'Why I don't buy "Analog" EQ Plugins'

[Gswitz]

I recorded direct and reamped. I sent the same signal to both thu and the amp.  I used a passive reamp box i soldered from a kit. The amp sounded great. Then I just had to match it. I adjusted gain in. I adjusted adjusted knobs for a long time. I think i made a video of it. 

 

[mettelus]

Take a quick spectrogram comparison between the live mic setups and the TH3 bounces, it sounds like there is significantly more high end from TH3 (artificial content) than the live mic captures. An EQ matching algorithm can sometimes assist with a post-FX-chain EQ, but they are definitely useful to visualize the frequency differences (the curve required to get the "match"). I suspect that what you are seeing may be more than just the mic shift, but the fact that TH3 is exposing and processing more harmonic content than the live setup does. I have not used TH3 in a while but thought that had more control over mic placement and orientation, but I may be confusing that with another sim.

[Gswitz]

You can move the mics around in thu/th3.

I guess just the differences in mic types showed the how far emulators are from the real thing. . A real ribbon sounds obviously different than a sm57. In th3/thu, it's almost hard to tell which is which. 

All this is to say, I definitely started reamping after late night headphone sessions. I might record in thu, but I'm likely to use a real recording of my amp in the end. The real amp with real mics is just cool. 

Edited Tuesday at 01:22 PM by Gswitz

[Brian Walton]

On 11/25/2025 at 8:21 AM, Gswitz said:

You can move the mics around in thu/th3.

I guess just the differences in mic types showed the how far emulators are from the real thing. . A real ribbon sounds obviously different than a sm57. In th3/thu, it's almost hard to tell which is which. 

All this is to say, I definitely started reamping after late night headphone sessions. I might record in thu, but I'm likely to use a real recording of my amp in the end. The real amp with real mics is just cool. 

I agree the THU is going to have some real limitations especially in the mic realism as you move them around and select different ones.

That said, I think if you capture your Amp with Tonex using your high end mics, if done right, you will be able to get insanely close.  But, you would need to turn the amp reverb off and use a different reverb on both for the comparison.  Having a mic pick up the reverb from the amp does create something different than simply adding in post.  The "v2" update with Tonex does bring more life and dimensionality to the capture, and it was already pretty good to begin with.

[Rain]

I entertain zero pretense of being remotely competent but I really don't have much use at all for EQ's other than the main one in Logic. Back in Sonar, it was the Sonitus one almost exclusively (same thing for delay, reverb, compression to a vast extent). So I do not really get the craze.

When I want to EQ something, it rarely ever crosses my mind to even try something other than Logic's main EQ. It's as if all the other ones were an approximation of what I really need, no matter how fancy or expensive. Logic comes bundled with its own emulations of API, Pultec, and other classics, but I've never even bothered to try them. At my level, they really do not accomplish anything more or beneficial. 

Compressors I do understand to an extent, I guess. Although I tend to rely almost exclusively on the Waves Renaissance ones, because they're so easy to use. Logic's own compressor is so comprehensive now, with the various modes and matching GUIs. It's a very fancy tool, and I'm not really worthy of it. Just like all those UAD plugs.

I do like to have options but it all boils down to my own shortcomings. Sometimes the way the plug-in is laid out or its idiosyncrasies will give me a nudge in the right direction.  Like for vocals, I seem to have a bit more luck with certain channel strips, like the UAD API. Because, really, I have no idea what I am doing. I guess the channel strip limits my options and gives me a nudge. 

That being said, I do not think I've ever mixed a good sounding vocal track. But it’s probably the only context that I can think of where EQ really makes a difference to me, and it all boils down to ergonomics. In fact, one of my hobbies is to try to reproduce whatever results I get with the fancy tools using my regular plugs..

To this day however, the mix I'm the most proud of was completed using only Logic's stock plugs, and I don't think it was really intentional. It just sort of happened..