Ignite Emissary is pretty good for being free. If you want more then I'd do a trial of STL's amphub. You can try a ton of different plugins pretty easily and see what clicks.

Neural stuff is good but overpriced imo.

ToneX can sound good but the UI is dogshit

Audio Assault is cheap but most of their plugins are meh sounding.

ML lab is overpriced and meh in general.

 

[Kosthrash]

For the price of some plugins, you get the Tonex one...

 

[Steadybeheady]

Gotta mention NAM (Neural Amp Modeller) as a free (and superior for high gain compared to ToneX so far) option. Tons of captures on Tonehunt, though you’ll have to play with the Input Gain and sift through plenty of crap captures (as with ToneX as well).
I keep going back to those STL Tonality plugins for my 5150, Dual Rectifier, Herbert etc tones but I’ve found my favourite Engl Savage and Fireball sounds that way rather than the plugin options of Engl. YMMV.

 

[Hoss632]

Not tried any but I'd say Neural DSP is the way to go. Especially since soon you'll have the ability to take tones directly from plug ins and put them on the quad cortex (only if you have the newer X version plug ins though). So if you have a tone plug in that you just truly love, more than any amp or modeler, you now have a way to take it on the road.

Otherwise STL Tones Amp hub is fun. Monthly subscription type deal and constantly adding new amps, pedals etc. And if you have any models you really like you can purchase them as well.

 

[The Pierce Paradox]

The NDSP petrucci one is great. Very amp like feel and tones. I’ve a/b with a real JP2C through a reactive load and the differences are pretty minor

 

[LunatiqueRob]

I recently tried Mixwave's Spiritbox Mike Stringer and it's as good as the Neural DSP plugins. Out of the NDSP stuff, I like Fortin Cali, Archetype Gojira, Nameless, and Granophyre.

 

[kerryymm]

STL Amphub is probably the best-sounding one I've tried, but I didn't like the subscription pricing, so I've gone with Runeforge Fenrir. It's pretty basic, but it sounds really good imo.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Free: Ignite Emissary

Affordable and stripped-down: Vadim Taranov/VTar Amps

$$$ but all-in-one: Mercuriall ReAxis.

 

[Legion]

Line 6 Metallurgy Modern, STL Josh Middleton and Fortin Nameless are my three most used.
They're very very good. I also have Archetype Nolly, and between those 4 I dont really need much else.

 

[mpexus]

Plini is what I go to 90% of the time.

 

[JimboLodisC]

NeuralDSP (multiple), Otto Audio's II II II II amp sim, PolychromeDSP's McRocklin suite, and NAM for captures

 

[gunch]

NDSP Nameless or Omega. Since Nameless is NDSPs bread and butter I think it will be supported for a long time.

NAM (same caveats as the other poster, takes some time to learn which captures to get)

VTar plug-ins are awesome and cheap too

 

[youngthrasher9]

For an insane number of options, as more of a direct competitor to Helix Native, Overloud TH-U is pretty awesome. IIRC there is a lot of pay to play involved, but the basic suite is extensive.

For a cheap fix, Tonelib GFX is loads of fun for me. There’s a ton of stuff to choose from, some of it better than others. I especially liked the bogner ecstasy model with a boost or two out front.

 

[omynel]

I recently tried Mixwave's Spiritbox Mike Stringer and it's as good as the Neural DSP plugins. Out of the NDSP stuff, I like Fortin Cali, Archetype Gojira, Nameless, and Granophyre.

Mixwave's stuff sounds great but it makes NDSP look cheap. I've heard good things about their clean suites like the Benson and Milkman.

I use NDSP, specifically Nolly, Plini, Rabea, Nameless and Soldano. York IRs are good or if you're looking for something more mix-ready Bogren Digital's IRs are good.