Topic: S-Gear 2: Awesome Guitar Plugins

Greetings All!

I almost didn’t launch this thread, and I’ll tell you why: The Scuffham Amps guitar amp sims and products that come along with the three amp heads in the S-Gear 2 package for a very modest $75US are so incredibly good that I qualified them immediately under my ‘Secret Weapons’ and ‘Tricks of the Trade’ categories. I usually clam up and shut right up about a find like this one, and then that’s pretty much the end of it.

However, I’ve got to know owner/designer Mike Scuffham of the UK recently, as we’ve been having an ongoing discussion about the future of guitar amplification and a few bits about his software itself. He’s technically running a start-up company right now, having been open for business only a little over a year. And although I can assure you his plugin amps are far better than anything you’ll find out there, he up against the much larger companies, such as IK Multimedia’s Amplitube and several others. (I have no doubts whatsoever that IK and the other big ones aren’t ripping his plugins open right now and will attempt to clone.) Mike comes to this after a successful position at Marshall Amps, where he is probably best-known as the designer of the very popular Marshall MP-1 (hardware) pre-amp.

My other reason is obviously that there is a handful of very talented guitarists here at this forum and who are regular users of Podium. The history here of all members is that we have regularly posted our best ‘finds’ on the Net, usually freeware but often a few of the very best of inexpensive plugins and items. Unlike some other DAW forums, where you are likely to be thrown to the trolls while moderators look the other way, or have any opinion you might post shredded by the inner clique, regardless of its merit, this forum has so far been different.

I came across Scuffham Amps first through either MusicRadar or ComputerMusic magazine in a list of the best free or commercial guitar amp sims available today. I wasn’t expecting much, but this one comes with a free 15-day trial with no pressure or strings attached, so there is nothing to lose. I wasn’t seven notes into the first factory preset I chose to test, a sort-of copy of a Dumble Amp overdrive setting, when I was suddenly eyes wide, staring at the very large S-Gear UI and saying, Whoa! What the hell!

You see, I’ve tried about all of them, both software sim only and hardware — even used to own the Fractal Axe-FX 2 (which, at about $2600US now and a constant back-order wait, is the ONLY product I’ve found that can do anything like what the three amps Scuffham has so far can achieve).

Here’s the thing: S-Gear 2 has several boosts and cuts, and a frequency shift on each of three amps. More important, they have a normally-hidden Sag control and Presence controls. Further, I think Mike has the absolute best software modeling of preamp and power tubes that yet exist. (Interestingly, his whole company and resulting products began from his desire to produce the best current software model of an ECC83 tube [a 12AX7, that is, to the non-European].)

I’ve so far tested the S-Gear 2 pretty well in Podium and found it to work without issue. I might caution those still using the free version of Podium and able to employ only one core with it — the S-Gear, like most good amp sims, is a hungry plugin, some amp model presets with both delay units and flange or chorus unit employed — such as factory Electric Lady 1 or 2 — can be extremely demanding.

But here’s the Rub: Unlike most other sims and modelers (my Digitechs often guilty of this), all three S-Gear amps capture the entire full envelope of each note, from first scratch of the pick on into full bloom of the note. Further, the presets respond extremely well to use of the volume control on the guitar itself — roll it back, distortion diminishes faster than guitar volume does. Everything to these amps sounds most like a real tube amplifier than anything else I have used, save a couple of settings on the Axe-FX that took me tweaking forever to dial in.

I’ll leave the rest to your own ears, as I should. I feel safe in saying that this plugin post will be the best one I’ll ever have to offer on this forum. There are currently discussions ongoing about which amps he will release within the next year or so, also, possible added effects. I’ll close by mentioning that many of the factory presets that come with the three amps are quite good. You’ll find some you like and be playing ‘right out of the box’. This is also a first in my experience. Even with my Digitechs, the only hardware units I have kept, I had to pretty much toss the entire lot of factory offerings and build all my own.

Hope you enjoy, and please return to post your opinions here if you do test S-Gear.

http://www.scuffhamamps.com