Amp sims and modelers

Kingofpain678

Returned from the dead
A few days ago i saw that mesa boogie released a rectifier badlander that looked and sounded pretty freakin sweet. you could even plug the speaker output straight into an audio interface and record using mesa's cab clone or any of your own impulses that you already have. Now i understand that a 2300 dollar mesa amp head is gonna sound pretty good because all it has to do is get you a rectifier sound and nothing else unlike some other amps that try to emulate 30 different sounds but unfortunately i dont have thousands of dollars burning a hole in my pocket.
its been several years since i've actively recorded stuff and i've noticed that amp sims and modelers have come quite a ways since the days of line 6 pods and behringer v-amps. I actually had a rack mount v amp at one point :facepalm:
im curious as to what the favorites of today are, i'm not looking for an axe fx or kemper or anything but i've been thinking about possibly a 1x12 boss katana or something similar, maybe even just graduating from the lepou amp sims i've been using to a better plug-in... I'm not really sure what direction to go in.
just as an idea of the kind of sounds i'm looking for, i think my favorite guitar tone ever would be chevelle's this type of thinking (could do us in) album but really just any kind of mesa rectifier ballpark sound would be alright with me.
What have some of your experiences been with newer technologies?
 
Well i guess i'll be the first to jump in the pool, but i think it will fill up fast! I am a Chevelle listener also and have had good luck getting the kinds of guitar tones using practice amps with the mids scooped and recording with a ribbon mic ~ 12-15 from the cone, with both the amp and the mic covered with a packing blanket to reduce room reflections. This is amp on a chair on a carpeted floor.

I have been seriously considering a Katana myself. The tones possible are very close to many popular today, and i tend to lean towards mic'ing amps rather than using sims.

That said, i still buy sims when they aren't too pricey and am always willing to try new ones. The latest thing i got was a standalone program called Gig Performer Unlocked (Deskew Gig Performer 3 UNLOCKED - Plugin Alliance) so that i can test/play sims without firing up the DAW. I waited til it was on sale, so if you are interested get on their mailing list. Black Friday will probably see a lot of sales prices.

So which sims? I am going to have to disappoint, because IMHO you just have to try them and find what you like, For me, i can "feel" the difference between a sim and an amp, so even if i have to DI and re-amp for some reason(noise usually), i prefer to just monitor the dry signal input when recording rather than through a sim.

The most realistic sims are the most expensive, however , IME you can get as good a sound with a bit of tweaking of sim, eq and IR selection.

Final thought: most sims can be demo'd for free and i recommend taking advantage of that. There are many "good" free sims that can be used for testing also.
 
I guess I shouldn't have asked for any kind of amp or sim recommendation, more just user experiences with whats currently available.
I'm in an awkward position where i don't have an amp and getting an amp and micing it up would be a very difficult experience for me at this point in time but my instinct tells me that a mic'ed up amp would sound better than an amp sim. whether thats right or wrong i have no idea. the reason i mentioned the katana is I saw a youtuber named ola englund doing a demo of a 50 watt combo and it actually sounded pretty good but who knows what kind of post processing was going on. furthermore he's not shoving a combo amp in a closet with a mic in front of it like i would be doing so :confused:
just trying to figure out how bedroom home recorders are getting decent toanz i guess
 
I posted a thread a few weeks back about the Joyo American Sound pedal. It's fantastic and is supposed to emulate a range of Fender amps and from what I can gather they do a good job.

The 'Joyo' part is now actually Harley Benton, and there are other pedals in the series, including the California Sound which I believe may suit the sound you're looking for.

Not sure how they compare to more pricey devices, but fir a modest home recording set up like mine they are perfect, especially for the price!
 
I posted a thread a few weeks back about the Joyo American Sound pedal. It's fantastic and is supposed to emulate a range of Fender amps and from what I can gather they do a good job.

The 'Joyo' part is now actually Harley Benton, and there are other pedals in the series, including the California Sound which I believe may suit the sound you're looking for.

Not sure how they compare to more pricey devices, but fir a modest home recording set up like mine they are perfect, especially for the price!

Oh! i've seen their tiny amps that are supposed to emulate other popular amps, i've been eye balling their mesa boogie clone for quite a while. They seemed halfway decent for the price I just don't know if i can convince my self to pull the trigger on the tiny head and like a 1x12 cab or something
 
TH-U has some very nice stuff, especially the add-on packs. If you can score some extra cab IR's that's where it gets really juicy. I also like to use a VHT hardware preamp unit with a cab IR on some projects and it's awesome!
 
TH-U has some very nice stuff, especially the add-on packs. If you can score some extra cab IR's that's where it gets really juicy. I also like to use a VHT hardware preamp unit with a cab IR on some projects and it's awesome!

see something i've wondered about is, is there much difference between doing something like you're doing with a hardware pre into an IR and just doing it all in the box?
I'd like to think there is a difference, maybe someone on youtube has done a shootout or something
 
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