Amp sims help!

[Krenzathal]

Hi all. I wonder if I could get a bit of help. I've been really taken with amp sims recently, mainly for tracking purposes but I really just cannot get a good sound out of any of them. I have most of them like amplitube metal, Nick Crows 8505, revalver etc and others which I run with a tube screamer sim in front and a whole ton of cab impulses run through voxengo boogex but it never amounts to anything more than a plasticy sounding fuzz fart.

I just thought that was the level of tone that was out there but I have heard some really great recordings with some lovely even crunch and sheen on the guitars using just amp sims so I'm determined to find out how to do it.

So if anyone has some great in depth settings that they would like to donate I'd be most grateful.

Thanks all!

 

[Terminus]

Hi all. I wonder if I could get a bit of help. I've been really taken with amp sims recently, mainly for tracking purposes but I really just cannot get a good sound out of any of them. I have most of them like amplitube metal, Nick Crows 8505, revalver etc and others which I run with a tube screamer sim in front and a whole ton of cab impulses run through voxengo boogex but it never amounts to anything more than a plasticy sounding fuzz fart.

I just thought that was the level of tone that was out there but I have heard some really great recordings with some lovely even crunch and sheen on the guitars using just amp sims so I'm determined to find out how to do it.

So if anyone has some great in depth settings that they would like to donate I'd be most grateful.

Thanks all!

Try (and try is the key word) and use an EQ notch filter like the one used in ReaEQ and put it anywhere between 5.8Khz-6.2Khz and make it just fat enough of a scoop to take out most of the really prominent fizzy frequencies. It won't completely kill it, but if it makes you feel any better, I've never heard a sim tone without some degree of fizz in it.
Also you can use a multi-band compressor to compress the high-mids a little, might help change the tonal character so that the fizz doesnt show through as much.

 

[Krenzathal]

Thanks for the reply! Yeah I know that a bit of fizz is always there but I have heard some absolutely killer tones for amp sims but I just can't seem to recreate them.

I do the usual high/low pass filters, some notches when needed and I even followed a guide on a youtube channel called 'Fearcomplexmusic' and his tones were superb but again it just sounded like a fuzzy mess.

My guitar is fine so I'm beginning to suspect my leads might be at fault, they are quite old and one is rather long as well but even so I can't see leads making THAT big a difference and it is pretty big in terms of a great tight clean crunch to a fizzy mess with exactly the same settings on every plug-in.

 

[aortizjr]

What amp do you run? Are you happy with your amp sound mic'd up?

What guitar? Have any clips we can hear?

A big part of tone is in the fingers and the player. Most amp sims aren't that bad. I actually use a Behringer Bass V-amp for a lot of my demoing and writing for re-amping later. It certainly sounds decent enough. And that is with the stock speaker simulator.

Also with boogex, you have to set it up right. How are you setting it up? If you still have the amp sim turned on, that will be a problem. Personally I would try KeFIR or LeCab instead.

 

[Torniojaws]

Just a silly question, but have you disabled the raw tone that comes to the impulse plugin? At least SIR has a 50/50% mix by default, so there will always be equal amounts of the pure preamp signal (horrific buzzy beehive tone) and the actual impulse-processed signal (that sounds more like a real guitar amp setup).

 

[kernelxsanders]

it really depends on the sound you are looking for, i wouldnt necessarily ask for other people's settings on an amp because everybody has different tastes. what someone might think is the sickest tone setting, you might think is the worst, and vice versa. personally, for me, i like to go for a nice thick and heavy sound, so i use LeGion (for a clear metal tone) and Le456 for the thick, heavy bottom end. along with a few certain impulses. kinda gives me that unique sound that i like.. for now, anyhow. but i see where you are coming from, i had the same problem for a while when i was first starting out, i was using 7170 and 8505, and it just didnt cut it for me. then i found LeGion then Le456 and i was much more happy. what really did it for me was when i learned about impulses and added a parallel eq and a TS to it. so on a budget of being constantly broke, i think i have the best sound i can get, perhaps until i can get PodFarm to work.

 

[Krenzathal]

Torniojaws, you were spot on! It wasn't set to filter through the impulse signal. Thank you for pointing that out, it sounds excellent now.

I thought I was beginning to lose my mind and my abilities to get a decent tone. Such a relief! It just goes to show you should always double check the simple things!

Thanks to everyone who replied to help me!

 

[xmortumx]

Yeah dude and recently i was able to get a cool tone with amplitube 2.