Amp-sims, How to :confused:

[JohnnyMcFly]

Ted, there is more going on than a simple EQ, what I don't really know...There is the boost amount too. I was talking about a software version of the Range master, not he hardware piece, I should have pointed that out, but either way, with that thrown in, it is on topic.

I know through my own research that the tone and feel completely changes when one of these is added(Software included). I must admit, again, I don't know why, it is such a simple circuit. This simple device is reported to have defined the classic rock sound, and given the number of trend setting muscians that used them, I would tend to agree. Everyone from Tony Iommi, Ritchie blackmore, even Bryan May used these devices. So, having said that, one could no more get the Rush 2112 sound without a delay, you can't get the Tony Iommi sound without a Rangemaster(at least th early sound).

So here's a test for you...Because I would be very happy to know the results of this and you are the man for the job...If you like...

In the Treble master that comes with all our Classic Hybrid heads, I identified the EQ range being used. You'll see a base frequency and a Extent frequency..Adjust an EQ at the start of the chain to match whatever settings you use on the Treble Master. The base frequency is the start, and the extent is how far ahead of the base frequency the frequency range extends too. This frequency range is boosted by up to 10db...

I would love to hear what the difference is, if any, I really don't know if there is a difference, I mean if there is, then all my work in the Treble master was not for nothing, but if there is then we know.

Ted said...
"An early version of a Tubescreamer with one knob and a laboratory look about it as far I can tell. I can't possibly see how it can bring about guitar heaven. Sorry but I'll call it like I see it."

Yes, I thought so too at one time until I built one(Software) and started playing around with it...I really don't know why it works like it does, so I am as perplexed as you, but I do know that the difference in feel is night and day as well as the tone...The head comes alive with it on and deadens out without it...

Really...Not kidding...
KM

[stratman]

I've had a go at the first part of Wolffman's clip. As a reminder, this is the bit.

https://stash.reaper.fm/oldsb/207053/Clip-1-WM.mp3


This is my attempt.

https://stash.reaper.fm/oldsb/207051/WM-Clip-1-Pete.mp3


It's hard to tell whether it's got enough bottom or not, because I know that things sound very different when other instruments are present.


It's FA3 FreeAmp and I used Tedwood's Dreaming preset from the link below.
http://forum.cockos.com/showpost.php...8&postcount=11

I switched of the chorus and replaced the delay with reverb. Then tweaked the tone controls a bit. However, I'm pretty certain the original clip uses a slight amount of delay.

It was played using the bridge humbucker on my Strat.

Pete

[JohnnyMcFly]

Yep when you take mastering into account, your tone is really close..Run it through a mastering prog and I bet you will be surprised at how close that tone is...Figure the original clip was mastered, so before that it probably sounded just like yours...Good Job man..
KM

[Tedwood]

Originally Posted by stratman

I've had a go at the first part of Wolffman's clip.

I doff my cap to you Pete, darn fine job you done there - especially the playing side.


That's close enough, maybe a tiny discrepancy with a lack of treble "bite" that we have to accept is part an parcel of a nice tube amp, the clarity that defines the notes if you will.

In fact now I think of it if you had played a Tele that might even give it that extra bite

Yeah I had a critical listen and you are right, there is short delay on the original.

[bfloyd6969]

Originally Posted by Tedwood

Yes that brittleness isn't something I can live with, hence my attraction to FreeAmp, however FreeAmp isn't without it's own problems, but when it works it works good.

I think I would start with the Vox chain I posted here, it needs more gain but you have to experiment cos there are three places you could turn it up, and will probably be a combination of two or more. Probably tweak the EQ and use a 4x12 cab with it too.

It's hard without a specific sample though cos i did a search on YouTube and all the Angus Iommi guitar tones were vastly different. Maybe upload a specific sample of the tone you are after.

Thanks all. I'll have to wait and try out Tater head, thanks JM.

I'll find a good clip and do a post. Ted, what is it about the FA3 that you like? Do you find that it has less of this brittleness?

[uptight]

Floyd...the preamp I have on order is the Golden Age Pre 73.
I am hoping it will arrive in the next fortnight. The reviews and 'buzz' around this vintage styled preamp is all very postive.

To all the folks who are suggesting amps sims/presets....do you use a DI when recording?

[yep]

I haven't read through the whole thread, so forgive me if this has already been covered, but...

Can you get a good sound out of an amp, but just not out of an amp sim? If so, why not just record the amp?

If not...

I posted elsewhere something like this:

Guitar tone is 60% player/technique, 20% knob settings, 10% gear, and 10% engineering/recording chain.

So a good player with crap gear and the right settings can get 80% of the way there. Bad playing through brilliant gear with the right settings gets 30% of the way there. Good engineering in a good studio can improve things about a letter grade.

At some point in her playing life, an electric guitar player has to pick a rig of some sort and learn to work it. Practicing unamplified electric guitar is like practicing sax technique by breathing into a mouthpiece. You can't just practice fingering and then expect the sound to come from knobs or more expensive pieces of circuitry.

The pick matters. The way you hold the pick, and where you hit the strings matters. The way and degree to which your hand or fingers (both left and right) touch the strings matters a lot. String gauge matters.

Setup matters hugely. How near or far the pickups are to the strings in relation to how you pick, how high the frets and action are compared to hard you "squeeze" the notes and how cleanly or sloppily you fret them... Any buzz or rattle at the frets, nut, saddle, or in the construction of the guitar will make a very significant difference in tone. Maybe good, maybe bad.

The knob/pickup settings on the guitar are HUGE. Neck pickup with the tone knob rolled way down played through an amp with the bass turned down and treble up sounds MASSIVELY different from bridge pickup, tone up, through an amp with bass-heavy settings. Some pickup positionsmight be louder our quieter so you may need to adjust gain/volume settings to fairly compare their real tone.

Google your favorite guitar player, find out what her typical rig is and knob settings are, then go into a well-equipped guitar store and try out the exact same rig with the same settings, or as close as you can get. Does it sound like the record? If so, then you know what you have to save up for. If not, then the first order of business is not the gear, it's the playing.

Are amp sims as good as real amps? No, not usually. Amp sims don't usually get the fattening and flatting of speaker excursion quite right, and the "chirp and slurp" of real tubes always sounds a bit iffy to me through amp sims. BUT... amp sims can get VERY good sounds that are, at their best, probably much closer to well-recorded guitar sounds than most home recordists can get with budget mics in bad rooms. If you can't get a good sound from something like the Simulanalog suite, then I don't think the problem is with the amp sim.

RE:fizzy/brittle/harsh sounds in particular-- make sure your clean, unaffected guitar tone sounds rich, clear and full through the direct inputs. A lot of people tend to push the DI of a cheap soundcard or audio interface right up the point of clipping because the manual says to record as close to zero dB as possible for maximum digital resolution. That's all well and good as long as the analog front-end can supply enough clean gain to a high-impedance instrument input. But cheap USB or wall-wart powered audio interfaces may well crap out when trying to deliver high signal voltage required for clean electric guitar reproduction. Which means you are sending a weak, strangled, overloaded signal into the AD converter, which means the amp sim is not modulating a full, clean, robust, dynamic guitar sound, but a guitar sound that is already shredded by bad distortion and weak inputs.

In short, turn down your input gain and turn up your speaker volume if your "clean" guitar input already sounds like crap.

[Tedwood]

Originally Posted by bfloyd6969

Thanks all. I'll have to wait and try out Tater head, thanks JM.

I'll find a good clip and do a post. Ted, what is it about the FA3 that you like? Do you find that it has less of this brittleness?

In a word yes, it's smoother than most. It's kind of a compromise though becasue in losing the brittleness it does not have as much high end detail, but if you use something like LePou's preamp that makes up for it. It also has much more on offer, a wide selection of clean - drive settings, really nice stereo rack and pedal FX, built in cab sims, excellent intuitive gui, very low cpu, and it sounds like an amp I would buy.

It's a pity it's a little buggy though, it will occasionally choose a different (loud) drive setting if you have another instance on another track and it will crash REAPER with multiple instances unless you have done the .dll name changing workaround.

I have changed my workflow to get around it by apply FX to tracks or using another decent sim until I can apply a FA3 FX if I need to.

[DrJ]

Most useful thread i've read anywhere in a while, if not forever! Was tempted to post links on a few other sites (such as KVR) but maybe someone else has, and maybe we should keep it a secret...

I'd also like to know about any free cabinet IRs i might want to have a play with, if anyone wants to share

[Tedwood]

Originally Posted by DrJ

I'd also like to know about any free cabinet IRs i might want to have a play with, if anyone wants to share

There's a whole bunch of IR's at Noisevault here: http://noisevault.com/nv/index.php?o...lectcat&cat=18

GuitarHacks Impulses here: https://stash.reaper.fm/v/3447/Guitar...20Impulses.rar

They're all good, but different

[stratman]

Originally Posted by DrJ

I'd also like to know about any free cabinet IRs i might want to have a play with, if anyone wants to share

...and there are free impulses on the forum at the link below, plus lots of other info on ampsims.

http://www.guitarampmodeling.com/index.php

Pete

[kindafishy]

Originally Posted by stratman

...and there are free impulses on the forum at the link below, plus lots of other info on ampsims.

http://www.guitarampmodeling.com/index.php

Pete

That forum has a link to some IR's from a company called redwire. Not free, but holy crap, if you listen to stuff that people have posted (including some interesting stuff from dimi), they sound very, very good. There is even an a/b with a comparable recabinet impulse.

[Tedwood]

Originally Posted by kindafishy

That forum has a link to some IR's from a company called redwire. Not free, but holy crap, if you listen to stuff that people have posted (including some interesting stuff from dimi), they sound very, very good. There is even an a/b with a comparable recabinet impulse.

Quite probably, but with respect there is no reason why a paid for impulse would be any better than a free one. If the impulse sounds great in a given situation all it means its the one being espoused was a good choice, and compared to a bad choice.

Put into context what you have is a darn fine guitar player using an Impulse tha works very well for his style and at the end of his chain, if the chain is tweaked toward using a particular IR this is exactly what you would expect. There are also remarks about Pod IR's being crap, but it's not clear what that actually means. Does it mean Line 6 can't make a decent impulse - that can't be right surely?

I have used Line 6 and if I don't tell you whether I use a GuitarHacks, one of our own Pipeline's (made without compromise and free) you won't know what's so good or bad about the tone unless I tell you. Comparisons are therefore pretty useless unless you are doing them yourself.

Dimi knows what he is doing (understatement). It's unfortunate that it's hard to convey the basic idea without also implying that it might make you sound good too. Unfortunate because the truth is simple, the right impulse can make all the difference but it's just an impulse, so what you need is a lot of choice - forget about branding or endorsement.







oooh... look at me - I'm using a Dimitar Nalbantov Impulse



Don't be like Homer

[stratman]

Another clip.
https://stash.reaper.fm/oldsb/207803/MeatHeadPete.mp3

This uses AcmeBarGig Meathead amongst other things.

Following Fx chain
1) ReaEQ

2) BTE Vintage Overdrive
http://www.bteaudio.com/software/TSS/TSS.html

3) Preampus Meathead
http://www.acmebargig.com/meathead/

4) poulin lecab, with built-in Internal Impulses
http://lepouplugins.blogspot.com/2009/07/lecab-v10.html

5) ReaDelay

6) SIR 1
http://www.knufinke.de/sir/sir1.html

with 5 columns impulse
http://www.voxengo.com/impulses/

7) Kjaerhus Classic Master Limiter
http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/classic-series.php

Here's track template.
https://stash.reaper.fm/oldsb/207804/...RTrackTemplate

Strange the template is so big. It seems to be caused by poulin lecab, where there are masses of repeated identical lines in the track template file.

Pete

[bfloyd6969]

Originally Posted by Tedwood

Yes that brittleness isn't something I can live with, hence my attraction to FreeAmp, however FreeAmp isn't without it's own problems, but when it works it works good.

I think I would start with the Vox chain I posted here, it needs more gain but you have to experiment cos there are three places you could turn it up, and will probably be a combination of two or more. Probably tweak the EQ and use a 4x12 cab with it too.

It's hard without a specific sample though cos i did a search on YouTube and all the Angus Iommi guitar tones were vastly different. Maybe upload a specific sample of the tone you are after.

Sorry for the delay. Here's a couple of Sabbath vids with that sound I'm after. As you can hear, the guitar is not searing hi-gain, but the overall timbre gives it a deep heavy feel...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjKNs...eature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tmCAgWLIiU

[BurningSG]

Floyd, consider Tony tuned down to a C# which lent itself to the deep heavy feel you mention.
As well he played in a linear fashion. Whereas he would play, say Paranoid at the 10th and 12th position as opposed to the 5th and 7th.

Give these a try and see if they get you closer to the sound you want.
Remember most of the tone comes from the guitarist.

SG

[scottedog]

Originally Posted by yep

I haven't read through the whole thread, so forgive me if this has already been covered, but...

Can you get a good sound out of an amp, but just not out of an amp sim? If so, why not just record the amp?

If not...

I posted elsewhere something like this:

Guitar tone is 60% player/technique, 20% knob settings, 10% gear, and 10% engineering/recording chain.

So a good player with crap gear and the right settings can get 80% of the way there. Bad playing through brilliant gear with the right settings gets 30% of the way there. Good engineering in a good studio can improve things about a letter grade.

At some point in her playing life, an electric guitar player has to pick a rig of some sort and learn to work it. Practicing unamplified electric guitar is like practicing sax technique by breathing into a mouthpiece. You can't just practice fingering and then expect the sound to come from knobs or more expensive pieces of circuitry.

The pick matters. The way you hold the pick, and where you hit the strings matters. The way and degree to which your hand or fingers (both left and right) touch the strings matters a lot. String gauge matters.

Setup matters hugely. How near or far the pickups are to the strings in relation to how you pick, how high the frets and action are compared to hard you "squeeze" the notes and how cleanly or sloppily you fret them... Any buzz or rattle at the frets, nut, saddle, or in the construction of the guitar will make a very significant difference in tone. Maybe good, maybe bad.

The knob/pickup settings on the guitar are HUGE. Neck pickup with the tone knob rolled way down played through an amp with the bass turned down and treble up sounds MASSIVELY different from bridge pickup, tone up, through an amp with bass-heavy settings. Some pickup positionsmight be louder our quieter so you may need to adjust gain/volume settings to fairly compare their real tone.

Google your favorite guitar player, find out what her typical rig is and knob settings are, then go into a well-equipped guitar store and try out the exact same rig with the same settings, or as close as you can get. Does it sound like the record? If so, then you know what you have to save up for. If not, then the first order of business is not the gear, it's the playing.

Are amp sims as good as real amps? No, not usually. Amp sims don't usually get the fattening and flatting of speaker excursion quite right, and the "chirp and slurp" of real tubes always sounds a bit iffy to me through amp sims. BUT... amp sims can get VERY good sounds that are, at their best, probably much closer to well-recorded guitar sounds than most home recordists can get with budget mics in bad rooms. If you can't get a good sound from something like the Simulanalog suite, then I don't think the problem is with the amp sim.

RE:fizzy/brittle/harsh sounds in particular-- make sure your clean, unaffected guitar tone sounds rich, clear and full through the direct inputs. A lot of people tend to push the DI of a cheap soundcard or audio interface right up the point of clipping because the manual says to record as close to zero dB as possible for maximum digital resolution. That's all well and good as long as the analog front-end can supply enough clean gain to a high-impedance instrument input. But cheap USB or wall-wart powered audio interfaces may well crap out when trying to deliver high signal voltage required for clean electric guitar reproduction. Which means you are sending a weak, strangled, overloaded signal into the AD converter, which means the amp sim is not modulating a full, clean, robust, dynamic guitar sound, but a guitar sound that is already shredded by bad distortion and weak inputs.

In short, turn down your input gain and turn up your speaker volume if your "clean" guitar input already sounds like crap.

I agree and also tend to think a lot (not all) of amp sim users in general want to go with the cheapest most convenient set up and still expect to be able to get the sound of classic amps thru (sometimes) expensive mics thru API/Neves recorded in a great room cranked to 11. I don't care how good the programming is it's not going to get there, IMO. Not to say these sims don't get a good sound of their own just not a REAL amp sound pushing air.

I also agree that the mic pre/DI makes a huge difference, make sure your straight, clean sound is big to start with. Garbage in, garbage out.

[bfloyd6969]

Originally Posted by BurningSG

Floyd, consider Tony tuned down to a C# which lent itself to the deep heavy feel you mention.
As well he played in a linear fashion. Whereas he would play, say Paranoid at the 10th and 12th position as opposed to the 5th and 7th.

Give these a try and see if they get you closer to the sound you want.
Remember most of the tone comes from the guitarist.

SG

Thanks for the reply. Is there a splash of chorus in that sound? Perhaps that could lend to the deep sound as well?...

[shemp]

Originally Posted by stratman

Another clip.
https://stash.reaper.fm/oldsb/207803/MeatHeadPete.mp3

This uses AcmeBarGig Meathead amongst other things.

Following Fx chain
1) ReaEQ

2) BTE Vintage Overdrive
http://www.bteaudio.com/software/TSS/TSS.html

3) Preampus Meathead
http://www.acmebargig.com/meathead/

4) poulin lecab, with built-in Internal Impulses
http://lepouplugins.blogspot.com/2009/07/lecab-v10.html

5) ReaDelay

6) SIR 1
http://www.knufinke.de/sir/sir1.html

with 5 columns impulse
http://www.voxengo.com/impulses/

7) Kjaerhus Classic Master Limiter
http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/classic-series.php

Here's track template.
https://stash.reaper.fm/oldsb/207804/...RTrackTemplate

Strange the template is so big. It seems to be caused by poulin lecab, where there are masses of repeated identical lines in the track template file.

Pete

Wow, this is great Pete! I didn't have the overdrive plug so I replaced it with the ABG Brain for a pretty decent solo tone. (Don't have the SIR yet either so I just bypassed it). I never play around much with amp sims much but now I have a renewed interest thanks to all the handywork done by the posters here. thanks!

[JohnnyMcFly]

Cool Shemp, look forward to hearing how you use them..
KM

[stratman]

Originally Posted by shemp

..I didn't have the overdrive plug so I replaced it with the ABG Brain for a pretty decent solo tone. (Don't have the SIR yet either so I just bypassed it)

I suppose could have got more overdrive out of Meathead alone. I put the overdrive pedal in there because it sounds like there's an OD/distortion pedal in the original clip, but I'm not convinced it's a Tube Screamer.

All of the VSTs in that post are free or donationware.

Originally Posted by kindafishy

That forum has a link to some IR's from a company called redwire. Not free, but holy crap, if you listen to stuff that people have posted (including some interesting stuff from dimi), they sound very, very good. There is even an a/b with a comparable recabinet impulse.

Originally Posted by Tedwood

Quite probably, but with respect there is no reason why a paid for impulse would be any better than a free one. If the impulse sounds great in a given situation all it means its the one being espoused was a good choice, and compared to a bad choice.

I didn't know about these until kindafishy pointed them out.

I decided to go for the Speaker Box Celestion AlNiCo Blue http://www.redwirez.com/speakerbox.jsp. They’re fairly inexpensive.

I can’t really say whether they’re better than other impulses (that’s a matter of personal taste), but I like them.

They seem to have approached things in a very scientific and professional manner using high quality equipment. They’re got a great range of speaker mic positions and distances, and it’s interesting to play with the variations in sound.

I’m looking forward to the future Celestion V30 impulses, which is the type of speaker I use in my cabs for live gigs.

Pete

[MichaJo]

My apologies for probably hijacking this thread.
Can someone upload a FX - chain for a tone similar to the one in
this awesome litte Blues-Solo of Frank Gambale (starting at 1:32)?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgzCh...eature=related

I'm not really a solo-guitar-player. But nevertheless i'd like to get this tone (I only have got a Fender Squier Strat to play with)

Michael

[shogger]

Originally Posted by MichaJo

My apologies for probably hijacking this thread.
Can someone upload a FX - chain for a tone similar to the one in
this awesome litte Blues-Solo of Frank Gambale (starting at 1:32)?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgzCh...eature=related

I'm not really a solo-guitar-player. But nevertheless i'd like to get this tone (I only have got a Fender Squier Strat to play with)

Michael

There are really good Squier strats out there, one of my guitar students has one, too. It's that good that it's almost unbelievable. And he only paid €120.
On topic: You won't be able to get really close to this tone with a strat. A big part of Frank's tone there is his BIG semi acoustic guitar.

Shogger

[Tedwood]

Originally Posted by MichaJo

My apologies for probably hijacking this thread.
Can someone upload a FX - chain for a tone similar to the one in
this awesome litte Blues-Solo of Frank Gambale (starting at 1:32)?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgzCh...eature=related

I'm not really a solo-guitar-player. But nevertheless i'd like to get this tone (I only have got a Fender Squier Strat to play with)

Michael

I agree with Shogger on this, the archtop guitar makes enormous contribution to the tone, plus you would at least want a humbucking pickup for this kind of thing.

Having said that, I can get a really good jazz tone from my acoustic with a magnetic pickup. I have to roll off the treble with EQ, but the complexity of the wood comes through nicely. If you have an acoustic you can put a humbucker on you could get yourself a cheapo jazzer that will fool a lot peeps if they can't see it.

Only problem is you probably won't be able to hit the high frets - that's hard work anyway so what the hey!

[JohnnyMcFly]

Hey you guys just made me curious about something..Has anyone ever tried recoding an acoustic and then putting our RedShift pickup replacer on it to simulate a humbucker? Kinda curious if that would work...I know you would have to eq the sound as flat as possible going into redshift, but that might work..
KM

[Tedwood]

Originally Posted by JohnnyMcFly

Hey you guys just made me curious about something..Has anyone ever tried recoding an acoustic and then putting our RedShift pickup replacer on it to simulate a humbucker? Kinda curious if that would work...I know you would have to eq the sound as flat as possible going into redshift, but that might work..
KM

Yeah it might at that, funny thing - I used my acoustic to get this plummy effect once and a number of people here didn't quite get the idea. I think it was because the sound fell somewhere between archtop and acoustic. That's why I said about rolling the highs off.

If you listen though I think you will hear it is quite "plummy" for an acoustic.

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.p...t=tumblestones

I'll have a go with your pickup replacer and see what happens

[JohnnyMcFly]

I still love that piece, and I really mean this, that is one of my all time favorite acoustic pieces. There is like a zillion melodies going on at once!

Anyways, It'll be interesting to see if RedShift does the job or not. Also guys I will not be online for about a week. So if I don't respond, I'm not being rude, we're moving and the earliest I can get my connection is a week.

KM

[Jay015]

Hi all, this is my first post on the Reaper forums. First off many thanks to everyone taking their time to explain or do sound clips. Awesome stuff !!!

I've just started using Reaper and playing around with amp sims. Easy to get overwhelmed but the possibilities are endless.

I have a question for stratman. First off I love that sound on your clip "Meatheadpete.mp3". I wanted to try it myself in Reaper but my noob question is how do I open your track template for this within reaper ? I'm sorry if this is a dumb question....but hey I'm learning more each day thanks to you guys.

[stratman]

Originally Posted by Jay015

Hi all, this is my first post on the Reaper forums. First off many thanks to everyone taking their time to explain or do sound clips. Awesome stuff !!!

I've just started using Reaper and playing around with amp sims. Easy to get overwhelmed but the possibilities are endless.

I have a question for stratman. First off I love that sound on your clip "Meatheadpete.mp3". I wanted to try it myself in Reaper but my noob question is how do I open your track template for this within reaper ? I'm sorry if this is a dumb question....but hey I'm learning more each day thanks to you guys.

Prior to using the Track Template you'll need to download the various VST's I use. The links are in Post #94

To download the Track Template. right click on the download link, choose Save Target As..., then save it where you want to keep it.

To use it, just drag it into Reaper.


edit Alternatively, if you want it to appear in your track template list within Reaper you need to put it in a specific location.

For Vista 32 bit, the location would be: C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\TrackTemplates

I'm not sure about XP, but I think it would be somewhere like: C:\Document and Settings\User Name\Application Data\REAPER\TrackTemplates

Pete

[bullshark]

And don't forget to disable SIR if you want to play it real-time, otherwise you'll have time to play your part, go to your nearest Starbuck, wait in line to get your coffee, drink it and then come back home just in time to hear what you've played.

Thanks for the template stratman.

[stratman]

Originally Posted by MichaJo

My apologies for probably hijacking this thread.
Can someone upload a FX - chain for a tone similar to the one in
this awesome litte Blues-Solo of Frank Gambale (starting at 1:32)?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgzCh...eature=related

I'm not really a solo-guitar-player. But nevertheless i'd like to get this tone (I only have got a Fender Squier Strat to play with)

Michael

I had this (stupid) idea that I could try to play this on my Squier Strat and see how close I could get to the sound. How hard could it be?

After playing the Youtube clip, I lifted the flv file from my Temporary Internet file location. After that I used VLC player http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ to slow down the video, then learned a short clip from 1:32 to 1:42.

Bloody hell! I've had one of those humbling 'Oh shit' moments Those lines, which transverse across the neck as well as up and down the neck, are a lot harder than they look. I'm still struggling to get it up to tempo and Frank Gambale makes it look so effortless (a scary player). I've got some serious practicing to do.

Pete

[kindafishy]

Originally Posted by Tedwood

Quite probably, but with respect there is no reason why a paid for impulse would be any better than a free one. If the impulse sounds great in a given situation all it means its the one being espoused was a good choice, and compared to a bad choice.

Put into context what you have is a darn fine guitar player using an Impulse tha works very well for his style and at the end of his chain, if the chain is tweaked toward using a particular IR this is exactly what you would expect. There are also remarks about Pod IR's being crap, but it's not clear what that actually means. Does it mean Line 6 can't make a decent impulse - that can't be right surely?

I have used Line 6 and if I don't tell you whether I use a GuitarHacks, one of our own Pipeline's (made without compromise and free) you won't know what's so good or bad about the tone unless I tell you. Comparisons are therefore pretty useless unless you are doing them yourself.

Dimi knows what he is doing (understatement). It's unfortunate that it's hard to convey the basic idea without also implying that it might make you sound good too. Unfortunate because the truth is simple, the right impulse can make all the difference but it's just an impulse, so what you need is a lot of choice - forget about branding or endorsement.







oooh... look at me - I'm using a Dimitar Nalbantov Impulse



Don't be like Homer

Of course paid for doesn't necessarily equal better.

The most interesting thing to me was the A/B comparisons. They are not at all useless in my opinion. On that particular post, there are comparisons where the only thing that is changing is the impulse loaded at the end. My ears favour the redline impulses. Not because they are not free, but just because to my ears, they sound better.

These IR's seem to me to be a good value. Ruling a good product out purely by virtue of it costing money would be just as bad as ruling something out by virtue of it being free.

[AudioWonderland]

Originally Posted by Wolffman

So how do you guys/girls set up amp-sims to get a good sound, I can't for the life of me get a decent sound from them. I know its possible as i've heard some very good examples of amp-sim sounds posted on the forums.
I've just got the Acmebargig Dickhead & Meathead sims & the poulin lecab & Boogex, i've also got the aradaz, simulAnalog & FreeAmp 3 sims plus some others like juicy77. I also have a bunch of cab impulses.

Wow after writing that it seems i've got all the gear and no idear !!!

I don't use any really highgain metal type sounds, mostly thick clean tones,just broken up blues to classic rock tones. Think fender 65 deluxe reverb or Vox AC30 with an ibanz tube screamer in front, lovely.

Thats the kind of tone i'm looking for, but i just can't seem to get anything that resembles a good guitar tone. I must be setting up the siginal chain wrong.

I'd really like some fx-chain examples of how you set up and record your amp-sims.

Heres my setup
Telecaster, Ibanez hollow body
RME ff400, this has an instrument input i've been pluging straight into.
DAW, amp-sim cab chain, record armed, monitor input, out to monitors.

Really appreciate any ideas you have.

Cheers.

Amp sims usually need to be High and Low Passed. I start rolling off highs anywhere from 8k-12k. Sometimes lower. Low end in the 80-120hz range but depends on the guitar/sim in question. Guitar cabs can't reproduce the full spectrum.

Next, turn down the gain. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. Vast majority over estimate how much gain is in the sound they are trying to reproduce.

Don't forget to take into account the effect of any double/triple tracking that may have been done.

[Tedwood]

Originally Posted by kindafishy

These IR's seem to me to be a good value. Ruling a good product out purely by virtue of it costing money would be just as bad as ruling something out by virtue of it being free.

Absolutely, don't rule anything out.

Main thing for people to bear in mind is changing the IR at the end of the chain (regardless of where it came from), will give you wildly different flavours. Only one of them you will like better than the rest, but it won't be any better. Change the settings on the amp sim and you might like the same IR the least.

I guess all I am saying is what you like about a cake is the whole thing, not just the flour or the jam or the cream - only certain combinations work together, but none of the ingredients are bad - or special.

[Jay015]

Originally Posted by stratman

Prior to using the Track Template you'll need to download the various VST's I use. The links are in Post #94

To download the Track Template. right click on the download link, choose Save Target As..., then save it where you want to keep it.

To use it, just drag it into Reaper.


edit Alternatively, if you want it to appear in your track template list within Reaper you need to put it in a specific location.

For Vista 32 bit, the location would be: C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\TrackTemplates

I'm not sure about XP, but I think it would be somewhere like: C:\Document and Settings\User Name\Application Data\REAPER\TrackTemplates

Pete

Thanks stratman for the info !!! Can't wait to try it out ....

[jens]

Originally Posted by Wolffman

So how do you guys/girls set up amp-sims to get a good sound, I can't for the life of me get a decent sound from them. I know its possible as i've heard some very good examples of amp-sim sounds posted on the forums.
I've just got the Acmebargig Dickhead & Meathead sims & the poulin lecab & Boogex, i've also got the aradaz, simulAnalog & FreeAmp 3 sims plus some others like juicy77. I also have a bunch of cab impulses.

Wow after writing that it seems i've got all the gear and no idear !!!

I don't use any really highgain metal type sounds, mostly thick clean tones,just broken up blues to classic rock tones. Think fender 65 deluxe reverb or Vox AC30 with an ibanz tube screamer in front, lovely.

Thats the kind of tone i'm looking for, but i just can't seem to get anything that resembles a good guitar tone. I must be setting up the siginal chain wrong.

I'd really like some fx-chain examples of how you set up and record your amp-sims.

Heres my setup
Telecaster, Ibanez hollow body
RME ff400, this has an instrument input i've been pluging straight into.
DAW, amp-sim cab chain, record armed, monitor input, out to monitors.

Really appreciate any ideas you have.

Cheers.

I'd experiment with Juicy77 then - it's about as good as it gets - switch to the clean channel (lead of) and choose the appropriate cabinet (within Juicy itself (I suggest one of the small Americans) - no cab-sim after that!) - that should bring you close - if it lacks drive, then you can put their (BTE) overdrive-thingamajic if front of it...

[Wolffman]

Originally Posted by jens

I'd experiment with Juicy77 then - it's about as good as it gets - switch to the clean channel (lead of) and choose the appropriate cabinet (within Juicy itself (I suggest one of the small Americans) - no cab-sim after that!) - that should bring you close - if it lacks drive, then you can put their (BTE) overdrive-thingamajic if front of it...

Thanks jens, i'll try that out, i haven't really spent much time with juicy77.

Speaking of time, i've come to realize that setting up ampsims is a real time burner so many variations/options, which is both good & bad i guess.

Thank Cockos for FX-chains

Cheers

[bluzkat]

I'm starting to think we need a guitar forum around here!! Anyone else getting that same feeling??


This thread turned into a thing of beauty.

[bfloyd6969]

Originally Posted by bluzkat

I'm starting to think we need a guitar forum around here!! Anyone else getting that same feeling??


This thread turned into a thing of beauty.

Yeah, I asked for that a long while ago great idea...

[BurningSG]

Originally Posted by bluzkat

I'm starting to think we need a guitar forum around here!!

Excellent Idea...

SG