So How good is amp modeling these days?

[Eddie]

@Arr0wHead,

I did try TH1 and liked it. Unfortunately I emailed them a question, never heard back from them, and I did not buy it back then. I got an amazing deal on the TH2 and that's why I bought it. I'm still hopeful that someday it will work 100% for me. I just could not pass on that price and I do like their approach, even if I don't like their GUI and preset management. Now that I think about it, I got lucky with the other software as well in terms of price

 

@cratz2,

I like your ears

A=TH2

B=zenTera

C=Waves GTR 3.5

D=Guitar Rig 3

 

To get this range of sounds I only varied my picking strength. That's why I say that the zenTera feels more like a nice tube amp. That's not to say that the others can't get great sounds, but they lack the response I like. The zenTera in particular also sounds richer, more complex, IMHO.

 

I totally get the idea about not having access to multiple modelers. I use the GT-10 (thanks to some in-store credit I was given). To me it's not the best amp emulation, but it does its job! After I had my herniated discs I stopped using amps, and for getting together with friends, or if I was playing live, taking the GT-10 would be a pleasure. Years ago a friend who is a superb player bought a POD. He was touring internationally, and even though they had roadies, for him it was important to have the portability of the POD. He would design his tones, practice in his hotel room, and bring the POD with him at soundcheck. Tone was not his main concern, and no one in the audience seemed to care or notice

 

I guess that having just one of these tools is more than enough in a practical sense. For example, if I were recording jingles or demos the POD Farm which Line6 gave for free would have covered all my needs. A POD worked for my friend's tour. A local guy has a zenTera in his studio. I bought mine also for recording amp sounds with a higher quality. In fact, one person who gave me a lot of advise when I bought it has his own line of tube amps! I wish they had come up with a pedalboard version...

 

I do like Waves GTR quite a bit, but my computer is a bit old and I believe that TH2 uses less CPU than GTR or Guitar Rig. This becomes important when running multiple instances of the plugin, so sometimes my decision on what to use has more to do other factors and less with actual sound. There are workarounds as well, like muting other tracks or bouncing the guitar tracks with the printed effects, but I often just use the TH2 and it makes work easier

 

Attached is a picture of the waveforms, just for fun.

[ashasha]

I'll just say that after years of using amp sims and modellers the only one that I have tried to date that has the feel and dynamics that I like is the AxeFX. I tried all kinds of crap with the PC stuff and I'm not knocking it at all because it's more than great, but after playing a tube amp for a year or so I got real tired of them. I also got real tired of the inconvenience of the tube amp for just jamming or recording.

 

And one more thing that puts amp sims up there in terms of recording is that if you record a dry track you can basically re-amp through anything you can imagine and tweak it to death. You can only do so much with an amp that's recorded.

 

But the great part is that there are so many options out there today.

[sammyreynolds01]

I wish Line6 would update their technology on the next generation of spiders and pods.

[cratz2]

Yeah, I'd love to check out an AxeFX for a longer time, but it's just not likely in the cards anytime soon.

 

I bought an Avatar cab from a guy that switched to the AxeFX and he demoed it for me with a single QSC, then I later bought one of the speakers as well. The second time, I had a chance to play it for a while through two QSCs. It was definitely impressive, but he was a lot more gainy than me. I'd love to try dialing in a couple Vox tones and also play with the Matchless and Dumble tones as well.

 

Thought it's probably a great value, it's just too expensive for me right now.

 

[scuzzo]

i just remembered another huge factor in the getting good signal out of your modle amp computer application,, and that is the interface, you either need a very high end soundcard, one that is pretty much a dedicated card.. or some sorta digital interface like the Podxt and up. I think maudio makes a few.. plus you will need i would say at least a few GHZ processor.. This will cut way down on the latency, and allow you to run the apps at high quality or best emulation i use Podxt for doing the heavy lifting as far as the soundcard goes and its been just about perfect in that capacity.. A built-in sound processor on the Motherboad will not cut, it it will bog down and you will get latency (delay), running the app at less power .. neither will a lower end soundblaster and the like, these things require horsepower and lots of resources when i run mines it takes about 60% of my computer power if im doing some tricky stuff with mulit cabs and amps in a signal chain.. at any thing past 75% it starts to loose resolution..

 

im using a AMD 3.2 ghz 3Meg of ram and a dedicated Podxt as the soundcard..

and i could use more ram.

also you will need ASIO drivers.. any thing else i have tried just is not near as efficent

 

Guitar rig 4 and

Ampitube are great but

but resource hogs..

 

 

 

tag on to that that some folks use these as VST for a DAW... and depending on the DAW... resources become very stretched..

 

just another issue to think about before you reach conclusions on the quality of these emulations..edit..

 

i would edit this post for run on sentience and just poor construction..

but meh...

[Arr0wHead]

Another great point, Scuzzo. A lot of the newer modelers (including Axe-FX) use convolution modeling which is VERY VERY resource intensive. Just running 4 cab impulses (2 different cabs impulses, run in stereo) with my floor pod going direct (in other words, the only processing the computer is doing is the 4 cabs) my CPU will run at around 50% to 60%. It's BRUTAL.

[Eddie]

Indeed good point. My main concern with sound quality is precisely while recording in a DAW. For practicing/experimenting I'm not too concerned about reaching the highest quality.

 

For DAW use there are some additional considerations:

1. I make sure that only essential programs are running. On the Mac, for example, it is common to have a lot of background processes and these start just by turning the computer on. There was a thread at Gearslutz asking about how to optimize a Mac for audio recording, and some people believed that just turning on the Mac was sufficient (recent switchers?). Prior to OS X, I remember Digidesign had specific recommendations for configuring a Mac. I had that configuration saved and started from it when I used Pro Tools. Under OS X some things that come to mind include Spotlight, Dashboard, Energy options, Startup Items, and background processes.

 

2. Compatibility. There have been many cases in which a certain plugin will not work in a DAW but will run fine in another DAW. Cross-platforms plugins may also be more efficient in one platform.

 

3. Latency. It is a concern while recording, but users can change the buffer size after recording. I might use a small buffer while recording, and a big buffer while mixing.

 

4. Share the plugin. I may use the same instance of a plugin in an Aux Buss, and send multiple guitar tracks to it.

 

5. Print the effect. Not my favorite, but I could print the effects on some tracks so that I can remove the plugin and save processing power.

 

6. Test different DAWs if possible. This not only helps with plugin compatibility, but also with processing efficiency. It's possible to use a DAW for recording and another one for mixing. From what I recall, Reaper was great in terms of processing efficiency.

 

7. Defragment. Many Mac users believe that defragmenting is not necessary since the OS already defragments files, but when working with large audio (or video) files, fragmentation is a problem. The OS defragmentation is very limited, and only works on small files (

 

These are the ideas that jumped to mind. I hope they're useful.

[Dikkie]

_{I'm currently using both Amplitube 3 and Vandal, very happy with both of them.}

_{You can listern the quality in my sounds online.}

 

_{I wanted to have the acoustic sim from Amplitube 4, but just one month before the release, I bought Amp 3... and couldn't get an upgrade ... :s}

 

_{Not using any hardware amps anymore currently.}

 

[DFB]

It's a 6 year old thread.

[Chris Loeffler]

Well... opinions might have changed :-)

[Bucksstudent]

Once again, I highly suggest putting all new members' posts in a queue for moderator approval. That would stop zombie threads.

[Grant Harding]

It's a tough call.

 

People find specific topics that they're interested in by searching for them. If they start a new thread people say "Have you tried search? We've discussed this before." If they bump an old thread they get blasted as zombies.

 

I think the underlying issue is that the old threads look just like recent ones, so we get drawn in and feel like we've had our time wasted. If older threads were obviously marked or even just had the OP date it would take care of itself.

[DeepEnd]

And amp modelling may have improved in six years.

[DeepEnd]

Yeah, I routinely get reamed for pointing out to new posters that they've resurrected old threads over in Acoustic Guitars. You can't win.

[Chris Loeffler]

One hopes!

 

I've been consistently surprised on where things are versus, say, six years ago. I suspect this is because I walk in with lowered expectations and leave thinking "That didn't sound bad at all!".

 

"Not sounding bad" isn't a high enough bar, but I've got to say I've found some "pretty damned good" things as well.

[Armitage]

Now a dayz, excellent, good enough to fool most (not all) people. And very convenient.

[GAS Man]

Rather than comment on "an amp" I'd just like to say I'm a big fan of the Tech 21 SansAmp Character Series "Blonde".

 

But if I base my comment on that pedal, I'd say amp modeling is quite good these days and that pedal IMO is well worth the price of admission. It's a two-fer. Models and creates a versatile OD pedal. Excellent for warming up shallow sounding amps, adding bottom end, round tones and touch sensitive gain.

[1001gear]

HI! I'm new here. Amp modeling is hotter than ever.

 

 

 

[gardo]

HI! I'm new here. Amp modeling is hotter than ever.

 

 

Really, I found some examples of amp modeling but not many

 

[1001gear]

Well that's a combo model and a head model just for the googing.

 

Hmm, good amp head, good model head...

[gardo]

well ,I learned a new word today

[Grant Harding]

Head?

[1001gear]

goog