Guitar Amp Sims

Who out there is into guitar amp sims? I've tried most of them at least once over the years.

I never loved any of the one trick free ones unfortunately.

I still have some version of Overloud TH3 that is okay. I haven't yet tried TH-U but I've read some good things.

The first computer-based amp sim I really liked was Positive Grid Bias Amp. I have that and Bias FX, but I own Bias Amp 2 and Bias FX 2 now and those are my primary guitar rigs these days (plus a few pedals I built in front of them).

I've also owned a lot of the hardware sims like the Pod HD Desktop, Helix, Boss GT-5, Axe FX 2, and Kemper. Of those, the Kemper felt the best and Axe FX probably sounded the best. I never really got along with the Helix tonally despite it being the sexiest to use. The Pod HD Desktop lasted the longest (several years) mostly because it wasn't worth a ton to sell.

 

I ran through a ton of amp sims as well and they all seemed to fall short in one way or another. I haven't really played in years but I have a EVH 5150 III, the matching 2x12 cab and a Krank 1x12 cab. It gets the job done and is a joy to play but recording in a tile office doesn't give the best results, at least at volumes I dare to play at.

My buddy has a TON of amps and cabs and also had the Axe FX 2 adn now the Kemper. He loves the Kemper and is planning on profiling each of his amps/cabs and then selling most, if not all. I'll probably bring by my stack and profile it as well. If it turns out to be as good as I hope I'll consider a Kemper as well just for ease of recording and not making a ton of noise.

I really need to get back to playing...

 

I'll likely pick up a Kemper again eventually. Not only does it feel the best to play, it's also the easiest to make quick amp-like adjustments without getting lost in the weeds tweaking.

I like that Kemper has worked very hard not to release hardware that replaces the original unit. Fractal releases a New Way Better Unit Yours Is Now Deprecated every couple of years. $2000+ and they slowly stop supporting your purchase. Kemper takes the other approach and just keeps giving people more for their money over time.

Anyway...

Positive Grid. I've had Bias Amp 2 since it came out. You can get some good sound out of it and the interface is slick. I grabbed Bias FX 2 Elite to pair with it during their sale (which might still be going on) and I'm super impressed.

I have a couple of multi-amp setups decently dialed in for classic rock and 90s alternative tones. AC/DC and Green Day or Stone Temple Pilots type stuff.

And I'm using a Stratocaster.

One of the coolest features of Bias FX 2 is the guitar match. You profile your guitar and vaguely match it to a suite of guitars. Swap the Strat to sound more like a Les Paul or something else with humbuckers and you get fairly convincing tone without switching guitars.

 

I've been having fun with Bias FX 2. Really solid piece of software. I'm curious what @Psalmanazar uses. A lot of metalheads use this if they're willing to pay money for a plugin.

I popped together a little Everlong thing today for kicks to see what tones I could get with my dead stock '97 Sheraton. I'm going to be modding the crap out of this guitar soon (after I get my Stratocaster back from the luthier for some fret work).

You can hear several spots where I just dropped to DI or isolated the Bias FX 2 guitar tone.

http://www.basshead.club/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/luckbad-everlong-biasfx2.mp3



Oh right, and a different chain of course for the couple of clean parts:

 

Nice try there homie but I can tell you just took Dave Grohl’s voice out of the mix

 

I didn't do the entire thing! I stole a karaoke version and plopped some tracks down in 1 pass per track to show you what the software does.

Later tonight I might find an AC/DC karaoke track and see if I can get a reasonably good Malcolm Young tone (since my guitar is a semi-hollow... and I only know his parts because I stopped trying to remember solos years ago).

 

@Luckbad simulanalog is still a good, free jcm 900 beeswarm

 

A little Back in Black. I only isolated the DI and Bias FX 2 tone near the beginning because I didn't feel like doing any work. My guitar is only in the left speaker in honor of Malcolm (and because I was only playing his part).

http://www.basshead.club/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/luckbad-backinblack-biasfx2.mp3



Same amps and largely the same chain as the Foo Fighters thing. Mostly because I know how to tinker with those amps now.