Your Opinion On Amp Sims

What's your opinion?

  • I use amp sims all the time, whether its serious or not

    Votes: 39 54.9%

  • Amp sims sound really fake, gotta mic a real amp

    Votes: 13 18.3%

  • I use amp sims just for fun or messing around, but not for anything serious

    Votes: 14 19.7%

  • I use V-amp/Pocket POD kinda things

    Votes: 5 7.0%
  • Total voters
    71
240v

240v

Super Perfectionist
Hello,

I'm wondering what everyone does to get their sounds into a PC. Please check out the poll. Thanks very much
 
You're gonna get a bunch of people telling you that they hate amp sims because they all sound fake. The truth is they probably don't know how to use them and/or have never heard them used by someone that knows how to use them.

Some sims suck, some are great. Great ones in the right hands will fool anyone.

Having said that, I think real amps are still better.
 
Get the right ones, learn how to use them, re-amp into a good cab to mic, or find some great cab impulses to keep it all in software. Nobody will know the difference if done right. I use them for guitar all the time, as I don't have my own guitar amp. Primarily a bassist, so all my money went into my bass amp right away. =P I'd say if you can afford it, get a good amp though. I feel like I play a lot differently through an amp compared to plugging direct. I feel more like I'm performing it, than just getting some sound into the computer.
 
somegeezer said:
Get the right ones, learn how to use them, re-amp into a good cab to mic, or find some great cab impulses to keep it all in software. Nobody will know the difference if done right. I use them for guitar all the time, as I don't have my own guitar amp. Primarily a bassist, so all my money went into my bass amp right away. =P I'd say if you can afford it, get a good amp though. I feel like I play a lot differently through an amp compared to plugging direct. I feel more like I'm performing it, than just getting some sound into the computer.
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Do you know of any good amp sims? Right now I only have a version of Guitar Rig that comes bundled with Komplete Elements. :\
 
They can both sound good in all honesty. In fact they end up on professional records probably more than we would care to admit.

My issue with them is they always seem to take a lot more tweaking to get them to sound good then throwing a mic in front of an amp.

So I guess I will say, it's a total laziness thing for me. lol
 
240v said:
Do you know of any good amp sims? Right now I only have a version of Guitar Rig that comes bundled with Komplete Elements. :\
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Guitar Rig aint so bad. I know loads of people who use that. Myself, I like to use NRR-1 or Le456 into KeFIR with a cab impulse. All of them are free, so have a play with them. LePou, who makes the Le456 and KeFIR have some other amp sims too, and another impulse loader called LeCab, which is also really good. and Ignite Amps have another amp sim called the Anvil, but I've not really used it. They have a TS-999, which is a great overdrive pedal sim though. But yes, NRR-1 or Le456 for me with a cab impulse. They sound awesome for the music I do.
 
I still prefer real amps.

But sometimes it's way easier and quieter to do a sim.

I use amplitube free because...it's free. you can get a few decent amps with the free version and buy a few of the nicer onces. For me it was a great option because it has an orange rockerverb 50 and fender twin...my two main recording amps and I was able to get them for a grand total of $40.
 
For guitar I would prefer a real amp but I usually use an amp sim for personal and some other recording just to have some fun and exotic choices. A lot depends on the player and their openness to using a sim and the availability of a preferred amp. One rock player I work with has a ball going thru the sims on the AdrenaLinn III and creating sounds.
 
I'd feel bad doing anything more than a demo with an amp sim. However, despite his logo, I agree with aaroncoleman that amplitube sounds great - especially their clean fender tones.
 
I'm not big on software sims, less because I don't think they're any good (I've heard excellent recordings done with them), but because they justdon't really work for me. I could probably find a way to plug in direct and monitor through the sim, but a mic on a real amp is just much easier to get a good, inspiring tone for your performance. I've tried running a DI from my amp into my interface and using cab impulses, and the results sounded great, but again, the sound while tracking was absolute crap, and I just play better when I like what I'm hearing.

Also, the ability to swap amp ad cab impulses and tweak knobs on a recorded I sounds cool, but I've found that I work better when I DON'T leave myself enough rope to hang myself - otherwise I'll be tweaking forever and will never get anything done.

Hardware? We're not QUITE there yet, but some of the cleans on the AxeFX II I played with we're damned good, running through a solid state power amp and my Recto 2x12. I'd have never known it wasn't a real amp, and a rather nice one at that. Direct I was less impressed, but still, technology rules.
 
You could have added one more choice to the poll.

"I prefer using an amp and mic."

That would be my choice...but your only had the "Amp sims sound really fake..." pro-amp option.

It's not so much about them sounding "fake"...there are some sims that sound like the real thing, but like Drew said...sims just don't work for me, and I have enough amps to pick from, that if I can't find a decent tone with my amps...I should just give up playing. ;)
 
It's been said a few times already, but it depends on who is using the sim and for what.

For me, I live in a condo surrounded by old people. to record my my music with loud powerful guitars an amp sim works great. I get that punk rock crunch with out disturbing my neighbors watching re-runs of Jag.

Depending on the amp sim and what it offers anything is possible and it is very possible to fool even the most experienced ears.

I agree with Drew that the tweaking is never ending though.
 
I agree, volume is a problem for me and a good modeler provides a lot in the way of options.
That said, it isn't as easy as I thought it would be, frankly an amp and a mic now seem like
the easiest way to great recorded tones.
 
I agree that for silent running....you can't beat sim options.
I've done that in the past, though with an analog sim box (SansAmp)...but I'm lucky that these days I can dime an amp at 3:00AM....
....and no cops ever come to my door. :D
 
I use the amp sims on my Digitech RP300. I'm usually pretty happy with the results, and besides almost all my mics are crap. The one good mic I have is meant more for vocals, though I've tried recording my amp with it, and it wasn't the worst thing in the world but I do prefer my sim at this point.
 
I've played around with them a few times, I don't own any amp sims myself. They're cool to mess around with, but they're just not for me.
 
grimtraveller said:
Are non PC users exempt or not allowed to answer ?They will take whatever desperate measures necessary.
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I assume they ask, because they use a PC themselves.
but you're asking as a Mac or Linux user, you are still using a PC, just not a Windows PC. =P
Amp sims and the like aren't something you'd get with the old timey analogue gear. But I'm sure getting mic'd up and using effects hardware would still be much the same on it.
 
I like to use both real amps and amp sims. I have a Line 6 Pod V2.0 & a Zoom G3 which both sound great for praticing, recording or just noodling around on. You still can't beat a "real" valve amp though - using sims and the like does help preserve tube life though!
 
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