Whether it’s a home studio or a professional one, guitar VST plugins and instruments are an essential part of music production. Whatever your genre is, the VST world is able to fulfill your needs.
Today, there are tons of guitar VST plugins are available which confuse us in choosing the best once.
So, I researched a lot and created this list for the top 17 guitar VST plugins for you. This list will give you the option to choose the best available VST plugins for the guitar.
There are 2 types of guitar plugins.
- Virtual guitar instrument.
- Guitar amp and stompbox emulation plugins.
In this article, we will discuss the guitar amp and stompbox plugins. But before jump into the list, let me show you the pros and cons of such plugins and how they are different from real stompboxes and amps.
Guitar VST Plugins VS real Stomp Boxes and amps
In live concerts, guitarists always prefer real stompboxes, effects processors and amps. There are 2 main advantages of using stompboxes and amps in concert.
- With just a couple of functions, they are of hassle-free use.
- They provide that vintage feel in sound which we really need.
Pros and Cons of Guitar VST Plugins
But even they have all the above advantages, Guitar VST plugins beat them in the recording studio as well as in concerts. Here are the advantages of using VST plugins in place of stompboxes.
Pros
- You get the flexibility to play with tons of virtual stompboxes, effect processors, and amp modules.
- You can operate all these plugins with just an iPad and an audio interface. That means less load to carry in your concerts. Do you want to carry 20KG bass guitar amp in your concerts or just an iPad? I think, your answer will be, no.
- There are tons of varieties available to choose from.
- They are much affordable then hardware. You can get the same effect with just a few dollars, even some guitar VST plugins are free to use.
Cons
- However technology is transformed and we have now a better hardware emulation than ever before, even you don’t get the exact analogue feel in your effects.
- You may get some latency in your audio interface. However, with a good audio interface, the latency can be minimized but it cost you more.
- you have to operate all the settings by iPad or laptop which is quite annoying because of the small screen and mouse.
Let us explore those 17 Guitar VST plugins.
1. IK Multimedia – Amplitube MAX Bundle
IK Multimedia is known as one of the top VST plugins and instruments manufacturer. IK Multimedia is the owner of award-winning mastering plugin T-Racks. However, there are other mastering plugins like Fabfilter and iZotope Ozone available in the market.
IK Multimedia not only manufactures plugins and VST instruments but also has a big line of hardware.
Amplitube MAX bundle is great for guitar and bass players. It has 5 sections which have a total of 300 pieces of gear emulated from original gears.
- Amplitube Max Amp section – 80 amps.
- Amplitube MAX cabinet section – 92 vintage cabinets.
- Stompbox section – 88 stomp box effects.
- Rack effects – 24 Rack effects.
- Mic and tuner – 19 mics and 2 tuners.
Owning IK Multimedia Amplitube MAX bundle means you have the freedom to shape your guitar and bass sound like a pro. However, it costs you $249 but against the cost of all 300 gears, it is just a penny.
You can checkout their price on their home website by clicking here.
2. Waves – GTR 3
Any of you hardly don’t know about Waves plugins.
Right?
After UAD Waves manufacture the most versatile range of plugins. Waves GTR 3 gives you the flexibility to play with real analogue tones.
It has an emulation of the topmost amp and stompbox manufacturers which include Fender, Marshall, and Vox.
Waves GTR3 features 30 amps, 30 cabs, 25 stompboxes. If you are thinking that the lower number of gears then IK Multimedia MAX bundle then let me tell you its price.
Only $129 and $39 if you grab the limited sell below.
Do you want to checkout their latest price? Then click here…
3. Line6 – Pod Farm
Line 6 Pod Farm is a complete solution to create your perfect signal chain of guitar effects and amps. Its GUI is amazing. You can split your guitar signal and create 2 simultaneous and separate amp and effect signal chains. There are 20 FX models that support up to 10 per signal chain in any order.
You can control both chains with the virtual A/B/Y box as well as add post-cabinet mic preamps. You can also add dual amp- Dual Tones and effect signal chains which can be played simultaneously.
This plugin is optimized for iMac and is very useful and handy in live concerts. With a wide verity of vintage modules, it is an overall solution for guitar players and recording studio owners.
4. Positive Grid Bias FX
Bias FX by A Positive grid is a leading guitar amp and effects processing software. Like Pod Farm, Bias FX has a drag and drop feature in their UI which makes your work a lot easier in live sessions and concerts.
It has everything that a guitar player needs to create awesome tones, with a collection of high definition rack effects, analogue-like pedals, amp models on a dual signal chain setup.
There are tons of features you will get in the Bias FX guitar effects bundle. Bias FX Professional has up to 60 pedals and 32 amp plugins. With its wide range of amps, pedals and tons of presets, you can shape your guitar tone like a pro. the cool thing is you get all these with just $99.
However at the time of writing it’s available at $99 but you can always checkout the latest price by clicking here…
5. Audified AmpLion Pro
With precise models of the real gear, AmpLion by Audiofied is a complete effect solution for guitar players. You will get an ultra-precise simulation of 7 power amps, 9 guitar preamps, 8 microphones, 12 speakers, and 30 effects with AmpLion Pro guitar effect plugin.
Whether you use it for session recordings as a plugin or in live concerts it transforms your guitar’s tone. It’s compatible with Windows and Mac so you can use it with almost all host applications.
The user interface is very easy to use. You can assign your effect in any order.
It’s available at cheap price on Plugin Boutique. Checkout here…
6. Overloud – TH
In one word, its a giant. With 203 modules you will get the world’s largest guitar effects collection in this single software. Here are some features of Overloud – TH.
- Brunetti®, DVmark® Randall®, and THD® authorized models approved by original manufacturers
- 3 bass amplifiers and 69 guitar amplifiers
- 2 bass cabinets and 35 guitar cabinets
- 75 rack and pedal effects
- More than 1000 presets covering all musical styles
- 18 microphone models, with up to 4 mics on each cabinet
- 3D positioning of microphones and room simulation
- Special preset bank dedicated to bass players.
- With a proprietary nonlinear processing algorithm, it is equipped with 4th generation analogue emulation technology
- Using ReSPiRe 2 technology it has advanced cabinet emulations
- To load external guitar cab IRs, Built-in convolver is given
- You can easily build or modify your own signal path
- Intelligent MIDI controls
- SpringAge and BREVERB based reverb effects
Huge list of features. really a great guitar plugin. All you get with just €139.
Overloud TH is another great guitar plugin available on Plugin Boutique. Checkout here…
7. Peavey ReValver
Peavey is s big brand in speaker manufacturers. Especially for PA speakers and amplifiers, there are two brands peavey and Marshall. Peavey launched there amp modelling software ReValver.
With this $99.99 plugins bundle, you get tons of modules and stompbox emulations. It has 21 included cabs and over 650 mics combinations. Plus you get 21 stompboxes and pedal effects.
However, it has all Peavey modules so if you are a Peavey lover. you can buy this plugin. Peavey ReValver is compatible with all DAWs in Windows and Mac.
This plugin is available on Amazon for purchase. You can checkout the latest price by clicking here.
8. Logic Amp Designer
If you are familiar with Logic Pro X then you can use Logic’s Amp designer as your guitar rig. There are more than 20 famous guitar amplifiers and the speaker cabinets emulated in Amp designer.
However, it’s not as powerful as the plugins you have seen above but it comes free with Logic Pro X so its a good option for your recordings.
Do you want to checkout it’s full features and pricing? Then head over to Apple’s official website from here.
9. Native Instrument – Guitar Rig
Native Instruments is very popular among music composers. Native instruments developed an ultimate guitar effect plugin for guitarists, ie: Guitar Rig.
You get 17 amps, 27 cabinets, 54 effects with Guitar Rig 5. As well as you can shape your tones with a choice of mics and positioning. With its full range of Cabinets, effects and amps, its a great solution for guitarists.
It’s available for purchase on Splice.com. You can checkout the latest price by clicking here.
10. Studio Devil Amp Modeler Pro
As from the name Studio Devil’s Amp Modeler Pro is an Amp emulation plugin. It is specially built for Amp and cabinet modelling so you don’t expect a wide verity of stompbox effects.
However, you get basic effects like flanger, reverb, delay, etc. The operating is quite hard but because of its UI. But you will be familiar with it with time.
Here are some features of Studio Devil Amp Modeler Pro.
- 15 Preamp Models
- Authentic Tone Controls
- Boost, Deep, and Bright Switches
- Wah-Wah Effect
- Compressor / Sustainer
- 4 Studio Quality Modulation Effects: Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, and Tremolo
- Echo / Delay Modeler
- World-Class Reverb
- 3 Power Amp Models with Drive Control
- Impulse Modeler / Cabinet Processor
- 32 Studio Devil Cabinets
- 7-Band Graphic-EQ with Master Level, 3 Modes, and Pre/Post Switch
- Sweepable Parametric EQ
- Noise Gate
- Built-In Chromatic Tuner and Level Meters
- Master Volume
- Import and Export Presets and Banks via XML
- The tone from hell!
The regular price of this plugin is $149.00 but you can get it with only $79.00 during holidays.
Do you want to checkout the latest price? Then click here…
11. Avid Eleven MK II
Avid Eleven Guitar Rig plugin has a wide range of amps, cabinets and effects processors that can transform your guitar’s sound to the new level.
It has developed using innovative amp modelling techniques so you get precise emulation just like a real gear. The only drawback is it needs Protools DAW to run.
It has 29 Amp models, 15 Speaker Cabinet models, and 10 microphone models. You will also get tons of presets used by top musicians.
12. Universal Audio Guitar Plugins
Do you have a UAD DSP accelerator, like UAD2 satellite thunderbolt or UAD2 satellite firewire? If yes then you can access some of the great guitar effect processors offered by Universal audio.
UAD is known as one of the best DSP effect accelerator as well as effect emulation manufacturers. You get some of the top guitar effects, amps and cabinet emulations with UAD. But the drawback is you need to buy these plugins separately.
Here are some guitar plugins offered bu UAD.
- Fender 55 Tweak deluxe
- Fuchs overdrive supreme 50 amp
- Marshall Plexi super lead 1959
- Ampeg SVT VR Bass Amp
- Softube amp room bundle etc
There are tons of possibilities if you have UAD DSP accelerator hardware.
Do you want to know the how much it costs? Then click here…
13. Softube Metal Amp Room
As you have seen in the name, Metal Amp Room is specially designed by modelling rooms with a wide verity of amps. There are many types of amp modules are available to choose from in this plugin.
Basically, all the modules are divided into 3 categories.
- Vintage Amp Room
- Metal Amp Room
- Bass Amp Room
If you want something different in your guitar tone then you should try Softube Metal Amp Room. The whole bundle costs you $149.
Softube is available on Plugin Boutique on discount rate. Checkout the latest price there…
14. Guitar FX Bundle
Guitar FX Bundle features three FX plugins – Audiority Tube Modulator, Kuassa Amplifikation Vermilion and Audified STA Preamp 2. Here are the features of all 3 effects that you get in this bundle.
Audiority Tube Modulator Features
- 7 Tremolo and Vibrato modes
- 11 LFO Waveforms
- 3 Spatial Position effects
- XY vector Scope
- Parameters Linking
- Tempo Sync
- Colored by Design
Kuassa Amplifikation Vermilion features
- 3 types of amps
- 2 Amp Channels: Lead and clean
- Built-in effects: Analog Spring Reverb and Tremolo with BPM sync
- 5 matching cabinets with 4 types of microphones
- Free adjustable dual-miking
- Built-in Limiter and Noise Gate
- Built-in IR Loader with Resample function
- A/B tasting switches
- Photo-realistic graphics
- Easy to use interface
- Supports sample rates of up to 96 kHz
Audified STA Preamp 2 features
- 5 circuit valve modes
- Presence – mid-high frequencies allow better cutting
- Vintage – Smooth highs and even harmonics.
- Brown – Almost flat response and only light high frequencies roll-off.
- White – Higher amount of higher frequencies and the ratio between the even and odd harmonics is balanced.
- LoFi – Less low and high frequencies.
DO you want to checkout the latest price and more features of Audified Preamp? Click here…
15. TSE X50
If you are searching for free guitar effect plugins then you can go with the demo version of TSE X50. Here are some features of TSE X50 Guitar plugins.
- PEDAL BOARDS – TSE808, R47, Phaser, NoiseGate, Pandora’s Box and SDM-2.
- TSE X50 v2.0 Pre+PA
- TSE X30 v2.0 Preamp
- Multi RACK – Tuner, Delay, Equalizer, Reverb, etc
- Power Tubes – 6L6GC or EL34 pentode models.
- Oversampling
- Input Learn
- Lower CPU usage.
- Zero-latency IR-loader
- IR Analyzer
- User IR Directory
- Movement Control
- Preset Manager
- DaFuk Tuner
- King-Pong – Ping pong delay
- Equalizer
- Zero-latency and topology preserving modelling
- Bundled IR’s from major manufacturers.
16. SimulAnalog Guitar Suite
It’s another free guitar effect plugin suite. However, it’s not as professional as a paid one but you can give try to this.
Features
- Boss DS-1 (Distortion stompbox)
- Oberheim PS-1 (Phaser stompbox)
- Univox Univibe (Modulations stompbox)
- Fender Twin 1969 (Guitar amplifier)
- Boss SD-1 (Super Overdrive stompbox)
- Tube Screamer (Overdrive stompbox)
- Marshall JCM900 Dual Reverb (Guitar amplifier)
Download SimulAnalog Guitar Suite
17. Lepou Plugins
The last guitar plugin is Lepou guitar plugin. It’s another free guitar effect plugin and not as powerful as paid plugins but it’s one of the best guitar plugins among free ones.
You can download Lepou Plugins here
Conclusion
Well, here was the 17 great guitar amp, cabinet and effect plugins suites. All are great and choosing one of them is a tough job.
However, I like Waves GTR3, IK Multimedia Amplitube MAX Bundle, and Overloud – TH over all the plugins listed here. These 3 plugins are fully professional plugins with tons of features and flexible UI.
Let me know your favourite Guitar plugin bundle and also it’s listed here or not. I will update this list if your plugin is not listed here. Comment below with your favourite one.
Share this article in your social circle so that other guitarists could get this useful list of guitar plugins.
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