[brandondrury]

#1 - Real 5150
#2 - JCM 800 simulator in Guitar Rig 2
#3 - Real 1971 Marshall Superlead 100 watt
#4 - Dual Rectifier simulator in Guitar Rig 2
#5 - Real Rivera Knucklehead set brighter
#6 - Real Rivera Knucklehead set darker
#7 - All 6 amps (12 total tracks) combined in a way that sounded best at the time.

- Does layering sound better?
People make a huge deal about layering electric guitars. Was their a dramatic improvement between #7 and any of the individual elements? I found the difference to be bigger on my studio monitors than on my computer speakers. I really liked blending the 5150 tracks and the Marshall Superlead tracks. They both seamed to be doing opposite things.

- Mid Scoop Confusion
People make such a big deal about "scooped mids" but the problem with this is it covers such a broad range. Guitar amps have tone controls that are voiced dramatically different than other amps. Metalheads typically grab the mid control and pull it way down. In this little example, the 5150 had it's mids on 10. Still at this setting it has far less in the boxy midrange than the Marshall Superlead or the Rivera when set to be darker. I thought this was interesting.

- How does Guitar Rig 2 compare to the real thing?
I would say that Guitar Rig 2 is not bad at all. I'd be curious to see how Guitar Rig 3, Amplitude, and Wave GTR 3 compare. I think that Guitar Rig 2 is fizzier than the rig I used, but they did not have a Royer R121 model in Guitar Rig 2. It may have been more "scientificeee" if I had used a 57 or 421 like the simulation ins Guitar Rig 2 did. Well, this wasn't science. I was comparing my way verses their way. This is the result for better or worse.

I was interested by the fact that the Telecaster sounded most Telecasterish through the DI thing. I could hear the strings more. I'm not sure what that means or what that is worth. I felt that the DI method had more fizz and a mudness to it. It's not exactly mud, but there is something kind of indistinct in the plugin that I didn't hear on any of the real amps.

With that said, I think that Guitar Rig is not a bad product for anyone who can't crank up their guitars or doesn't have all this expensive crap. I'm impressed. On the right album I could see myself using Guitar Rig without much question. I've certainly recorded worse guitar sounds!

In the end what is more important is what you think. So what do you think?

Brandon