Plugin Amp Sims

thegummy

"On paper" plugin amp sims, vs. real amps or standalone amp sims, have the big advantage of allowing the settings to be tweaked after the recording (during mixing, right up to the final print).

But how big an advantage is this in the real world? To those who do use plugin amp sims, do you regularly find yourself adjusting its settings after recording and during mixing or do you find yourself mostly getting the tone before recording and sticking to it?

poopot

It’s a bonus to be able to change the guitar sounds as the song evolves.
I always record a DI along with the mic’d amp so I have it just incase I want to re amp it or run it through Sgear.

sometimes the amp sim is there In the mix and it doesn’t sound heavy enough it gets changed to a different sound and vice versa. 

So yeah, the amp sim gets changed/tweaked as the tune progresses… once I’ve got the sound I bounce the track in place tho to 1) stop me faffing about with it and 2) to save processing power.

Danny1969

I don't tend to use amp sims but I do record from the effects send of the amp into the DAW, then when I'm happy with the take I send that track to the effects return of the amp and mic it up and record that. 
I've never looked at a re amper so no idea what the process is with those but this effects loop trick works very well indeed for my amps. 

poopot

Danny1969 said:

I've never looked at a re amper so no idea what the process is with those but this effects loop trick works very well indeed for my amps. 

Same process… line out from the interface - di box (working in reverse) - into amp

PolarityMan

I use amp sims a lot for demo'ing and right now its a toss up as to whether our next EP will use VSTs or a kemper but I have to say I rarely tweak the sound after recording. Partly that's because I already know what I want but also there is a tight coupling between the performance and the sound you are hearing. So if I switched the amp model I would probably subconscioulsy change teh way I played due to the difference.

I do occasionally switch the cab sims if I'm finding the guitars and the bass dont sit well together but tbh i'm more likely to do that with a separate EQ most of the time. 

Jonathanthomas83

PolarityMan said:

I rarely tweak the sound after recording. Partly that's because I already know what I want but also there is a tight coupling between the performance and the sound you are hearing. So if I switched the amp model I would probably subconscioulsy change teh way I played due to the difference.

This pretty much sums up my thoughts.

OP, for what its worth, I sold everything I owned last year and have gone from 3 dream amps, Hiwatt, JCM800 and Dual Rec...to Axe FX III and now to fully in the box with any plugin I so desire at the time of recording. Absolutely loving the freedom and the tones.

thegummy

PolarityMan said:

there is a tight coupling between the performance and the sound you are hearing. So if I switched the amp model I would probably subconscioulsy change teh way I played due to the difference.

This is one of the main things that makes me think that changing the settings after the fact might not be as great as it might seem on paper - that I'd like to be reacting to the sound in real time. The other is that, until very recently, that was always the way it's done and pretty much all the good music was made with the guitar tone being printed.

Just for some details on my situation, I've been using some plugins for a while and do love the sound of TH-U in particular but with my PC being a few years old now, if I have other apps running it occasionally glitches so I'd really need to get a new PC if I wanted to switch over for proper song making. So it's not a case of "might as well if there's even a slight benefit", it'd really have to be worth it.

Appreciate all the replies people. Cheers!

Jonathanthomas83

I struggled with my old pc for about 9 years or so before I just bit the bullet on a Mac mini last year. it solved years worth of problems and glitches and latency that all contributed to me disliking the guitar amp sim plugin experience and it prevented me from truly bein able to hear and appreciate exactly how good they can be. I've not looked back since upgrading. And in a sense, since selling all my physical gear last year, I don't think I'd go back to it even if I could afford it now, and that, given my track record, speaks volumes.