I bought Electric Ladyland vinyl from The Jimi Hendrix Experience recently and was amazed, just as I was when I bought this record for the first time as a kid.

If I need that Gibson with a Marshall amp impact, or even if I need some basic metal sound, or maybe jazzy clean, not to mention my favorite choice, an effected guitar sound that almost doesn’t sound like a guitar anymore, then definitively Guitar Rig 5 Pro gets the nod. If I want to go with a Fender-like metal twang in a clean tone, then it’s probably TH3.

There is a consistent color in Amplitube. So, if I need two guitars in parallel, clean or just slightly distorted, sharing the same amount of distortion, I will probably go for Amplitube since it offers a large number of totally diverse models that can sound different with almost identical setups (bass, treble, high and gain/master). But this is my personal point of view, and that’s the way I see it. Don’t worry – I’m aware that this is totally subjective. I know that developer of S-Gear Studio is an ex-Marshall-engineer, but still, S-Gear is more like something between Marshall and Fender in character. If I can use some common guitar terminology, then Amplitube is more AC-30-like, TH3 is a bit more Fender, while NI Guitar Rig 5 Pro is a bit Marshall-like. The truth is that all those guitar studios sound a bit different from each other, with individual character making one more appropriate for one task and another for some other. Of course all of them, Amplitube, TH3 and Guitar Rig (and there are also few others that could appear in that list), cover the full spectrum of guitar sounds, from distorted metal to the clean Fender-like sound, for all genres and styles. So, saying that one offers more amp models, cabinets or effects, at least among the three prominent guitar studios, is nonsense. Most of them come in both standalone versions and as plug-in effects to be hosted inside your DAW.

There are a few really great guitar studios around all offering copious amp models, cabinets, guitar effects and even a kind of multitrack internal studio where you can record different takes during guitar practice. If Jimi Hendrix were still alive, there’d be no doubt which virtual guitar studio would fit him perfectly: Guitar Rig 5 Pro – great rock sounds, out of this world effects.

Best metal presets for guitar rig 5