Amp Emulation

[bayswater]

I have a Vox, Roland and can borrow a Marshall on short notice, and OK emulators for these, but nothing good for a Twin Reverb. The emulators I've tried sound brittle at the top end and lack the sharp transients I remember when I used one regularly (a very long time ago --maybe it's my ears, but the others sound right). The "65 Fender Twin" factory patch on POD 2.0 is remotely recognizable, and it has these same problems, and is lifeless to boot.

I don't have room for the real thing and don't need it often enough to justify the cost. Does anyone have a plugin that does a good job in this specific amp? Doesn't have to be perfect, just good enough so when you hear it, you know what it is without looking at the patch name.

Good Marshall would be a bonus and save time -- what I have is usable but so-so.

[Michael Canavan]

IK had two Fender Collections. I've got the first one, and it sounds great to me.

[mikehalloran]

IK had two Fender Collections. I've got the first one, and it sounds great to me.

Here's Amplitude. No doubt, you know that Custom Shop is the free player but it has 24 effects including 4 amps. You could get lucky.
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/i ... L=Software

The ones in IK's iOS apps work well, too. I route a couple through a Y cable in my iPod into the effects loop. Try the free one first for proof of concept before spending any money, of course.

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/i ... &PSEL=Apps

[bayswater]

Thanks for the IKM suggestion. I had the free version on a backup and installed it again and updated it. The default patch has a reasonable high end, but is does not seem to model the power amp dynamics I recall -- it just gets louder. Changing from the 6L6 to a KT44 makes a notable difference, although I don't think Fender amp ever used these (?). The spring reverb in the free version is truly awful, but I can run it dry and add a different one -- maybe the recent PSP effort.

Anyway, it's better than what I have set up already, so thanks again.

[Michael Canavan]

IK frequently has sales. IMO the Fender Collections are better than most of their stuff, I'm partial to the Orange line up as well, but I never played an Orange so I couldn't tell you how accurate it is. I'm waiting until a sale to strike on the Fender Collection 2, but v1 is plenty good. Both tend to get down to the $70 range at times.

I think there are a few amp emulations that are pretty good out there, but IK get credit for porgram change messages to trigger different amps with no hiccups, that's big for me.

[bayswater]

My needs are probably simpler than yours. I'd never change an amp patch mid song. I've saved a channel strip with an edited version of the free default Amplitube patch and a Springbox setting. It sounds OK; I'll see how it goes in a project. I'm on all the IKM email lists so if something new or cheap comes up, I'll hear about it.

[mikehalloran]

I don't have room for the real thing

Yea, know that feeling... I have a blackface Showman in the garage that got an overhaul from steel guitar great/amp tech extraordinaire Gary Chiapetta 11 years ago. 85 Watts of pure Fender tube goodness that I’ll never play again. In negotiations to give it a good home at the moment.

[mhschmieder]

There are many equivalents to a Twin Reverb, and also many would argue that a Deluxe Reverb works better in the studio (I'm one of those people, but there are many ways to work and plenty of people get great results from stuff I would normally not consider for studio use).

If you have a Fender Showman or certain Soldano or even Mesa/Boogie emulations in anything you currently own, you also might be able to get close to Fender Twin, and also don't forget that some libraries and VI's come with dedicated effects that are sometimes available separately in your plug-ins folders. As only IK has the authorization, others may need to use clever names vs. "Fender".

[bayswater]

As only IK has the authorization, others may need to use clever names vs. "Fender".

The patch that comes free from IK is close enough for what I wanted at the moment. I might get one of the paid packages if it goes on sale.

[Babz]

I have the IK Fender Collection v1, and it’s nice, but I still find myself turning to my SansAmp GT2 (stompbox; hardware) for a Fender sound (‘“Tweed” setting), esp for rhythm, single coil guitar. Guitar Rig 5 has an emulation of the SansAmp (software emulation of a hardware emulation of an amp!), but it’s nowhere near as good as the actual stompbox. Nothing is as good as a real amp, but SansAmp GT2 is good for a space/noise-saving solution. It has a nice Fender “vibe” factor. Does a decent Marshall too.

[Tritonemusic]

...but I still find myself turning to my SansAmp GT2 (stompbox; hardware) for a Fender sound (‘“Tweed” setting), esp for rhythm, single coil guitar. Guitar Rig 5 has an emulation of the SansAmp (software emulation of a hardware emulation of an amp!), but it’s nowhere near as good as the actual stompbox. Nothing is as good as a real amp, but SansAmp GT2 is good for a space/noise-saving solution. It has a nice Fender “vibe” factor. Does a decent Marshall too.

Totally agree with you regarding the GT2. It's super useful for all sorts of stuff.

[Prime Mover]

The Amplitube Freebie pack doesn't include the twin, but you can get it fairly cheap a la carte. I'm not a big fan of IKs workflow and interface, but it does sound good to my ears. NI GuitarRig also comes with one, they call it "Twang Reverb". I like the interface in GuitarRig much better, but sadly it doesn't sound quite as good as IKs. Shame, Amplitube is a complete CPU hog, while GuitarRig is quite thrifty. For live, I use GuitarRig.