FREE Guitar Amp Plugins in REAPER

[@HCGonzalezJr87]

For metal Ignite Audio has a couple free plugins I used to use: Emissary for guitar and SHB1 for bass.

[@Mcgiver699]

Kenny, Tukan Studios has a whole guitar suite in JS format completely free for Reaper users. Plus a ton of other great Fx plugins. I would love for you to show how to get the best out of them.

[@joerojas5448]

The Guitar Station is ok. I use it for gritty guitars. I think John (Tukan Creator) should improve on the pre-amp section on the gain driven amps. Clean and the effects, yes they are good.

[@jeffbridges6110]

Yeah , TUKAN RULES!

[@geroffmilan3328]

Guitar Station 2 has been out for a while now, but thought it worth adding here. There are some awesome presets, and a lot of flexibility with different cabs & mic positions. The only thing I'd say is that many of the tones are a little bit "flubby/spongy" in terms of the initial transients and I didn't get too far with EQ'ing them. But that's likely down to my intended uses not lining up with those presets.

[@damoreticiano]

The amazing Neural Amp Modeler

[@ConwayBob]

What a great video this is! Thank you, Kenny. I did not know about some of these FREE guitar amp/effects options, and your loyal followers have provided even more in the comments. What fun to see you playing some guitar here. Love it!

[@Reapertips]

been using the amped roots a lot lately, love it! -also so cool seeing you play guitar Kenny! 🥰

[@katrinnaromero8653]

Howw

[@keso.mp3]

My favorite free set up is the Blue Cat amp + Nadir. Nothing can beat it.

[@zakkacreman]

Nembrini Audio has solid free pedal emulation plugins. Big muff, klon, tube screamer, rat

[@steved9723]

Amplitube 5 Custom Shop is a great starting point. I eventually purchased their interface and Max5 was included.

[@MrBass5er]

Great Video, thanks Kenny! As some other already mentioned, the Neural Amp Modeler by Steven Atkinson is a great option, and is Open Source, with more profiles that someone could need 😅, the community has created a ton of models that can be downloaded for free Hope you can take a look and make a video with your opinion Thanks again BTW I'm sure you already know, but the Tukan Studio plugins by John Matthews, with the Guitar station / amp, and in general are also a great option for Reaper that would be great if you can use in some of your videos

[@Taffafilms]

This is THE free guitar amp ReLOVElution!

[@Thetimrobertson]

Neural amp modeler is hands down the best free amp sim. It’s one of the best free or otherwise. Highly recommended.

[@HCGonzalezJr87]

Does that come with trained models already? Is there a community to download models from? I thought it was like a bare bones software version of a Kemper. NAM clones your tone and that's it which is good if you have good gear already and want to use it digitally. The quality could vary widely and depend on a good trained/captured amp that already sounds like what you want. (Since it won't model power, preamp, and EQ behavior like a normal plugin.)

[@TazzSmk]

@@HCGonzalezJr87 there's tons of models to download (or sample your own), most are limited to 48kHz only though, and I don't think it can do stereo yet

[@MoreMeRecording]

The tech is fantastic. I have and use it now and then as well. With this, it isn't even *close* to being the best.Why? because you're solely relying on community sounds or your own captures - which in my case, using my Mesa + Captor and a plethora of IRs, I have no need or desire to model my amp. I've tried many many community models and you are locked at THEIR gain settings and I find way too many cats have far too much gain in their sounds thinking that it'll be "bigger and heavier" when in actuality, it does the opposite: It makes them small, over compressed and pinched sounding.

[@djabthrash]

@@MoreMeRecording Good ol' modelling vs profiling

[@zloboslav_]

I'd like to mention some more: Vadim Taranov Ignite Amps Mercuriall Audio But currently the best is: Neural Amp Modeler

[@ohmyleftside]

Kuassa is great. The Neural Amp Modeler really is among the best and is free.

[@dachreport]

Thanks for the video Kenny. Really great amps there. Please could you do a video of the Neural Amp Modeler if you have used it 😊

[@jakelondon]

I've been using it for a month or two now. It's good. Load a plug-in instance NAM. Make sure your project sample rate is 48k (it's optimized for 48k). Also, it doesn't do stereo yet. Load an amp model. Many available at the tonehunt site. Choose a cabinet IR and either load it into the plug-in or use your on IR loader after the plugin. In some cases, the amp model may have been captured with a speak. In that case, you don't need an IR, but it still might be cool. So use you're ears. That's it. I've found some cleaner Fender amp models that I like. Also seems to be very popular high gain metal type players.

[@greendepent]

My favorite one is that one that Black Rooster Audio gives for free. It doesn't have that much options, but it sounds wonders. And that is all that matters:)

[@raindogred]

Boogex is still the best free plugin for rootsy/bluesy sounds, coupled with deelay slapback setting. I specifically bought an old peavey Vypyr 15 for direct recording. I got fenders and marshalls, but its not always convenient to record at my place with mics. The peavey is a steal..got it for $60 used..its got a dedicated recording output, run that into a DI then into the inteface..whisper quiet signal..pretty stoked with the sounds..probably one of the best modelling amps I have ever used and its from like 2008..crazy good deal. If this one busts will buy a new one..they still make them. My days of trying to get good sound from plugs is over. I tried proteus and neural amp..not impressed too noisy..too limited..something to watch for future developments though.

[@czdot]

Nalex amps, Vadim Taranov's amps... NadIR impulse loader, and you're set. Get Glenn Fricker's free V30 impulse response, and you can play metal all day long. 🙂 Seriously, get some good IRs. That's the one thing that really shapes the sound the most.

[@Tekkerue]

Tukan's Guitar Amp and Guitar Station 👍

[@aletrejos]

Hello!!! Excellent video, as always! I use several of the ones you mentioned in the video, but I discovered Neural Amp Modeler and now I only use that one. Greetings!!!

[@genuinefreewilly5706]

As mentioned Tukan js guitar effects are great. May be a tad unusual but I prefer using a chain of the Kilohearts (free essentials) vst effect's on guitar parts to emulate pedal effects and light weight on the cpu

[@christianfoster3806]

A really nice sounding free amp plugin: look up the FV-70 guitar preamp by Ronald Passion. It's just a simple Gain Bass Mid Treble Power Master interface. It doesn't do metal tones, but it does Fender Tweed style cleans nicely. I use it as a clean pedal platform when I just jamming so I can switch effects in and out. For recording I've got some other sims on hand for variety, but for a good realistic clean sound this is my favorite. The ACE tube combo plugin from Shattered Glass is another nice clean amp sim. It has no tone controls, and is heavy on processing, but it does provide some very realistic tube emulation.

[@melodies_are_alive]

Ha, when you started playing the 'Summer of 69' AmpliTube preset, I just couldn't resist going to listen to Brian Adams after liking this video!

[@djabthrash]

Nice ! Didn't know about most of these ! For all the OGs, there's also some cool "old" free ampsims/pedalsims/cabsims that still work pretty well from : TSE (the serina experiment), LePou (Poulin), Ignite Amps, Voxengo Boogex

[@limbophonic1]

You forgot the free Tukan guitar amps

[@michaelschnell5633]

Which also runs on Linux, supposedly even on a RasPi to create a versatile Mimi-Guitar Effect box

[@MarkFromHawaii]

Great primer on the free guitar amp plugins. When I installed Bias Amp and Bias FX2 (not free) I recall spending some time playing with buffers size and sample rate to get them sounding right with minimal latency. Also click the little speaker icon on your recording track.

[@PocketSunlight]

Good to see your AXE playing 👍👍👍

[@robnic52]

Hi, I'm a new Reaper user, how do you install these plugins in Reaper please? A step by step would make a really helpful and instructive video. Thanks.

[@joeschu7794]

Thanks. I use the blue cat a lot

[@Lu_Woods]

I like the Poulin sims, and Mercurial. cheers

[@ayeapprove]

Try Vadim Taranov stuff next!

[@DThompson55]

Once again, timely advice. I'm working on my Make Music Day song swap, and I needed an electric guitar accent. Going direct in just sounded dull, but I didn't want to drag out the fender amp and tweak. BlueCat had everything I needed to get some bite and harmonics into the track. Thanks again!

[@davelanciani-dimaensionx]

Great demo of these products - I've used the Kuassa Lite for years - very simple to use, no additional IRs needed. I also just discovered how great the Neural Amp Modeler is, and how versatile it can be depending on the profiles and IRs you use with it. Is there any way to only use the plugins in Reaper ( including the JS effects) to get a good modern Marshall/Meas tone?

[@TazzSmk]

ReaVerb can load IRs, doesn't matter if it's reverb or not :)

[@davelanciani-dimaensionx]

@@TazzSmk I've heard that - I'll have to try it out. BTW, I mean Marshall/MESA tone.

[@mickeybarajas4865]

Neural amp modeler

[@capitanlanmar4418]

Game changer

[@jakelondon]

@@capitanlanmar4418 Yes.

[@borjar.6373]

Best free vst guitar amp is Nam . Period .you are welcome

[@tusharjamwal]

In terms of being able to do musical shit on the PC at home, reaper is the best 60€ I spent.

[@ramspencer5492]

Free guitar plugins are cool. Airwindows has done interesting ones. The benefit being that they don't alias....It's amazing what you can do around a simple convolution plug and a good impulse response...mixing and matching. So many paid guitar sims alias hard at high gain settings. (Some do even light gain) Sometimes seems simpler just to mic a tube amp of you have one for anything serious. Or see if the plugin can handle Reaper's crazy offline Oversampling mode. Maybe find one where you can disengage the IR in the plug-in and put one on after the amp had been downsampled. Basically, i really like a guitar to feel fully analog. Aliasing is really audible on a lot of guitar Sims.

[@KarstenHeymann]

Came here to recommend the airwindows plugins as well. There are several *Amp Plugins, a Cabinet simulation plugin ("Cabs") and more reverbs/delays/... than most will ever use.

[@dreamsinmusic]

Aida-X is the only plugin working in Reaper on my linux pc in its .so vst form. It has convincing models, it's free and green (interface color). Thru Yabridge and Wine I get also some new and old (and good) win vst to work, like LePou SoloC, or the SimulAnalog Guitar Suite. The cool fact in the latter case is they are 32 bits plugin but the bridging from 32 to 64 bits it's done before Reaper by Yabridge thru Wine so no double triple plugins nested windows on the screen. Thanks for the instructive videos and viva guitar oriented content on Reaper Mania and viva Reaper Mania by Kenny Gioia

[@steveaustin1963]

Another productive learning experience via Kenny G... (not the sax guy)... Amplitube is getting downloaded as we speak. I am also quite fond of FA3 by Fretted Synth. Very versatile with lots of presets and stomp boxes, the only downside is it only comes in 32 bit. Every so often (but not too often) it will cause a crash but all in all it's worth it. Thanks again...

[@tommacmillan8831]

I could never get amplitube to work but I might give it another go - it sounds pretty usable for demos at least

[@johnmatthews8435]

Nice video, as always! Thank you! But didn't you like the Tukan "Guitar Station S2"? :(

[@REAPERMania]

Didn't try it.

[@michaelanthony9068]

Thank you Kenny ! How about bass guitar plug ins ?

[@palethorn]

Guitar rig always sound to me like it has too much latency. It feels like I'm not the one playing at all. Amped Roots is awesome, I always reach for that one. STL Tones Ignite Emissary is also good, comes with a separate IR loader NadIR which you can use on any other amp sim you want. I haven't tried Neural Amp Modeler, it's free, and you can profile your own amps with it. For nasty tones i found Aurora Goblyn. Works great for bass also.

[@HaruSkage]

So I noticed that there's no stress on 3/4 of the way levels on these amps. Does it matter with these plugins? Should I go as hot as I can without clipping?

[@Sadtaste]

What should comes first in a chain, a amp sim or effects like reverb?

[@cesarpignata]

Kenny Please, talk about the free Neural Amp Modeler and it's possibilities. Have a nice day Master!

[@alexmartin770]

Guitar Amp 3 by Plektron FX have the best Orange, Vox, Epiphone and Fender sims I have heard.. Peavey have a free version of ReValver which is pretty awesome too.

[@billhinsperger8120]

Kenny every amp sim I use sounds unbelievable in stand alone but when I run it through my daw it loses volume and tone night and day,any idea what I’m going wrong no video on recording shows any types of adjustments

[@gimmeagig]

I'm new to reaper. I'm not a shredder.I would like to find a plugin for Mild Dumble Overdrive, Nice warm Neo soul rhythm sounds. And Robben Ford John Mayer type of leads. There are so many plugins available. Could yo save me some time and point me to a plugin that might be right for me? Thank you

[@revolutronic]

didnt know about the blue cat. seems like a nice package. thank you so much ! and first

[@31gameZ]

was curious of what software they had and how they worked and sound with guitar and this explained a lot thank you for this ps: sound like a guitar player to me :P

[@unleashthefury111]

Kenny, can you do a video on Impulse Response/cab sim's for guitar plugins?

[@StamatisKekes]

Nice info dude and many thanks for sharing with your usual amazing way to present things ... keep it going kenny ...

[@maescristro]

hello Kenny i use a lot of neuraldsp vst for guitars... did you test it yet ?? i make lofi and instrumental music what should i use to get the cleaner sound ??

[@stevenkambach]

Neural Amp Modeler gang

[@bulkvanderhuge9006]

I bought Amplitube 5 FULL when it was on sale for $99, problem is, is it takes about 10-15 MINUTES for it to load in Reaper.

[@midiman5045]

Great Stuff Kenny. You say you are not a piano player or a guitarist do you play any instrument? Me personally I was using Guitar RIg, Then switched to Amplitude now I use kuassa.

[@REAPERMania]

I'm a drummer. LOL

[@midiman5045]

@@REAPERMania LOL

[@Dang...]

Thanks!

[@tommj4365]

no NAM? it's my favorite at the moment...

[@carloslara4595]

My favorite... Audio Assault. Check it out. Greetings from Mexico

[@joseayalavillareal7824]

I just started unsing Reaper under Linux, my emphasis being the electric bass. Are there free bass amps which run under Linux? Cheers!

[@nickgoogle4525]

I understand the wish for free, but Reaper is not free either. A good amp companion to Reaper, which like Reaper, is very fair priced is Scuffham S-Gear. Likely one of the best options for a good amp-sim. Trey Gunn uses it for example. That already says something I think.

[@shawnhedrick3570]

S-Gear 3 has recently updated and added a compressor too

[@brianmac8260]

@@shawnhedrick3570 Wow 10 years later, I'm impressed.

[@djabthrash]

"I understand the wish for free, but Reaper is not free either" It can be used for free though... But i encourage everyone to buy the license and there is no reason for not doing so, considering the low price and what you get with it.

[@davidtrig]

Awesome 🎉

[@ayeapprove]

Kenny I have a weird question: I have multiple FX Chains saved for my guitar sound and every time I create a new track and click on FX I have to load a plugin in order to even get to the "FX -> Add FX Chain" option. It's getting annoying and there must be a way to not have to load a "dummy" VST first.

[@gr3951]

There is an option in Preferences to show FX window even if there's no plugins loaded yet.

[@ayeapprove]

@@gr3951 thank you! I've been trying to figure this out for quite a while now haha

[@gr3951]

@@ayeapprove Option is called "Hide chain until added" in Plug-in section of Preferences

[@tusharjamwal]

Oh I needed this as well. Thanks a lot!!!

[@faustorossi5524]

So now Reaper is not free anymore? I know 60 days of trying, but after that need to pay. Change DAW

[@NEKROZADKIEL]

Is it necessary to use IRs before the amp?

[@djabthrash]

You never use IRs of cab/mic (or poweramp/cab/mic) BEFORE the amp. Only AFTER, if the ampsim is only a preamp or a preamp+ poweramp.

[@Durkhead]

You should do a whole video on nam in reaper maybe use some effects i like the stock reaper chorus it sounds pretty good with high gain

[@cupboardhomestudio971]

Thnx Kenny 😉🎼💙

[@kevinkirk4169]

Thanks Kenny ! U D Man ! 🎸

[@kc201310]

do these work for DAWs other than reaper

[@myjames48]

Once downloaded, can they work offline?

[@paulchisholm66]

Thank you! What a great video.

[@Stellarainn]

How can i rename the input as yours that says Guitar?

[@megwatts1903]

Ok. Call me stupid but when I put a plugin on the "track effects" I don't hear it. If I put it on the "input effects" of course I hear it with latency. Kenny, you seemed to have placed the plugin on the "track effects" slot and we hear it straight away. What's the monitoring routing/system to achieve this?

[@HCGonzalezJr87]

Maybe there are Reaper configuration/setup issues? There's no special routing necessary to get plugins working. By default you should be able to add plugins just like Kenny clicking on the FX icon/sections. For tracks, buses, sends, all plugins go in the FX section. (In mixer view it's the top portion of the channel strip.)

[@megwatts1903]

@@HCGonzalezJr87 Yeah, no problem putting effects on tracks. If I have a track RECORDED and I put a "track effect" on it, fine, I tweak the effect while mixing, business as usual. What I DON'T get is That fact that Kenny put an effect in the "track effect" slot (not the "input effect slot") and was able to hear it, monitor it and, presumably record it in real time. When I do the same thing, I just hear the dry signal, it doesn't matter which monitoring mode I use (the little speaker button on the track). Most of the time I don't care because I record dry and put effects on later. But for things like amp sims, I would rather hear the amp as I'm playing. Reaper is vast and there is probably a "preference" I need to tweak for this and I just haven't found it.

[@megwatts1903]

@@HCGonzalezJr87 Ok. Never mind, my bad. Interface not working correctly, I spaced on something.

[@waynethorpe1341]

Fantastic. Your a good guitarist

[@myjames48]

Where and how does one download them.?

[@freepublic]

I hate it when some of these plugins only install with EXE file and want to connect to the damn internet all the time. Guys make sure you have firewall installed and do not trust any software you see out there.

[@sirobellino]

master!!!

[@allwaizeright9705]

I have KONTAKT and I HATE the way GUITAR RIG works.

[@RoscoVortex]

Interaction

[@Kickbie]

Has anyone seen this man blink?

[@chickenpotatogod]

for some fucking reason i cant get Native to work, no sound comes out and i dont think it even recognizes my audio interface

[@coppermeloman9143]

... 👍 !!

[@simpson6700]

free VST's are such a pain in the ass! no i don't want to download a manager! NO I DON'T WANT TO GIVE OUT MY PAYMENT INFO FOR A FREE PLUGIN! no i don't want to sign up for a newsletter!

[@djabthrash]

They're not all like this.

[@BradBordessa]

I use Voxengo Boogex. Just kinda works. Does a lot of intuitive useful stuff without looking like a guitar amp!

[@jakelondon]

I've used that too and liked it pretty well for cleaner tones, but Neural Amp Modeler has been even better for that.

[@djabthrash]

"Voxengo Boogex" Old-school !

[@XRaym]

NeuronTube:debut is good recent also for free for humain metal 👍