NEED SUGGESTIONS: RTAS guitar amp plug-in

[mrufino1]

Have you tried the line 6 stuff? I have the guitarport, and plug the outputs into the inputs of my PT interface, seem to be no issues. A real amp still sounds better, but it is good. I've not used the v-amp, but if it is only for demos, why worry about it? They all seem pretty much the same (aside from the one that used to come with Sonar, or still does, don't know) and won't replace a real amp but do a nice job at what they are intended for.

[C Heat]

I'm using SansAmp PSA-1 plug as we speak.

I've been A-B'ing it with some PODXT sounds and IMHO the SansAmp sound better in the mix.

Not great, but better. More than adequate for demo's IMHO.

[AlexLakis]

I use Guitar Rig 2 all the time. Works out great. Always hated Amplitube. Sansamp is good, but not as involved or versatile as Guitar Rig. You could always Pod it too...

If you want as good a tone as possible, why not try micing your amp?

[T_R_S]

Waves GTR Native
McDSP Chrome Tone RTAS.

[wwittman]

I actually think Amplitube is the best of that bunch.

just takes some fiddling and you need to ignore all the names they use.

[bing81]

Or .. get yourself a little Vox digital amp. It has a line out, so I just use it as a send/return plugin.

As always, NOT a real amp, but for the most part, is an advance on any of the Amp Sim. plugins, and has a very useful range from v. clean up/out to overdriven.

B

[Worthing]

Hey guys, I thought I'd share a bit of knowledge

I also own a studio and work with Pro Tools. It has always bothered me to record a guitar directly with FX/distortion only to find out later it sounded like crap. That's why I like using guitar plugins. The problem with these is that they often sound fakey, a bit too harsh.

I've got some techniques to easily achieve a warmer guitar sound:

1. Mic your amplifier closely, use whatever mic setup you like ( I use a Marshall combo) with all the controls in the middle position, without adjusting treble/bass, and with a clean signal (no distortion but perhaps you want a bit of crunch if you have it). Record your guitar this way and then apply whatever guitar plugin you want. The point of this technique is that the air between the amp and the mic will make your guitar sound much truer, and you will be able to change the guitar sound from the plugin as you only record a clean signal. You don't need a loud volume for this.

2. Use an acoustic guitar with line out and record your signal, apply guitar plugin afterwards. The piezo pickup in an acoustic guitar makes for crunchy and distorted stuff, as some bands like Muse have shown (they do it all the time). Make sure to cut a bit on the 250-400 Hz area.

3. Use simply your electric guitar directly into your mixboard, clean signal. Apply guitar plugin. Double this same guitar also with clean signal. Apply plugin to the second guitar, but with a slightly different setting on the plugin. This is probably the worst of the three.

Have fun!
Hugo

[NathanC]

Amplitube 2

[DanGo]

I've used Amplitube, Line 6, and a host of other options and if you're unable or unwilling to just mic a cabinet (still the best option, I think, even though I use a lot of amp emulators in my work), I'd go with Guitar Rig2.

I find it's very intuitive, the presets provide a wide range of useful leaping off points and most importantly, the balance of high-mid grit/bite and low end punch or woof is the best of the bunch. Amplitube sounds warm but too big and marshmallow-y on the low end. Line 6 (even their actual amps) sounds too brittle, harsh and transistor-y.

Guitar Rig 2 tracks generally sit well in my mixes with minimal tweaking/eq-ing/compressing, etc., just like a well-recorded miked cabinet would. The only warning I have is that Guitar Rig offers a large number of emulations involving multiple cabinets panned across the stereo field. These emulations can sound great on their own, but can sometimes wreak a bit of havoc on other stereo elements (like drum overheads), since Guitar Rig appears to play with phase inversion (a bit of a guess here...) or something to achieve a stereo effect from a mono source. I say this because bouncing the stereo Guitar Rig track to a mono track almost always leads to a deterioration of the sound (a thin hollowness), reminiscent of a phase problem.

There are work arounds for this: just use one emulated cab; pan the virtual cabs hard right and left to leave space for other elements, etc. But this is something to be aware of...

All in all, the Guitar Rig sounds most like the amps it emulates to me. And I'm a tone-obsessed guitarist with lots of great equipment (like Vox AC15s, Gibson and Sadowsky guitars, etc).

Good luck!

---Dan

[theoryinmotion]

anotehr vote for GuitarRig 2..... I have used GuitarRig for several years and upgraded to 2 when it came out.

We luv it! No bad reviews for it here!

[max cooper]

Originally Posted by AlexLakis

I use Guitar Rig 2 all the time. Works out great. Always hated Amplitube. Sansamp is good, but not as involved or versatile as Guitar Rig. You could always Pod it too...

If you want as good a tone as possible, why not try micing your amp?

It's so personal. I can get convincing tones from Amplitube but not from Guitar Rig 2.

You gotta try them. Amp Farm is the best but TDM only.

amp sims are good for all kinds of things; keys, vocals, drums, etc.

Also, for sketching songs, they're great.

[hgen]

The Pod is atually fantastic, any version they're all good!

[jsvalmont]

Amplitube has gotten a bit of a bad rap from people who used v1 and didn't like it (and who can really blame them)... but with v2 things have improved dramatically, it seems like it was re-designed from the ground up. I seem to be able to get better heavy sounds from Guitar Rig, and better everything else from Amplitube. I use SansAmp pretty much only for effects like distorted vocals or drums, but its great for that. And I have ChromeTone LE too, but havent really used it much yet, so I can't say much either way about it.

[axissport]

Try Waves GTR 2.0
From Clean to Overdrive it's pretty good.The more heavy distortion sounds feel to compressed.

[nickalagna]

this is helpful thread , I have question about stereo, if I open say amplitube on a stereo audio track in PT10 I only get one side outputting, that because....? signal is only mono? whatis the point of a stereo version of something like amplitube? is my signal mono beause my patch does not do stereo simulation sound thing? im clearly a newbie go easy o e I seek knowledge

[Raoul23]

I would recommend Line 6 pod farm I've been using this since it came out and love it. Just make sure you EQ out all the fizz at around 8khz and take your time adjusting the sounds ;-)

[Joe Porto]

For quick demos or tweaking non guitar stuff, I just use Eleven. There's a free version included in PT10.

[CassidyGT]

Digitech RP100 direct. I used to do this years ago and it can sound good.