Softube Guitar Amp RE

[zabukowski]

I must say these Softube Amps are real dissapointment IMHO. I am trying to get something usable from them since they were released. I always want to like new stuff, but recently I've just come to conclusion that these RE's are not for me.

Especially mid-driven, crunch sounds feels like badly overloaded amp with broken tubes.

Here comes boring stuff: i know how to setup & tweak amps, both ITB and OTB, i have more than 30 years of experience as live & session guitarist, owned many Fenders, Marshalls etc. in the past, currently using Egnater Rebel 30 and many VST ampsims - mostly S-Gear & Revalver + some Guitar Rig, TH2 etc. I am mixing, arranging, producing a lot of (guitar) music so i think i have a slight idea about how guitars should sound in a context of music they are used in. (bla, bla, blah)

I can get better results with Line6 Reason amps anytime. At least they sound as expected. 

Reason guitarists, what are your feelings about Softube amps ? I really tried hard to get something from this stuff with no success. On the other hand, i really like Softube Vintage Amp Room, excellent sounding. 

Cheers,
Franci

[TheMiles]

I haven't really tried out the Softtube amps, but from my little experience with them I have to say they appear to be nothing special. I quickly switched to kuassa and I am very happy with that decision.

[gak]

I was able to coax some decent sounds out of it. For lead stuff with a bit of eq you can get a nice tone. Also, I put a screamer in front and got a really nice strat/neck tone. 

But the Kuassa is better  

[Iapetus 9]

I have to say that I've had the opposite experience with ST Vintage Amp Room. I thought it was a real average amp sim no better than the new Reason amps. Obviously every guitarist has different tastes and needs. I don't do a whole lot of buzz saw guitars, and for me, Nomad Factory Guitar Legends has a fantastic spring verb, and AmpliTude Fender is pretty good chained with some outboard overdrive pedals. I'll stick to mic placement on my real Fender. Still can't beat it. Cheers!

[jfrichards]

I think the $6 Boutique Amp refill from Marco makes the Softube Amp better.

http://melodiefabriek.com/blog/boutique-amp-update/

With any amp, real or software, a lot depends on the guitar and the style and the day.  I've been able to create 20 setups in Amplitube (in Logic) that are perfect for me, while others can't stand it. Some days I plug into my real Fender tube amps and it doesn't inspire me at all, other days I'm blown away.  The Kuassa presets are not exactly right for me, but 4 tweaks and they are usually wonderful.  I made my own set of patches.

[zabukowski]

I absolutely agree that every guitarist has its own taste, "sound", feeling, guitars etc. Also, I agree that every ampsim can be made usable by using some saturation, additional drive, compression, EQ, FX etc - i've done it few times with these RE's because i wanted to stay 100% inside Reason and i can live with the results.

But, I am judging pure amp here - it is not really the tweaker's amp, there are not  zillion controls and options inside amp to sculpture its sound. This one should have nice sound from the start. For example, when i plug in my G&L telecaster, i expect it to sound like a telecaster plugged into nice amp, not shockingly good amp, but nice at least (as is the case with majority of other ampsims). To me, this one doesn't sound like that. 

I really don't like things which don't sound good without major initial tweaking - being real amps or ampsims. Of course i like to tweak them later for fine tuning. Anyway, I have done a lot of tweaking on this RE's, but still don't like them - unnatural, often farty (not in a good way), plastic etc. I guess guys at Softube really strip-down their algorithms here.

Of course this is strictly my personal view & experience.

Cheers,
Franci

[Arsenic]

I have to say, I was completely underwhelmed by the Softube amps as well.

Now, although the included Line 6 amps are/were nothing to write home about, I could coax some interesting and useful tones out of the bass amp. I found the L6 guitar amp was more useful for whacking distortion on a synth.

I guess it's all subjective - Some will love the Softube amps, others will hate them - Some probably won't give a damn.

It would be nice to have the choice of either Softube amps or the Kuassa amps when buying Reason, though.

[EddieG]

I have to agree with this - nothing sounds more openly organic than guitar amp mic
Marcos demo sounds great, and I have heard many great things using these REs BUT
 nothing satisfies me more sonically when I A/B

I have to say  ...  I'll stick to mic placement on my real Fender. Still can't beat it. Cheers!

Besides I'm having troubles with the shop atm

[Last Alternative]

Boy am I glad they were free with R8. They are limited yes and surprised that something so limited and underwhelming came from Softube? YES (look at the Saturation knob which easily cranks the shit out of your volume but has no output gain knob.... I mean WTF), but they offer more tones to your sound pallet when you have all the amps. I probably use the Softy amps maybe 46.3% of the time.

[guitfnky]

I think they're great, honestly. I don't find it difficult to pull some great sounds out of them at all. they take a little getting used to, though. they definitely didn't sound like I was expecting when I first plugged in, but I find the tones to be very warm, natural, and tube-y.

I've used Line 6 stuff for a LONG time (started with POD 1.0), and I've always thought they take a lot of wrestling to get a good tone from. possible to do, but not without work (their presets are atrocious). I think the simplicity of Amp is a good thing, and have never had trouble finding an appropriate sound quickly, where in Line 6, it would take me a lot of fiddling.

the Kuassa stuff is excellent too though. I can definitely see why a 'tweaker' would gravitate more towards those sims than the Softube ones.

I'm just glad there are plenty of great options to pick from.

[jfrichards]

For me, the Softube amp is quick and dirty for Vox-type amp tones.  If you don't like or use Vox, you probably won't like Softube Amp.  For me, it's useful for quite particular needs, like for The Stones and Telecasters especially, and also for primitive Blues and punk-type f**k you attitude.  Not exactly for saying "I Love You", except when you have just hurled yourself off the Empire State building.

[jfrichards]

I'm changing my mind on the Softube Amp after Marco pointed out that the Crunch/Room setting is great for Hendrix/SRV stuff.  It is fabulous for that midrange tube saturation sound with no harshness but still shimmering highs on a Strat.  I have a great set of patches for my Strats for Vermilion, and doing real time A/B, I can see why Vermilion would be considered harsh relative to Softube.  Vermilion has an aggressive edge that many Fender amps have, so it's way more than useful for me, it's downright inspiring.  But Softube has something different in it's EQ and saturation that is also wonderful.  Gonna have to work out a set of patches/combinators for it too.  Life is good.

The three Tube Screamers in Creme are great, looking forward to trying them with Softube, and putting the Creme 4x12 speakers after Softube, and making dual amp setups with Softube/Vermilion.

[Marco Raaphorst]

I LOVE the Softube Amps.

The only model I don't like much is Rock which has a very compressed tone. Although it is a Marshall brown tone and the high end is super sweet and feel is very much tube like, it's too much compressed. I also feel the Bright Cabinet is a little too bright. And it would be great to have that Room cabinet without the room ambience. That Cabinet is superb, like a Vox 2x12 but with an ambience sound to it.

I compared to NI Guitar Rig 5, the Softube Amp has a much milder high end (GR has a thinner higher end) and the feel, responsiveness is way better. The effects in GR are very bad also. The Reason Rig is like the best setup ever.

I compared it with my super expensive rig, using Koch KV-50 and Vox AC-15 amps using a Palmer Speaker Simulator PDI-03 (the thing that Eddy Van Halen always used, as well as many others) and did a blind test. Everyone thought the Softube was the real tube amp. It simply sounds better than everything I ever owned. 

Tubes are great, but simply super hard to handle

[Marco Raaphorst]

Forgot to mention, I also have a Marshall Studio 15. The best Marshall that's not huge. I own it for 30 years. But I prefer Softube Amp

[ionly]

The Softube Amps are certainly not as flexible as the Kuassa offerings, but I like them nonetheless. They give me some very workable Mogwai-style "fatness" when needed, and are really suited to my Tele finger-style.
Cheers.

[zabukowski]

Great to hear so many opinions

I am really trying hard these days to stay 100% in Reason for all my guitar work - as i said, work can be done and i never blame tools for my bad sound or playing

Still, way too much tweaking is needed to get close to the sound i need and love. I know, it is probably just me, as i said few times.

Regardless, you can check some of my work on Soundcloud link below. Comparing my stuff to someone else stuff would probably reveal the cause for our different opinions and perception of these RE's. I would really like to hear some guitar work you guys did.

Btw. Marshall Studio 15 was my first tube amp, you never forget the first love, hehe.
I certainly don't love Softube Amps ... but I love Reason, though  :s0221:

Cheers,
Franci

[stratatonic]

I still haven't used the Bass Amp yet in any production - I like the Line 6 one better.

While I did end up with some decent tones out of some of the Softube Amps, they took more tweaking than they should have.

But I cannot stand that Rock Amp - what a useless waste. Awful farting sounds. Sound like crap, unless you throw in a few Screams in front to even it out. But you really shouldn't have to do that - it should sound passable without all the effects.

[zabukowski]

I still haven't used the Bass Amp yet in any production - I like the Line 6 one better. While I did end up with some decent tones out of some of the Softube Amps, they took more tweaking than they should have. But I cannot stand that Rock Amp - what a useless waste. Awful farting sounds. Sound like crap, unless you throw in a few Screams in front to even it out. But you really shouldn't have to do that - it should sound passable without all the effects.

Yes, that is exactly what i am talking about.

I can see now, it was actually the Rock Amp, which provoked me to start this topic  

Cheers,
Franci

[selig]

I still haven't used the Bass Amp yet in any production - I like the Line 6 one better. While I did end up with some decent tones out of some of the Softube Amps, they took more tweaking than they should have. But I cannot stand that Rock Amp - what a useless waste. Awful farting sounds. Sound like crap, unless you throw in a few Screams in front to even it out. But you really shouldn't have to do that - it should sound passable without all the effects.

Yes, that is exactly what i am talking about.

I can see now, it was actually the Rock Amp, which provoked me to start this topic  

Cheers,
Franci

It was also similar comments that led me to create this track, featuring the infamous Rock Amp (no Screams were used, no awful farting sounds…but hey, these are the same types of comments fans of one amp brand say about another every day!):

[jfrichards]

...I am way more interested in tones suited for soul, jazz, reggae, world music, funk etc. ...

I just started yesterday on sound designing with the Soft-amp, are you looking for stuff in this direction? (crunch/room setup - don't know why they call it crunch):

http://phead.mu/s/Q0Nzz38W

[Marco Raaphorst]

I like amps with some dirt, tube etc, but so many of them are very much directed to distorsion based music.
While that flavour is good to have, I am way more interested in tones suited for soul, jazz, reggae, world music, funk etc. 
I have not yet digged deep enough into the functions of the different amps in this regard, but I ask for some guidience here and tips in this direction.Just so I can get inspired to start to tweak. 
Which amps and what tweakings/combinations would you recommend to start out with? 
I have got the Vermilion and off course the Line 6.
I do not yet have the Softubes nor the Creme (as this one seemed more heavy distorsion oriented...?).
Also Scream and Pulverizer and Audiomatic I could see would be suitable here.
Have any secrets for some organic Dirty-Clean sounds?

I like the Tube setting of Scream a lot. When using it with the Compression parameter somewhere around 40 or higher it is really smooth. You can drive beautiful overtones that way which are rather subtle. I love the tape setting of Audiomatic a lot too. Audiomatic is great for guitars.

[zabukowski]

I still haven't used the Bass Amp yet in any production - I like the Line 6 one better. While I did end up with some decent tones out of some of the Softube Amps, they took more tweaking than they should have. But I cannot stand that Rock Amp - what a useless waste. Awful farting sounds. Sound like crap, unless you throw in a few Screams in front to even it out. But you really shouldn't have to do that - it should sound passable without all the effects.

Yes, that is exactly what i am talking about.

I can see now, it was actually the Rock Amp, which provoked me to start this topic  

Cheers,
Franci

It was also similar comments that led me to create this track, featuring the infamous Rock Amp (no Screams were used, no awful farting sounds…but hey, these are the same types of comments fans of one amp brand say about another every day!):

[zabukowski]

I like amps with some dirt, tube etc, but so many of them are very much directed to distorsion based music.
While that flavour is good to have, I am way more interested in tones suited for soul, jazz, reggae, world music, funk etc. 
I have not yet digged deep enough into the functions of the different amps in this regard, but I ask for some guidience here and tips in this direction.Just so I can get inspired to start to tweak. 
Which amps and what tweakings/combinations would you recommend to start out with? 
I have got the Vermilion and off course the Line 6.
I do not yet have the Softubes nor the Creme (as this one seemed more heavy distorsion oriented...?).
Also Scream and Pulverizer and Audiomatic I could see would be suitable here.
Have any secrets for some organic Dirty-Clean sounds?

I like the Tube setting of Scream a lot. When using it with the Compression parameter somewhere around 40 or higher it is really smooth. You can drive beautiful overtones that way which are rather subtle. I love the tape setting of Audiomatic a lot too. Audiomatic is great for guitars.

 
Yeah, i am using Scream for years, but recently discovered Audiomatic Tape and i like it a lot. Used it on all guitar tracks while mixing today

[jfrichards]

...It was also similar comments that led me to create this track, featuring the infamous Rock Amp (no Screams were used, no awful farting sounds…but hey, these are the same types of comments fans of one amp brand say about another every day!):

Nice stuff Giles!!  Wow, sure brings me back to being 15 in 1969 in the garage (went to see Zeppelin that August for $3.50).  Only thing incongruent is the sound of the drums, nobody had studio drums, cymbals and mics in those times, but the raw Pearl sets were fabulous nonetheless.  We all went to heaven when the guitarist bought a brand new cherry red Gibson ES-335.

[Marco Raaphorst]

and don't forget: aliasing can be fun