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ORIGINAL: terrorhead

I thought i read an interview once that Dino said he used a POD to record. but i’m not sure what album

Hi there.  Yes I wouldn’t be surprised.  Prolly the new one and all the Divine Heresy stuff.   Also, I have been able to match the distortion of Slayer’s Decade of Agression distortion like 99% dead on using POD farm platinum.  I will post this clip soon to prove it. 

[MouseClickDrummer]

Well, I have tried pretty much every single amplifier simulator on the market which also has RTAS version – very important to have that available.  Here is a review of all the main amp simulators which have RTAS.

Guitar Rig 3 – When sims were weak a few years back, i settled for this.  But the stock sounds are garbage buzzing.  So I found that after engineering tricks i could get acceptable tones – but the fidelity was always lacking, the mid tones were a bit plastic, and the distortion was not defined enough and too soft, but ironically.. gain was cranked and brightened up – in was more likely to cause much arachnophobia.  Unless there is a different sound engine or a far improved one I am not interested in trying GR4 just for it’s new mic mixing options. Overall Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 gets a 5.8/10.  

Amplitube 2/Amplitube Metal – Although still abit shrill and bee-like at first, the stock sounds are nicer than GR and this simulator’s advantage is that it really captures the air pushing effect the most out of all sims.  After tweaking, the distortions sound either raw and edgy yet always tight, or fat and chunky but still defined.  The tones are definetly heavier and meaner than Guitar Rig, and it is easier to get defined distortion with less tweaking than alot of other sims.  A bit on the shrill side for blues but still pro.  IK multimedia recieves a 7.8 out of 10. If there were more tweakability it would probabily get a 9.

Studio Devil Pro – The distortion is sloppy, and has no edge, the engine feedsback whey too much and the mids are a joke.  There is a severe lack of tone.  2/10.

Rock Amp Legends – for a low to medium gain amp sim set, you would at least expect some nice creamy blues OD type distortions but even low gain it scrapes nerves the wrong way.  And medium gain was simply not world class.  Nothing remotely close to an AC/DC type sound was possible, and usually 80s hard rock Rhythm sections are easy to hit in amp sims but not even close on this one.  Gain was a bit too sloppy, but at least it offered me some consolation that there wasn’t much of it.   2.5

Peavey Revalver –  the first real tube amp company to make an amp simulator software.  The claim of 99% accurate tube amp modeling is definetly valid – but then again – modeling peavey amps does not say too much.  With that being said, this is the most intricate tweakable amp sim where you can even go into the guts of the amp to tweak the values of resistors. Unfortunately the manual does not tell you what each component does but the peavey staff has forwarded me to some great articles that show what to tweak for different types of sounds.   As it turned out – you can easily modify any of the peavery heads into almost any sound you crave and almost any pro tone – but not any tone.  But its too much work.  And most of the cabs sound awful.  Only a couple of cab-speaker mic variations are pleasant to the ear – but they are not inter matchable..   the many other speaker, cab, mic options are simply unacceptable in this day and age.  With that said Peavey revalver still receives an 8/10.

Metal Amp Room – Sounds ok but there is only one type of distortion that can be shaped in limited ways – but that gain is still not savage or evil enough for the type of accurate distortion they have attempted – or for the graphics they have added.  7.1/10.

Overloud TH1 – This is a superb simulator but there is only a limited rage of amp distortion modeling.   The best part is the tight accurate distortion response.  I was able to simulate the Marshall Kerry King Signature amp through Mode 4 cabs- but not quite 100% in the bass frequencies, although it is ok because this simulator has a nice sweetspot in between that and a Mesa Type fat tone – a perfect in between! Although very limited metal distortion character it is still satisfying for metal.   At lower gain with OD tones, Vai type smooth lead gain type OD tones – the engine performed equally well.  But not much else could be done with the gain.  Pure Vintage cream was so-so.  It must be stressed that the range of gain remains in a limited range – but one dial is neat which lets you add a hot fire to define each amp’s gain into scorching underworld territory.  TH1 gets an 9 out of 10.

Waves GTR – This is the most overrated amp sim out of them all. The gains are not bad for pop or rock but in the heavy hitter department GTR is a miserable letdown.  Distortion is too soft and undefined. The mids are also sub par for any style.  Smooth OD style leads were it’s strongest point but still not quite pro.  This and the lack of metal excellence merely give this simulator a 6.3/10, barely beating Guitar Rig – which proves little.

Line 6 POD Farm Platinum – Wow, so easy to use even a three year old can get good tone. Simply an amusement park of toys and the most amps, stomp boxes, rack units, cabs available out of any other product in this category. You pretty much get lost in the many many units available to select.  The one down side is that you cannot use more than one sim pedal before the sim input… but i dont mind because i like to shape my sound with real pedals before my actual soundcard inputs so for me it matter little. Can hit 99.9% of the tones in Amplitube, Revalver and TH1.  The rack EQ is amateur.  8.7/10

McDsp Chrome Tone –  Nothing but farting noises and sloppy buzzing. But then again, i expected nothing more from a company with horrible reverbs and plugins. A total Waste of ones and zeroes. Very poor company. 0.2/10

Digidesign Eleven – Not even close to as world class as they claim.  The bass frequencies fo the amps are too flabby and farty.  The blues sounds are somewhat ok but a company charging that much for their guitar sim is offering a total rip off. You cannot even round out the gain characteristics into acceptable smooth creamy gains.   3/10

SansAmp PSA-1 – A free RTAS plugin.  Not bad for rough tracking, but more on the cookie cutter end of the spectrum.  Although it certainly has some mid punch.  Great to use as a tonal shaper on zero distortion. 6/10.

[MouseClickDrummer]

in addition, when i install it, can i still access the sub-ID presets and Richard Devine Presets from S2 like they are doing in the EZ drummer video?

[MouseClickDrummer]

ORIGINAL: Dingo

The new Digidesign Eleven rack for guitar processing looks pretty sweet. Anybody checked it out?

I went on the digidesign forum but learned that there are just the same amps in even the rack eleven.  upgrades to the sounds will come in later than sooner in the future.

I have tried overloud TH1 and so far I am most happy with this sim.  to me it is the mosty clear sounding overall.

As for a real amp, i noticed a mesa cab sounds ideal for my Kerry King signature Head, and even for my ibanez Thermion.  I will be using a Heil PR30 mic on it and seeing if it turns out good on a recording.

[MouseClickDrummer]

tried all the POD stuff… distortion is too soft and in the lower B to A to G tunings it loses tightness

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tried everything suggested here…  not happy at all with such sims, i mean, listen to an album like Reinventing the Steel, or Obsolete… thats some really accurate distortion…

 and i agree with G-rig 3 sounding a bit too processed, same with sansamp.  i think revalver might be my last attempt

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