I use a fender frontman with a 5 watt 6V6 tweed combo as the power section. The frontman is too bright, the tweed is too dark so they work together......I just try stuff.
Hey Leon, appreciate you checking out the Suite mate!! Really cool playing, glad you’re enjoying it. We’re working on more cool updates for the plug-in too :) Have a great weekend, Thomas
I bought Polychrome DSP when it had the release sale and it was only $99 and I have to say it was worth every penny. I own a bunch of the Neural plugins and the IIC+ really felt redundant in that lineup. Polychrome also is lower stress on my CPU and has already seen some good quality of life updates. Neural has been falling behind with IMO with rarely updating old products and still not having M1 native support.
Very impressed with how fun this out to use, it's very similar to how I'd want a signature plugin layed out for myself. Can't wait to see what you do next.
@@LeonTodd You can tell you were enjoying the sound you tweaked out............lots of guitar Face Action ...Would love for you to create some presets for this great plugin !!! You rock as always
I'm right there with you about the Polychrome. While I appreciate the time and effort put into the graphical approach to having an amp image, I find the Polychrome approach to be somehow less... limiting-- in my own mind anyhow. You just listen instead of look. And what I heard sounded really good.
Awesome review video! Glad you liked that PolyChrome McRocklin suite! It's definitely one of my favorite plugins of all time. So much versatility and clarity!
that Polychrome McRocklin suite is crazy, the tones are incredible no matter how many things I enable and disable, everything just works together so well!
I waited for the PolyChrome DSP McRocklin Suite since Thomas announced it; purchased it as soon as I learned it was available, didn't bother with the demo. I've not been disappointed. Simple, intuitive, powerful and sounds great IMO. The presets demo the capabilities well; clean tones are full, rich and lush; many of the lead tones are epic, majestic and just plain over-the-top indulgent which I like! I've been using Blue Cat Audio Axiom for years, and their Destructor before that. PolyChrome DSP is off to a great start, and could use a few things to make it the only (or at least the main) plugin I'd need for guitar. A few more effects, MIDI control, and a few more factory presets for various rhythm tones. I asked about rhythm tones, and received a quick response on a process to create my own: turn off everything, start with a focus on the amp model, then speaker model page, then the Heatpressor. If needed look at the drives, and use gain staging. The layering of distortion is key, many light layers works better than one layer with high distortion. Cheers!
Great demos, Leon! I got started using software on Neural products, and in my mind, they were a gold standard for a long time, but there's something so undeniably special about the McRocklin Suite. Not only is it tonally superior to everything else right now in my opinion, it also delivers a very visceral feedback to the player that had been missing from software up until now. To top it off, not needing any additional processing on top of it just seals it as my every day plugin. It's a really great time right now for software amplification with all the choices and flavors we have!
Hi Leon, I have thoroghly enjoyed your FM9 videos and happy to see you providing honest reviews on these plugins. I bought the McRocklin suite when it was released and find it to be such an amazing software as there are so many plugins and all sound great and useable. My problem with the Neural Plugins were that there would only be a handful of presets that were worth using and the rest of the effort applied to them was on creating a pretty layout. With the McRocklin suite I end up playing more often an getting inspired more to keep on playing. Looking forward to all the new things that Polychrome will be coming out with as they really have strolled in as the new Sherriff in town. 🚨🚨🚨
The McRocklin & Hutch stuff has been on my playlist for awhile now. It’s vibey and inspiring!!! Coooooooo plug-in! I love how abstract it is. Takes away pre-conceived notions.
Really digging that Nembrini. Some super cool tones, especially in drop C. Just has that raw sound. Your noodling reminds me of Rabea. The PolychromeDSP has my attention, too. McRocklin is pretty incredible.
My new toy is the free / open source Neural Amp Modeler that is based on machine learning models of real amp captures (like ToneX but open source). Everyone can use the online capture tool (it is more like a script than a tool with GUI) to create AI models of their gear and there is a growing community that shares models. It even surpasses ToneX in terms of fidelity.
I have all these and then some I really love the polychrome it's so different but the neural dsp is always the bomb..I remember watching people with the axe fx and thinking how cool would it be to make plugins to sound like the axe fx and the boom neural dsp came out I went crazy and bought the heck out of them.i love your guitar playing brother..
I will also give a shotout to the McRocklin Suite. I've owned it since it came out and it's just a beast of a thing for creativity. So many usable presets and just outright fun.
Today there's too much stuff around so that many of them do somehow overlap each other ... the Nembrini for example --.I had already at least three versions of the very same model offered by others ...the Neural Mesa Boogie again ....I've the petrucci version, the Amplitube version authorised by Mesa, the Fluff version etc., plus others so I don't need this one. The McRocklin ? ...yes , this one seems to offer something different and it goes without saying that I have purchased it already 🙂and I love using it, be it clean or high gain, in front of a bit of reverb like Valhalla Supermassive reverb Cirrus Minor preset. It's great, man.
McRocklin Suite has been my daily driver ever since it came out. It's a plugin that really inspires me to play more. So many times I've completely lost the track of time while playing it.
I'll don't think anything will replace my FM9 but after ditching Guitar Rig I got the mcrocklin plugin for laptop jamming in summer time....when summer finally comes...Got to admit the lead tones really are fun. filthy amounts of gain, delay and pick attack...yummy
The Hardball is sick but Nembrini’s finest hour is still their BG XTC amp. Especially when the front end of it is pushed with their Boss (OG Marshall Guv’nor) plug-in. On channel 2 with the Mesa cab provided. Or your IR of choice 😁
I'm still using my Kemper, I have some after market profiles, & IRs. It's just a small rig, and it makes it easy to practice with my tone and headphones since I'm not gigging anymore.
That mesa boogie plugin with the transpose function rocks! Very very cool! Sounds great.. All of them did, but I love that mesa tone you always get brother. Sounds killer.. Sykes stuff for sure! Love it.. I just watched the last show by Thin Lizzy on the thunder and lightening tour in 83.. Man, sykes was on fire and what a great show.. That drummer doesn't get the love he deserves either.. just two or three years later the frontman passed.. How sad.. I'd like to see another band as good as Thin Lizzy man! They are still something for people to work toward as a goal of sounding good that is how good they were I think you'd agree.. Very cool demo as alway sir.. Very cool.. Have a great day my friend and better weekend. ! ! ! ! ! Tim
I'm really starting to be more interested in these things that don't call themselves an "amp" name. I'm a firm believer in the "if it sounds good" who cares what it's called. I think sometimes that "name" thing might get in the way. It's a point Henning made on his channel about modellers, and it make a lot of sense. Don't get me wrong, still love the Axe FX3, but I think it's too easy to get hung up in emulating specific things rather than just thinking about, "If it sounds good, it's good".
Have to say having had the pleasure of owning a Limited Edition white Powerball 2, that plugin was a bit disappointing. I guess if the price is "lower" then that might be excused, but the real thing really was a glorious thing to behold.
Leon, do you have any videos where you do a very simple beginners intro to all of these profiling amps and digital FX programs? It sounds great and the options are so varied but I've no idea at all how you use or implement any of this.
@@LeonTodd I agree! Please do, if you can, there must be so many of us who want to go digital but are overwhelmed by all the tech specifics and nuances of it all.
I'm still using Bias amp 1, LePou 456/HyBrit and the ML Sound JCM800 with old Redwirez IRs. The Neural 2C+ is a pretty tempting upgrade, do you think the Mercurial Triaxis compares well to it for those 2c+ tones?
Hey mate, with the transpose feature do you get that weird feeling like something is off or is it pretty natural? I'm waiting for my guitar to be shipped then getting the boogie plugin once it arrives. Just wanted to know your thoughts on how it behaves
The latency is pretty good but if you're playing at low volumes then you'll be hearing the acoustic sound of your guitar + the transposed amplified sound which is weird
@@LeonTodd Thanks mate I need to pull my finger out and have a look. I've been using an old Pod XT for my tones. Just easier with a plug in! I'll have a Google! P.S your Mark IV video is my fav, that tone was insane.
I Buy the Petrucci Neural dsp plugin last year and a few days ago I tried the Mesa I think I'm going to have to spend again hahaha I'm in love with its sound in the rhythms, but i think I have to tweak it a lot to find a good lead sound
What's everyone playing through today?
Neural Amp Modeller. Like Tonex but absolutely free.😄🤘
I use a fender frontman with a 5 watt 6V6 tweed combo as the power section. The frontman is too bright, the tweed is too dark so they work together......I just try stuff.
Mercuriall Ampbox Reaxis
Tonality: Josh Middleton. No more plugins.
Vh4 into a 412
Hey Leon, appreciate you checking out the Suite mate!! Really cool playing, glad you’re enjoying it. We’re working on more cool updates for the plug-in too :)
Have a great weekend,
Thomas
Awesome work with the plugin, I highly approve of how greasy the delay/verb gets and how easy it all is to use.
I bought Polychrome DSP when it had the release sale and it was only $99 and I have to say it was worth every penny. I own a bunch of the Neural plugins and the IIC+ really felt redundant in that lineup. Polychrome also is lower stress on my CPU and has already seen some good quality of life updates. Neural has been falling behind with IMO with rarely updating old products and still not having M1 native support.
Hi Leon, thank you so much for checking out the McRocklin Suite! It’s a lovely surprise for us!! 💜
Very impressed with how fun this out to use, it's very similar to how I'd want a signature plugin layed out for myself. Can't wait to see what you do next.
@@LeonTodd You can tell you were enjoying the sound you tweaked out............lots of
guitar Face Action ...Would love for you to create some presets for this great plugin !!! You rock as always
I'm right there with you about the Polychrome. While I appreciate the time and effort put into the graphical approach to having an amp image, I find the Polychrome approach to be somehow less... limiting-- in my own mind anyhow. You just listen instead of look. And what I heard sounded really good.
It's about the tone at the end of the day!
Awesome review video! Glad you liked that PolyChrome McRocklin suite! It's definitely one of my favorite plugins of all time. So much versatility and clarity!
that Polychrome McRocklin suite is crazy, the tones are incredible no matter how many things I enable and disable, everything just works together so well!
It's a very well thought out experience
so easy, even a metal guitarist can use it. 😁
I waited for the PolyChrome DSP McRocklin Suite since Thomas announced it; purchased it as soon as I learned it was available, didn't bother with the demo. I've not been disappointed.
Simple, intuitive, powerful and sounds great IMO. The presets demo the capabilities well; clean tones are full, rich and lush; many of the lead tones are epic, majestic and just plain over-the-top indulgent which I like!
I've been using Blue Cat Audio Axiom for years, and their Destructor before that.
PolyChrome DSP is off to a great start, and could use a few things to make it the only (or at least the main) plugin I'd need for guitar. A few more effects, MIDI control, and a few more factory presets for various rhythm tones.
I asked about rhythm tones, and received a quick response on a process to create my own: turn off everything, start with a focus on the amp model, then speaker model page, then the Heatpressor. If needed look at the drives, and use gain staging. The layering of distortion is key, many light layers works better than one layer with high distortion.
Cheers!
Great demos, Leon! I got started using software on Neural products, and in my mind, they were a gold standard for a long time, but there's something so undeniably special about the McRocklin Suite. Not only is it tonally superior to everything else right now in my opinion, it also delivers a very visceral feedback to the player that had been missing from software up until now. To top it off, not needing any additional processing on top of it just seals it as my every day plugin. It's a really great time right now for software amplification with all the choices and flavors we have!
Hi Leon, I have thoroghly enjoyed your FM9 videos and happy to see you providing honest reviews on these plugins. I bought the McRocklin suite when it was released and find it to be such an amazing software as there are so many plugins and all sound great and useable. My problem with the Neural Plugins were that there would only be a handful of presets that were worth using and the rest of the effort applied to them was on creating a pretty layout. With the McRocklin suite I end up playing more often an getting inspired more to keep on playing. Looking forward to all the new things that Polychrome will be coming out with as they really have strolled in as the new Sherriff in town. 🚨🚨🚨
It's definitely a "shut up and play yer guitar" kinda plugin!
The McRocklin & Hutch stuff has been on my playlist for awhile now. It’s vibey and inspiring!!! Coooooooo plug-in! I love how abstract it is. Takes away pre-conceived notions.
Loving PolyChromeDSP - haven’t enjoyed effects so much for years.
Really digging that Nembrini. Some super cool tones, especially in drop C. Just has that raw sound. Your noodling reminds me of Rabea. The PolychromeDSP has my attention, too. McRocklin is pretty incredible.
I think Rabea and I have a lot of the same influences. He'd be fun to jam with.
@@LeonTodd That would be so cool. Yes, please.
My new toy is the free / open source Neural Amp Modeler that is based on machine learning models of real amp captures (like ToneX but open source). Everyone can use the online capture tool (it is more like a script than a tool with GUI) to create AI models of their gear and there is a growing community that shares models. It even surpasses ToneX in terms of fidelity.
Been playing with that recently and enjoying it!
Fractal FM3 and Neural DSP plugins. Both rule in their world to me 🙂
Hard to argue with you there!
@@LeonTodd Yes, and the Ampknobs (5150 ect) from Bogren are also nice and my go-to for recording riffs. Fractal and Neural for recording in Logic
I have all these and then some I really love the polychrome it's so different but the neural dsp is always the bomb..I remember watching people with the axe fx and thinking how cool would it be to make plugins to sound like the axe fx and the boom neural dsp came out I went crazy and bought the heck out of them.i love your guitar playing brother..
great info as always .. I have been going old school lately playing through my 1969 Ampeg V4 with a pedal board full of various effects ....
I like the berry amp from audio assult
I will also give a shotout to the McRocklin Suite. I've owned it since it came out and it's just a beast of a thing for creativity. So many usable presets and just outright fun.
Nice, all 3 sound great, the polychrome might be a bit too aggressive in the trebble...
Too much treble in everything
PolychromeDSP is Dope AF
Today there's too much stuff around so that many of them do somehow overlap each other ... the Nembrini for example --.I had already at least three versions of the very same model offered by others ...the Neural Mesa Boogie again ....I've the petrucci version, the Amplitube version authorised by Mesa, the Fluff version etc., plus others so I don't need this one. The McRocklin ? ...yes , this one seems to offer something different and it goes without saying that I have purchased it already 🙂and I love using it, be it clean or high gain, in front of a bit of reverb like Valhalla Supermassive reverb Cirrus Minor preset. It's great, man.
yeah kudos to McRocklin/Polychrome for doing something a little different
McRocklin Suite has been my daily driver ever since it came out. It's a plugin that really inspires me to play more. So many times I've completely lost the track of time while playing it.
Would love to see you do a demo of the PRS MT-100
I'll don't think anything will replace my FM9 but after ditching Guitar Rig I got the mcrocklin plugin for laptop jamming in summer time....when summer finally comes...Got to admit the lead tones really are fun. filthy amounts of gain, delay and pick attack...yummy
The Hardball is sick but Nembrini’s finest hour is still their BG XTC amp. Especially when the front end of it is pushed with their Boss (OG Marshall Guv’nor) plug-in.
On channel 2 with the Mesa cab provided. Or your IR of choice 😁
I'm still using my Kemper, I have some after market profiles, & IRs.
It's just a small rig, and it makes it easy to practice with my tone and headphones since I'm not gigging anymore.
That mesa boogie plugin with the transpose function rocks! Very very cool! Sounds great.. All of them did, but I love that mesa tone you always get brother. Sounds killer.. Sykes stuff for sure! Love it.. I just watched the last show by Thin Lizzy on the thunder and lightening tour in 83.. Man, sykes was on fire and what a great show.. That drummer doesn't get the love he deserves either.. just two or three years later the frontman passed.. How sad.. I'd like to see another band as good as Thin Lizzy man! They are still something for people to work toward as a goal of sounding good that is how good they were I think you'd agree..
Very cool demo as alway sir.. Very cool..
Have a great day my friend and better weekend. ! ! ! ! !
Tim
Brian Downey is so underrated as a drummer, solid and creative
@@LeonTodd Totally agree brother.. Totally agree!
Nicely done all of them sound great.
Thank you kindly!
Gig with my Kemper as it makes things easy for setup and breakdown but used to gig my JVM-HJS and a H&K
*That sounds 10 times better than the axe fx ever did!*
The Neural Boogie is great, Polychrome sounded awful when I tried the demo. Felt like playing through the high gain channel of a mid 2000s roland cube
Hahaha the high point of TOAN
I'm really starting to be more interested in these things that don't call themselves an "amp" name. I'm a firm believer in the "if it sounds good" who cares what it's called. I think sometimes that "name" thing might get in the way. It's a point Henning made on his channel about modellers, and it make a lot of sense. Don't get me wrong, still love the Axe FX3, but I think it's too easy to get hung up in emulating specific things rather than just thinking about, "If it sounds good, it's good".
EXACTLY!
PolycromeDSP McRocklin Is really Amazing! Try the demo and you'll love It!
5:07 when I snap my fingers you will forget everything I said!
❤❤❤❤ Yeah I own the real thing and it sounds really close if not exact makes me question owning the real thing
still waiting for neural for incorporate their plugins into the qc , and make that fkn neural suite to mixmatch the plugins amps and pedals....
Have to say having had the pleasure of owning a Limited Edition white Powerball 2, that plugin was a bit disappointing. I guess if the price is "lower" then that might be excused, but the real thing really was a glorious thing to behold.
Leon, do you have any videos where you do a very simple beginners intro to all of these profiling amps and digital FX programs? It sounds great and the options are so varied but I've no idea at all how you use or implement any of this.
I don't but that's an excellent idea
@@LeonTodd I agree! Please do, if you can, there must be so many of us who want to go digital but are overwhelmed by all the tech specifics and nuances of it all.
Have you had a chance to play the mesa mark7? I’m trying to decide between the jp2c and the mark7. Wanted to know which you prefer?
Not yet. Australia is usually months behind the US with stock
I'm still using Bias amp 1, LePou 456/HyBrit and the ML Sound JCM800 with old Redwirez IRs.
The Neural 2C+ is a pretty tempting upgrade, do you think the Mercurial Triaxis compares well to it for those 2c+ tones?
Yeah Reaxis still sounds awesome for that stuff. You get a few extra fx and IR options with the NDSP which is nice though.
Your studio racks are so much prettier than mine, Leon. You build those custom?
I had my Dad make them, they're hardwood boxes with some rack rails from Penn Elcom
Have you ever played a Tom Anderson? If so what are your thoughts?
Yes. They're superb instruments.
still using gojira serving me well 😀😀
Hey mate, with the transpose feature do you get that weird feeling like something is off or is it pretty natural? I'm waiting for my guitar to be shipped then getting the boogie plugin once it arrives. Just wanted to know your thoughts on how it behaves
The latency is pretty good but if you're playing at low volumes then you'll be hearing the acoustic sound of your guitar + the transposed amplified sound which is weird
@@LeonTodd so crank it in other words? Roger that
yo, Have you tried the neural amp modeler?
Yes. Enjoying it. Video to come soon.
@@LeonTodd nice man
I use Garageband, only for fun and I was looking for a free plug in yesterday, no idea where to start!
It's a vast world out there hey! Most companies offer free trials for their stuff nowadays so it's pretty easy to sample the field.
@@LeonTodd Thanks mate I need to pull my finger out and have a look. I've been using an old Pod XT for my tones. Just easier with a plug in! I'll have a Google! P.S your Mark IV video is my fav, that tone was insane.
I Buy the Petrucci Neural dsp plugin last year and a few days ago I tried the Mesa I think I'm going to have to spend again hahaha I'm in love with its sound in the rhythms, but i think I have to tweak it a lot to find a good lead sound