What does amp simulation actually do?

[funkypou]

Hi @Schwalb,
You might be interested by this thread :

All people interested in Amp tones should watch this video

Here is the link. The guy owning that channel has already produced excellent myth busting videos about tone. This one is REALLY instructive [Tested: Where Does The Tone Come From In A Guitar Amplifier?]

@Schwalb

If I play around with individual effects to try replicate an amp sim without actually using an amp sim it doesn’t sound nearly as good as the amp sim plugins

I’ve managed to get a usable tone with only a x42-eq - Parametric Equalizer and a distortion plugin that’s on the bright side, not muddy (eg : CollisionDrive or GxSD2Lead). As with most amp sims, it sounds quite horrible until you add a cab sim. I’m not saying it does exactly the same as an amp simulator but the whole sounds good. The Pareto Principle seems to work here.

However, I don’t use this pedalboard because the Onyx amp sim is versatile, sounds good and doesn’t use more CPU than the Eq alone.