Thinking of doing an amp sim shootout, some questions.

[GarethSE]

So, we've all seen many a topic and post comparing amp sims with REAL amps, namely the big revalver 6505 vs real 6505 debate, but I'm curious as to how people will react to a blind shoot out between all the different amp sims out there.

A few questions as to how everyone thinks this should be done.

A) Should I dial in tones that I feel reflect each amp sim's character and quality or should I try and keep the tone as consistent as humanly possible between each amp sim?

B) If you think the tones should be kept as consistent as possible between amp sims, rather than reflective of the amp sim's character, do you think curve eq should be used or not? I'm leaning towards no, but I'm curious as to what everyone else thinks.

C) Should it be exclusive to free amp sims or not?

D) Which impulse should be used? I'm leaning towards CatharsisStudio's fredman pack, the s-preshigh one namely, but if anyone has any suggestions as to any others which might make it a fairer test at all, then please feel free to suggest one, although I don't see how this would affect it too much.

E) Suggest any and all amp sims you'd like to hear used in the shoot out.

Feel free to add any thoughts or wishes!

 

[GarethSE]

No one?

 

[Machinated]

do what sounds best, no post eq or fx

maybe a few different styles of riffs to show if one sim is better than the other.

that said for me personally i wouldnt see much benefit from having a shootout.......

 

[GarethSE]

do what sounds best, no post eq or fx

maybe a few different styles of riffs to show if one sim is better than the other.

that said for me personally i wouldnt see much benefit from having a shootout.......

well the thinking behind it was that it seems like the moment you say "oh yeah i used revalver" people go all scooby doo and go like "RERALRER? REERY?!" and get all excited like a little kid waiting for a birthday party or some shit

that being said, im not too sure what im trying to achieve, which is kinda why i wanna do it

 

[DominikJW]

I'd say that you should use the same di's and try to create pretty similar tones. Which ampsims? All of em'!

 

[Rex Rocker]

I think it would be fun.

If you're gonna do a 5150-type sim shootout, definitely do one with the Line 6 stuff!

 

[Torniojaws]

Well, if possible I think it would be the best to record both a real amp and the amp emulator with the same settings, and then compare which plugin gets the closest to the real life counterpart.
For example:

5150 vs. 7170
Fireball vs. Dirthead
Bogner vs. Wagner
Soldano vs. SoloC

etc.

Edit:
Oh yeah, and definitely no post-FX! Just a raw recording. And separate single performances!

 

[Ermz]

Definitely use Ryan's fredman pack impulses. They seem to be the best out there.

Probably just illustrate the strengths of each amp. Obviously a Mesa sim isn't going to be voiced to sound like a 6505 sim, so there's no point in attempting to match them.

I agree with Torniojaws that comparing them directly to the real amps is probably the best approach here because that is the real benchmark, not another software sim. But I can imagine it'd be hard to source all of those amps. The SoloC and 8505 sims are the closest I've heard of software sims coming to real hardware, with the exception of course of the Revalver 6505 sim which sounds remarkably similar to the 8505.