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Comments
Great article! 🙌. And it feels reassuring that I agree with most of the picks. Special mention to VintageClean, which is very unique and sounds like nothing else. I don’t think it sounds like an actual amp, which is something I love. Just different.
After reading the article I bought Bass deluxe, looks great and I needed more options for bass.
I would have added BYOD by ChowDSP to the list, specially since it’s free and it’s a distorsion heaven.
I like the idea of running ToneStack Pro into Nembrini. Hadn’t thought of it!. Any favorites of yours in ToneStack to try out?. I love the BlueFurr.
Cheers! 🤟
Thank you. Yes, I particularly enjoy the Magellan Filter, Fu Tron, Filter Gnome - most of the modulation pedals and a winner for me - Cosmic Echo
BYOD is superb. Would definitely be on my top 5 guitar freebies chart.
Excellent survey of all the apps to choose from. Is Amplitube in there? It’s the OG.
But OverLoud’s TH-U moved into my heart and won’t be dislodged unless some makes headphones sound like the stage at the Fillmore West.
Well done, great piece @Jamie_Mallender thanks for that @MobileMusicPro
Agreed on Roxsyn. Very misunderstood app!
Overloud TH-U is a bit of a glaring omission. I hate the UI but it definitely has the best tones to my ears, by a long long way.
I have one small question, when it comes to latency. When you use just an amp sim, latency is low. But what happens when you build up a larger chain in AUM, for example, a compressor sim -> tonestack pedals -> Nembrini amp -> Eventide Spring Reverb, and then maybe some TB mastering bus compressor at the end. I should test this myself :-)
I have the idea the latency builds up this way. I know when you stand in front of a real cabinet a few meters away, there is latency too, so there will be always latency when you play. But there is a limit and beyond this it gets annoying.
Really really enjoyed this article, thanks again @Jamie_Mallender !!
You find TH-U far better than the Nembrini amps?
Yes, latency builds up, but it's not extreme. It's just the buffer time plus the processing delays for all the apps, because the buffer is passed along to each of them. And, of course, the total processing delay must be less than the buffer time, or it won't keep up. So, worst case should be about two buffer times.
Yes, especially the Choptones rigs. YMMV.
Nice write-up @Jamie_Mallender - thanks for sharing.
I find that my favorite Nembrini amps are on a par with the ChopTones rigs I have (when using a high-quality 3rd party IR loaded in an IR loader--the Nembrini IRs are problematic, imo) and superior to the non-rig sims.
Nembrini apps do not sound good to me at all. My favorite iOS guitar amp app never gets mentioned: Fabfilter Saturn. I’ve tried them all; this one sounds best to my ears.
I'm iPhone only, so curious.
Great read @Jamie_Mallender Glad we agree on the virtual obsolescence of IAA only Guitar apps (Looking at you, Bias Amp/FX)
Have you tried the Nembrini amps with third-party IRs? The Nembrini apps also need some care setting the input level as the default setting is too hot for a lot of pickups and really reduces the range of to es available. Also, their presets need to be ignored in my opinion. They generally don't sound great. TH-U definitely does a much better job with the provided presets.
I guess we all key on different things for our sense of what sounds good. While I find Saturn useful for a range of saturation/distortion effects, I've never managed to dial in anything like a general purpose amp setting.
I like to let the core amp tone run in parallel to any added effects, and blend the two. That way, you never feel the latency. Doesn’t work for all FX of course. Phaser is out, but for delay and dirt, it’s perfect.
I didn’t include Amplitube because it doesn’t compete well any more. It’s not AUV3 and I did say I wasn’t including anything not AUV3. On desktop though, I use Amplitube 5 Max a lot and wish IK would bring it to iOS. When TH-U went AUV3 I checked it out. I was impressed with the sounds, overall it is superior to Bias but I didn’t find it better than Tonestack and the IAPs worked out a lot more than Tonestack. I also don’t like the side panel controls. I want to move the controls on the amp or else I don’t understand the point of the Skeuomorphicism. It feels lazy like, the developer couldn’t quite be bothered to make that happen.
We all have different ears I guess. The amps in THU did impress me but they’re not in the same league as Nembrini. And I think the pedals are superior in Tonestack, where you definitely get a lot more for your money. But what I really dislike is the interface. What’s the point of having pictures of the gear if I can’t touch the gear and move the settings? That whole side panel thing just seems lazy and whilst I believe the future of iOS music is dependent on users accepting significant price increases I don’t want to pay a lot for something that feels to me, a little half arsed.
There’s always latency but in AUM and Cubasis 3 which are my main playgrounds, I’m able to build a chain of Tonestack Pedals, Nembrini Amp, Reverb and delay apps etc without any noticeable latency. I haven’t known it be a problem for quite some time. This applies to my iPad 6th Gen, iPhone 8, iPhone 12 and iPad M1 Pro.
Whilst I don’t necessarily agree I think it’s important here to say that we all have different ears and use cases so, the apps I suggest are based purely on my personal taste and experience and how these amps respond to my particular selection of guitars. And I in no way consider the tones in THU to be poor. It’s great software, just not my choice.
I couldn’t believe it when I bought Jam Up only to find out a few weeks later Positive Cash Grab had replaced it with Bias with no upgrade path. And then, it wasn’t that long before Bias 2 and didn’t even go AUV3. PG have the best marketing on the iOS platform and I think they’ve had a lot of money from a lot of people who would have been better off buying something else - if only they’d seen our videos instead of the PG ads. Bias is ok if you just want a virtual guitar setup to jam with and have no intention of recording but that’s about it. I’ve written to positive grid and been completely ignored because they don’t want to answer. Once they have your money they don’t care. X-Drummer - potentially great app, half finished - no update for 100 years - Final Touch used to be really good - now has lots of glitches, no update for 100 years - Spark Amp - 100 Million pre-orders, delivered a millennia later.
Hi @Jamie_Mallender. Very helpful stuff. Thanks for this.
Would you be kind enough to post a screenshot of an example in AUM of one of your set ups?
I’m mostly interested in how you use Blackice with Tonestack pedals and/or Roxsyn.
That would be so great. If you have the time. Thanks!
I don’t have Saturn so I can’t comment but, I’ve never even heard anyone refer to it as a guitar app. That’s missed my radar.
Really interesting point about input levels and pickups etc. some people have struggled with clean tones with Nembrini amps. The input level is the number 1 thing to get right on a Nembrini amp. That’s where the magic is. For me this usually means backing it off quite a lot. I’ve always found high output guitars a problem with amp sims so I attenuate them by lowering the input on my interface, giving me more control with the input level of the amp. Presets are a funny thing. I make a lot of presets and enjoy sharing them on Patreon but it’s always in my mind - when I dial in an awesome tone for my telecaster and then plug my strat in or my Les Paul or my SG - it needs changing every time - different pickups, different pickup heights, different output levels - different interfaces. In a sense, presets all tend to be bogus. But I like to dial my own in so, I don’t really care what presets an app comes with.
Here are a couple of screenshots of a recent chain I made for bass experiments. Any questions you have anytime, just fire away. Always happy to help.
YES. I don’t like the Nembrinis…too much work to get a good clean or even just slightly breaking up sound. I love TH-U as well, but the clunky interface and my preference for many 3rd-party AU effects over the ones in TH-U leaves me going with Saturn most often.
Same here.
Tried all this stuff that tries to replicate amps… No, I play the real amps all the time and prefer things like Saturn.
FYI, I made a Mozaic panel for my THU rigs. That way I can control most of the settings with a knob.
https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/48681/mozaic-code-for-thu-rig-player-possible
Only thing is, when you change a preset, the knobs don´t follow. I made this a while ago, I forgot the details, have to get back into it. But it does work. I also connected a midi controller to this panel, then you have real knobs to work with.
Thanks so much for that. Been arranging analog gear for a number of years but of course iOS is a different animal and the landscape is always changing.
Why is it you use Schlap compressor over say Magic Death Eye or one of the many that are highly touted? Or the onboard compressor in Blackice?
Also, interesting that you put FAC Chorus at the end.
I’m going to have to make another run at chaining pedalboards together in ToneStack Pro.
Not sure what I was doing wrong but I had no luck starting from scratch and adding pedals without amplification to create my own preset.
Thanks in advance for any input.