delirium trigge
New member
This is for the newer version of Amplitube. I was not impressed when I first got amplitube 3. But the amplitube 3 of today is not the one I bought when it first came out. Many updates and upgrades have happened since then.
They have set up a situation in which it's almost impossible to beat them in the plug in world. For example, I have tried peavey revalver, the 5150 on amplitude sounds better, the 5150 sounds better on amplitube than it does on guitar rig 5 pro as well.
For the regular price you get a ton of amps that are extremely useable and amazing cab impulses. I've even heard people say they are the best cab impulses in the business right now and some guys that record with Axe Fx, Pod Hd 500's, will turn the cab off of their pre amp and use the amplitube cab in the recording program.
I've kept up with it over the years, and every time another company does something, they put out an update that makes their model better than the other company. Not only that, they have a partnership deal with every major amp company in the world. Meaning, if you want an Orange amp, it won't be a model of an Orange amp with a generic name. It will be a model that says ORANGE on it. Same with soladono, Fender, Marshall.
On top of that, there are all these cabs. For example, the Orange 4x12 with v30's, sounds like a real orange 4x12 with v30's. And since it has the orange name and logo and it looks like it, you don't have to guess "What is this cab based off of.
Now, because they have monopolized the system, no matter if another program comes out with more amp models to start, amplitube is adding amp models every single day as well as cabs and mic's. And they aren't generic sounding. You can't tell the difference between a 5150 recorded from there and a real 5150.
I thought to myself earlier today, "Well, you can't tell the difference in the recording, if you can it's very subtle. but I wonder about live?" I plugged out of my sound card into a mesa fifty/fifty tube power amp into a mesa cab ( a real one ) and I was amazed. It sounded way better than the 1101 I'm using. The only difference is I'd have to lug my macbook around. If they could put it in a box that'd be better, which is kinda like the axe fx. The axe fx are just plug ins, but the box is it's own rack mount computer with plug ins installed instead of your personal computer doing the computing power.
I used to use the HD500 for practice and quick recording. Now the HD 500 is the best midi controller I've ever seen for amplitube. And I have more than one midi controlled so I can compare it. Very easy to set up. I can have as many patchs as I want. As many effects to turn on and off as I want and the wah on the line 6 HD 500 operates the Wah on amplitude perfectly.
There are a lot of cabs, like the mesa cab that sounds good. But if you play metal for example you could literally just have that orange cab impulse that's in amplitube and run any heavy amp through it and it will sound good instantly. I do use different mics for different amps but I mostly go for that same cab.
This whole time I've had this program and didn't think the lead amps sounded as good as the hd500 or 1101 but i've always thought the clean amps with a strat did. So i would switch while recording a song. What I failed to see, was I didn't have the right amps that gave me the sound I'm going for. Now it kills the hd500. The Hd500 has two useable modern presets that I'd use for my style (not counting marshall I like the more modern Engl tone)
Amplitube has the orange, the Engle, the triple rec, the 5150, the randall warhead (which I use more than anything else) Some of these amps I didn't have until I bought the iRig HD which unlocked amplitube metal and put it into my regular amplitube. Amplitube metal is 99 bucks, the irig hd is 99 bucks so it pays for it's self.
I have stopped using my saffire pro 40 firewire interface if I just want to record guitar. because the pre amp in the I rig is so good for guitar. And it's easy to just plug it into a usb port in my macbook and unplug it. And then it comes with connectors to plug it to the ipad or iphone.
That's another example that proves my point. The original iRig sucked. But it was all we had. But we wasn't going to plug that into the computer, maybe an ipad for writing riffs. Another company, apogee comes out with one thats like the iRig instead way better, so IK mulimedia turns around and makes one EVEN BETTER than apogee made.
They do the same with the amps. If their Engl powerball is ever out matched by another program similar to it, in the next update, the powerball will then exceed the competition again. I'm glad they have all this competition. It forces IK multimedia to have no choice but to make everything they do better.
In some of the other programs I could select different mic's for example, and there was only a subtle difference so I'd end up just using whatever mic it gave me. EXACTLY like the pod hd 500. The mics aren't like the ones. But with amplitube, the mics sound like the real thing so it changes the sound. I know this, because I own the real thing. I own a 906, and they have a 609 on there which is the same mic pretty much. And it does exactly what my real one does. So does the sm57 and when you move it around the cone, it has the same effect as in physical reality.
Since this last update came out, they've outdone themselves. I can't believe it. I figured it'd be a good 7 years or so until we seen these kinda cabs and amps that actually sound like what you're expecting them. Plug a strat into a fender twin with a subwoofer and two studio monitors, you'll see what I mean. Your only reaction will be wow I can't believe that.
And if you want to do it live, which I wouldn't, I'd use an axe fx or a box of it's own, although if amplitube comes out with a box I will use it live., but if you do make sure you run through a tube power amp like the mesa fifty/fifty. If you run through a solid state one, or just run direct, it's not going to have the power and feel of the real amp sim.
And then since you're using a real cabinet at that point, you can turn the cab sim off in amplitube or leave it on. I leave it on, because for some reason the orange cab going through my real mesa cab sounds really good instead of turning the cab sim off.
That was long winded, but here is my last piece of advice because at first I didn't realize how great it was because of this step. GUITAR PRE AMP. If you want to hear what those amp sims really sound like, you need one. The irig hd has a pre amp built in and you'll see the gain knob on the side of it.
You can use it without a guitar pre amp, but what you will do, is turn the gain up almost all the way on a 5150 sim and still feel like you need an OD to push it into saturation. If you use a pre amp and set it right under clipping, you now turn the distortion on the same 5150 from 9 to 4 or 5 and get the same result.
If you'd rather use your interface and not get an irig (which again, it does unlock amplitube metal if you play metal so it pays for it's self.) You can use your interface. BUT make sure it's an instrument line in, NOT a line in. They are two different things. The guitar will fit into either of them but it won't actually pre amp gain it unless you put it in an instrument input.
Then you will hear a signal. If you have the distortion up, like in real life, good to pick out an amp youve used in real life or find the settings online of someone you like, and while having it up it still sounds like its not enough or theres no saturation. Thats the secret. What pre amp are you using. Even if it's on an interface.
They have set up a situation in which it's almost impossible to beat them in the plug in world. For example, I have tried peavey revalver, the 5150 on amplitude sounds better, the 5150 sounds better on amplitube than it does on guitar rig 5 pro as well.
For the regular price you get a ton of amps that are extremely useable and amazing cab impulses. I've even heard people say they are the best cab impulses in the business right now and some guys that record with Axe Fx, Pod Hd 500's, will turn the cab off of their pre amp and use the amplitube cab in the recording program.
I've kept up with it over the years, and every time another company does something, they put out an update that makes their model better than the other company. Not only that, they have a partnership deal with every major amp company in the world. Meaning, if you want an Orange amp, it won't be a model of an Orange amp with a generic name. It will be a model that says ORANGE on it. Same with soladono, Fender, Marshall.
On top of that, there are all these cabs. For example, the Orange 4x12 with v30's, sounds like a real orange 4x12 with v30's. And since it has the orange name and logo and it looks like it, you don't have to guess "What is this cab based off of.
Now, because they have monopolized the system, no matter if another program comes out with more amp models to start, amplitube is adding amp models every single day as well as cabs and mic's. And they aren't generic sounding. You can't tell the difference between a 5150 recorded from there and a real 5150.
I thought to myself earlier today, "Well, you can't tell the difference in the recording, if you can it's very subtle. but I wonder about live?" I plugged out of my sound card into a mesa fifty/fifty tube power amp into a mesa cab ( a real one ) and I was amazed. It sounded way better than the 1101 I'm using. The only difference is I'd have to lug my macbook around. If they could put it in a box that'd be better, which is kinda like the axe fx. The axe fx are just plug ins, but the box is it's own rack mount computer with plug ins installed instead of your personal computer doing the computing power.
I used to use the HD500 for practice and quick recording. Now the HD 500 is the best midi controller I've ever seen for amplitube. And I have more than one midi controlled so I can compare it. Very easy to set up. I can have as many patchs as I want. As many effects to turn on and off as I want and the wah on the line 6 HD 500 operates the Wah on amplitude perfectly.
There are a lot of cabs, like the mesa cab that sounds good. But if you play metal for example you could literally just have that orange cab impulse that's in amplitube and run any heavy amp through it and it will sound good instantly. I do use different mics for different amps but I mostly go for that same cab.
This whole time I've had this program and didn't think the lead amps sounded as good as the hd500 or 1101 but i've always thought the clean amps with a strat did. So i would switch while recording a song. What I failed to see, was I didn't have the right amps that gave me the sound I'm going for. Now it kills the hd500. The Hd500 has two useable modern presets that I'd use for my style (not counting marshall I like the more modern Engl tone)
Amplitube has the orange, the Engle, the triple rec, the 5150, the randall warhead (which I use more than anything else) Some of these amps I didn't have until I bought the iRig HD which unlocked amplitube metal and put it into my regular amplitube. Amplitube metal is 99 bucks, the irig hd is 99 bucks so it pays for it's self.
I have stopped using my saffire pro 40 firewire interface if I just want to record guitar. because the pre amp in the I rig is so good for guitar. And it's easy to just plug it into a usb port in my macbook and unplug it. And then it comes with connectors to plug it to the ipad or iphone.
That's another example that proves my point. The original iRig sucked. But it was all we had. But we wasn't going to plug that into the computer, maybe an ipad for writing riffs. Another company, apogee comes out with one thats like the iRig instead way better, so IK mulimedia turns around and makes one EVEN BETTER than apogee made.
They do the same with the amps. If their Engl powerball is ever out matched by another program similar to it, in the next update, the powerball will then exceed the competition again. I'm glad they have all this competition. It forces IK multimedia to have no choice but to make everything they do better.
In some of the other programs I could select different mic's for example, and there was only a subtle difference so I'd end up just using whatever mic it gave me. EXACTLY like the pod hd 500. The mics aren't like the ones. But with amplitube, the mics sound like the real thing so it changes the sound. I know this, because I own the real thing. I own a 906, and they have a 609 on there which is the same mic pretty much. And it does exactly what my real one does. So does the sm57 and when you move it around the cone, it has the same effect as in physical reality.
Since this last update came out, they've outdone themselves. I can't believe it. I figured it'd be a good 7 years or so until we seen these kinda cabs and amps that actually sound like what you're expecting them. Plug a strat into a fender twin with a subwoofer and two studio monitors, you'll see what I mean. Your only reaction will be wow I can't believe that.
And if you want to do it live, which I wouldn't, I'd use an axe fx or a box of it's own, although if amplitube comes out with a box I will use it live., but if you do make sure you run through a tube power amp like the mesa fifty/fifty. If you run through a solid state one, or just run direct, it's not going to have the power and feel of the real amp sim.
And then since you're using a real cabinet at that point, you can turn the cab sim off in amplitube or leave it on. I leave it on, because for some reason the orange cab going through my real mesa cab sounds really good instead of turning the cab sim off.
That was long winded, but here is my last piece of advice because at first I didn't realize how great it was because of this step. GUITAR PRE AMP. If you want to hear what those amp sims really sound like, you need one. The irig hd has a pre amp built in and you'll see the gain knob on the side of it.
You can use it without a guitar pre amp, but what you will do, is turn the gain up almost all the way on a 5150 sim and still feel like you need an OD to push it into saturation. If you use a pre amp and set it right under clipping, you now turn the distortion on the same 5150 from 9 to 4 or 5 and get the same result.
If you'd rather use your interface and not get an irig (which again, it does unlock amplitube metal if you play metal so it pays for it's self.) You can use your interface. BUT make sure it's an instrument line in, NOT a line in. They are two different things. The guitar will fit into either of them but it won't actually pre amp gain it unless you put it in an instrument input.
Then you will hear a signal. If you have the distortion up, like in real life, good to pick out an amp youve used in real life or find the settings online of someone you like, and while having it up it still sounds like its not enough or theres no saturation. Thats the secret. What pre amp are you using. Even if it's on an interface.
