Peavey ReValver MK III Reviews

[Will Chen]

For me, this is the evolution of guitar modeling. Being able to mess with an amp's virtual circuit is absolutely killer. And the tones are just excellent. Can't wait until an affordable VST host hits the market so I can gig with it. Here are some clips:

Revalver Rock

Revalver Funk

[confusia]

i too a/b'ed guitar rig 3, pod x3 and the revalver mk III. while the first two were competent and each had patches which stood out, far and away the revalver delivered on that valve 'tube' sound that so many seek. this is the first effects software or hardware that i have used that i can say that about. it simply has 'that' brown sound when the signal breaks up. furthermore i am now experimenting with the picking dynamics and the volume control to achieve different sound tones as well . i've never done that before either, just as one would (i imagine) with a real tube amp. finding a sound one is satisfied with is a lot quicker and easier as well and i am finding myself tweaking less (to find the 'right' sound) and playing more, or having found the base sound that i am happy with, i am tweaking to experiment rather than tweaking to find a tone that will inspire. quite simpy i think it's brilliant. a real g.a.s killer.

[Axeman]

Its the best sounding guitar sim i ever tried......awesome...

[Metaltyme]

Ok, I've been using Guitar Rig 3 for awhile now, and I certainly like it. But, I have recently purchased Peavey ReValver MKIII to add to the amp-sim catalog. Why? It was an impulse buy driven by G.A.S. and ultimately, curiosity. I've been reading a lot of reviews about it, and they seem to shine favorably on PR MKIII. Guitar Rig 3 gets the same high praises mind you. However, one thing that's been in the back of my mind is the apparent extra tweakibility found in MKIII, what with all the extra 'spec-plan' possibilities.

Also, I've finally begun playing around with 3rd party impulse responses to replace the stock cabinet emulations found in Guitar Rig 3 (which are said to be far inferior to what's available elsewhere). I've also read that Revalver's stock cab impulses are considered slightly more authentic-sounding than those of Guitar Rig 3. Now, I've used Revalver before and thought things sounded good, but nothing particularly better than what I've found in Guitar Rig 3, and it took longer for me to reach a great tone in Revalver than with Guitar Rig 3.

Now that I'm using some of the available IRs out there, I'm really getting some incredible guitar tones...particularly, in the hi-gain to extremely hi-gain ones. And I'm not talking just a slight improvement over the stock cab-sims. I'm talking a major jump in quality of the overall amp sounds. Using IRs, Guitar Rig 3 sounds astonishingly good. As if I thought things couldn't get any better, I've recently been testing Revalver with the same impulses, and I'm truly convinced that this can replace the use of real amps in the studio.

After putting both competitors head-2-head, I can honestly say now that Guitar Rig 3 and Revalver MKIII both sound amazing. But, with the extra abilities to manipulate within Revalver, I've been able to get a slightly better dynamic response and a bit more natural tube "sag" that I could just sop up with a biscuit. Tasty stuff. Needless to say, I'm now a believer in Revalver MKIII. I still use and love what Guitar Rig 3 offers; mainly the clean amps, effects, and a couple other amp models that Revalver simply does not have.

Bottom Line: Revalver's great. With all the options, coupled with the use of quality 3rd-party impulse responses, I couldn't imagine not being able to achieve the guitar tone of your dreams. This goes for Guitar Rig 3 users as well. However, like me, you might find that Revalver has a slight edge in dynamic response detection and that extra bit of tube "sag" many of the purists deny can be had with a modeler. I believe we're definitely approaching the days of not being able to tell the difference between a tone that's created with a real-live amp or one created with a quality amp-sim such as these. This is, of course, true, as long as the person using the amp-sim employs good tweaking skills.

[Vain Melody]

Hi Metaltyme,

Thanks for the helpful info.

Could you tell us where to get more info/access to these third party IRs? I don't even know what those are!

[Metaltyme]

Originally Posted by Vain Melody

Hi Metaltyme,

Thanks for the helpful info.

Could you tell us where to get more info/access to these third party IRs? I don't even know what those are!

I started at GuitarAmpModeling.com There's a FAQ there that explains everything about "Impulse Responses." That'll get you up to speed. Have fun.