AXE FX II Models VS Amplitube Officially Licensed Models

monkeymanx

Inspired
Measured up some of the AXE FX II models to the Amplitube officially licensed models. The DI for Amplitube was from the AXE FX II. I compared 4 amp models:

Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier
ENGL Powerball
Orange Rockerverb
Marshall AFD100

The speaker cabinets within Amplitube are also officially licensed. Although they are officially licensed I still prefer the work Ownhammer does which is what I used for the Axe FX II cabs. For Amplitube I used the officially licensed ones because they have to be good right? Right? RIGHT!!!!!

 
The Amplitube models sound pretty good. The mix is better with the OH cabs though with more depth and clarity. The Amplitube cabs sound a bit more boxy or congested in comparison. Still quite usable though. I'd be curious to hear both through the OH IR's. Amplitube has come a long way over the years. Their effects are usually pretty good too. For the price, it's a pretty impressive DAW tool.
 
I'm not sure what to make of the "officially licensed" claim. They use the term liberally, along with "officially certified."

Then they have the words "legal detail" at the bottom of the page. Click on those words (which nobody does), and you get the following:

Product names are used solely for the purpose of identifying the specific products that were studied during IK Multimedia’s sound model development and for describing certain types of tones produced with IK Multimedia’s digital modeling technology. Use of these names does not imply any cooperation or endorsement.
...along with other language that makes it clear that "officially licensed" doesn't mean what they want you to think it means.
 
I'd love to hear this through the same IR so we could get a better idea of what the amp models sound like side by side. Great tones all around nevertheless.
 
The first AxeFx (mesa) clip was great. Killer riff too. Listening on my recording rig (Yamaha Monitors) the Axe version sounds way more open and pleasing. The Amplitube take was more boxy and had an annoying presence. I'd gamble it's the IR.
 
The Amplitube models sound pretty good. The mix is better with the OH cabs though with more depth and clarity. The Amplitube cabs sound a bit more boxy or congested in comparison. Still quite usable though. I'd be curious to hear both through the OH IR's. Amplitube has come a long way over the years. Their effects are usually pretty good too. For the price, it's a pretty impressive DAW tool.

It's odd but when I did a shoot out before with a couple of amp modelers using the same CAB IRs, Amplitube didn't take to well to the IRs. Not sure why but Amplitube actually sounded better through it's own cabs. Makes no sense right. But yes, boxy.
 
I'd love to hear this through the same IR so we could get a better idea of what the amp models sound like side by side. Great tones all around nevertheless.

I did that with BIAS and the AXE FX and the Axe sounded better to me due to BIAS having a boxy sounds I couldn't dial out. Which is what happened with Amplitube also. Amplitube is an odd ball that seems to work better with it's built in cabs then other IR files, at least in my findings.
 
The first AxeFx (mesa) clip was great. Killer riff too. Listening on my recording rig (Yamaha Monitors) the Axe version sounds way more open and pleasing. The Amplitube take was more boxy and had an annoying presence. I'd gamble it's the IR.

I don't think it is just the IR that makes it sound boxy, there are other things at play here. When I did the same test with BIAS using the same cab as the AXE, BIAS had a boxy tone to it too. Glad you liked the riffage on the Mesa.
 
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