Yeah, I too haven't tried Tonocracy, but just downloaded it and am going to install later and give it a run... I've been out of the loop awhile, so I'm not sure how their presets and crowd sourced stuff works (and this was once a paid product that has gone free and I wonder what the business model is? but all cool....)

From 10,000 feet above it, and not having tried it yet, I do certainly like the idea of Kemper type quality(ish) available to everyone for free....

But again, I know little about it, and need to give it a try...

 

What do people think about Mixwave Benson Chimera or Milkman Creamer?

How do they compare to Neural dsp Toneking or Morgan suite?
Thanks

 

stl's amphub for me

 

Its been a long time since I tried it, but when I trialed Benson it was ilok CLOUD only and individual elements had their own license so I really disliked the process. Soundwise its fantastic but overpriced a tad. Creamer is too one sided for me and equal and better cleans can be found elsewhere.
I think sonically they were a tad better than Neural stuff but Neural has more bells and whistles and so many fantastic presets ready.

However, I really think you should try Softubes Vintage Amp Room. I fell in love with the Fender cleans and reverbs and trems on it. It just has this (like all other latest Softube amp room offerings) 3D effect, this air to it that I cant really find elsewhere. And the cleans on the vintage are just really clear and transparent. Theres also a fantastic Hiwatt on there.

Anyway, Softubes Vintage, Marshall and ENGL Savage amp suites are my favorites. Metal Amp room is also great but these days I turn more to the Savage. Its not just what I mentioned earlier about the Vintage suite but also the dynamics and feeling when playing is the best. I know because I tried literally EVERYTHING guitar wise and I maintain that Softube Amp Room is the best out there. But as always, we all got our own feels and tastes.

Other than Softube Amp Room, Helix Native is amazing, BUT - with 3rd party IR's and high quality presets that a select few makes and sells. This is how I use it. Otherwise it has a horrible GUI compared to Softube and others and tweaking is very nonsatisfactory to me because of it. The Metallurgy collection from Line 6 is great too and very versatile, not just for metal.

Some other good ones:

STL Tones Tonality Josh Middleton and Lesse Lammert - the best from STL imo and great for hard rock/metal. The other Tonalities are good too, other than Andy James, find that one MEH.

Nerual DSP - Mesa Boogie MK2C+, Gojira, Nolly. The top 3 from Neural to me. The 2nd top 3 would be Tone King, Morgan and Plini.

Mercuriall Spark is still one of the very best even though its old.
Mercuriall AmpBox - all of it, is fantastic. Love their Bogner.

Nembrini has some good stuff, MP1 Pro and and JMP Pro are quite unique and very versatile but most of their stuff is high quality.

And finally, Overloud TH-U especially their premium packs with their rig player are FANTASTIC. Overwhelming with the amount of packs and presets but so many gems there. I generally dislike amp captures but TH-U makes it work and sounds fantastic.

I dislike amp capture stuff and snapshots because I think a really well modelled amp sim sounds better. And I like to tweak it as such.

Dont care for because they dont match up to the above: Amplitube 5, Guitar Rig 7, Axiom, Audio Assault Amp Locker, Aurora DSP stuff, Bogren Digital stuff, Toneforge stuff, S-Gear, Mixwave stuff, Brainworx - PA stuff, etc. A lot of these are solid and have their uses but to me dont match up to the above in sound quality and play feel and features. Maybe Amplitube + Tonex combo could hang in there.

Edit: Two Notes Genome is also solid, great GUI, good presets and effects - most effects come with their own presets so easy to tweak, NAM capable, etc. Its just that to really get the best you have to buy their dynair's. And the really good stuff they are releasing as paid addons. Like, the Nifty65 and Indy are by far the two best amp sims in Genome and they released them after releasing Genome and you have to pay extra. Same with reverbs, the best ones are essentially paid DLC. PLus I just cant quite get to sound as good as the top choices above.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jul 18, 2024

WOW. this is one of the most comprehensive review of plugins out there, Thank You. Now, im extremely intrigued to test out the softube ones. Luckily they seem to have a 50% off on it as well.

And about the mixwave stuff, it unfortunaly still is ilok cloud. I have the spiritbox, and its a pain sometimes when youre not connected to the net.

 

The UAD plugins seem Top Notch! If only they priced it right.

 

The UAD Lion is great. At the full price it's not. :D Not even at this 50% off would I get it, the market is so saturated that this is unwise.

Even though its the best model of a 68 Plexi - or any Plexi - by feel and sound. Well, Softube's is very close - comparing to the one in the Marshall suite, I spent some time A/B-ing and then realized the Softube one is a 1959 model. It's much brighter at the same settings.

Speaking of new plugins, there was also the Blackstar JJ50 released recently. It sounds and feels very good and the presets are great, instant late 60s, 70s rock guitar in all it's flavours - however, the costumer support denied a trial extensions request. After getting SEVERAL trial extensions from the likes of Neural DSP and Softube, I've decided Blackstar is not the company to get my money.