Amp models that surprised you

Saarang Narayan

Saarang Narayan

Inspired
I am curious if y'all have had similar experiences where you pulled up an amp model and it did something that you would have never expected it to do.

Here's mine: I recently pulled up the Nitro 1 (based on channel 1 of the Splawn Nitrous) model very randomly and dialled it up for a modern high gain chugga chugga tone with a TS in front and my go to V30+Greenback IR, and I was pleasantly surprised by how Diezel Herbert or Dual Rectifier-like that amp could get at the right settings! I was expecting it to behave more like a CCV or Freidman HBE, but it had its own thing going which I really enjoyed! It's not as compressed as a Dual Rec, which is what makes it more fun to me, but the low end is HUGE in the best way.
 
Reet said:
I've dialed a pretty cool modern high gain tone with the Hot Kitty model. Not sure if thats a suprise to anyone else but i usually use 5150's so it was to me.
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Woah! I remember messing with the Hot Kitty model in AFII years ago and getting amazing hard rock tones but gotta revisit it in the III.
 
The Stealth. It has some kind of 'juice' that I cannot describe very well. Compared to the 5153, it has something that the Block Letter has compared to the 6505+, but more refined. I love it coupled with the Lerxst dynacab.
 
Tucana, AC20 Deluxe, and Band Commander all caught and kept my attention for a long time. The recent versions on the 59 Bassman have turned an amp I used to just pass by into the main building block of my current gigging preset.
 
The recent Stealth amp models are fantastic. Not sure if the amp modelling process has changed, but it has something ‘extra’. It might just be a preference thing and this just has ‘it’, but it’s great. I am hoping for an FAS Stealth, because I did slightly prefer the first version.
 
I would have to say the EVH Stealth amps. Had a real EVH Stealth 100s and absolutely hated it. Too much gain on an amp that to a point was almost unusable and was too compressed. The EVH Stealth amp blue and red amp sims have been my main distorted tones since the firmware update dropped. Has a nice low mid/low-end response that makes this so easy to play.
 
Alainarose said:
I would have to say the EVH Stealth amps. Had a real EVH Stealth 100s and absolutely hated it. Too much gain on an amp that to a point was almost unusable and was too compressed. The EVH Stealth amp blue and red amp sims have been my main distorted tones since the firmware update dropped. Has a nice low mid/low-end response that makes this so easy to play.
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Yeah the Red Stealth isn't getting the kind of love that the Blue is, but I am having a hard time saying which I like better. Both are equally great at the high gain thing.
 
JoKeR III said:
I had the opposite experience with the Nuclear Tone. Knew it was based on the Swart AST and was anticipating an edge of breakup tone to a crunch, but that amp will absolutely rock!
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oh yea, it sure does! I've got a Swart SST-30, and it's got a lot more gain in that preamp than I think a lot of people realize. Not really modern gain, but it can really drive. Awesome amp. It's been a while since Swarts were the darlings of the other gear forum, but they are fantastic amps that ooze vibe.
 
It's the Plexi 100w for me. I've always used it for 70's tones (hendrix, zeppelin, deep purple, etc.) but with a boost in front (don't recall which one atm) I was able to pull out some metal-ish tones from it, and I actually recorded a whole song with that tone... I bet no one could tell that's a plexi

 
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