I never got "amp sims". I can never get a good sound out of them. They always sound so fake and brittle. Bass isn't so bad but there still, I would prefer an amped bass.

The main amp sim benefit for me is that they offer the flexibility to create "idealized" amp sounds, and amps that would be difficult to create in the real world. In other words, they do the most accurate simulations of things that don't exist otherwise.

Guitarpima
I never got "amp sims". I can never get a good sound out of them. They always sound so fake and brittle. Bass isn't so bad but there still, I would prefer an amped bass.

Have you tried S-Gear 2?

Bass I usually like just DI'd.

Guitarpima
I never got "amp sims". I can never get a good sound out of them. They always sound so fake and brittle.

I more or less agree, but there are a lot of ways to optimize the sound. I've written a bunch of articles on the topic; most of them involve using pre-EQ, post-EQ, and creating a "room" in which the sim can exist. It's not easy to wrestle them to the ground and get a good sound, but it's possible. FWIW every piece of music on my YouTube channel uses amp sims.

I have your book on my nook Craig. I just can't get good tones or, I'm just not patient enough which I doubt. I take the time to edit de'essing rather than use a plug in.  Maybe I just need to spend more time with it but I've spent a lot already.
 Although, I will say clean tones are doable. The Fender bundle from A3 is nice.

As someone without the facility to record a real amp, nor do I have one worth recording, amp sims are a must.  But what I've found more than anything is the feel of playing an amp sim vs. the resulting sound (after tweaking as Craig mentioned).   I keep testing different ways of getting acceptable sustain while tracking because that's what I find lacking the most.   There have been threads about this aspect to though, one of which included some good info from Danny which I should probably track down again since I forget what was written...
 
The closest equivalent I can think of is in live use...  I played through a Roland Cube amp for a few years, and then a POD 2.0 into a Roland keyboard amp for a few more, and while the tone in isolation wasn't bad in both cases, in context it just never felt right.  Since using a Vox Tonelab instead (with a power tube) I noticed a big difference.  There's not quite as much variety as with the POD, but the feel is much better, even while the rest of the band is playing.   Huh, now why have I never tried using that as a front end???? 
 

Guitarpima
I have your book on my nook Craig. I just can't get good tones or, I'm just not patient enough which I doubt. I take the time to edit de'essing rather than use a plug in.  Maybe I just need to spend more time with it but I've spent a lot already.

You're right, it takes a lot of time. It's almost like knowing how to set up mics on a session, each amp sim is different. Fortunately for me it's a gig to figure these things out, which I've been working on for over ten years.
 
I don't want to sound discouraging, but I feel it's only in the past year that I've actually cracked the code about how to make amp sims sound really good. If there was a magic formula, I'd share it but it's more like I now have a bag of 100 tricks, and I've pretty much figured out which ones I need to use for any particular situation. Sort of. Mostly 
 
So when people say they have a problem with amp sims, my first reaction is pretty much that I'd be surprised if they didn't. A guitar through a physical amp has a certain quality that doesn't exist (yet) in the virtual world, so I think part of the problem is companies trying to emulate that instead of forging new directions that are unique to virtual amps. Maybe someday...

joakes
My recipe is this :

Record one good track.

Clone it 3 times, so you get a total of 4 tracks.

Pan 2 of them hard left then nudge one of those tracks by a couple of milliseconds.

Do the same fot the other 2 tracks, only panning them hard right this time.

Add reverb (to taste) to one track to one of the left tracks and to one of the right tracks.

My two euro cents !

Cheers,
Jerry

This works great on vocals too...

I bought a Line 6 HD500 back last summer. I also have a POD 2.0 as mentioned in an earlier post. The HD500 is leaps and bounds ahead of the 2.0 as far as the feel and response of the guitar in your hand. I liked the 2.0 so much it was a mainstay in both studio and live work. The HD500 has taken it's place. There is a steeper learning curve to the inner workings of the HD500 due to all of the editing ability but it feels VERY close to the real deal.

My wife and I have been discussing this very topic, as lately I have gotten really excited about recording with Amplitube. Mind you, I have a studio (double-wall construction, double drywall of different thicknesses on channel, acoustically treated, etc.) and I have been collecting really high quality gear over the years. I also have my amps mic'd up at all times. Add that to the fact I've been known to be a tone snob and well, you can see her consternation. She thinks I am going back on my principles, and in some way I don't yet understand that I am "cheating". Look, running my ES335 through a Skreddy pedal into a real Echoplex then through a first edition Small Stone phaser (hence my forum name) and then split using a TC Electronics Stereo Chorus pedal into a 1964 Super Reverb and a modern Dr. Z Amp gives my a sound that I cannot exactly duplicate in the software. However, just try to come back a week later and recreate some crazy sound - especially with a few analog modulation devices in there.
 
While Amplitube is not 100%, it seems that if you tweak it a bit and mix it well with the rest of a project, you're hard pressed to hear the difference. You can tell, but you have to go looking for it, if you know what I mean. I love that I can record a part, and then go back and try different amps, and more importantly, different effects. Being able to play with multiple delay units on a looped guitar part to find just that right sound, and have perfect recollection of it later - very cool.
 
Maybe I'm fooling myself and I'll jump back over to the amps with even more snobbery - who knows? :)
 
Something I found that helped when using Amplitube. I run into a Valvulator running a 12AT7 tube in it so I can push through lots of effects without signal loss (tone snob, remember?). The Valvulator has two outs, and I've found if I plug the guitar into the Valvulator and the Valvulator into the input on my interface, I get a better tone and response than plugging directly into the interface. As with pedals, I think the Valvulator keeps a nice consistent load on the pickups of the guitar, and pushes out a good consistent signal...