Amplitube vs Guitar Rig

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    • January 2, 2010 at 8:12 am
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    legatofix
    Member

    Hi there IG users,
    I’m a complete newbie when it comes to Guitar Software but am very keen to take the plunge:
    Its basically either the Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 or 4 OR the
    IK Multimedia Amplitube 2…any users here who can shed some light on which might be the way to go. I’m a bit of a technophobe and would rather buy a Zen Drive, plug it directly into my Hughes&Kettner Edition Blue 30DFX and just play…but its the whole “bang for the buck” element thats tempting me….

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    • January 2, 2010 at 1:56 pm
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    TheAngusBurger
    Member

    I’ve been using the Guitar Rig 4 demo for a quite a while, and ordered Guitar Rig Session a few days ago, should arrive on Monday with any luck. I love it, I find the amps very responsive, especially the crunch tones (Marshall, Orange, Highwatt) and even the Mesa/Boogies and Bogners. I can get some very nice rhythm tones out of it, which I usually struggle with when using modellers. I find it really maintains your guitar’s character too, I have a Zoom G9 that just sucks the tone out of your guitar. The Zoom can do that highly saturated lead tone fairly well, but that’s about it. Guitar Rig is capable of that and so much more.

    The only thing I dislike is the relative lack of sustain on lower gain tones in my opinion (compared to a real cranked amp), I find other modellers such as my Zoom G9 and Peavey ReValver give me a fair bit more sustain, although I do play a Strat, YMMV.

    As for Amplitube, I think I tried the demo about a year ago, I don’t remember much about it though I’m afraid. Have you tried downloading the demo versions of both and trialling them? It comes down to personal preference really.

    • January 2, 2010 at 5:13 pm
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    legatofix
    Member

    @TheAngusBurger 9885 wrote:

    I’ve been using the Guitar Rig 4 demo for a quite a while, and ordered Guitar Rig Session a few days ago, should arrive on Monday with any luck. I love it, I find the amps very responsive, especially the crunch tones (Marshall, Orange, Highwatt) and even the Mesa/Boogies and Bogners. I can get some very nice rhythm tones out of it, which I usually struggle with when using modellers. I find it really maintains your guitar’s character too, I have a Zoom G9 that just sucks the tone out of your guitar. The Zoom can do that highly saturated lead tone fairly well, but that’s about it. Guitar Rig is capable of that and so much more.

    The only thing I dislike is the relative lack of sustain on lower gain tones in my opinion (compared to a real cranked amp), I find other modellers such as my Zoom G9 and Peavey ReValver give me a fair bit more sustain, although I do play a Strat, YMMV.

    As for Amplitube, I think I tried the demo about a year ago, I don’t remember much about it though I’m afraid. Have you tried downloading the demo versions of both and trialling them? It comes down to personal preference really.

    What a coincidence AngusBurger…..I just saw the Guitar Rig Session after I started this thread and it has completely grabbed my attention!! It looks really interesting and there is a good chance I’ll be buying one too mid-Jan!!! Do let me know how good it is after putting it through its paces.
    I was considering a Digitech RP355 or a Hermida Audio Zen Drive…but this whole “computer interface” thing is very interesting!

    • January 2, 2010 at 6:31 pm
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    TheAngusBurger
    Member

    I ordered mine from DV247, they were running an offer selling it for Ā£120, not sure if it’s still on though. Looking forward to integrating into my Mac setup with Logic Express. The only downside to Session is that it comes with Guitar Rig Essential as opposed to Guitar Rig Pro, but there’s still more than enough tonal variation and effects for me, and should I need more I can always upgrade for a fairly small fee (Ā£60 I think?)

    • January 7, 2010 at 5:17 pm
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    TheAngusBurger
    Member

    Guitar Rig arrived for me yesterday, loving it so far. Installation quick and painless on both my Mac and Windows partitions there, so I wouldn’t worry about that element of it. So far I’m loving the tones, especially doing dual amp setups with the Marshalls. It’s incredibly responsive as well, I can go from a high gain tone with the Gratifier (Mesa/Boogie) to a pretty convincing clean with nothing more than my volume knob. I’ll do a more in depth audio review once I’ve played around with it a bit more, I’ll probably put a few bits and pieces on Youtube too.

    • January 7, 2010 at 5:26 pm
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    legatofix
    Member

    @TheAngusBurger 10006 wrote:

    Guitar Rig arrived for me yesterday, loving it so far. Installation quick and painless on both my Mac and Windows partitions there, so I wouldn’t worry about that element of it. So far I’m loving the tones, especially doing dual amp setups with the Marshalls. It’s incredibly responsive as well, I can go from a high gain tone with the Gratifier (Mesa/Boogie) to a pretty convincing clean with nothing more than my volume knob. I’ll do a more in depth audio review once I’ve played around with it a bit more, I’ll probably put a few bits and pieces on Youtube too.

    Thanks for the heads up. I still haven’t made up my mind. Right now I’m sort of researching boutique OD/Dist pedals like the Zen Drive, Maxon OD-808 and OD9 Pro+, Toadworks Texas Flood and Xotic BB Preamp…..

    • January 7, 2010 at 5:36 pm
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    TheAngusBurger
    Member

    Yeah, I’ve been considering a Fulltone OCD for a while, I’d like one eventually to stick in front of Guitar Rig. Seems like a ‘best of both worlds’ solution to some extent.

    • January 7, 2010 at 6:46 pm
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    billmeedog
    Member

    @TheAngusBurger 10009 wrote:

    Yeah, I’ve been considering a Fulltone OCD for a while, I’d like one eventually to stick in front of Guitar Rig. Seems like a ‘best of both worlds’ solution to some extent.

    Hello AngusBurger, šŸ™‚

    Your idea about putting a boutique OD/Dist pedal “in-front” of your Guitar Rig might work, but realize this: The tone modeling these companies do is generally done with a typical input-level range it expects straight from a guitar, NOT after being boosted and/or overdriven by a pedal?!? That having been said, that does NOT mean your idea WON’T work. It just means that your results may not be as predictable as say, putting a nice boutique-pedal “in-front” of a nice “boutique tube-amp!” šŸ˜‰

    Best of luck with your experiments! (BTW, I’ve heard some of your YT-clips, so I know that you have a GREAT ear for excellent tone man! You’ll find your new tone!) šŸ˜Ž

    P.S. IMO, from all the OD/Dist pedals I’ve heard in-person and demoed by others, my two favorites are the Fulltone OCD, and the Z-Vex Box-O-Rock! šŸ˜Ž Both of these sound like real tube-amps, don’t adversely color the guitar’s sound, and are VERY responsive to playing-dynamics/volume-knob manipulation!!! šŸ˜‰

    GREAT STUFF!!! šŸ˜Ž

    ~Bill Meehan~ šŸ˜€

    • January 7, 2010 at 8:47 pm
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    TheAngusBurger
    Member

    Fiddling with the Volume knob on the pedal would rectify this, would it not? I see where you’re coming from though, digital clipping certainly is something I want to avoid at all costs. It’s not as if overdriving the input is going to result in some nice valve distortion.

    Haha, I can’t stand the tone on my Youtube clips! It came from a Zoom G9.2tt which I just couldn’t get a sound I liked out of – too thin and digital. As I say, I’m planning on uploading some new videos soon, including a Shred This Re-Entry, Andromeda, an Adam Nitti tune and a Bach Prelude in the near future. Hopefully this will cover the tonal gamut of what Guitar Rig 4 is capable of.

    • January 10, 2010 at 8:53 pm
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    TheAngusBurger
    Member

    Legatofix, I’ve just uploaded this, it’s a quick demo of Guitar Rig 4 in a funk/fusion context. Admittedly Youtube has messed with it quite a it, but you get the general idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BNAvHDeXoE

    • January 13, 2010 at 8:35 am
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    legatofix
    Member

    @TheAngusBurger 10056 wrote:

    Legatofix, I’ve just uploaded this, it’s a quick demo of Guitar Rig 4 in a funk/fusion context. Admittedly Youtube has messed with it quite a it, but you get the general idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BNAvHDeXoE

    Hi there AngusBurger….thanks for that link. Which amp model are you using for that clip? Sounds quite good but I just feel there is that slight “digital” sound to the tone…hope I’m not imagining things…I think that is where an all analog stompbox might sound better. But I’m sure you’ve got lots of time to tweak settings yet…..nice playing BTW
    I can sense you trying to break into a legato run but, holding back…thats exactly my problem!! Have just started watching Tom Quayle’s module on Modern Legato playing and hope my licks will start to improve!!

    • January 13, 2010 at 4:15 pm
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    TheAngusBurger
    Member

    Yeah, I find I lack confidence in terms of legato/runs, especially when I’m on video and I don’t want to risk playing something which I might mess up, lol. I’m trying to record more at the minute though, so hopefully I should get used to it. Youtube has made it sound a lot more ‘digital’ as you say, coming straight from Guitar Rig through my speakers it sounds a lot better. I’m using a splitter, using both the JCM800 and Hot Plex with about two thirds of the signal JCM800 and one third Plex. Then there’s just a touch of quad delay and studio reverb added. I can post pictures/presets if you’d like.

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