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What do you use for Guitar Amps in your DAW?

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I use Logic Pro X and have been quite happily using its build-in "Amp Designer" plug-in for a while now for recording electric guitars. But recently I fired up my (real) Princeton Reverb Reissue again, and it dawned on me that the Logic Pro X amps are not quite at maximo-inspirational levels for me :-)

I then read about IRs and as a result downloaded some free ones from Redwirez. I quite liked some of these used as cabs for Amp Designed amps - they seemed better than Amp Designer's own cabs. But I was still a bit disappointed when I set my results against the real Princeton.

I know I'm probably unlikely to get anything as good as the real thing, but I'm intrigued enough by the Redwirez experience to think that maybe I can do better than Amp Designer. So, does anyone have any recommendations for alternative amp plug-ins (ideally not too expensive)??

Or even tips for getting better sounds from Amp Designer? I mainly use clean sounds with sometimes a little bit of hair; I like both classic Marshall and Fender cleans. I (try to) do jazz as well as rock/pop.

Thanks for any thoughts you can share...
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Comments

  • KeikoKeiko Frets: 962
    edited February 2021
    Try this for your Marshall sounds:


    I run it on the clean JTM45 setting and then add a bit of overdrive and reverb from the other Kuassa effects pedals.  It's basically free, but has some white noise every few seconds unless you buy it. Give it a try.

    I like how you can edit the cab settings and mic positions without going onto a different screen.
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  • FezFez Frets: 499
    Amplitube is what I use recently bought v5 
    Don't touch that dial.
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  • Im a bit of an amp sim whore....I regularly use the following:

    Amplitube 5
    Brainworx VH4
    STL tonality
    Helix Native

    Also have a bunch of thers that I dont use so much..or ever in the case of bias fx
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • siremoonsiremoon Frets: 1524
    Helix Native
    “He is like a man with a fork in a world of soup.” - Noel Gallagher
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  • Logic / Mainstage. But I only use sims for their convenience. None of them really do it for me.
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  • Positive Grid bias fx2.  I like the tones I get from it and like the interface and options in there. 
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  • John_AJohn_A Frets: 3775
    Helix Native, S-gear and the plug-in alliance VHT
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10357
    For a good clean sound I just record my amps straight in the DAW from the effects loop. For a good dirty sound I do the same but monitor my playing with a Sans amp sim then when I have the opportunity I send the track back out the DAW and into the effects return of either my Marshall, Bugera or Fender amp. 

    The problem I have now with Digital stuff isn't that it's not good, it's that everybody sounds the same. I think I only notice this because I watch a massive amount of instructional guitar vids but it's kinda put me off. Actually using real amps with no digital processing at gives a more pleasing sound to my ears. 
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • fretmeisterfretmeister Frets: 23964
    Helix hardware and Native plugin 
    neuraldsp plugins
    Hardware bass preamps.
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  • smigeonsmigeon Frets: 282
    edited February 2021
    Thanks guys - some interesting stuff to consider there. I do like the idea of recording straight from the effects send of a real amp. Unfortunately, neither of my valve amps has an effects loop! I’ll try it with my Mambo - that might hopefully yield decent recorded cleans.

    One thing I tried yesterday: I used an amp sim that came with a software package I bought a while back called “MIDI Guitar”. The main point of the package is to drive MIDI software instruments directly from a guitar, and it does that really well. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that the throw-in amp sim, which I’d ignored until now, actually sounds pretty good - better than any of the Logic ones to my ear.
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  • Well, this thread is 100% relevant to me as this is my entire rig these days!

    I’ve got the following:

    - Audio Assault Sigma. Amazing! £5 or so? Sounds tremendous

    - Nembrini Sound Master. £30 or so. Solid Fender ish setup. IR’s are very weak, sounds good with an external IR running via your favourite loader

    - Neural Cory Wong. £70 - was my fav until the Sigma came along as the value just eclipses it, but the best clean sounds in town!

    - Positive Grid Bias FX2. Utter bobbins. Just dire.

    - Guitar Rig 5. Some okay tones but takes a little too much fiddling to get there and not as responsive as it should be.

    - Guitar Rig 6. No discernible difference to 5, waste of money upgrading for me. 
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  • Helix hardware and Native plugin 
    neuraldsp plugins
    Hardware bass preamps.
    Ive not tried the guitar stuff but parallax is amazing. Its basically all I ever use on bass these days :)
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • zedhexzedhex Frets: 191
    does anyone else find BIAS Amp to be nothing but a box full of fizzy distortion?
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  • DodgeDodge Frets: 1430
    Your Princeton into a REACTIVE load box, into your DAW and through a decent IR will be better than all the amp sim plugins. You'll have less choice than software amp sims though.

    You could also create your own IR of your own cab and mic.
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  • Not me,  I like my tones from Positive Grid bias fx2. 
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  • Kemper
    Helix
    amps + mic'd up cab
    amps + loadbox (although I need a newerer and betterer loadbox)

    Bye!

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  • smigeonsmigeon Frets: 282
    Dodge said:
    Your Princeton into a REACTIVE load box, into your DAW and through a decent IR will be better than all the amp sim plugins. You'll have less choice than software amp sims though.

    You could also create your own IR of your own cab and mic.
    Good point! I might well end up doing this - I do love the sound of my Princeton. 

    OK, next question :-) : what's a good reactive load box to get for a Princeton? 
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  • I've previously used Guitar Rig and Amplitube. Currently on Helix Native but sometimes I use Lepou's IR loader if I want more blending options or I've recorded real amps direct. I like the Lepou stuff generally. 
    "A city star won’t shine too far"


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  • zedhex said:
    does anyone else find BIAS Amp to be nothing but a box full of fizzy distortion?
    I would rather record my flatulence than use bias. 
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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