The living and breathing dynamic range of a tube amp is the hardest thing to recreate, whereas sounds and tones are subjective to one’s taste. They keep getting closer agreed there’s nothing quite like a real tube amp, specifically how the tubes react to playing and picking dynamics. Still, for me, nothing sounds or feels like a tube amp on the verge of breaking up. I will definitely check out the other two as well. I intend to do a deep dig into the Nembrini apps while I am on vacation next week. One of the things I like about Bias FX is that everything(amps,fx,cabs, IR's) is in one wrapper.
Out of curiosity have you tried any of the latest batches of amp sims: THU Overloud, Nembrini or Mooer GE Labs? No modeling app comes close to the feel of a great tube amp yet. I had a stroke a couple years ago so I can't lug my tube amps to gigs. Also put a tube screamer in front of the amp in Biasfx with the drive turned down works wonders to fatten up a Marshall model. I use them to tame any fizziness or annoying frequencies. I have better tone than most local players. I have been gigging with BiasFX into my Bose L1 model 2 for a couple years now. The short answer, PG has been surpassed but experienced simmers have invested and can get great sounds out of said: I think Ge Labs is the wild card, as it has tonal elements of Bias and Overloud, and the most interesting pricing model.
it’s not even close if we’re talking real analog amp sound fidelity. I don’t think it’s a fair contest to compare Overloud and Nembrini to Bias, Amplitube, Tonestack, Depthlike, etc. Why? Because they sound so much better to me and so much more real than the other apps. I have all the Nembrini amps and the Overloud full pack plus 11 rigs. Now, I have completely gone crazy with Nembrini and Overloud. I was much much more impressed with Ge Labs on first impression. I recently watched two lengthy YouTube demos on FX2, one sounded horrible and the other sounded amazing, so I’m sure there’s a path to good tone there. I think the overall feeling I got was “fizzy”, which in turn seemed digital. It’s how people felt about Cubasis, there was no path to upgrade from CB2 to CB3 and CB3 was crash city.Īll that aside, I played around with the FX2 free demo and was not compelled to go in on it. If you’re looking to upgrade your old practice amp to a tube amp, the Mark Five is a great choice for you.I’m pretty new to iOS sims and only started shopping this year, it seemed like many were angry with PG because there was no path to upgrade from FX1, and FX2 started out buggy at first and with no midi. It does also include a built-in Cabclone cab simulator for silent practice. For three heavy but unique tones, try Mesa’s Mark IIC+, Mark IV, and Xtreme modes. There are even two different channels: one which has Clean, Fat, and Crunch modes, and another with three special modes unique to Mesa brand amps. It also has a Celestion G10 Creamback speaker installed, which will give you a detailed, thick sound. There are two different wattage modes, 10-watt and 25-watt, so you can choose how much power you need and get the best tone no matter where you’re playing. More on the difference between solid-state amps and tube amps will be explored later on in the Buyer’s Guide.
Tube amps are much more delicate and therefore much more expensive, but if you want to blast your volume without that heavy metal sound, a tube amp is the way to go.
That’ll make a big difference in the price, but also in your sound. The Mesa/Boogie Mark Five differs from the MkII (and every other amp listed here) because it’s a tube amp rather than a solid-state.