Generic Rock guitar sound

[PonE-Sharp]

I know I made a thread similar a while back, but I've got a separate question. I'm slightly bummed out, too, because I found out all of my guitar and amp vsts are meant for hard/metal guitars, and, unfortunately, that's not what I was looking for. I need a vst or amp that can get a generic rock sound, like in 99% of mainstream stuff you'd hear on the radio.

[MixolydianPony]

Well, my suggestion would be to ask one of the dozens of guitarists on this forum who would be all to eager to have someone ask them to play something. Not sure about VSTs.

[Stu Beef]

You say "99% of mainstream stuff" I say "uh yeah, sure." If you could provide some examples, that would be of great help to the people you're asking.

But I'll still anticipate a bit; I'm guessing the imagined step between (some) rock and (some) metal guitar tones is that

1. you would want a bit less distortion (so dial down the gain)
and

2. You want to occupy space differently. So probably less low end, and maybe less bite (compression wise?).


This is all a shot in the dark, further information would probably be of great use to someone (who knows more about this biz than I do, which isn't that hard to do actually) helping you.



e. telling people what you currently use and how you think it fails you probably would help too. I can get a pretty good range of sound from my dingy crate gx-140ch; I'm not sure how a particular sim vst would be inadequate.

[PonE-Sharp]

You say "99% of mainstream stuff" I say "uh yeah, sure." If you could provide some examples, that would be of great help to the people you're asking.

But I'll still anticipate a bit; I'm guessing the imagined step between (some) rock and (some) metal guitar tones is that

1. you would want a bit less distortion (so dial down the gain)
and

2. You want to occupy space differently. So probably less low end, and maybe less bite (compression wise?).


This is all a shot in the dark, further information would probably be of great use to someone (who knows more about this biz than I do, which isn't that hard to do actually) helping you.



e. telling people what you currently use and how you think it fails you probably would help too. I can get a pretty good range of sound from my dingy crate gx-140ch; I'm not sure how a particular sim vst would be inadequate.

Yeah sorry, I'm too sleepy to post right x_x. I use Guitar Rig 5 and Shreddage. Example of the sound is in this song at the chorus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfw1gDVKBfQ
I know I use Mando for all my examples, but his guitars are just so perfect for the music in my head. I think he's spoiled me.

[itroitnyah]

Have you tried Image-Line's Hardcore? That's pretty good, so it might help you.

[Pickslide1992]

Your tone has a lot of factors, including your guitar, amp, effects, etc. Your guitar alone has several tonal factors already (wood, pickups, neck joint). I know Mando uses an SG jr. for his electric stuff (We had a short discussion one time on guitars on Twitter), and I personally use an SG Standard.

Now even if you have the best guitar in the world, if you have a crappy amp, you're going to have a crappy sound (Lifeless cleans, tinny distortion that sounds more like an angry wasps nest). Guitar Rig is a great start, but I personally use Line 6's Pod Farm with my Pod XT Live, with several distortions for different styles (I have a thrash distortion, a hard rock/glam rock distortion, death metal, alt. rock, etc.) so you have several options.

For my generic rock sound, like you described, I'll let you know my hard rock sound. First get a Marshally sounding amp model (Either a Plexi or a JCM) and add in a distortion pedal (I use the Rat pedal model). Play around with the EQ until you get something you like. That's really the secret to success: Fiddling around with the settings. Maybe add a reverb and a subtle chorus to thicken things up (But not too wet of a sound). Also be aware that your cabinet and mic model play a vital role in your tone as well.

[Foxtrot89]

It's called crunch, and guitar rig can do it pretty decent. Gotta say, and it's not the first time I've said it I'm sure, Peavey Revalver MK(whatever number they're up to now) is a really good amp sim. On top of having good amp simulation, they have the cab sim built right in. ie: you can get something like God's Cab impulses and get a much better sound out of your sim within the program itself and not rely on third party VST's or the stock/sketchy ones it comes with.

Basically, it's a mid gain tone. You want it to just start breaking up and in my experience it's really difficult/impossible to get the exact sound with a sampled guitar. Still, Revalver can get you pretty close and if I had it installed I'd sketch up a demo song for you.

For $200, it's great stuff. For $80, you can get a dumbed down version that's got more than you as a non-guitarist will need. (I don't think you can use impulses in RevalverHP, but you can get LeCab and go the 3rd party route if needed.) Give the demo a try and see if you can't get something worthwhile.

http://www.peavey.com/products/revalver/