Signal Flow:
ESP LTD F-404FM Tribal w/ EMG 81s OR Schecter C1 Blackjack w/ Petrucci Dimarzio pickups> Livewire Elite 18 Gauge cable > Countryman Type 85 FET DI Box > Mogami Gold XLR > Behringer XAIR18 Mic input w/ Phanton Power > Reaper > Amplitube > Yamaha HS8s/Sennheiser 650HD Headphones
I also have a Scarlett 2i2 that i've tried, same problem.
My guitars/basses have fresh strings and batteries and I change them pretty often.
Now I'm a tone slob, but not that much of one. I wasn't expecting Amplitube to sound even 80% like a real amp but...
I have been experimenting with Amplitube for a bit now for high gain metal tones as Im no longer able to mic up a real cabinet and it seems like every amp/cab/mic combination I've tried has suffered from either sounding like there is a pillow between the mic and the speaker or it's 100% treble with zero bass or mids. The ENGL stuff (my go to in real life is a ENGL Powerball through a ENGL Pro 4x12) sounds almost nothing like a real ENGL, the cabs are very very tinny and makes me feel like I'm in an airplane and need to pop my ears.
Here is my typical "go to" start point configuration for amplifiers:
Clean boost (zero drive, 8 level, 5-7 tone [depends on the amp]) Tube Screamer
AMP:
Gain: ~3-4, depends on the amp. I tend to play on the lower end of the usable gain spectrum.
Lows: 5
Mids: 7
Treble: 6
I usually follow this up with an EQ after the plugin ~80hz HPF and ~8-11k hz (again depending on the amp) LPF. If there's an annoying whistle i narrow Q it out by about -3 to -4 DB.
As for gain staging I've tried two different approaches
1) Setting the gain on the interface to just below clipping at my strongest strum/palm mutes. This gives me peaks of -6 to -3 dBFS in my DAW. Hits the input of Amplitube super hard w/o clipping.
2) Setting the gain on the interface to get me around -12 to -9 peak, or roughly 0 on a VU meter calibrated to -18 at my strongest strum/palm mute and boosting the input of amplitube itself by about 7-8 db to give me a good "yellow" signal.
I then check the mics to make sure they aren't clipping and adjust the final output knob to the "yellow/orange" zone and verify there is zero clipping at any point in the program. On amps (such as the 5150 clone) that have a meter on the amp, I keep it safely below the red.
I've tried various amp/cab combinations and have adjusted the microphones in the cab section exactly how I would in real life. Usually winding up with a 57 mic on the edge of the dustcap and backed off slightly to taste for bass control. Probably the most common mic placement setup in the world of metal.
Can you explain to me what I'm doing wrong? For me amplitube sounds nothing like what I heard through many videos online (A lot of these claim no processing was done outside of appropriate LPF/HPF), even with people playing guitars that have EMG 81s active / Dimarzio passive pickups. I've also been comparing amp/cab/mic combos of real life amps to amplitube and they sound almost nothing alike so there has to be some user error here. For example the 5150 into a Mesa 2x12 mic'd with a 57 in amplitube sounds almost nothing like the real thing when listening to just the guitars in ISO, sounds just as fizzy but tonally no where close. I've heard usable metal tones come out of this thing, what's the deal?
A lot of people have recommended simply bypassing the cab section because "the cab IRs in amplitube are very bad" and using IRs but the interactions in the cab room is like 80% of the reason I bought this software.
