Analogue Vs Digital Amp Emulation

[Hobsy]

I'm considering building a analogue amp and cab sim, something like the Run Off Groove Professor Tweed or the Thor with a condor cab emulator, for direct recording. Does anyone have any experience with how it compares to using digital amp emulation, such as the Line 6 Pod, or with software based emulation like Guitar Rig and Revalver? I'm interested to hear people's preferences. I've got a Pod, and it's alright, but I wonder whether I could do better by taking the analogue route.

I'm basically trying to decide on a solution to the home recording problem. Before anyone suggests the obvious, an amp and mic isn't an option (and I know that neither analogue nor digital will faithfully reproduce the sound of a mic'd amp, I just want to get a feel for what people generally prefer when a mic'd amp isn't an option).

[Mark Hammer]

Well what is it that you seek from an amp emulation?

I have a nothng-to-write-home-about amp emulator from Zoom (GM200), and what it really seems to want to emulate are the tones of the various amp models when the amp is dimed.  That is, the goal is to mimic the particular distortion tones of those amps.  Whether it nails anything about the amp when the volume and master are at anything less then 10 (or 12 for some models  ), I couldn't say.

That's not a criticism of those who do wish to have something that sounds just like a dimed whatever.  But there has gotta be something different about various amps before the VU meter goes into the red.

[DougH]

Yamaha THR5 or THR10 is the simplest, best, and most direct route IMO. Very good DSP amp emulation which can be recorded silently or monitored at about any volume level you want. The reason I mention them is because you mentioned wanting feel and that is what these units really excel at.

Barring that, consider an analog distortion box of some sort plugged into your POD, just using the POD speaker cabinet emulation or a clean amp emulator (with the speaker emulator too). For direct recording you will need speaker cabinet emulation, DSP is IMO the best way to get that. Most DAW software these days have "amp emulator" plugins available. I have gotten good results plugging a tube screamer directly into the computer using a clean fender or vox amp emulator plugin.

In general, I would advise going analog for the distortion, and DSP for delay, speaker cabinet emulation, etc.

[aron]

> In general, I would advise going analog for the distortion, and DSP for delay, speaker cabinet emulation, etc.

Yep!!!!!!

[FiveseveN]

Digital tools for guitarists have come a long way.
Some would say that ampsims (be they standalone hardware units or plugins) have only recently (post-Axe-Fx, Pod HD, Kemper and the like) started to capture the "dynamics" of real amps and dirt boxes. As Mark noted, higly saturated (or squeaky-clean) tones were fairly easy to pull off, it's the in-betweens that are harder to get right. Nowadays digital ampsims are amazingly diverse, complex and flexible, and many professional musicians have adopted them. So they'll probably do the job, as long as you don't use some ancient technology, which in the digital world means older than 5 years. I sometimes use analog distortions myself (not that I'm any kind of authority on the matter) only because I can tweak them down to the finest detail when I want to.
As far as cabsims go, there's just no contest. High-quality convolution technology has created a whole new era for guitar production, especially for the in-the-box home studio type.

[Devius]

My rig consists of 2 amps. One is the Genz benz El Diablo 100, with a 212 gflex cab and the other is a Line 6 HD 147 with 2 412's. I've had the Line 6 for about 8 years, it sounds amazing. I don't really care if the amp models are exact duplicates, I get quite the versatility out of it. Chimey cleans peppered with a hint of chorus, or full on up your ass and through your nose ball busting distortion and almost anything in between. It does what I want it to do well.
I wanted to delve into tube amps so I tried the Line 6 spidervalve hd100. Digital front end ran through tubes. Good sound, I personally found it wanting when I turned up the gain. It sat as my 147 was the go to amp for me. I traded the spidervalve straight across for a Marshall JCM2000 tsl. 150w of british madness. Again I found it lacking. I have an amp that can do anything, why limit myself to 3 channels?! I ended up trading that away for a yamaha snare, some cymbals and some other junk. Only now do I realize thhat was a mistake. (except the snare, yamaha loud series oak snare. I love it!)
I got a smokin deal on the genz benz, so I bought it. I toyed around with it and finally understood "tube tone".
The point of this is, It's all about the sound you want, what you hear in your head. Dave Grohl bought the soundboard from Sound City Studios, he recorded wasting light, won a sh*t ton of awards, blah blah blah. If you built/have an amp and you love the sound, throwing a mic on it and tweaking the eq so it records what you hear, BAM! If its the volume thats the problem... Build an isolation box that you could limit your volume with a cab. You could do it for around $50 and keep that diy mojo going.
Btw, both my amps have direct outs and the sound is close to the cabs, the Line 6 for sure but the 212 gflex is ported so the bass response is quite different.

[Hobsy]

Thanks, there are some good ideas here. I hadn't thought of using digital amp simulation for the clean tone and then using analogue distortion on the input, but it makes a lot of sense, I'll give that a go.

Well what is it that you seek from an amp emulation?

My needs are very basic. I just want something that will give me a nice clean tone, a nice crunch tone, and a nice distortion tone. I don't need it to be any more versatile than that. I'm not really looking to replicate a specific sound or emulate a specific model of amp. In fact, the less versatile, the better. When I'm playing around with the pod or with software emulation, I spend hours and hours playing and tweaking and find it hard to settle. I find the sheer number of simulations and parameters overwhelming and distracting. I'll find something I think I like and come back to it the next day and be disappointed, or I'll spend hours playing around and realise I prefer the sound I had to begin with.

Yamaha THR5 or THR10 is the simplest, best, and most direct route IMO.

This thing looks awesome. Maybe that's the way for me to go. I'm definiately going to look more into it.

[DougH]

Yamaha THR5 or THR10 is the simplest, best, and most direct route IMO.

This thing looks awesome. Maybe that's the way for me to go. I'm definiately going to look more into it.

You can try them out yourself at the big box music stores too. Our local Guitar Center carries both models and the Sam Ash had the THR5 last time I checked.