Scuffham Amps S-Gear on sale for $80

[Larry Shelby]

$67.20 with code GROUP

https://www.jrrshop.com/scuffham-amps-s-gear.html

[Nitrate Audio]

this was a steal. grabbed 'er while she was hawt

 

 

 

[jude77]

Is this the lowest price ever?  Now is the time to snag it.

[Nitrate Audio]

13 minutes ago, jude77 said:

Is this the lowest price ever?  Now is the time to snag it.

i think so. (i may be wrong).

[Cecelius2]

This is a very good low price on a Great Amp Sim!  I have owned S-Gear for years.  While I sometimes use Tonex vst, I still myself turning back to  S-Gear (which is great especially for clean and edge of breakup sounds).  The S-Gear sounds and feels so real (to me-- I know this is subjective).   There is a demo version (10 days) available from the Scuffham S-Gear website.  Check it out if you are on the fence.

The price right now if definitely a deal.

C2

Edited Thursday at 07:51 PM by Cecelius2

[ptheisen]

There was a similar sale directly from Scuffham last October. I bought it from them for $79 back then. I haven't noticed any lower prices since then.

[Brian Walton]

Shocked this is still in business after the TONEX ecosystem was created and the fact that have had the core software down to like $35 before that allows unlimited Tonenet downloads.  

And let's you expand into a hardware version that has 1.2ms latency, good luck getting that with a computer and feeling like the world is stable 

[Marc Cormier]

I love SGear.  Simple, sounds and feels great, and is just good at what it does.  No option paralysis.

[Nitrate Audio]

14 hours ago, Brian Walton said:

Shocked this is still in business after the TONEX ecosystem was created and the fact that have had the core software down to like $35 before that allows unlimited Tonenet downloads.  

And let's you expand into a hardware version that has 1.2ms latency, good luck getting that with a computer and feeling like the world is stable 

s-gear sounds and feels very different from tonex to me. not comparable. 

[Brian Walton]

3 hours ago, Nitrate Audio said:

s-gear sounds and feels very different from tonex to me. not comparable. 

They both seek to emulate the sound and feel of guitar amplifiers (and effects) and therefore I'd put them in the exact same category.

You can literally capture an S-gear rig with tonex and see just how close the two can be.

I'd argue that Tonex sounds and feels more like the real thing (but that also comes at a warts and all approach).  So you are looking for a polished final product sound, S-gear in many instances takes less time to get there.  But add the Tonex pedal in the equation with the super low latency and that realistic feel becomes more apparent than in a software based rig in my experience (and yes, I have a very high spec computer)

[Nitrate Audio]

2 hours ago, Brian Walton said:

They both seek to emulate the sound and feel of guitar amplifiers (and effects) and therefore I'd put them in the exact same category.

You can literally capture an S-gear rig with tonex and see just how close the two can be.

I'd argue that Tonex sounds and feels more like the real thing (but that also comes at a warts and all approach).  So you are looking for a polished final product sound, S-gear in many instances takes less time to get there.  But add the Tonex pedal in the equation with the super low latency and that realistic feel becomes more apparent than in a software based rig in my experience (and yes, I have a very high spec computer)

I have a number of amp sims. Amplitube, AmpRoom, Stark, and others. S-gear is very different. It's best to try demo if you are interested. I am not  sim developer so i am not sure why they are different. my guess is, there might be different ways to emulate guitar amps and circuits. 

FWIW.. I also use ToneX and that's also different. I don't know if I would call it sounding like the real thing. The challenge with the real thing is that what does that really mean? Hearing an amp in a room or stage is very different sound than mic'ing an amp and recording that sound into a DAW. From my experience with experimenting, a sim gives me better result than my trying to record an amp using a mic in my home studio.

 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by Nitrate Audio

[Brian Walton]

1 hour ago, Nitrate Audio said:

I have a number of amp sims. Amplitube, AmpRoom, Stark, and others. S-gear is very different. It's best to try demo if you are interested. I am not  sim developer so i am not sure why they are different. my guess is, there might be different ways to emulate guitar amps and circuits. 

FWIW.. I also use ToneX and that's also different. I don't know if I would call it sounding like the real thing. The challenge with the real thing is that what does that really mean? Hearing an amp in a room or stage is very different sound than mic'ing an amp and recording that sound into a DAW. From my experience with experimenting, a sim gives me better result than my trying to record an amp using a mic in my home studio.

 

 

This is why I reference Tonex as a warts and all.  It sounds like the real thing when you mic a cab (which is how tone was traditionally recorded to tape) this is not as easy to do as most people think and therefore the results can vary wildly.

As for what the real thing compares to.  The real thing is not the "amp in the room" sound.  No one in history has ever recorded that so it sounds like the same thing played back through speakers physically isn't possible.  So the real thing is what does an amp sound like miced up for recording, and as far as feel - it goes through the same process.  If I was sitting in a control room in a studio with my amp in a different room does it respond like that amp would as translated through a microphone and speakers?  

I've done the tests and TONEX is as close to that recreation as I've experienced.  This isn't to say it is perfect, you can read my little blurb on the TONEX cab and how it can't overcome the harmonic content and richness of an actual super high end tube amp "in the room sound" but once it is going through a mic and speakers, it is rather close to that, or at least close enough for the average player.  

 

I've used S-Gear as noted, it can get a polished sound potentially faster than tonex.  But as you observed, an actual amp recording is not a pristine thing without a whole lot of work.  

 

I'm guessing you haven't done much capture work with Tonex if you are not sure it is like the real thing or not.  After a capture you can literally A/B between the "live rig" setup of your amp and your mic through headpones and compare it with the tonex capture in real time.  That said, if you don't like the results of your personal amp+mic results - you are going to get close to the exact same thing with a Tonex capture.  

[Nitrate Audio]

26 minutes ago, Brian Walton said:

This is why I reference Tonex as a warts and all.  It sounds like the real thing when you mic a cab (which is how tone was traditionally recorded to tape) this is not as easy to do as most people think and therefore the results can vary wildly.

As for what the real thing compares to.  The real thing is not the "amp in the room" sound.  No one in history has ever recorded that so it sounds like the same thing played back through speakers physically isn't possible.  So the real thing is what does an amp sound like miced up for recording, and as far as feel - it goes through the same process.  If I was sitting in a control room in a studio with my amp in a different room does it respond like that amp would as translated through a microphone and speakers?  

I've done the tests and TONEX is as close to that recreation as I've experienced.  This isn't to say it is perfect, you can read my little blurb on the TONEX cab and how it can't overcome the harmonic content and richness of an actual super high end tube amp "in the room sound" but once it is going through a mic and speakers, it is rather close to that, or at least close enough for the average player.  

 

I've used S-Gear as noted, it can get a polished sound potentially faster than tonex.  But as you observed, an actual amp recording is not a pristine thing without a whole lot of work.  

 

I'm guessing you haven't done much capture work with Tonex if you are not sure it is like the real thing or not.  After a capture you can literally A/B between the "live rig" setup of your amp and your mic through headpones and compare it with the tonex capture in real time.  That said, if you don't like the results of your personal amp+mic results - you are going to get close to the exact same thing with a Tonex capture.  

No. I have never tried capturing anything in ToneX. I just use it to play guitar. I think there are quite a few recordings out there of what amps in a room sound. 

The Donny Hathaway is a great example of a  amped guitar in a room. Cornell Dupree just plugged into an amp with a cable. No  effects or anything  IIRC.

Anyways, my thought on ToneX are if's cool, but it's a PITA to use sometimes.  My point is, so far, my only exposure to captures has been ToneX, and I don't think it's that much of a night and day difference to sims.  Obviously the huge difference in output volume between captures. But also,  the captures I use it for, which are mostly cleans and  low to mild crunch and  gain, they still sound like a sims. And then also when using it within AT5,  tends to make it sound more like AT5 (duh!) which I always thought has its own particular flavor of amp sim digital. As you add more AT5 rack effects, if sounds more so.  I can't quite explain it, but it just sounds like the IKM AT5 sound engine and it sounds totally different to other amp sim products. To my ears, S-gear sounds really different. 

 

 

 

 

Edited 10 hours ago by Nitrate Audio

[Brian Walton]

58 minutes ago, Nitrate Audio said:

No. I have never tried capturing anything in ToneX. I just use it to play guitar. I think there are quite a few recordings out there of what amps in a room sound. 

The Donny Hathaway is a great example of a  amped guitar in a room. Cornell Dupree just plugged into an amp with a cable. No  effects or anything  IIRC.

Anyways, my thought on ToneX are if's cool, but it's a PITA to use sometimes.  My point is, so far, my only exposure to captures has been ToneX, and I don't think it's that much of a night and day difference to sims.  Obviously the huge difference in output volume between captures. But also,  the captures I use it for, which are mostly cleans and  low to mild crunch and  gain, they still sound like a sims. And then also when using it within AT5,  tends to make it sound more like AT5 (duh!) which I always thought has its own particular flavor of amp sim digital. As you add more AT5 rack effects, if sounds more so.  I can't quite explain it, but it just sounds like the IKM AT5 sound engine and it sounds totally different to other amp sim products. To my ears, S-gear sounds really different. 

 

 

 

 

That is a great track and a fun recording (I've personally recorded Derek Trucks Band covering that tune live myself more than once back in the day)

but I think we have a different understand of what "amp in the room" actually means.  That recording while it is a live recording and certainly has quite a bit of the room sound picked up on it - certainly doesn't sound like what the amp actually sounded like to the human ear in the room - this is a function of using microphones and different speakers to capture and play back sound - it will never actually sound the same, though you have picked a really solid reference of a live band in a room sound.

 

I agree AT5 sounds like a layer of AT5 and I don't use TONEX within AT5.

[Michael Docy]

Thanks Brian and Nitrate for the back and forth "review".
I have been waiting for a sale and this conversation convinced me to grab it now. 😁
Thanks, Larry for posting. I would have missed the sale if not for your post.