NAM (Neural Amp Modeler) big thread

[meisi]

I'm just capturing pedals. Up to the reader to team them with other NAMs for amps and IRs... I know my limits. I still need to test my work so far.

Certainly. And to be clear, there will always be a desire for pieces in the chain, not the whole rig.

This is especially why there seems to be two opposite ends of the spectrum with equal demand.

In a perfect world we’d have any authors producing the full rig signal chain and then the discrete pieces too.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

There are more captures I might do after this. I set the JD-10 to flat. Flat isn't noon. I did flat in terms of EQ then gain differences and speaker sim in/out. But I'll do another run with the suggested options from the manual, but there are about 20 of them. I really want to fix GPU usage before doing those as well. Whilst NAM has EQ, it's not the same frequency points as that for the JD-10.

That's true of the Marshall Guv'nor too. It's a lot of tweaking.

Those are the two drive pedals I have which although they are officially for guitar are most usable for bass. The Boss OD-2 is far too thin on its own and only works if you layer it. But it just has gain, a single tone and a turbo on/off switch so easy enough to do a capture of.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

First attempt: Boss OD-2 Turbo Overdrive NAM Profile · TONE3000

Hopefully it works and so on. Two more to come but I will await feedback (no pun intended) on the first.

For basic OD-2 sounds I don't have to go into the drawer and try and fine the right 12V power supply - I only have one ACA one. I can use my own model!

 

[gtirard]

First attempt: Boss OD-2 Turbo Overdrive NAM Profile · TONE3000

Hopefully it works and so on. Two more to come but I will await feedback (no pun intended) on the first.

For basic OD-2 sounds I don't have to go into the drawer and try and fine the right 12V power supply - I only have one ACA one. I can use my own model!

I've just tried it with my DAW with the official NAM plugin, it sounds great!

It doesn't eat up too much low frequencies, unlike other distortion pedals, that's good for the bass.

With the input and output levels at 0dB in the plugin, it's a bit louder than the bypass level, but it's not an issue.

Also the saturation is still present even with the input level set to -20dB in the plugin, but maybe it's the way the real pedal behaves?

It makes me feel like adding more captures of the Capo with higher gain settings. I initially thought that my captures with the gain knob at 9 o'clock were enough because when I raise the 'input' level in the NAM plugin, it behaves exactly like higher gain levels on the pedal, but your capture of the OD-2 made me change my mind. It would be actually convenient to have higher gain captures, I'll try with the gain knob at noon.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I've just tried it with my DAW with the official NAM plugin, it sounds great!

It doesn't eat up too much low frequencies, unlike other distortion pedals, that's good for the bass.

With the input and output levels at 0dB in the plugin, it's a bit louder than the bypass level, but it's not an issue.

Also the saturation is still present even with the input level set to -20dB in the plugin, but maybe it's the way the real pedal behaves?

It makes me feel like adding more captures of the Capo with higher gain settings. I initially thought that my captures with the gain knob at 9 o'clock were enough because when I raise the 'input' level in the NAM plugin, it behaves exactly like higher gain levels on the pedal, but your capture of the OD-2 made me change my mind. It would be actually convenient to have higher gain captures, I'll try with the gain knob at noon.

I'll test the plugin against the real thing at low gain levels tomorrow to check. I've never actually plugged by Telecaster guitar in with the volume knob on anything other than max and I don't think I've ever plugged my Les Paul into it. So I didn't think to compare the behaviour at low input values. If it's not right, I'll redo it.

Guitar is my second instrument and I played in a band with a bassist whose first instrument was guitar for a while, just with the Telecaster. That was a long time ago and it's rarely been out of the box in fifteen years, but I always liked it.

I found my original Marshall Guv'nor was better for bass but I didn't like it for guitar. The Boss ODB-3 I hate with a passion even greater than my dislike of the TS-9.

Since I don't play live electric guitar in a band now (or for many years) I've just used plugins - Fender for clean, Vox for overdriven. But someone might like an OD-2 model. They aren't common and a different design to most overdrive pedals out these - some sort of dual stage affair, or three with the turbo.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

P.S. thanks for testing it. I've downloaded yours but not tried yet.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I checked. The model behaves as the real pedal. Dropping the input level cleans it up a bit on non-turbo, does very little when turbo is on, and that is an unknown known in the sense that I knew that once but had forgotten.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

• Updated OD-2: Boss OD-2 Turbo Overdrive NAM Profile · TONE3000
• Marshall GV-2 with capacitor removal modification NAM Profile · TONE3000 (Capacitor butchery would be more accurate - I tried to neatly snip C21 or 22 - whichever it is, and destroyed it by accident)
• Award-Session JD-10 NAM Profile · TONE3000

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I'll see if monophonic sounds can be captured.

 

[meisi]

So are most of the good tone3000 profiles private?

What’s my best bet for finding full rig captures?

 

[-Asdfgh-]

So are most of the good tone3000 profiles private?

What’s my best bet for finding full rig captures?

I have a limited number of things I can capture as full rigs, but I can give it a go. That's not much of a contribution, but, eh, the best I can do for the community.

• Trace Elliot Boxer
• Ashdown EVO OrginAL into TC Electronic BC208 and a Tech Sound 1x15.
• Whatever backup amp I get, but it might be another OriginAL.
• A little Kinsmap acoustic amp which I use for guitar.

I've slimmed down on the amp stuff. I wish I could slim myself down so easily

 

[-Asdfgh-]

The Ashdown only has a headphone out for direct recording as the FX send is sadly pre everything. The headphone output does not record well.

 

[meisi]

Is there a list of nam hardware players out there - like nano cortex competitors?

Also curious how much better profiles are inside the neural cloud vs tone3000

I’m so new to this stuff. I’m feeling the learning curve. Tempted to splurge on a nano cortex or Kemper player.

 

[gtirard]

Is there a list of nam hardware players out there - like nano cortex competitors?

Nam compatible pedals currently include:

• Darkglass Anagram
• Dimehead
• Hotone Ampero 2 series
• Valeton GP-5
• Sonicake Pocket Master

Also curious how much better profiles are inside the neural cloud vs tone3000

I don't know

I’m so new to this stuff. I’m feeling the learning curve. Tempted to splurge on a nano cortex or Kemper player.

The huge difference between Nam and other platforms is that Nam is free and open source.

Others are proprietary / device dependant.

A few real life benefits for us end users:

• We don't need specific hardware to capture your pedals or amps with Nam.
• You can use the same Nam models in the studio (with the free Nam plugin) and live (with a Nam compatible pedal)
• Nam captures are independant from the hardware: not only can you load on your Anagram a capture made by another user for his Dimehead or Hotone Ampero pedal, but also if you patiently build you personal library (with your own captures and curating models from the community), you can keep your library when you upgrade from one hardware to another (as long as they are Nam compatible). Say you want to try the platfrom with an affordable pedal first, like the Hotone Ampero or even the Valeton GP-5 for example, and then you upgrade to the Darkglass Anagram: you will be able to use the same amps and pedals models. Whereas when you choose a Kemper or Neural DSP pedal, your library of models is proprietary so you can use it with another device from the same brand, but if you switch from Kemper to Neural DSP you'll have to create a new library from the start.
• You can expect the list of Nam compatible hardware to continue growing in the future.

Edit: Also check Leo Gibson's Youtube channel if you want to get an idea of the difference in tonal quality between these platforms.

 

[meisi]

Nam compatible pedals currently include:

• Darkglass Anagram
• Dimehead
• Hotone Ampero 2 series
• Valeton GP-5
• Sonicake Pocket Master

Do all of these run at full resolution? Iirc the pocket master reduces the sample rate or something compared to the desktop plug in, for example.

I guess nano cortex is actually a very competitive option with the 2.0 firmware.

As far as neural community of captures vs open internet - seems it could be equally hit or miss.

 

[gtirard]

Do all of these run at full resolution? Iirc the pocket master reduces the sample rate or something compared to the desktop plug in, for example.

Yes generally the most affordable pedals convert the nam files to less CPU incentive formats, but I can hardly hear the difference of quality in Leo Gibson's videos.

I guess nano cortex is actually a very competitive option with the 2.0 firmware.

As far as neural community of captures vs open internet - seems it could be equally hit or miss.

Well, go for the Nano Cortex then

 

[meisi]

Yes generally the most affordable pedals convert the nam files to less CPU incentive formats, but I can hardly hear the difference of quality in Leo Gibson's videos.

Well, go for the Nano Cortex then

…but Kemper Kult..

 

[jambandman]

Do all of these run at full resolution? Iirc the pocket master reduces the sample rate or something compared to the desktop plug in, for example.

I guess nano cortex is actually a very competitive option with the 2.0 firmware.

As far as neural community of captures vs open internet - seems it could be equally hit or miss.

The GP-5 supports NAM files through its SnapTone technology, which converts NAM files into a proprietary format. A forum post indicated that the GP-5's converted NAM files may null test at around -30.6 LUFS, implying a slight degradation in accuracy compared to native NAM implementations, which isn't surprising given the $79 price and size of the pedal.

I have both the Valeton GP-5 and the Darkglass Anagram, and when comparing the same NAM files, the Anagram sounds richer and fuller with less noise. It's also 15x the price.

 

[chiphaleonbass]

I’ll post here soon! But I’ve got some captures that sound great and would love to share

 

[chiphaleonbass]

Here's my Vemuram Shanks capture: I usually run input minus 5, there's two gain settings: Vemuram Shanks ODS-1 NAM Profile · TONE3000