External Analog Amp Sim Suggestions?

Your best bet is probably Line 6,they just came out with the HD line and its supposed to be realy good.

StevenMikel


Your best bet is probably Line 6,they just came out with the HD line and its supposed to be realy good.

The new HD series is very good! All previous models sound like they are stuck in a cardboard box after hearing these. They stopped providing "too many amps, cabs, fx" and started offering a few really good ones. However, I still lean toward the Tech 21 stuff myself.

I've never tried any of the Tech 21 stuff but,I've heard good things about it.

tlw


Tech21 Sansamp Character Series "British". Does everything from a super-saturated Bluesbreaker sound via plexi to JCM800 lead channel pretty convincingly. Cheap to.

In fact, I find I have to turn the gain/saturation down from Tech21's suggested settings as their suggestions actually have far more gain/compression than early Marshalls could ever produce - a common problem with all the amp simulators in my opinion; I own a plexi and an old Orange Overdrive (the Sansamp Orange Emulator isn't bad either going by what I've heard of it).

One trick with any simulator is to push the mid up a bit - old British amps have quite a lot of mid in them, and not that much preamp gain. The distortion comes from a cranked power amp not preamp (which is why my plexi and Orange live in more-than-semi retirement these days - too loud for small gigs and for bigger ones where everything goes through the PA).

Search Youtube for Burgerman666 and "Sansamp British" for some good, long audio demos.
The Blackstar pedals are also a possibility using their speaker emulated output, though In my opinion they're too bass heavy/treble light (the speaker sim seems to be mostly a viscious treble cut), however you may like them.

Thanks everybody for the replies so far.
 
TLW, you are on the exact path I'd been researching.  As far as Tech21 I had it narrowed to the GT2, Classic or British.   The GT2 I fear is not on par with the other two, while flexibile it seems to sound a bit thinner & sizzly in most of the samples I've found.  I'm wondering if the Classic can basically do what the British can, and then lots more?   Hard to tell for sure from sound clips.  I like the British pedal a lot but am concerned it might not have quite enough gain/compression going on.  Not a problem for rythms, but might be for lead playing?
 
I also was looking at the Blackstar stuff and totally agree, I too was concerned about the bass in the demo clips on YouTube.  Interestingly, I ran across a Russian company that looks REALLY interesting - they also make tube preamp pedals.  They are called AMT and they make three models.  The SS-11a in particular is interesting.  Looks and sounds high quality - go to YouTube and check it out, feel free to let me know your impressions.   Here's one link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxU7L_UMSxQ   To me, it sounds like a better version of the Blackstar, but it still sounds a bit "preampy", lacking the type of EQ curve introduced by power tubes, whereas the Sansamp British seems to sound more overall like a tube amp but doesn't quite have the harmonic content found in the SS-11a.
  
Lastly, there's also the Radial ToneBone Hot British pedal:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iflsc4uMGww&feature=related
 
      Sonic

There's shedloads of gain/compression in the British if you set the character control and gain high. Easily as much as a JCM800 lead channel then some. I believe the Orange simulator has even more gain. Sansamp seem to have developed these pedals so that they can cover the sound you get from pushing the amp with a tube-screamer/SD-1 or similar as well as the "straight" sound.

I have a GT2, and got the Blonde and British to replace it. The GT2 can do a decent clean Fender Twin sound (if a little ice-picky), but the "Marshall" settings sound nothing like any Marshall I've heard without applying a lot of post-fx eq. The biggest problem (for me anyway) with the GT2 is (a) way too much gain for a "real" Marshall sound (it's more like a hot-rodded amp) and (b) a tendency to "spit" in that nasty way transistors sometimes have when going from amost clean into break-up - which is where I spend a lot of time. Especially with Fenders I've found it "spits" the beginning of a note then kind of cleans up in an odd way. Think cheap transistor amp. The Boogie settings are better.

I've the same complaint about the digital modellers actually - they can often do a passable clean sound, and a totally saturated one. It's that area where distortion and tone changes depending on how you hit the string that they seem to miss out.

If you want serious saturation but don't want scooped mids, you can't beat an (old non-Chinese) Rat 2,  EH Big Muff or (very high quality Muff/Bender clone) Barber Trifecta in my opinion. I have a Blackstar HT-Dual, and it's a good sound into a valve amp - there's a real contrast between channels.  The "clean/crunch" side is basically a slightly-very dirty channel for a clean amp and the high-gain side has masses of dark saturation. For direct work though the high-gain side is way to dark for my taste, and the speaker simulated output has a very low output. Used as a stomp-box into a British (or similar) on the other hand....
 
It's worth swapping the stock valve (OK, but nothing special) for something like a Harma as well.

My best solution so far is a "traditional" kind of setup - an analogue amp simulator that gets in the ball-park then with a fuzz/distortion/overdrive running into it like I would with an amp. The nice thing about being analogue is that each step in the chain works in the way you expect an amp and pedals to work - gain builds on gain. Overdriving a British sounds (and reacts) very close to an overdriven Marshall. Running an Electric Mistress into it can get the same kind of craziness you get from the "real thing".

Had a listen to the AMT. Interesting, especially on the cleaner settings, but a bit "preamp-ish" when dirty as you say. Quite possibly a better amp simulator than the Blackstar though.

I just ran across another possibility:  The Blackstar HT-1 or HT-5 all tube micro-amps.  They apparently have a direct out that disconnects the speaker and reasonable tone shaping.  I'm still investigating sound cilps online, but the preliminary results indicate these amps might be a good option.  For not too much more than a Sansamp pedal, you can get an entire AMP, which allows for direct, mic'ing or even practicing.  The clips I've heard so far indicate the bassy bottom end can be dialed out with the ISF control, unlike the Blackstar tube preamp pedals which seems to retain some of the low-end boom regardless.
 
My one concern with these Blackstar amps, which holds for the entire line, is they seem to sound thick and chunky for rythms, but the leads sound thin.  Not creamy and singing, rather thin and almost brittle.

Any of you guys try recording one of the Blackstar micro amps yet??

tlw

My one concern with these Blackstar amps, which holds for the entire line, is they seem to sound thick and chunky for rythms, but the leads sound thin

 
Looking at the videos on their website, I'd be almost inclined to say the opposite - the clean sound they're using for chording, especially on the HT-5 sounds at times a bit scratchy to my ears - or maybe it's these new Genelecs I'm still getting used to. Still, one person's killer tone is often another person's idea of hell :-)
 
The leads could make for a nice blues/rock tone - it's a more open sound than my HT Dual's high-gain through the emulated output.
 
Given that they use an EC83 and an EC82, it's never going to be the same sound as an EL84/34 or a 6L6/6V6 amp of course. I wouldn't be surprised if the amps are like the pedals where a solid state pre-amp circuit provides a clean boost which is then further amplified/distorted by the valve(s). I wonder what a valve swop to something a bit warmer and less grainy would achieve?
 
Oh - and the reverb leaves something to be desired in my opinion. Then again, I'm lucky enough to have a reissue Fender '63 Reverb tank - I'm very picky about reverb and tend to place it before the amp Dick Dale/Neil Young/Lou Reed style.
 
Still, interesting little amps indeed. Must try and see if anyone nearby is stocking them.

I listened to enough clips now to realize that the "direct out" still has that typical Blackstar low-end boom to it the same as found in their tube pedals.   Where I see a huge value with the HT-1 is that, by mic'ing it, you can really get quite a commendable cranked-amp tone.  The question now is, how loud is the HT-1 when dimed?  I'm going to hit the local store and check one out.  If the amp is "quiet" enough that some simple sound baffling in the near viciinty can keep the noise down to a level not to disturb the neighbors then the HT-1 might be a good solution.