I’ve been working on a fair amount of Metal stuff lately, but I’m at something of a crossroads because my amp is not cutting it. It’s a Vox Valvetronix 50W. The Vox simulations on it are superb, especially when you dial in a little grit. But the heavy sims blow.
I also have Guitar Rig 3 and the heavier settings on it don’t cut it either. I’m a bit spoiled here, however: for years, my amp was a Soldano stack with Hot Rod 50 head – that amp had serious crunch. I never should have sold it, given that the prices for used ones have almost doubled in the last few years.
To me, the modellers and the sims fail in a number of areas, but one crucial one: light palm-muting. With the Soldano, light palm-muting (with the bridge pick-up) yielded a really chunky sound, the definition of “metal.” The sims and modellers sound very weak in comparison.
I’m just thinking aloud here. Maybe I need to buy Amplitube Metal and try it. I tried the Softtube Metal amp which sounds pretty good in the demos, but I couldn’t get Cubase to recognize the timed demo
You can download “AmpliTube3 Free”. It’s the same app as the full AmpliTube version uses now. They have what is called Custom Shop where you can buy individual pieces. You can also trial items before you buy. You have to be connected to the internet to use it, though (the Custom Shop part). IK has a group buy going on right now, too. I just got AmpliTube3 Full and chose AmpliTube Fender as my freebee about a week ago. I’m impressed so far, but don’t really have anything else to compare it to.
I’ve found once you’ve recorded a distorted guitar amp, you’re pretty much stuck with it, other than some LP or HP filtering. That’s why I spend so long trying to get it right going in.
Some things just plain suck for a type of sound you’re after. I once had a Peavy amp combo, it sucked AND savored donkey balls when it came to using it for hard rock. So I bought a Marchall JCM 800 and 4-12 cab…and > ‘CRUNCH’ > all was well with rock … instead of sucking balls I was now kicking balls >
Yeah, looks like it’s time to return to the glory of yesteryear. I did look last night; the Soldano’s I used to buy/sell frequently have gone WAY up in price, basically doubled. I know I knew this and I know you knew I knew this, and I knew you knowed it. So, thanks
Just to be clear, I wasn’t suggesting using an amp sim for playing live. I only brought up the AmpliTube thing because you had mentioned it. Who wants to be jacking with a computer while playing live? Especially metal. I would never go there. They do have a Soldano SLO-100 in the Custom Shop now, I noticed. Wouldn’t mind taking that for a spin.
There is still no substitute for a cranked tube amp if you want to rock out with your kock out. For recording, though, I think I’ll be spending more and more time with my new virtual wall of amps, cabs, stomps, racks, and mics.
Jammin’ with a band, I’ll take my Crybaby > Metal Zone > Bassman Reissue any day. That combination is brutal. A Bassman for metal? Oh, yes please!
Perhaps they release a 64bit version soon. I actually demoed the Metal Amp room and didn´t like it much. The Vintage Amp, namely the Marshall emulation it is about right for me.
The Simulanalog plug isn´t available to work in 64 bit OS too. Tough luck.
BTW, i really like the guitar plugs bundled with Cubase. Did you try them?
Hi there Doug. I haven’t had any problems getting my preferred metal tones since Amplitube 2 and Guitar Rig 3 were released. A lot of people tend to like my guitar sound too
All songs I’ve done since 2005 or so has been doen with hardware modellers like the vox tonelab or software amps.
A cheap and nobrainer buy for getting a really good heavy guitar sound in software is this:
Get both of them and you’re good to go. Even the presets sounds fine, hehe
And of all things it’s from Indonesia
90% of the guitartracks on my latest song “Altered State” were done with the Amplifikation Creme plugin.
I am also redoing my song “Sinking” these days (this time with Håkon doing the lead vocals)
I am 90% done with it now and on this I am exclusivele using the Creme plug
Absolutely! My buddy has a Supersonic with the Bassman circuitry and it KILLS. He wants to sell it to me, in fact
Don’t use the bassman silverface (100watt) or the Bassman 135 these do not break-up fast they have to be put very loud and be fed with a pretty hard signal (active electronics preamp), the blackface editions as well as other 50 watt amps are ok for rocksound but METAL needs litterly metal at your feets like in pedals!
BTW: Amplitube (version 2 still) still does a nice job and also the AMP sim in C6 does a decent job.
What I also could advise is to record the clean signal and then re-amp using real amps, pedals and mics to get the sound you want/need and re-record it. Don’t forget to also mic the ambient sound (room sound).
I used to use a Radial box for re-amping with my Soldano a bit
The Bassman section of the Supersonic sounds just like a standalone Bassman, but I don’t think I’d use it for Metal, mostly Blues and slightly over-driven Americana type stuff
The other half of the Supersonic is modeled I believe after a Road King and is great for Metal, no need for no stinking pedal(s)!
What I also could advise is to record the clean signal and then re-amp using real amps, pedals and mics to get the sound you want/need and re-record it. Don’t forget to also mic the ambient sound (room sound). 