Share your cool Amp Simulator Presets (Because I suck at it!)

I think the the title is reasonably self-explanatory :slight_smile:

I was lured into the BIAS FX proposition due to a black Friday discount (got the basic thingy for $49, not bad!). I can get some acceptable sounds by randomly combining pedals and ampsā€¦ but I have no idea what I am doing :smiley:

Anybody who feels like it, please share your cool stuff and/or advice!

PS: This thread doesnā€™t have to be limited to BIAS presets, just share away!

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When I was using BIAS FX I think I enjoyed Marty Friedmanā€™s preset the most. I had a lot of trouble getting my own patches to sound decent though. Too noisy for meā€“Iā€™d have to stack gates all over the place and playing didnā€™t feel natural to me anymore. I ended up going with the Line 6 Helix for live playing and Iā€™ve been very happy with that. If anyone wants, I could share my Marshall, ENGL, PRS Archon or my Rectifier patches.

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Always looking for new Helix patches if you have any youā€™re particularly happy with.

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Ok I have just noticed the little cloud symbol on the BIAS FX window, guess what I have been doing the past hour or so :smile:

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Angel Vivaldiā€™s rhythm and lead tones are my favourite modern metal tones Iā€™ve found on the Bias FX tonecloud so far, give those a try.

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Youā€™re gonna have to tweek and tweek, Tommo. lol. It took me months to get my sound dialed it. Iā€™m real picky. One little thing can make all the difference. One of my sounds has a tape delay on for high end cut. Everything is set to 0. Itā€™s on just for color. Iā€™m also running EQ and other stuff on the guitar channel in Logic. All these things change it. Too many factors. They canā€™t make killer tone simple. Iā€™m using the stock amplifiers in Logic. Sometimes I use a Zoom g3x. Sometimes I mic a amp. Keep in mind the presets in my stuff all sucked. I had to keep tweeking them.

@element0s I hear the Helix is awesome. You can usb that to the computer and run it just like vst software. I do that with my Zoom sometimes.

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Hereā€™s my latest video of what I am using. Kinda simple. lol.

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I spent a lot of time A/B-ing the original isolated guitar tracks from the actual recording trying to come up with presets in Guitar Rig 5.

I managed to come up with presets that sound almost identical to:

Little Wing (Hendrix) clean and solo sounds (sounds much better than the Little Jimi Wing preset that is given with the software)
Killing in the name (RATM rhythm sound)
Tornado of Souls (Friedman solo sound)
Always on the run (Kravitz) rhythm sound
Hotel California (Eagles) 1st solo sound
Battery (metallica) rhythm sound

If anyone is interested in these sounds, I can send you the preset file.

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Hey All,

Does anyone have experience with Line6 software? From their website it is not clear to me if they make an amp simulator that does not require their proprietary interfaces (e.g. something that could work with a Focusrite).

I do like some of the tones from the pocket pod, so I would imagine that the line-6 equivalent to bias FX/Amplitube could be cool.

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The only one I can think of is Helix Native, which is the Helix engine ran as a VST. If you already own a Helix itā€™s a hundred bucks, but if youā€™re buying it on itā€™s own then itā€™s closer to $400.

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Thanks! I guess good tones come at a cost :slight_smile:

I have also noticed that they offer something called ā€œpod farmā€ - but not clear if it is what I think it is (a sort of virtual pocket pod?). I think generally their website lacks clarity on what does whatā€¦ at least for a newbie like me!

I guess for now my pocket pod will have to do for line6 sounds :sweat_smile:

POD Farm is the software that you use to build your tones when using one of the POD interfaces, so Iā€™m pretty sure youā€™d need one of their interfaces to use it. I could be wrong though.

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Line 6 stuff is equally as difficult to dial in good tone since their sounds already sounds like a car wreck. Their Mesa models are the worst. Sounds like a bee trapped in a box or something.

However just recently I was able to dial up something relatively nice and pleasant on POD Farm. The Soldano amp model sounds great with an Ibanez Tubescreamer or some other tube driven in front of it, all at half gain to preserve note definition. Itā€™s nicer if there is some small amount of delay and reverb in the mix, help makes me sound a lil more pro :stuck_out_tongue:

Iā€™ll post a screenshot after work and, if Iā€™m not too lazy, some sound samples of the preset too.

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I never have liked anything from Line6, especially the distorted/crunch tones. I went through the Helix Native demo more than a few times hoping it would be better, but nope. Same goes with BIAS from Positive Grid, a company that seems more interested in being bought out than actually make sense out of their product line. To me, Helix and BIAS suffer from the same problem: sounds good when you listen to it, feels awful when you actually play through it. I find that AmpliTube 4 has decent models but you canā€™t load IRs in it, which is beyond annoying as some of the stock cabs sound like cardboard to my ears.

As far as the paying options go, Mercuriall are my favourite. They also have two OD pedal sims for free, which are nice. While the dynamics are lacking I like Peaveyā€™s ReValver for gain tones. Its noise gate is set to be very clean as well, so itā€™s not very musical and I prefer using a plugin like GGate in front of it to tweak the gate a bit more. If youā€™re into high gain amps, for free you can get either of the two Ignite Amps sims: the Anvil and the Emissary. LePou plugins work fine as well.

Aside from that, you should start by trying to set up a simulation the same way youā€™d set up a real amp. To me it means a decent OD pedal simulation, a good amp and a good cab, and start with similar settings as well. Have confidence in your ears and donā€™t hesitate to turn the knobs. The time wasting part of the process is often to get good cab impulses and actually settle on one. OwnHammer has a free IR pack of a M/B Slant 4x12 with V30s, and thatā€™s way more impulses than youā€™ll ever need unless you really want something specific.

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Thanks for sharing! Do you mean that they sound good when you watch the various adverts etc., or that the recorded sound ends up being much better than the monitored sound?

(A million of edits laterā€¦)

I meant it exactly as I wrote it, but letā€™s try to be more specific. If you throw a DI track through BIAS or Helix, you have a good recorded guitar sound. If you plug yourself through either and start playing, it feels horrible to me. I remember trying the Helix pedalboard with headphones and at the time it sounded very fair to me, so I was very surprised not to like to play through Helix Native at all.

By the way, Overloud TH3 is fairly good to me. Not every model is great, like most sims of course, but it does work well.

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So this is my custom lead tone for POD Farm. I can even pass you the Line 6 tone file if you want :slight_smile:

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Thank you! Would it work with the pocket pod, or do I need a more advanced interface?

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It wont work with the pocket pod as its not an interface but more of a mobile songwriting tool, but yeah if you have a Audio Interface like the UX2, then it works with it :3

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I remember trying the Helix pedalboard with headphones and at the time it sounded very fair to me, so I was very surprised not to like to play through Helix Native at all.

Yeah Iā€™m finding this as well. Iā€™ve been using my Helix Floor for live, rehearsal and recording with nice results but Iā€™ve had a helluva time trying to twist something decent out of Helix Native. It must be a latency thing. Iā€™m not into BIAS at all.