Free guitar amp simulators comparison

Poulin LeCto (LePou Plugins)

Guitar amp simultation plugins state of the art is really polished, I mean high level quality: major amplifier production companies have developed “virtual versions” of their best models. The use of these plugins instead of real amps is becoming more and more common, especially in home productions, thanks to low costs. Even if I like more a well miced head + cab amplifier, I believe that these plugins are becoming really valuable.

In this context you can find really good free plugins: emulation masterpieces, with processing results comparable to their “expensive brothers”, moreover they’re free to download and use. In this post I’d like to let you listen to some of the best free amp simultation plugins you can find on the web: LePou Lecto, LePou Legion, LePou Le456, TSE X50, Ignite Amps NRR1. I used a song by Feared (thanks to Ola Englud for his kindness to let me use this song), if you don’t know Feared I really advice to visit their website, latest album is coming and I think it’s worth to have it.

This is the song, as of a recording by Ola:

Below you can find 5 different mixdown of the song, with drums and bass mixed by me (with basic kit of EZDrummer and a layered bass). Guitar tracks are all “reamped” with this fx chain: TSE 808 -> Amp Sim -> Poulin LeCab2 with God’s Cab impulses (settings are shown in the images below). We’ll talk about TSE 808 and impulses for cab emulation in the future, now I want to show you what these plugins can do. No post EQ is applied to guitars, you’ll listen just to the result of the plugins chain.

LePou Lecto

Poulin LeCto (LePou Plugins)
Poulin LeCto (LePou Plugins) settings

LePou Le456

Poulin Le456 (LePou Plugins)
Poulin Le456 (LePou Plugins) settings

LePou Legion

Poulin LeGion (LePou Plugins)
Poulin LeGion (LePou Plugins) settings

TSE X50

TSE X50 B3 (TSE Audio)
TSE X50 B3 (TSE Audio) settings

TSE X50 v1.0.2 (edit february 10th, 2013)

TSE X50 v1.0.2 (TSE Audio)
TSE X50 v1.0.2 settings

Ignite Amps NRR-1

NRR-1 1.1.0 (Ignite Amps)
NRR-1 1.1.0 (Ignite Amps) settings

I like very much LePou Legion, I think that it can render a great low end mantaining a clear sound. If you want to push the sound to the next level some subrative EQ is necessary, anyway I really like it.

What about you? Which do you like most? 🙂

10 Comments

  • John85
    at 11 years ago

    You’re using a old version of X50, the new one’s better 🙂

    Reply
    • Santo
      at 11 years ago

      I’ll update the post with the new X50 as soon as I try the new version! Great news! Follow the post to be updated once the edit will be online!

      Reply
    • Santo
      at 11 years ago

      Just edited the post with the new version of TSE X50, it sounds really good! Doesn’t it? 🙂

      Reply
  • Eddie Paul Naples
    at 11 years ago

    LePou 456 su tutti, boostando con una simulazione qualsivoglia del Tube Screamer e usando gli IR come cab vengono giù i muri, se possibile poi vorrei postare un demo dimostrativo!

    Reply
    • Santo
      at 11 years ago

      Credo di essere ancora oggi molto indeciso tra Le456 e Legion, una cosa è certa: i plugin LePou sono assolutamente superiori a tutti gli altri. Anche se è vero che ormai ce ne sono così tanti di Amp Sim gratuiti che sarebbe difficile confrontarli tutti! In realtà  sto aspettando una versione 64 bit dei plugin. TSE sta aggiornando i suoi con versioni 64 bit, credo che ormai sia importante avere il supporto anche per il 64 bit. Posta pure il demo, sarebbe interessante!

      Reply
  • SantoClemenzi.com Suono di chitarra Heavy per principianti (con free plugin) | SantoClemenzi.com
    at 11 years ago

    […] Se il vostro obiettivo è suonare con una distorsione cattiva non rimarrete delusi. Nel mio post di comparison tra amp simulator avevo usato una vecchia versione di X50 e per me era già  ottimo, dopo aver modificato il post […]

    Reply
  • george
    at 11 years ago

    With which program you open the sound man??

    Reply
  • Audiofanzine
    at 11 years ago

    Great comparison! We also agree with your selection and added a few more plugins we think are great in this article: http://en.audiofanzine.com/plugin-amp-simulator/editorial/articles/the-top-free-virtual-guitar-amps.html

    Reply
    • Santo
      at 11 years ago

      Your comparison is even more complete than mine! Thank you very much for your comment!

      Reply

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Hi! I'm Santo Clemenzi.

Software engineer, music producer and bass player (From The Depth, Mindohm, Outerburst). Welcome to my blog! I (rarely) post about music production but sometimes I also rant about anything else.

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