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Old 07-27-2020, 03:07 PM   #1
spaids
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Default Why do my heavy metal amp sims sound terrible?

When I try amp sims that ALL OF YOUTUBE swears by, it sounds terrible on my system. For example the Emissary and the Ninja. There are a metric poop ton of youtube videos of people showing ALL the settings they use and they get these things to sound great. When I try the same settings it is terrible. ALL treble and shrill. I realize I have a different guitar but its a good guitar. I use a PAF PRO on the bridge. I can get the NRR amp from Ignite to sound good so I'm glad I tried it but I am still curious what my deal is. Could it be my interface (Mbox2 from the bronze age)? Do different interfaces have a drastic effect on your guitar tone?

It is a struggle to dial in a good tone and if I could do that more easily with a better interface I would consider it. I never actually play guitar because I end up tweaking tone from here to infinity.
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Old 07-27-2020, 03:11 PM   #2
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You probably have too high a gain or are listening without context of the song.
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Old 07-27-2020, 03:20 PM   #3
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My guess would be that it has more to do with the guitar than with the interface.

I've found that sims loved by others sound terrible on my system (many times). It can take a lot of work to get a good sound. Then when you've finally got all your settings right, you make a youtube video which makes it look easy.


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Originally Posted by spaids View Post
ALL treble and shrill.
So, try:
# roll off the treble from the guitar
# Lo pass/Hi shelf the input to the sim
# Lo pass/Hi shelf the output from the sim
# All combinations of the above

And try turning the guitar's volume pot down. No, really.

Ultimately, maybe the combination of that guitar and that sim just isn't right for you - which doesn't mean it's a bad guitar, and doesn't mean it's a bad sim.

Last edited by Fex; 07-27-2020 at 03:28 PM.
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Old 07-27-2020, 05:21 PM   #4
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Can you post an example? Can you also post your guitars direct input also? I think hearing it will give a lot more information about your issue for me. Have a great week
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Old 07-27-2020, 06:06 PM   #5
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You are using an IR (cabinet impulse) after the amp, right?......
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Old 07-27-2020, 06:27 PM   #6
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Yep after the amp sim you need a cab sim like NadIR or something that loads impulse responses.
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Old 07-27-2020, 06:30 PM   #7
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pickups too close to the strings?
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Old 07-27-2020, 08:49 PM   #8
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You are using an IR (cabinet impulse) after the amp, right?......
If you are not using any cab emulation, and you are just hearing the amp sound, its going to sound HORRIBLE. You are hearing the noise of the head without any emulation of the sound playing out of a speaker, so its incredibly shrill and harsh.

I recommend something like this. Awesome set of cabs for a variety of styles, and very easy to use:

https://www.getgooddrums.com/product...-zilla-edition

But there are free versions out there. These programs are called "IR Loaders", they load Impulse Responses, which are basically snapshots of how a particular speaker behaves.
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Old 07-28-2020, 02:09 AM   #9
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Added distortion?

Oh, sorry, is that intentional?

.(you might guess I am not a non acoustic guitarophile....�� .....the opposite of audiophile?)
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Old 07-28-2020, 03:05 AM   #10
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Because Heavy Metal as a genre is terrible.
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Old 07-28-2020, 03:41 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fex View Post

I've found that sims loved by others sound terrible on my system (many times).
Same experience here.

I did find it easier to dial in the tones after getting a DI box.
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Old 07-28-2020, 04:52 AM   #12
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Yes I am using NadIR.

Sounds like no one suspects my interface is the culprit.

Thanks for the feedback
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Old 07-28-2020, 05:40 AM   #13
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Get yourself Nadir from STL/Ignite. It’s your amp sim’s partner the IR loader or as I cal it the Cab sim.

Search and download an IR pack called Seven Deadly Sins. Do the same for another pack called a God’s Cabs complete.

What you’re going to want to do once you get Nadir and the IR packs I mentioned is put Nadir in your fX chain behind your amp sim. So it’ll be amp sim then right below it Nadir.

Pick a folder in the Gods Cabs or 7DS pack and looking at your resolution you want to record at, pick two iR files from the same cabinet folder in the pack that is using the same resolution you are recording at this will apply to Gods cabs more than the other. Make sure to try two different mix IR files. Use a SM 57 Ir and the day a C414 Ir. Load one on each side of Nadir. Set the balance of Nadir to center. Mute one side for now. Set the HPF on both sides of Nadir to somewhere between 100-147Hz. Set the LPF to 10KHz. Turn the resonance off on both sides. Now start playing through your amp sim. Set all tone knobs to 12:00 set the gain of Emissary or Ninja whichever you’re using to around 11:30-12. Turn off any resonance adjustment the sim may have. Does it sound ok? Ok good,

Now turn off all the tone knobs. Yes off. Now turn up the mids until it starts sounding offensive, back it off until just before it gets offensive. Your Mids are set. Now turn up treble until it get the right amount of bite you want to those mids. Not too
Much now. When those mids sound aggressive stop. Your treble is set. Now play some quarter note chugs and while you do that start adding in the bass. Keep going until the bass thumps but does not add in a whoomp type noise with the thump. If it’s doing that back off until that whoomp noise goes away. Bass is set. Now add in presence just enough to bring back the top end the bass adjustment took away. Stop you’re done. Don’t fuck with the resonance knob. You are playing guitar, you aren’t a bass player.

Now does the guitar sound halfway decent? Ok now remember the speaker Ir you turned the volume down on? Start raising that up until the blend of the two is to your liking. Don’t be afraid of cycling through any of th IRs in that folder. I have found that using the 57 set to dust cap edge at 2”-4” away IR sounds better than the close miked ones. The condenser Mic IRs I use the same position but at 1’-2’ away sound best. These take off the fizzy high end that makes your tone abound shit.

The stock IR’s that come with Nadir v2 sound shit. The best IR’s in either of those two packs are the Mesa Rectifier cabs in God’s Cabs, the Marshall greenback loaded IR’s in 7DS pack, the Mesa ones same pack though Gods cabs smoke anyone’s Mesa IR’s including Mesa’s branded ones. The non TS IRs sound better than the TS ones. The Lancaster IRS I don’t particularly like either. The pay for ones Celestion sell are decent. The Greenback reissues and V30s and G12-65s are the best. Use the other guitar ones to add eq seasonings to your sound. They are too harsh to use as the base tone iMO.

Neural DSP No Name is the best pay for amp sim period for metal.

any amp sim you get free online always couple it with Ignite Amps TPA-1. You’ll understand once you hear it.

Try this. Download Ignite Amps black colored stomp pedal plugin. Set gain to 2:00 level to around 3:30-4:00 set the tone like I described above. Do not use the boost feature. Couple that with TPA-1 use EL34 or KT88 setting on the TPA. Set the knobs on the TPA at noon, use the input and output settings on the back of the plugin for your gain staging. You’ll probably like this better than an amp sim as it feels like how an amp responds in real life.


Also that company that makes the Ninja which is ok, their Rectifier preamp not Pectifier sim is the best amp offering they have sonically. Also I don’t like Emissary either. It’s too much. Way too much hissing gain. I like their other guitar preamp that isn’t the Anvil. Couple that with TPA again.

These are for your basic guitar tones and they aren’t going to sound polished but put you where you want to be when you start applying your EQ’ing and compression.

You can also try ruining an instance of Analog Obsession’s Konsole set to use the blue transformer On channel setting. Run this before guitar amp aims chain. Set the level to noon and dial up the gain until you hear the plugin doing something. Whatever it’s doing to the signal enhances distorted guitars. You don’t need a lot.

Oh one more thing. Off axis IRs for guitar always sound like a blanket is thrown over the sound. They don’t translate on any I have tried going full amp sim chain.

After tracking I will apply another instance of HPF and LPF in the channel Set to similar as I suggested on Nadir. After your amp chain, I’ll use surgical EQ to remove any offensive frequency and whistle frequencies. I will use another eq instance to add a mid size Q boost around 110-125HZ. If using a rectifier cab iR I will apply the low boost around 85Hz as that is where the resonant peak of those amps are Make sure to lower the one an octave higher(190ish) 2-3Db. Cut a mid size Q around 350-500 to make room for your bass and vocals, high shelf around 6K, a small boost (narrow Q) around 1.5K-1.75K to bring out pick click(attack) helps as well.

Use a dynamic eq or multiband on your guitar bus to level out the guitar track’s peaks that don’t add to the mix. Also use a channel strip on the guitar bus for sweetener eq and minimal compression. 6:1 ratio with around 6Db reduction using a slow attack and a quick release seems to work. You want to make sure you don’t kill pick attacks and to help keep the guitars percussive on any palm muting riffs. A little goes a long way.

The metal I play uses more tremolo picking than most modern metal and is way more technical than black metal so I use a little more compression to control the guitars than you may need.

Try any of what I have written and see if any of it works for you. I do not use amp sims for release material. That stuff I pay to have recorded in a studio. I only use amp aims to shoot demo tracks to my band mates though I want the guitars as close to authentic as possible. Ymmv.
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Old 07-28-2020, 05:44 AM   #14
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Because Heavy Metal as a genre is terrible.
So Rock&Roll is terrible? Because heavy metal isn’t anything but high energy Rock&Roll.

Also opinions are like assholes. We all have one and don’t necessarily like to hear each other’s. The OP didn’t ask for your opinion regarding a genre, he asked about helping him sort out his guitar tone.
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Old 07-28-2020, 05:46 AM   #15
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pickups too close to the strings?
Good tip. I forgot about this one as all my guitars are already set up with pickups further away from the strings.
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Old 07-28-2020, 05:53 AM   #16
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Sounds like no one suspects my interface is the culprit.
Well, I have no experience of an "Mbox2 from the bronze age." The interface is still on the suspect list. How bad is that interface?
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Old 07-28-2020, 05:56 AM   #17
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@ Spaids. One last thing that couples with the above mentioned making sure your pickups are set a ways from the strings comment above, make sure you are using good quality volume and tone pots in your guitar. Not saying to run out now and get new ones, but sometime soon if you don’t already have them. Good as in CTS brand at least or if using an import guitar Alpha brand. Use same values as what you already have. Also upgrade any capacitors or resistors that may also be in the guitar control cavity to quality components. Quality as in a metalized polypropylene capacitor. And 1% resistors. Vishay resistors 1/4 watt 1% resistors are what I use and either Illinois Capacitor or Sprague orange drop capacitors are the caps I use. The volt value on those is whatever it is where the capacitors are about 1/2” long. These will cost you less than $.75 for all you may have. This being the tone pot cap and if you have a treble bleed filter on your volume pot (if using an Ibanez guitar). Just match component values of what you have in the guitar already.
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Old 07-28-2020, 07:42 AM   #18
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Well, I have no experience of an "Mbox2 from the bronze age." The interface is still on the suspect list. How bad is that interface?
It has a proper DI input on the back I think. Unless the interface is broken that shouldn’t be it, should it?
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Old 07-28-2020, 07:47 AM   #19
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Unless the interface is broken that shouldn’t be it, should it?
It certainly shouldn't be....
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Old 07-28-2020, 07:48 AM   #20
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It has a proper DI input on the back I think. Unless the interface is broken that shouldn’t be it, should it?
Lurking the thread, I have no reason to believe the interface input would make a guitar sound terrible through a SIM unless it's broken or using the wrong input and that's just enough to confuse. If it has a hi-z input that should suffice and a passive external DI knocks off a good 6 dB of signal as well.

The main reason I've not replied at all till now -so few details combined with abstract subjective terms like "sounds good".
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Old 07-28-2020, 08:25 AM   #21
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...make sure you are using good quality volume and tone pots in your guitar...Also upgrade any capacitors or resistors that may also be in the guitar control cavity to quality components...
This is all complete bullshit. “Good quality” pots might last longer and/or have smoother action, but won’t change the tone at all. The cap on the tone pot has no effect on the sound at all until the pot is at least halfway down, and even then you’re not like to actually hear a difference between different types in a guitar.

Some interfaces are just way too hot, especially at the instrument inputs, so you could just be hitting the amp sim too hard, but that would be the only thing the interface can really mess up, and you can usually adjust that once it’s in Reaper, so not really worth buying something new.

It could honestly just be the way you play. It could also be that you are not exactly an objective observer, and kind of like how we tend to hate our own voices when we hear them played back. But also I promise you that none of these people you’re referencing got their sounds by copying the settings they saw somebody else use. Turn the knobs til it sounds good and works for you. Then turn the gain down from where you thought was super cool a little bit.
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Old 07-28-2020, 08:40 AM   #22
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Some interfaces are just way too hot, especially at the instrument inputs, so you could just be hitting the amp sim too hard
I was going to say this, but with my credentials as a caveman drummer who owns and plays 10 guitars and basses, I figgered it best to stay quiet.

Every time I've played with guitar sims, they always sound like crap to me. I use a real tube preamp and head powering a mic'd speaker, but I have found that backing off the volume on my guitars improves the believability of amp sims by a huge factor.
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Old 07-28-2020, 09:12 AM   #23
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The funny thing is that with both real amps and guitar sims I tend to want as much input level as possible, to the point that even with hot humbuckers, I end up turning up the input gain (NOT amp gain) on the sim quite a ways or add a boost pedal.

Some of my guitars don’t have volume knobs, and the ones that do stay at either 10 or 0. Anything less than 10 will change the tone. If it’s just a straight volume pot, you’ll start to lose treble, and if it has a treble bleed attached, you’ll start to lose bass.

karbomusic suggested in another thread using the amp gain to adjust for input level, but in a lot of real amps, that gain knob has a kind of “treble bleed” circuit across it such that the position of the knob has a real impact on the frequency spectrum, and I’d expect a good amp sim would include that. I set the amp gain for the tone I want and use more transparent means before that point to adjust the amount of crunch.

Course, I’m not winning any awards for my guitar tones, but I generally get pretty close to what I’m looking for.
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Old 07-28-2020, 09:21 AM   #24
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karbomusic suggested in another thread using the amp gain to adjust for input level, but in a lot of real amps, that gain knob has a kind of “treble bleed” circuit across it such that the position of the knob has a real impact on the frequency spectrum, and I’d expect a good amp sim would include that. I set the amp gain for the tone I want and use more transparent means before that point to adjust the amount of crunch.
Yea but I was really just conflating it with input gain in general but ... it's still part the same thing you and I usually mention, turn those knobs stop when you like it. For a distorted guitar tone, I think it's extremely easy too get way to far into unnecessary weeds.

Also, don't start a thread with "sounds terrible" then go dark without details and/or samples, that doesn't' tell us anything useful and results in 10s of posts that list everything under the sun.

All that said, I'm perfectly fine with various controls (on amp, guitar etc), that also cause tonal changes, that's why I turn them and IMHO very much of their value YMMV. My gtr knobs are almost never all on 10 at the same time.
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Old 07-28-2020, 09:41 AM   #25
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All that said, I'm perfectly fine with various controls (on amp, guitar etc), that also cause tonal changes, that's why I turn them and IMHO very much of their value YMMV. My gtr knobs are almost never all on 10 at the same time.
Perfectly valid, and I agree with the rest of your post. I mostly just came here to say that no, it’s probably not the interface per se, and no, expensive pots and caps won’t help.
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Old 07-28-2020, 09:42 AM   #26
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What I've noticed primarily when I've messed around with the three or so amp sims I have vs using an amp/speaker is there is much more background noise with the amp sim, and it gets worse with more distortion on the amp sim to the point that it gets thin and cheesy sounding.

Generally I run all my guitars wide open on both volume and tone, which works great with a real amp, but sounds less great on an amp sim. Using a Behringer UMC1820 with the front panel gain backed off to it's max, still results in too hot of a signal going into the amp sim for me, and since all my guitars do have volume controls, the slight roll off of highs from a reduction in passive volume helps address the thin and cheesy aspect of hyped up distortion on an amp sim.

For a quick check I just plugged in my 1975 Gibson L6S Midnight Special into the UMC1820 with it's front panel gain all the way down and switched for instrument input, then with Guitar Rig set on the preset "Demonized 800" played around for a minute. It sounded okay, but much too bright and fake. Backing off the volume control on the guitar about 15% improved the sound immensely.
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Old 07-28-2020, 09:58 AM   #27
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What I've noticed primarily when I've messed around with the three or so amp sims I have vs using an amp/speaker is there is much more background noise with the amp sim, and it gets worse with more distortion on the amp sim to the point that it gets thin and cheesy sounding.
.
About 99% of the time it's because it forces the player/guitar closer to the computer which is pretty much a complete riot of various noise interference. It's also possible someone completely over gained the SIM but often it's being within several feet of the machine and/or both.

There is that entire phenomena of gain increasing because hearing gain sounds like more gain than playing gain. Which is why ashcat suggested backing that damn gain knob to somewhere under where one naturally expects it should be - there's psychoacoustic reason for that, can explained if interested.
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Old 07-28-2020, 10:30 AM   #28
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About 99% of the time it's because it forces the player/guitar closer to the computer which is pretty much a complete riot of various noise interference. It's also possible someone completely over gained the SIM but often it's being within several feet of the machine and/or both.
I am the 1% on this subject, because with a real amp I sit right in front of the computer, monitoring my guitars through my JBL monitors after being mic'd on a speaker cab in the closet.

With an amp sim, I'm in the exact same position, listening through the same JBLs, just without the real amp, speaker cab, and mic.

Quote:
There is that entire phenomena of gain increasing because hearing gain sounds like more gain than playing gain. Which is why ashcat suggested backing that damn gain knob to somewhere under where one naturally expects it should be - there's psychoacoustic reason for that, can explained if interested.
Without knowing the technical reasons behind it, doing A/B comparisons with the same guitar monitored through the same JBL monitors, sitting two feet from the computer and 40" display, the amp sims always sound too bright, too brittle, and too easily driven too far when bearing down on the guitar.

I did a song once that tried to emulate the sound of the real guitar amp using a sim, and I had it switch halfway through the song to see if I could get away with using an amp sim. It was close enough for rock-n-roll, but I did have to back the guitar volume off to achieve the closest match to my real amp.
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Old 07-28-2020, 10:30 AM   #29
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Spaids, a few things you might consider:
- Change up the IRs in your IR loader. Different IRs can make a huge difference in the tone.

- Find and download some guitar stems and put them through your FX chain:
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/foru....php?t=1676590
This should help you determine if the problem is with your interface, i.e. if these stems sound good but your input sounds bad with nothing else changed, then it might be the interface.

Try AmpEra, it's an "all in one" amp sim developed by a Reaper forumgoer:
https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?p=2159213

Can you provide an example of the tone you're looking for, and what you currently have? That would help others bridge the gap.
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Old 07-28-2020, 10:52 AM   #30
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I am the 1% on this subject, because with a real amp I sit right in front of the computer, monitoring my guitars through my JBL monitors after being mic'd on a speaker cab in the closet.

With an amp sim, I'm in the exact same position, listening through the same JBLs, just without the real amp, speaker cab, and mic.


Without knowing the technical reasons behind it, doing A/B comparisons with the same guitar monitored through the same JBL monitors, sitting two feet from the computer and 40" display, the amp sims always sound too bright, too brittle, and too easily driven too far when bearing down on the guitar.

I did a song once that tried to emulate the sound of the real guitar amp using a sim, and I had it switch halfway through the song to see if I could get away with using an amp sim. It was close enough for rock-n-roll, but I did have to back the guitar volume off to achieve the closest match to my real amp.
Best I can tell you is turn the knobs until it sounds good. Many SIMs sound like that because most people don't stick their ears 1 inch from the middle of the guitar speaker and it have a tweeter like monitors among other possible reasons - that doesn't cover the case of comparing to a recorded amp, just covering that piece for those who don't realize.

Also, most amps, at least distorted have lost all useful info just above 7k or lower, if the amp SIM isn't try that. Mic'd mesa boogie with distortion from a track the other day...




I've been using amps almost exclusively for a year or more now - it's easy for me, my studio is full of them and at least one always mic'd up. Mainly for two reasons, it's more unique than whateveryone else is using IMHO, and 2, I don't usually like hearing my guitar coming out of the monitors aka the same speakers the rest of the mix is when playing. I much prefer the guitar I'm recording "over there" while playing to the mix in the monitors.

That said, I can function with SIMs generally fine, I have released recordings with both all over them, and I nor anyone else knows which was which - but I still tend to prefer amps for all of the above reasons.

And my gentle reminder that in many cases if a guitar tone has all those extra highs, even if natural from the guitar, there is a very high chance they are eating into some other instruments space, vocal air, cymbals, snare who knows, get it back in its proper neighborhood and a lot of this will fix itself.
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Old 07-28-2020, 11:08 AM   #31
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Best I can tell you is turn the knobs until it sounds good. Many SIMs sound like that because most people don't stick their ears 1 inch from the middle of the guitar speaker and it have a tweeter like monitors among other possible reasons - that doesn't cover the case of comparing to a recorded amp, just covering that piece for those who don't realize.

Also, most amps, at least distorted have lost all useful info just above 7k or lower, if the amp SIM isn't try that. Mic'd mesa boogie with distortion from a track the other day...
Interesting spectrum display. I've never thought about doing any comparisons visually like that, and have always just used my ears, but now I'm thinking maybe I'll see how close I can make a sim sound to the real thing by including visual comparisons as well.

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I've been using amps almost exclusively for a year or more now - it's easy for me, my studio is full of them and at least one always mic'd up. Mainly for two reasons, it's more unique than whateveryone else is using IMHO, and 2, I don't usually like hearing my guitar coming out of the monitors aka the same speakers the rest of the mix is when playing. I much prefer the guitar I'm recording "over there" while playing to the mix in the monitors.

That said, I can function with SIMs generally fine, I have released recordings with both all over them, and I nor anyone else knows which was which - but I still tend to prefer amps for all of the above reasons.
I've used isolated guitar speaker cabinets for recording, monitoring what I or anyone else is playing through the studio monitors from all the way back to the late 70s and early 80s when I had my six foot tall Ampex 1" machine. Back then I had a black face Fender speaker cab in the attic with a mic on it, but the black face amp top was down in the main control room where it could easily be tweaked by the player. I just prefer hearing the guitar while tracking, sitting in the mix with the other instruments where I can really hear what the mic is capturing as it's being captured, and how it fits in.

Using a cabinet IR at the end of a chain with an amp sim helps, but since I have the real thing, always ready to just turn on and record, since it stays mic'd up in the closet, I always end up using that.
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Old 07-28-2020, 11:13 AM   #32
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Interesting spectrum display. I've never thought about doing any comparisons visually like that, and have always just used my ears, but now I'm thinking maybe I'll see how close I can make a sim sound to the real thing by including visual comparisons as well.
Might be helpful!

In fact that screenshot, I was worried I had rolled that off via EQ but nope, I had actually boosted some high end just to get it to there. Just keep in mind, I'm always aware of not having too much treble (you listening JBM?) so there's a high chance the tone and/or volume on the guitar was also rolled back a tad. If one is used to all those highs, what I'm preaching will take a little getting used to, then it will sound normal. That's a good thing, our brains aren't instant, it doesn't immediately appreciate change, even when it is mistaken, patience is a virtue here.

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I've used isolated guitar speaker cabinets for recording, monitoring what I or anyone else is playing through the studio monitors from all the way back to the late 70s and early 80s when I had my six foot tall Ampex 1" machine. Back then I had a black face Fender speaker cab in the attic with a mic on it, but the black face amp top was down in the main control room where it could easily be tweaked by the player. I just prefer hearing the guitar while tracking, sitting in the mix with the other instruments where I can really hear what the mic is capturing as it's being captured, and how it fits in.
I know many like that, never been my bag. I usually just run a test or two, adjust and run with it. I often want the guitar cab banging on my strings, helps sustain. Another hint is turn the amp up way too loud and then play much softer. Often results in way better tone, this would likely also work with a SIM because AFAIK it's the interaction with the strings/pickup that's making some of the difference here.
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Old 07-28-2020, 11:53 AM   #33
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Might be helpful!

In fact that screenshot, I was worried I had rolled that off via EQ but nope, I had actually boosted some high end just to get it to there. Just keep in mind, I'm always aware of not having too much treble (you listening JBM?) so there's a high chance the tone and/or volume on the guitar was also rolled back a tad. If one is used to all those highs, what I'm preaching will take a little getting used to, then it will sound normal. That's a good thing, our brains aren't instant, it doesn't immediately appreciate change, even when it is mistaken, patience is a virtue here.
I'm definitely going to have to do some tests with a spectrum display now, as my interest on this subject has really been piqued. I use a Sennheiser MD421 at the edge of the cone of a 12" old blue Jensen speaker that is in a vintage twin twelve Gretsch cab, and neither the speakers nor the mic have the frequency response that plugging a guitar direct into an input of the sound device has.

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I know many like that, never been my bag. I usually just run a test or two, adjust and run with it. I often want the guitar cab banging on my strings, helps sustain. Another hint is turn the amp up way too loud and then play much softer. Often results in way better tone, this would likely also work with a SIM because AFAIK it's the interaction with the strings/pickup that's making some of the difference here.
I know what you mean about getting some vibes back from the speaker cab, but interestingly enough, I can get extremely controllable feedback at low volumes using the JBL monitors as my speaker while recording. Bottom line though would be to use the method that makes you feel most at home so you play the best you can.
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Old 07-28-2020, 12:03 PM   #34
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Would be easier if OP just posted a sample, maybe the problem's simple and not worth the walls of text. Mistuned instrument, guitar infested with badgers etc.
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Old 07-28-2020, 12:11 PM   #35
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Agreed, I for one have had the badger infestation, sucks tone right out of the pickups. You know why? Because Honey Badger don't give a shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdXSHzZrLgs
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Old 07-28-2020, 12:46 PM   #36
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Oh we’re not even here for the OP anymore!

I don’t like to conflate “gain” with “distortion” the way most people do. More distortion tends to feel better than it sounds and often sounds better in solo than it does in the mix, at least for typical rock/metal rhythm things. This is actually one of the nice things about an amp sim plugin. You can crank it up a bit more while you’re tracking for the confidence boost that it provides and then back it down when it comes time to mix and you realize you went to far.

It also tends to make feedback easier at lower levels, and there have been times when I’ve tracked through heavy distortion even when I knew the sound I ultimately wanted was going to be mostly clean. Most of the time nowadays, though, if I really want the guitar to shake, I just run it out to a PA.

But I actually did mean above to turn down the amp gain - specifically the preamp gain - both because it will give less distortion and because in many amps it will help tighten up the low end.

I’ve been using amp sims of one sort of another both recorded and live since the mid 90s and honestly do prefer them for a bunch of reasons. I don’t generally push them on paying clients, but I have had situations - both in the studio and live - where folks showed up with gear that didn’t work or just plain didn’t bring amps, and we used sims, and everything was fine.

Edit - Oh and also https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6ezs2QbuFTQ
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Old 07-28-2020, 12:57 PM   #37
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Oh we’re not even here for the OP anymore!
Yea pretty much. Thanks for the other HB link LOL.
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Old 07-28-2020, 01:54 PM   #38
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Holy pooo this got out of hand. I was really just to curious to hear how big an impact an interface might be to tone. Like a night and day tone change from one company's interface to another?

"I can get the NRR amp from Ignite to sound good so I'm glad I tried it but I am still curious what my deal is. Could it be my interface (Mbox2 from the bronze age)? Do different interfaces have a drastic effect on your guitar tone?"

Thanks to all
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Old 07-28-2020, 02:12 PM   #39
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If you start a thread and don't stay engaged, we'll happily keep it going till you get back. But who knows where we will have left-turned while you were gone.
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Old 07-28-2020, 02:20 PM   #40
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But who knows where we will have left-turned while you were gone.
Honey Badger knows.

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