A few things I didn’t really touch on in the video: 1. Vintage amps can be a pain to maintain. The fender I’m using in the video has been in and out of the shop a decent amount of times. I don’t trust it enough to gig with it anymore. Now it just stays at home for if I want it for recording. 2. The amp is LOUD in the room. I’m wearing headphones, so it’s not a big deal. But if you live with other people or are worried about damaging your hearing, forget about it. Especially in the 2nd to last clip with the amp cranked. 3. Amp are not cheap. You also have to account for changing tubes, any damage from traveling, and just normal wear. Is an amp still worth the hassle? Maybe for some, but not me atm. Currently, my whole workflow is digital. And if I really want a song or album to have real amp, I could always head to a studio for a reamping sesh. Lmk your thoughts! 🤘
You must be doing something really wrong with your amps. I have owned vintage amps and never had any issue....the digital modellers never really replicate a tube amps. even the cheapest tube amp like a blues junior sounds miles better than a QC , kemper or any other modeller just like a digital copy of a girl cannot replicate the real girl .
@@joshuafernandes4935 I mean if you’re gigging with an amp several times a week and traveling with it, not only is it super heavy to pack and load, but the components are gonna jostle around and become damaged.
@@TheFunkyCriminal for traveling , I use the boss katana as they are much lighter and easier to carry . They don’t sound as good as tube amps but about 70% as good and gets the job done .
both sound great, interesting how accurate the neural stuff is getting, overall amp tone was fairly similar except for the tone being a little more scooped and having a little more top end in the plugin like you mentioned, the biggest difference was the reverb on the amp was night and day to the plugin. The plugin verb still sounded good and could work in a mix but the real amp def had more of a realistic typical spring verb sound
I got a few amps in the studio but also got a Quad Cortex and NDSP's Plini Plugin. Hands down, whenever we record with real amps they just put big smiles on our faces. At the same time, I'm never unhappy with the NDSP stuff either. In A/B I tend to lean towards the amp but if I had to choose one over the other, I'd go with NDSP all the time for two reasons: a) convenience b) in a full mix, the differences disappear.
The NDSP spring reverb still has a ways to go, sounds like it's missing the intermodulation between two different-sized springs. Perhaps the biggest difference though is your guitar is hearing and reacting to the amp in the room, but the plugin isn't (unless you recorded both at the same time). It's that interaction that makes the guitar seem more alive. I'm all digital too, pretty much the same setup you showed. I don't use plugins live though, just Quad Cortex. The Tone King plugin compares very well with S-Gear which is still one of the best.
Neural DSP has done it once again. Talk about an accurate recreation my goodness! The only thing that stands out to my ear is the fender deluxe has slightly more natural chime, clarity and realism to it - emphasis on SLIGHTLY though, with some EQ you could get the digital tone pretty damn close. This plugin does an excellent job modeling a real tube amp sound. Having this in digital form is absolutely amazing. It’s cheaper, faster, 100% more reliable and more accessible than dealing with a physical amp. Great job Neural!!
I think I preferred the mic'ed amp in every tone comparison clip, but neural really killed it on getting it to sound pretty damn close to the real thing. Sounds great, and would've believed you if you said it was all recorded with the amp.
Man the attack on the real amp just does it for me. I wonder how much eq would help and if attack can be added to the sim. Nice playing and nice video! 👍🏻
They are both fantastic in their own right! Nothing beats the feeling of being in a room with a tube amp but at the same time the neural staff are top notch and especially when you don't have a treated room for recordings you can't beat the ease of things of using DI. And don't forget the price difference between the 2! In the amp vs plugin argument I feel like there shouldn't even have been an argument because they both have their applications and its fantastic how technology is advancing and we can have these many tools at our disposal to create music with! Great video btw! The quality is amazing shows that you put a lot f time into them! Just subbed keep up the great work!
Yes I love it, this works without too much content, let the listener hear the differences is great. Oh that soft lighting just makes it sooooo cosy watching this.
I had the Chance to compare the plugin with an actual tone king imperial and it's crazy how close the plugin comes.... I'm sure most people wouldnt be able to tell the difference in a blindfold test. And every little difference will most likely vanish in a mix. This really made it easy for me. I don't have 3000€+ to spend on an actual tone king (or any expensive amp for that matter). Same with a lot of pedals. I live in a small flat with neighbours and sometimes I like to play at night or practice with headphones because I don't worry about me torturing other people with shitty riffs haha. The plugin is 99€. Not even a competition for me to be honest. It's easier and more convenient in almost any way for me. So glad we are able to experience cheap and good amp sim nowadays Edit: i forgot to mention since the plugin is based on the tone king imperial and it's almost identical, I would argue most differences between the plugin and the Vintage Fender exist because they are also differences between the actual TKI and Fender
Amazing,,, I just purchased the toneking mk11,,,, on their black Friday sale. I think it's awesome,, and I liked the second comparison,,, then went back to see which one you played first. The one I liked better was the toneking plugin,,, but then,,, they did both sound great.
Both sound great, I was distracted by the noise in this video and thought it was from the single coils of your Strat but it’s present when you are talking and there is no guitar signal present. You might want to gate your mic to filter out the unwanted noise, maybe that’s what I’m hearing? It’s a nice comparison though, I own the plugin and it’s great for recording clean tones with a Strat. I’ve really enjoyed it as much as the other amp specific Neural DSP stuff. I really wish Neural would develop and release a traditional bass amp plugin. Knowing how great these plugins are they could make anything sound like the original.
I'm using Neural DSP plugins (recently Archetype John Petrucci) outside of Line 6 Helix LT...Neural DSP plugins are top shelf, however we need always to adjust sound using EQ... As for me due to 2 reasons: (1) everyone plays different guitar with different pickups, (2) we need to do this anyway to match individual full mix 😉 anyway this reason shouldn't stop anyone to use Neural DSP plugins 😉👍There is different always between real amp sound and plugin but we talk about 3-5% different... Once you consider high real amp price vs plugin, limited environment for making noise (real amp volume must be pretty high to get cranked amp sound) vs plugin sound consistence no matter how loud you play unless I missed something?? 😜
I think you said it right in a mix with some tweaks you wouldn’t even notice the difference. If I was sitting in a room listening to someone play I would prefer the real amp but for recording you can’t beat it it’s a no brainer.
I have a real Sky King, but had interest in this when I had mine off for a board swap. It was half off, and had tried the demo twice. Honestly I’ve played the full TK line up, and still bought this plugin. For me with it set clean, or edge and roll back my guitar volume. It’s great with my pedal board! I’m not a fan of distortion on amp sims or drive. But as a pedal clean platform I use this when I don’t wanna DI on a load box my Sky King. It’s close enough for demos to match up with my real amp. At home I have to record on headphones, so I use the amp on DI or use the plugin. After I go to my rental space, crank the amp and record my overdubs. After using the plugin for awhile, it’s been a great companion piece! Another plus is sometimes I’ll use the cab and IRs on the plugin, with my real amp. I just turn off everything but the cab. When matching my clean settings on the real deal to this…surprisingly it matches up almost spot on! So now I just use this plugin for scratch tracks, and quick inspiration or if my amp is at my practice space and I don’t feel like carrying the amp back for just 3 days till I go back. I def highly recommend it as a clean pedal platform! Only thing is of course with the real amp, you have a mic and can direct monitor. So no dealing with buffer settings. I do recommend you have a PC/MAC, that can stay around 128 buffer to record. Otherwise you’ll be nudging a bit! 256 is somewhat passable with some latency. But most 2020 I7 and newer Mac M chips can handle with ease! I’m using a 2020 last of the Intel Mac Minis I7 6core/64gb DDR4 as my main studio Mac. In the field no issue running too many instances on a old 2012 MacBook with SSD/16gb Ram. Just make sure to get a coupon as there is always a 30% off, and 50% off holiday sales frequently! It was well worth my $60 I paid. Also Neural DSP let me demo it 3 times! I just sent an email and they were very happy to extend the period! I’ve used many Amp plugins since man 2000 or so! This was the first all in one amp sim, that made me comfortable having in a recording. It sounds like a real amp in the context of a mix!
Nice! In the comparisons at the end I preferred the real amp for clean tones, but preferred the cranked plugin tone depending on what you were playing, same with the spring reverb. 🤘
Waiting for the next promotion to get the Tone King I've tried it really quickly during a two week trial and what I have enjoyed and actually used in a session is the Reverb from that plugin Going for a Jeff Buckley - Telecaster kind of sound using 2 different reverbs on 1 track like Andy Wallace used in the studio for "Grace" So, two plugins - two Reverbs - one long, one short.
Yea it’s the thing that I don’t like about ndsp amps, it’s scooped. Which makes strumming on it just feels weird.. but I think I’m still getting this one. I just love collecting ndsp stuff.. haha
Hey man, i LOVE your videos. Your tones are heavenly. How do you record the dry signals? Also how do you get this amazing stereo feel to your sound, is it pedalboard or post processed? Thanks
Great comparison! Thanks Joshua! Would be interesting to know, what mic setup you used on the Tone King for the comparison. Was it the SM57 + 121 setup? I took one Riff that you played similar on both and did some EQ matching with FF Pro Q. With that EQ matching it comes very close! For anyone interested. Main difference was: 78Hz -8 dB Q 5 125Hz +4 dB Q 5 500Hz -7 dB Q 4 Reducing the 500Hz area brought the plugin much closer to the real Amp.
Thanks for the great comparison and walkthrough! I think for me this is a great alternative since I have no interest in collecting (or buying) vintage amplifiers. This definitely gets close enough to the real thing to work for me!
The dsp sounds more scoop in the mids, but it's right, because the silverface has more mids than tone king. I also have a silverface princeton, i love it but the digital (fractal in my case) it's just so good and comfortable.
Would you consider showing us how you would use and set up other NeuralDSP plugins like a Nolly or Plini for future videos? How would you get your fluid and beautiful tones in those plugins. Thanks.
Both sound great. On what I’d like to see: A thorough lesson on the chords of modern prog. Everyone is all about the lead lines but I challenge you to find a good lesson about chords in this context. I’m talking about stuff like Plini, Intervals, Sithu Aye, etc. Typically drop tuned and using what I believe are often 9ths, 7ths, and other “jazzy” chords. Sometimes big 5+ string chords and sometimes smaller 3-string voicings on the high strings between chugs and riffs on the lower strings.
Learn your major and minor triads up the neck, then just start looking at them as three separate voices. You start just moving the inside and outside voices around one note at a time and you can very quickly and naturally end up with some crazy looking voicing. When you go to write the names down they will look like algebra, but its fairly simple to get there!
A Line 6 engineer’s said previously that NDSP likes to build a low cut before their amp models, then add a ton of lows and/or highs after the amp model. Common pre/post EQ, but apparently they choose to build it into their amp models. Probably what’s going on with this one too I imagine, with the mid scooped sound.
so, to my ears, the fender sounds just a touch better. Brighter, or warmer when it needs to be. rings out a little more. fits in the mix better. But man that Ndsp plugin is not that far off. It's pretty impressive. They've been knocking it out of the park the last couple years with their plugins.
the neural plugin is very nice, however, I found real amps always more alive, more organic. Even when listening to kemper, helix, fractal, or quad cortex I feel the same. Probably in the mix I couldn't tell which is which, but alone is easy. Digital is surely more practical, but playing through real amps is more inspiring!
I wouldn't say more inspiring, I'm a Kemper owner and all the available amps and different options inspire me more than having a tube amp. plus having all the effects on board is a lot more convenient and less expensive
I agree with you. I've been through the Digital hole, spent much hours setting up some nice sounds and yes it is nice but... Some days I like it, some days I don't and become doubtful about my settings, chasing some new IRs and some new setups. I'm never totally satisfied, it is "nice". I sold all digital stuff, all my previous amps and now I only focus on 1 single AMP : Carr Mercury V. This one has the magic, this is more of an instrument by itself than just a tool. I plug my guitar, put it on and let's rock I feel always inspired and just happy to play it.
NDSP seems to have a little less chime than the FDR. could probably EQ that out if you wanted, but it’s really subtle. the reverb is also pretty dull - surprising, since even a boss pedal sounds more accurate imo - but you could prob just use a plug-in. eventide’s spring reverb plug-in is 80% off for the next few days on sweetwater.
there is an actual tone king imperial combo amp in real life. that's what this dsp is actually painstakingly modeled after. assuming the tone king amp is built on the fender reverb. they run about $2500 new. if you like the real amp sound of your fender but really like the dsp toneking by comparison, you can have the real physical version of the amp that would be reliable.
Om old school, growing up in the 70’s I really want an amp to be better but honestly what I’m asking is if your sound is 3000 dollars better on the amp and I’m sorry it’s not. As you say it’s in the mix and who is playing it that is important. I hate to say it but I can’t hear enough of a difference to say your amp is the winner. I have two amazing amps myself and I hate to say it but I rarely use them in recordings today. The same goes for studio outboard gear.
Great video , playing and comparison 👌.... when the fender amplifier is distorted , there is no way of sounding that good with the DSP plugin. My humble opinion.... it sounds nice when you playing clean stuff though... Cheers.
Thanks for this great video! For me - no meaningful difference in the mix, but prefer the real amp solo; the neural is a bit scooped and slightly 'hard' sounding. It would be great to get a comparison with an actual Tone King amp rather than the Fender, but those Tone Kings are expensive!
They are really quite different, but I think a lot of the difference has to do with the Impulse Response and EQ rather than the amp sim itself. They really sound like they are shaped differently. That being said the deluxe reverb sounds quite a lot better to me.
It's also not the exactly same amp so this makes a lot of difference in the sound, the Fender amp is very clean and the Tone King has a slightly break-up in this configuration. That said, it's still a great comparison
There is definitely a strong difference in the mids. Of course, this can be fixed in post, but something you didn't touch on was articulation. How does the dsp capture your pick attacks, mutes, all types of stuff that are discernable through traditional amps?
Pick attack, muting, and dynamics all sound similar to me. The larger difference is in how they feel. A real amp or stand-alone modeler feels much more direct. When using plug-ins, you introduce latency. Neural plug-ins for me are much more of a mixing tool than something I normally play or practice through. My usual setup is guitar directly into the Quad Cortex. I will record a separate DI to add the different Neural plug-ins to. I very rarely play or record directly through the plug-ins. BUT this can also still be an issue when recording with a real amp. If you are monitoring yourself through a DAW, there will be latency. I always use direct monitoring when playing and recording to avoid this. So it's really more of an issue of monitoring through a DAW than the plug-in feeling different than an amp
Real amp sounds brighter but that could probably be fixed with eq and honestly they both sound equally good. For sure in a mix I wouldnt really have a preference either way. When you consider the cost of these amps and how damn good plug ins and other modelers sounds nowadays, I personally couldn't justify switching back to owning a real amp. Just seems terribly impractical.
Great job, i never thought this shootout would be so tight, if you consider the price difference. The tone king is the next 'must have' neural dsp plugin for me. The cory wong Plugin has an amp called 'the clean machine'. Is this amp comparable with the tone king ?
not so much, i think the tone king has more dynamics and richer sound to me at least, i love the cory wong plugin though and i still use it a lot, but for more vintage or breakup tones i'd choose the tone king over wong 100%
Does anyone know why I can only use this as stand alone? When in my DAW there is signal, but the sound is only being added afterwards 🙄 I cannot play with sounds in real-time. I use Logic X
The real amp includes 1. Microphone type, 2. Microphone placement, 3. Room acoustic, 4. Preamp coloration and 5. AD conversion. I sounds definitely more 3D.
I'm waiting for the day someone does a video like this and about everyone says they prefer the real Amp.... Then a week goes by and an apology video comes out saying, "Sorry everyone, I accidentally had the channels reversed in the last video. What I told you was the real amp was actually the digital and vice versa."
![[Special Clip] ATEEZ(에이티즈) 홍중 'Why Do You Love'](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/I6XYXQKN_pY/mqdefault.jpg)
A few things I didn’t really touch on in the video:
1. Vintage amps can be a pain to maintain. The fender I’m using in the video has been in and out of the shop a decent amount of times. I don’t trust it enough to gig with it anymore. Now it just stays at home for if I want it for recording.
2. The amp is LOUD in the room. I’m wearing headphones, so it’s not a big deal. But if you live with other people or are worried about damaging your hearing, forget about it. Especially in the 2nd to last clip with the amp cranked.
3. Amp are not cheap. You also have to account for changing tubes, any damage from traveling, and just normal wear.
Is an amp still worth the hassle? Maybe for some, but not me atm. Currently, my whole workflow is digital. And if I really want a song or album to have real amp, I could always head to a studio for a reamping sesh.
Lmk your thoughts! 🤘
Thanks for the input man, really helped me make a decision on the plugin (buying it :p)
You must be doing something really wrong with your amps. I have owned vintage amps and never had any issue....the digital modellers never really replicate a tube amps. even the cheapest tube amp like a blues junior sounds miles better than a QC , kemper or any other modeller just like a digital copy of a girl cannot replicate the real girl .
@@joshuafernandes4935 Soo because it does go wrong for you means amps don't ever break or need to be worked on, nice.
@@joshuafernandes4935 I mean if you’re gigging with an amp several times a week and traveling with it, not only is it super heavy to pack and load, but the components are gonna jostle around and become damaged.
@@TheFunkyCriminal for traveling , I use the boss katana as they are much lighter and easier to carry . They don’t sound as good as tube amps but about 70% as good and gets the job done .
both sound great, interesting how accurate the neural stuff is getting, overall amp tone was fairly similar except for the tone being a little more scooped and having a little more top end in the plugin like you mentioned, the biggest difference was the reverb on the amp was night and day to the plugin. The plugin verb still sounded good and could work in a mix but the real amp def had more of a realistic typical spring verb sound
This video is ART! 🤤 Lovely playing and tones man!
Thanks Jack 🙏
@JackGardiner you're not only an exceptional talent, but you just seem to be an exceptional human, in general, sir!
I got a few amps in the studio but also got a Quad Cortex and NDSP's Plini Plugin. Hands down, whenever we record with real amps they just put big smiles on our faces. At the same time, I'm never unhappy with the NDSP stuff either. In A/B I tend to lean towards the amp but if I had to choose one over the other, I'd go with NDSP all the time for two reasons: a) convenience b) in a full mix, the differences disappear.
The real amp sounds like a real amp... Outstanding playing as usual ♥
I just discovered your "twin peaks" preset. Thanks for making me smile as soon as I hit a note on it!
The NDSP spring reverb still has a ways to go, sounds like it's missing the intermodulation between two different-sized springs. Perhaps the biggest difference though is your guitar is hearing and reacting to the amp in the room, but the plugin isn't (unless you recorded both at the same time). It's that interaction that makes the guitar seem more alive. I'm all digital too, pretty much the same setup you showed. I don't use plugins live though, just Quad Cortex. The Tone King plugin compares very well with S-Gear which is still one of the best.
I'm sorry, I know this is a simple comparison, but I can't get around how beautiful that riff is. I'm obsessed.
Neural DSP has done it once again. Talk about an accurate recreation my goodness! The only thing that stands out to my ear is the fender deluxe has slightly more natural chime, clarity and realism to it - emphasis on SLIGHTLY though, with some EQ you could get the digital tone pretty damn close. This plugin does an excellent job modeling a real tube amp sound. Having this in digital form is absolutely amazing. It’s cheaper, faster, 100% more reliable and more accessible than dealing with a physical amp. Great job Neural!!
I think I preferred the mic'ed amp in every tone comparison clip, but neural really killed it on getting it to sound pretty damn close to the real thing. Sounds great, and would've believed you if you said it was all recorded with the amp.
Man the attack on the real amp just does it for me. I wonder how much eq would help and if attack can be added to the sim. Nice playing and nice video! 👍🏻
both sound amazing imo, I really like these walkthrough type videos! keep it up
They are both fantastic in their own right!
Nothing beats the feeling of being in a room with a tube amp but at the same time the neural staff are top notch and especially when you don't have a treated room for recordings you can't beat the ease of things of using DI.
And don't forget the price difference between the 2!
In the amp vs plugin argument I feel like there shouldn't even have been an argument because they both have their applications and its fantastic how technology is advancing and we can have these many tools at our disposal to create music with!
Great video btw! The quality is amazing shows that you put a lot f time into them!
Just subbed keep up the great work!
Great video, and goddamn- your playing is nuanced and beautiful
More walkthrough videos yes! Would love to see some vids covering production and mixing! This plug-in sounds great too, thanks for the demo Josh!
Yes I love it, this works without too much content, let the listener hear the differences is great. Oh that soft lighting just makes it sooooo cosy watching this.
Would have been nice to roll off the hi end of the Neural to match the range of a real speaker maybe? Curious to hear that. Thank you for your work🙏🏾
Nice job picking out some of those key similar features to compare. Great work on this informative demo👌🏾
great video man, both sound amazing in my opinion
Good job Josh! Waiting for other interesting videos
beautiful video and beautiful playing definitely convince me to get it !
Nice video! Thanks for the comparison man
Espectacular el trabajo que has hecho .
Nice comparison. It’s what I need prior to purchase.
I had the Chance to compare the plugin with an actual tone king imperial and it's crazy how close the plugin comes....
I'm sure most people wouldnt be able to tell the difference in a blindfold test. And every little difference will most likely vanish in a mix.
This really made it easy for me. I don't have 3000€+ to spend on an actual tone king (or any expensive amp for that matter). Same with a lot of pedals. I live in a small flat with neighbours and sometimes I like to play at night or practice with headphones because I don't worry about me torturing other people with shitty riffs haha.
The plugin is 99€.
Not even a competition for me to be honest. It's easier and more convenient in almost any way for me. So glad we are able to experience cheap and good amp sim nowadays
Edit: i forgot to mention since the plugin is based on the tone king imperial and it's almost identical, I would argue most differences between the plugin and the Vintage Fender exist because they are also differences between the actual TKI and Fender
Both amps sound gorgeous. That track is rather beautiful too - really nice playing 👍
Amazing,,, I just purchased the toneking mk11,,,, on their black Friday sale. I think it's awesome,, and I liked
the second comparison,,, then went back to see which one you played first. The one I liked better was the toneking plugin,,, but then,,, they did both sound great.
Yes do more comparisons, like the style!
Neural is actually more pleasing on these ears. Gonna get it for black friday.
This video is the best possible overview of the plugin. Thank you!
Love these and love them more when you play more. Thanks.
Both sound great, I was distracted by the noise in this video and thought it was from the single coils of your Strat but it’s present when you are talking and there is no guitar signal present. You might want to gate your mic to filter out the unwanted noise, maybe that’s what I’m hearing? It’s a nice comparison though, I own the plugin and it’s great for recording clean tones with a Strat. I’ve really enjoyed it as much as the other amp specific Neural DSP stuff. I really wish Neural would develop and release a traditional bass amp plugin. Knowing how great these plugins are they could make anything sound like the original.
Really great playing man
Rad video dude, what a creative demo!
I'm using Neural DSP plugins (recently Archetype John Petrucci) outside of Line 6 Helix LT...Neural DSP plugins are top shelf, however we need always to adjust sound using EQ... As for me due to 2 reasons: (1) everyone plays different guitar with different pickups, (2) we need to do this anyway to match individual full mix 😉 anyway this reason shouldn't stop anyone to use Neural DSP plugins 😉👍There is different always between real amp sound and plugin but we talk about 3-5% different... Once you consider high real amp price vs plugin, limited environment for making noise (real amp volume must be pretty high to get cranked amp sound) vs plugin sound consistence no matter how loud you play unless I missed something?? 😜
I think you said it right in a mix with some tweaks you wouldn’t even notice the difference. If I was sitting in a room listening to someone play I would prefer the real amp but for recording you can’t beat it it’s a no brainer.
Love your style. Great playing. Great demo. Subbed immediately!!
I have a real Sky King, but had interest in this when I had mine off for a board swap. It was half off, and had tried the demo twice.
Honestly I’ve played the full TK line up, and still bought this plugin. For me with it set clean, or edge and roll back my guitar volume. It’s great with my pedal board! I’m not a fan of distortion on amp sims or drive.
But as a pedal clean platform I use this when I don’t wanna DI on a load box my Sky King. It’s close enough for demos to match up with my real amp. At home I have to record on headphones, so I use the amp on DI or use the plugin. After I go to my rental space, crank the amp and record my overdubs.
After using the plugin for awhile, it’s been a great companion piece! Another plus is sometimes I’ll use the cab and IRs on the plugin, with my real amp. I just turn off everything but the cab. When matching my clean settings on the real deal to this…surprisingly it matches up almost spot on!
So now I just use this plugin for scratch tracks, and quick inspiration or if my amp is at my practice space and I don’t feel like carrying the amp back for just 3 days till I go back.
I def highly recommend it as a clean pedal platform! Only thing is of course with the real amp, you have a mic and can direct monitor. So no dealing with buffer settings. I do recommend you have a PC/MAC, that can stay around 128 buffer to record. Otherwise you’ll be nudging a bit! 256 is somewhat passable with some latency. But most 2020 I7 and newer Mac M chips can handle with ease!
I’m using a 2020 last of the Intel Mac Minis I7 6core/64gb DDR4 as my main studio Mac. In the field no issue running too many instances on a old 2012 MacBook with SSD/16gb Ram.
Just make sure to get a coupon as there is always a 30% off, and 50% off holiday sales frequently! It was well worth my $60 I paid. Also Neural DSP let me demo it 3 times! I just sent an email and they were very happy to extend the period!
I’ve used many Amp plugins since man 2000 or so! This was the first all in one amp sim, that made me comfortable having in a recording. It sounds like a real amp in the context of a mix!
Nice! In the comparisons at the end I preferred the real amp for clean tones, but preferred the cranked plugin tone depending on what you were playing, same with the spring reverb. 🤘
Waiting for the next promotion to get the Tone King
I've tried it really quickly during a two week trial and what I have enjoyed and actually used in a session is the Reverb from that plugin
Going for a Jeff Buckley - Telecaster kind of sound using 2 different reverbs on 1 track like Andy Wallace used in the studio for "Grace"
So, two plugins - two Reverbs - one long, one short.
Yea it’s the thing that I don’t like about ndsp amps, it’s scooped. Which makes strumming on it just feels weird.. but I think I’m still getting this one. I just love collecting ndsp stuff.. haha
I just found you and your channel. Great great great.
Hey man, i LOVE your videos. Your tones are heavenly. How do you record the dry signals? Also how do you get this amazing stereo feel to your sound, is it pedalboard or post processed? Thanks
Love it. Share some of the presets you made!
Great comparison! Thanks Joshua!
Would be interesting to know, what mic setup you used on the Tone King for the comparison.
Was it the SM57 + 121 setup?
I took one Riff that you played similar on both and did some EQ matching with FF Pro Q.
With that EQ matching it comes very close!
For anyone interested. Main difference was:
78Hz -8 dB Q 5
125Hz +4 dB Q 5
500Hz -7 dB Q 4
Reducing the 500Hz area brought the plugin much closer to the real Amp.
Thank you!
Would love to see a comparison like this with your Deluxe Reverb and ToneX
This has some INSANE clean/breakup tones... I use your dark lead preset (Gojira) constantly. One of my favorite sounds ever
damn that fender sounds incredible
What a great comparison video. Its not quite there and I dont know if it ever will be but they're getting so so much closer
Would love to hear more of your opinion.
Would love a comparison or review of New Benson Chinera plugin.
Great video! What camera are you using for this?
Need a walkthrough on your color grading🤞
Thanks for the great comparison and walkthrough! I think for me this is a great alternative since I have no interest in collecting (or buying) vintage amplifiers.
This definitely gets close enough to the real thing to work for me!
Tone King sounds phenomenal when cranked, better than Deluxe reverb.
The dsp sounds more scoop in the mids, but it's right, because the silverface has more mids than tone king. I also have a silverface princeton, i love it but the digital (fractal in my case) it's just so good and comfortable.
Would you consider showing us how you would use and set up other NeuralDSP plugins like a Nolly or Plini for future videos? How would you get your fluid and beautiful tones in those plugins. Thanks.
Even thrue a phone speakers, amp sounds fuller, warmer.
Neural dsp sounds also good!
Do more videos! I like this but would love to see more things
Maybe tighten up the edit a bit. 20 minutes is a relatively large commitment for watch time
Both sound great. On what I’d like to see: A thorough lesson on the chords of modern prog. Everyone is all about the lead lines but I challenge you to find a good lesson about chords in this context. I’m talking about stuff like Plini, Intervals, Sithu Aye, etc. Typically drop tuned and using what I believe are often 9ths, 7ths, and other “jazzy” chords. Sometimes big 5+ string chords and sometimes smaller 3-string voicings on the high strings between chugs and riffs on the lower strings.
Learn your major and minor triads up the neck, then just start looking at them as three separate voices. You start just moving the inside and outside voices around one note at a time and you can very quickly and naturally end up with some crazy looking voicing. When you go to write the names down they will look like algebra, but its fairly simple to get there!
Great video!!!
Neural sounds great with volume up but tbh the fender just has an extra crispness in the cleans.
Nice playing! Man, your video looks tremendous. What camera are u using?
A Line 6 engineer’s said previously that NDSP likes to build a low cut before their amp models, then add a ton of lows and/or highs after the amp model. Common pre/post EQ, but apparently they choose to build it into their amp models. Probably what’s going on with this one too I imagine, with the mid scooped sound.
The amp sounds slightly better to me simply because the notes have more body or punch to them. The sim sounds thinner, but still good.
so, to my ears, the fender sounds just a touch better. Brighter, or warmer when it needs to be. rings out a little more. fits in the mix better. But man that Ndsp plugin is not that far off. It's pretty impressive. They've been knocking it out of the park the last couple years with their plugins.
Very good comparation and playing! I'm curious tho, where is that sweatshirt from? I like it a lot
Thanks for this! awesome stuff. Did you also try the new Mixwave Benson Chimera VST? curious to hear how this one competes?
You claimed they both sound good. Wrong. They both sound great! And I really enjoyed your playing too. Thank you for this.
Great review. Impressive sounds from the plugin, although spring reverb doesn't sound close to the amp.
Thanks.
the neural plugin is very nice, however, I found real amps always more alive, more organic. Even when listening to kemper, helix, fractal, or quad cortex I feel the same. Probably in the mix I couldn't tell which is which, but alone is easy. Digital is surely more practical, but playing through real amps is more inspiring!
I wouldn't say more inspiring, I'm a Kemper owner and all the available amps and different options inspire me more than having a tube amp. plus having all the effects on board is a lot more convenient and less expensive
I agree with you. I've been through the Digital hole, spent much hours setting up some nice sounds and yes it is nice but... Some days I like it, some days I don't and become doubtful about my settings, chasing some new IRs and some new setups. I'm never totally satisfied, it is "nice".
I sold all digital stuff, all my previous amps and now I only focus on 1 single AMP : Carr Mercury V. This one has the magic, this is more of an instrument by itself than just a tool. I plug my guitar, put it on and let's rock I feel always inspired and just happy to play it.
NDSP seems to have a little less chime than the FDR. could probably EQ that out if you wanted, but it’s really subtle.
the reverb is also pretty dull - surprising, since even a boss pedal sounds more accurate imo - but you could prob just use a plug-in. eventide’s spring reverb plug-in is 80% off for the next few days on sweetwater.
there is an actual tone king imperial combo amp in real life. that's what this dsp is actually painstakingly modeled after. assuming the tone king amp is built on the fender reverb. they run about $2500 new. if you like the real amp sound of your fender but really like the dsp toneking by comparison, you can have the real physical version of the amp that would be reliable.
Great video btw. New subscriber. Thanks.
Both sound good. I prefer the amp in these clips though. It sounds a bit fuller, more 3D, wider?
Great vid yummy want more of this
Do you have guitar instruction vids - You got some tasty chops, bro!
Om old school, growing up in the 70’s I really want an amp to be better but honestly what I’m asking is if your sound is 3000 dollars better on the amp and I’m sorry it’s not. As you say it’s in the mix and who is playing it that is important. I hate to say it but I can’t hear enough of a difference to say your amp is the winner. I have two amazing amps myself and I hate to say it but I rarely use them in recordings today. The same goes for studio outboard gear.
Great video , playing and comparison 👌.... when the fender amplifier is distorted , there is no way of sounding that good with the DSP plugin.
My humble opinion.... it sounds nice when you playing clean stuff though...
Cheers.
Thanks for this great video! For me - no meaningful difference in the mix, but prefer the real amp solo; the neural is a bit scooped and slightly 'hard' sounding. It would be great to get a comparison with an actual Tone King amp rather than the Fender, but those Tone Kings are expensive!
Do you have a vid abt the guitar you use in this video, type, pickups, etc.
Do you have a vid on how you like to process your guitars? Thanks in advance.
They are really quite different, but I think a lot of the difference has to do with the Impulse Response and EQ rather than the amp sim itself. They really sound like they are shaped differently. That being said the deluxe reverb sounds quite a lot better to me.
It's also not the exactly same amp so this makes a lot of difference in the sound, the Fender amp is very clean and the Tone King has a slightly break-up in this configuration. That said, it's still a great comparison
What guitar are you using? It’s beautiful as well
There is definitely a strong difference in the mids. Of course, this can be fixed in post, but something you didn't touch on was articulation. How does the dsp capture your pick attacks, mutes, all types of stuff that are discernable through traditional amps?
Pick attack, muting, and dynamics all sound similar to me. The larger difference is in how they feel. A real amp or stand-alone modeler feels much more direct. When using plug-ins, you introduce latency. Neural plug-ins for me are much more of a mixing tool than something I normally play or practice through. My usual setup is guitar directly into the Quad Cortex. I will record a separate DI to add the different Neural plug-ins to. I very rarely play or record directly through the plug-ins.
BUT this can also still be an issue when recording with a real amp. If you are monitoring yourself through a DAW, there will be latency. I always use direct monitoring when playing and recording to avoid this.
So it's really more of an issue of monitoring through a DAW than the plug-in feeling different than an amp
Im confused… i thought you said that the Neural DSP was based on the Fender amp…. Its based on the Tone King Amps???
To me the Amp does sound better but there both great 👍
Lets see more videos. Anything you wanna throw at us!
Please compare it with a REAL Tone King Imperial MK II ?? The Fender sounds more lively now !!
"Stunning, like a young Burt Reynolds" as Raymond would say, but somehow I find the Fender better, just more natural!
Cranked I prefer the plugin, clean they both sound very good. I'd say the real reverb sounds better
Real amp sounds brighter but that could probably be fixed with eq and honestly they both sound equally good. For sure in a mix I wouldnt really have a preference either way. When you consider the cost of these amps and how damn good plug ins and other modelers sounds nowadays, I personally couldn't justify switching back to owning a real amp. Just seems terribly impractical.
One good IR would make it. York audio has a fender 210 that sounds closer to the sound he got on the real amp
I can barely get this plugin to sound sparkly clean without a compressor
Great job, i never thought this shootout would be so tight, if you consider the price difference. The tone king is the next 'must have' neural dsp plugin for me. The cory wong Plugin has an amp called 'the clean machine'. Is this amp comparable with the tone king ?
not so much, i think the tone king has more dynamics and richer sound to me at least, i love the cory wong plugin though and i still use it a lot, but for more vintage or breakup tones i'd choose the tone king over wong 100%
@@gstvermilion thanks for your opinion !
Does anyone know why I can only use this as stand alone? When in my DAW there is signal, but the sound is only being added afterwards 🙄 I cannot play with sounds in real-time. I use Logic X
The real amp includes 1. Microphone type, 2. Microphone placement, 3. Room acoustic, 4. Preamp coloration and 5. AD conversion. I sounds definitely more 3D.
How close can you get adding midrange and reducing some top end with the eq?
Tone King’s amp tone is based on a Fender Tweed. A Fender Reverb has different characteristics all together so it’s unfair to compare those two.
What brand is that guitar?
Such a shame that NeuralDSP spring reverb sounds that bad :(! Hopefully they'll get better at it.(really great plugin though)
I'm waiting for the day someone does a video like this and about everyone says they prefer the real Amp.... Then a week goes by and an apology video comes out saying, "Sorry everyone, I accidentally had the channels reversed in the last video. What I told you was the real amp was actually the digital and vice versa."