smallstonefan
.... be a creative tool to just open a template and start playing. I also really like the idea of tweaking amps, cabs, effects and such after the fact. As an old-school tube amp guy, I'm thinking I've held off too long on using an emulator...
I held off for a long time too! I got Line 6 Gearbox Gold for $99 back in 06 or 07. I just wasn't going to pay the going price for what they wanted back then. Which was like three to four hundred! Anyway, the situation I was in back then really left me no choice. Living in an apartment with paper thin walls. We all go through this at some point.
But once I got the sim and started using it, it really opened up the way I create a song. I can open any of the amp sims I have (which I did not pay full price for any of them!) and just start wailing away and get inspiration from that. I can go back and alter any song that I have. It's really nice. And if I can't get what I need from the sims, I can always send it to my amps.
So yeah, jump on board. The AT3 deal is great if for nothing else the clean sounds that they have. Lots of good stomps. And good rack gear too. Try the tube compressor. I'm really not a comp guy, I run straight into what ever I play and control my own dynamics. But I gotta say that tube comp works pretty good for me.