Amp Sims

[bemaha]

I've been playing around with all kinds of amp sims for months now trying to get a good tone. Its been real challenging (but fun), particularly since I wanted to see if it was possible to get a Sunn O)), Monarch, type of tone - like not too squashed with distortion, but with a sense of loudness and shaking-floor type bass. I know this requires LOUDNESS in a real room with feedback, but I was up to the challenge and determined:) I tried Bias FX2, Bias Amp 2, the Neural stuff, Schuffham, etc. I was avoiding Amplitube just because it seemed outdated at this point - some of their amps have been around since 2014 or something like that. No matter what I tried, I just couldn't get there - everything sounded unreal and digital and thin. Then one day, on a whim, I re-tried the Amplitube Orange pack (particularly the Thunderverb model) and after some tweaking I was able to get close to what I wanted. I played around with the Thunderverb combined with some Dr. Bonkers and Ownhammer IRs, and finally settled on the Ownhammer Orange and Emperor cabs (with the "REAR" IR for one of the cabs in a dual cab set up). The sound I'm getting now is amazing for an amp sim. With some delay and reverb I'm able to make it sound like a very loud amp played in an actual room, with not too much bass overwhelming the smooth distortion on top. Also sounds good playing through a real RAT pedal into the modeled Thunderverb - this gets me into drone territory. Now I just need to figure out a way to get some feedback going;)

Sorry, I just needed to get that out there. My wife is not a good audience for this crap:)

Anyone else play around with amp sims? Would love to hear some thoughts on how to achieve a sound like this.

[coldbrightsunlight]

That sounds very cool. Got any clips?

I have got satisfactory loud amp/feedbacky sounds from elements/ fuzz pedals into the torpedo wall of sound plugin. But I've only been doing it for demos so I haven't delved too deep into making it "just right". Got some really cool and (I think) convincing results though I think with a bit of reverb and playing around with various settings

[Olin]

I really like Scuffham for when I can't use my amp. The built-in IR's and myriad cab options are great, and I like that it doesn't try to do a million things by offering a ton of effects, it just does amps and that's it, and does it really well IMO. Only silent way to get feedback would be a Digitech Freqout, but you could blast everything out your monitors and hold your guitar close the same as you would a guitar cab. I've heard great things about Torpedo stuff and do want to try it though, didn't Audient make an interface with Torpedo stuff built in?

[bemaha]

Yes, its called the Audient Sono - I was looking into it. Looks pretty cool, especially since my 2i2 is starting to conk out. It comes with Torpedo, which I tried a trial version of awhile ago - I didn't really like it, but maybe I wasn't using it correctly. I've heard people rave about it.

I've got a Life Pedal V2.0 headed my way. Also just picked up a Nembrini MRH810, which to my ears is the best sim I ever heard. I paired it with a Heavy Pedal from Audiority, which gets you into some heavy drone territory for sure.

[coldbrightsunlight]

I'm a big fan of Torpedo and use it on everything all the time, but I've not tried many competitor plugins so maybe there's better out there.

I was trying to do a super high gain doom thing with it yesterday actually. Sounds absolutely perfect when I'm playing but I just can't get the sustain of a real amp turned up loud.

[ibarakishi]

I really like Scuffham for when I can't use my amp. The built-in IR's and myriad cab options are great, and I like that it doesn't try to do a million things by offering a ton of effects, it just does amps and that's it, and does it really well IMO. Only silent way to get feedback would be a Digitech Freqout, but you could blast everything out your monitors and hold your guitar close the same as you would a guitar cab. I've heard great things about Torpedo stuff and do want to try it though, didn't Audient make an interface with Torpedo stuff built in?

olin recommended scuffham stuff after i had a huge problem with amplitube and the company as a whole. it works well and is pretty intuitive (scuffham). if you have any real world experience with amps that do what you want the modeller to do in your DAW, it works even faster. long story short, i refuse to buy or use anything by amplitube moving forward for my own recordings due to how terrible their customer service is and how poorly they treated me.

that being said, the orange and ampeg amp packs in amplitube are my favorites. fender one is okay too. i just can't recommend them after what i had to go through with customer service. the rockerverb and thunderverb or however they are spelled pretty much do exactly what you want minus any real sounding feedback.

i also hate amplitubes 'bundle' system and trying to steal as much money as possible from customers with updates and extensions, etc. they are pretty much bottom of the barrel parasites in my book at this point 5555

[sleep_debt]

finally settled on the Ownhammer Orange and Emperor cabs (with the "REAR" IR for one of the cabs in a dual cab set up).

ownhammer has an emperor sim? i cant find it on their website.
i use biasfx2 w/ various sims ive collected but have been checking out ownhammer's stuff recently, specifically for bass. once bias added an ir loader, it completely changed everything for me, though - very happy with it.