Looking for a good guitar preamp/VST for computer use

[ChetMagongalo]

Sup y'all, been a minute. I'm looking for something like a guitar preamp to use with monitor speakers/headphone jams and recording in my bedroom. I'm open minded to something physical or software based. I have heard good things about the Line6 POD HD500 and from watching YouTube demos the Peavey Rockmaster Preamp sounds good. I'm to down to spend ~$200-500 and use Ableton as a DAW.

Thanks!

[3205]

I've been ampless for about a year now. My 'amp' is Accountant>CabDryVR. The Accountant gives the tubey preamp grit and compression, while also limiting for the Cab which has headroom issues. This setup sounds really nice running stereo straight into my mixer.

[ChetMagongalo]

that CabDryVR sounds good! thanks for the tip

[ChetMagongalo]

Bump, anyone else have any input?

[actual]

VST emulations of preamps are a plenty, but maybe check out Arturias offerings, something like the Waves Omni Channel or Plugin Alliances SSL emulations or whatever flavour you'd like. The latter two will give you a handful of toneshaping tools other than like input gain as well.

[popvulture]

I've always liked Apogee's stuff. I've had both versions of the Ensemble and have been more than happy with the sound. That said, I've wanted a smaller one for more remote/laptop type stuff and have considered the One. Maybe something you could check out? Can vouch for the converter quality, but not sure about connection via USB—maybe someone else can chime in.

I've been nothing but happy with Logic's amp emulations—they do the job and you can always re-amp the recorded signal. The only other I've used is Guitar Rig and I personally thought it fucking sucked.

[starmansam]

I get it if this sounds dumb, but I use a Verellen skyhammer preamp into a room reverb into an ADA cab sim. It gives me the feel of a big amp at headphone/ pc monitor volumes, and since I play without an amp 90% of the time these days, its pretty important that it feels good in addition to sounding good.

I've tried this set up with a bunch of different preamp pedals and it works really well. The downside is that its reliant on a bunch of dumb hardware, but the upshot is you can always run the same set up into a power amp or PA and have consistent tone wherever you go.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

i'm sure i might get some eye rolls for this but i just use a clean boost at the end of my chain and plug it straight into the mixer.

[Ghost Hip]

I've been very happy using the headphone out on my Orange Crush 30R. Has a built in 4x12 cabinet emulation. (I think the 20 watt version has this feature too.) And that's how I record most of my guitar parts in my apartment. Using studio monitors also makes it more manageable volume wise for apartment use.

Bonus is I can take it to a band rehearsal and compete with a drummer and bassist with full sets/rigs no problem.

[gila_crisis]

Check out AMT's preamp, I have since years a SS20 and it became the core every setups I use.

[rfurtkamp]

For cheap, and sounds good (same sound engine as the GT-100 and Katanas)...get a Boss GT-1.

USB out to the laptop if you want, headphone out, cops all sorts of cool things.

I wouldn't be *happy* with it as my only thing in existence, but I also wouldn't be sad. I could make do!

[ChetMagongalo]

I'm borrowing an Eleven Rack and it sounds pretty good!

[sylnau]

Never tried it… but this seems great:
https://www.axeandyoushallreceive.com/p ... pedo-cab-0

[rfurtkamp]

I'm borrowing an Eleven Rack and it sounds pretty good!

They're generally solid monsters. I have one in the rack of death that replaced the very aged V Amp Pro (which did 'boring clean' very well as a signal splitter and EQ point), and signal routing (the ability to assign whatever to the amp outputs versus the XLR (and on a per-output basis) is quite nice, as is the stereo FX loop. Some of the models are very, very good as well and it's certainly usable (especially for the blowout $299 they're going for at Sweetwater at this point)...

[gila_crisis]

I abuse since years an AMT SS20.
The other I've found out about this Mercuriall SS11x, which is a vst plugin version of the AMT SS11A/B preamp!
I gave a shot at the demo version, and compared to the real SS20 it sounds really good!
Worth check it out.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2alz96905M[/youtube]