Getting a Good Electric Guitar Sound

[philipc]

I have a Yamaha THR-10. It's a little digital practice amp/soundcard that uses a pair of hifi speakers. For a dorm room situation it'd be perfect. The amp models sound way better than Amplitube or any other software I've used. They sound terrific actually. The clean tones in particular are wonderful. It has about the same volume range as your average small television - plenty for a small room but it sounds good at whisper-quiet volumes too. The stereo speakers and effects give it a really big sound without needing to be that loud. They really thought it through.

It sounds okay for music playback too (it's got a line in for an mp3 player or you can play stuff back from your computer). There's a THR-5 that is cheaper and doesn't have the bass or acoustic amp models and only has a single EQ knob.

Anyway, I wasn't ever satisfied with my practice or home recorded tones until I got this gizmo about 8 months ago. I use it with Ableton all the time and had no issues with it software-wise. If you look for one second hand (there's loads of them on Ebay) then the very earliest batches had buzzy transformers but I think that problem was fixed pretty quickly. That's just something to watch out for.

[filter_7]

If you already have guitar level input jack in your card there's no need for extra gain. Usually it's best to stay clean, if you want add overdrive or distortion.

My advice is to buy a little fx box with amp simulations like the Pod or a Digitech Rp. You will have more control on your tone. Then you can add an overdrive pedal between the fx box and the audio card. Blending things it's very fun...

In the Ableton audio track then add this cabinet:
http://www.recabi.net/

it's the best around for me.

[Bagatell]

To my knowledge, all amp sims are basically emulating how a guitar amp will sound through a microphone and listening back to it in the control room. So no, nothing passes for the "real thing" in that sense and can't be seen as an alternative. I think this is where a lot of guitarists struggle with amp sims.

The KPA is capable of "amp in the room" sounds if it's fed through a FRFR system.

[Ajbbklyn]

These guys: Tech 21 NYC

They pioneered guitar signal processing for in-the-box. The software plug-in version of their SansAmp pedal is bundled into every iteration of Pro Tools. The Character Series pedals are all-analog. Each pedal emulates a specific amp (e.g. Vox AC30, Fender, Hiwatt, Orange, Ampeg SVT). For me, it's been money well-spent since these pedals shine onstage as well as in the box.

[penguinpajamas]

Are there any amp simulators that really sounds quality enough to pass as the real thing? Or at least close enough to work?

Kemper profiling amp or Axe FX. How's your credit rating?

Pretty low actually. To be honest I was mainly just looking into some things I may want to invest in somewhere down the line. It's not that I'm planning on focusing primarily on recording guitar, but I like the idea of having the ability to throw guitar into a song at hand without having to spend hours getting a good sound.

I think I've just been spoiled by the ease and low cost of digital recording haha.

[H20nly]

I think I've just been spoiled by the ease and low cost of digital recording

it happens to the best of us. and it certainly happened to the worst.

[btifft]

I've been dealing with the same issue lately. I've used Line6 GearBox in the past and it was decent, but had some unexpected problems after upgrading to Live9 so I've been trying some other sims. I tried Line6 PODFarm, and it sounds about the same but I can't stand the GUI. I tried the Amplitube demo, and it was OK, but not really enough amps in the demo to see what it could really do. Tried Waves GR4 and hated it. Also tried some of the free plugins people talk about being good...they weren't unless you like the sound of playing through a cheesy distortion pedal. To be honest, the best sounding clean amp sim I've come across is in GarageBand but I don't know yet if that can be worked into Live somehow, but it really sounds awesome to me.

[Bionecteur]

These guys: Tech 21 NYC

They pioneered guitar signal processing for in-the-box. The software plug-in version of their SansAmp pedal is bundled into every iteration of Pro Tools. The Character Series pedals are all-analog. Each pedal emulates a specific amp (e.g. Vox AC30, Fender, Hiwatt, Orange, Ampeg SVT). For me, it's been money well-spent since these pedals shine onstage as well as in the box.

yep; pretty good results with the TECH 21 stuff!

just an add: for bass guitar: SANSAMP or EBS Microbass 2..improved my signal so much...

[tedlogan]

Line6's POD HD is not bad at all - much better than the previous models. I'm using the desktop version, and it's priced pretty reasonably, around £320. Loads of amp models and all the effects you could want. Guitar Rig has excellent sound quality as well, but the latency and extra CPU required puts me off it.

[Khazul]

As above - get a line 6 pod or for pure in-the-box then guitar rig, but decent use of guitar rig does need a decent low latency audio interface with a specific Hi-Z guitar input IMHO. There are a few guitarists I know who use an RME baby face + Guitar rig software combo and some random midi pedal/switch board (I use a behringer FBC1010), or control it from a roland v-guitar rig.

Another cheaper option is the behringer pod rip offs - much cheaper but don't sound as good as the pod.

A guitarist friend really like guitar rig but some reason I struggle to get a sound I like out of it. I think some guitars seem to suit it and others perhaps just don't, or maybe the fx suit certain styles more.

[markwphoto]

Has anyone ever tried Kuassa Vermilion or Creme? I use them as a Rack Extension in Reason but they have a VST as well. My friend who is an anti-software guitarist was pleasantly surprised when he heard what they could do. He even wants to buy the plugins as well. Kuassa's plugins offer amp and cabinet modeling with adjustable mic types and placement. The price is reasonable as well... under $50!

[eyeknow]

I bought both when they were on sale. They are not bad but there is a lot of gain staging issues (clipping) and noise. I hate the noise gate on those.

I like s-gear as pretty much my one and only now. If for some reason I want more gain (though with wayfarer I do this less) I just put an instance of ignite audios stomp in front.

[btifft]

These guys: Tech 21 NYC

I'm going to give this SANSAMP box a try. I've been a guitarist since the early 80's and remember this thing coming on the market, but never used one. If it sounds even half as good as it does on their web site then I think it will be worth it.

I can't figure out why I have no problem dropping $200 on this little box, but kept flinching at the thought of spending $200 on something like Amplitube.

Either way I post my thoughts once I have it and give it a test run.

[btifft]

Tech21 Sansamp GT2: I've got say I'm impressed. This thing has amazing tone for what it is. It may be a bit limited in the fact that it can't simulate 50 different amps with a hundred different settings, but for getting a good basic guitar amp tone straight into your interface, this gadget is nice. I like the simplicity. I also like that it's an analog device. I think it's a keeper.

[EasyWorkflow]

I am surprised why no one has tried a micro amp like the Blackstar HTR 1-Watt 1×8 Combo Amp with Reverb, and using it's line out feature and go direct into interface. Wouldn't a tube preamp set at a clean volume give you a better signal to work with when using plugins like Guitar Amp. Or you could use the gain sound from this amp to get a "real" overdriven tube amp sound and add effects like reverb, chorus delay, etc once signal is Ableton. Or why not mic the cabinet and capture the actual speaker sound which is as natural an analog sound you can get and add effects like reverb, chorus etc once sound in in Ableton. I never heard the POD but know it must rock. But that is a digital sound versus a tube sound.

I am a newbie with Ableton and trying to figure out best way to record guitar myself. I started a thread and received some great feedback.

Take a look at what other guitarists have suggested.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=214089&start=0

Hope that helps because I am still trying to wrap my hands around using Ableton.

Cheers

BobbyD