Native Instruments Guitar Rig 7 Pro Guitar Amp & Effects Software Reviews

this is the best virtual amp that I have used.

While I'm still a happy Amplitude user, all the positive reviews on Guitar Rig and the sub $ price point compelled me to give it a try. You get so much value with this GREAT app and the sounds, effects, and simulations are fantastic. I find myself using this much more often than Amplitude. This is an easy 5-Star rating.

I had been using the demo version of Guitar Rig 6, for months and version 7 is a big upgrade to some already great software. So, I finally decided to buy the unlock for guitar rig 7 when I saw the sale was on. I am very happy with my purchase, and you will also need to download the free Native Instruments verification software to actually unlock your demo version. It only took a few minutes and I was up and running.

As a big fan of pedals (and the JHS show too) I am now officially cured of my pedal addiction. I still like Josh and his show, but I can't be bothered with messing around with actual pedals (or amps) any more. There are some 1500 pre-configured pedal board/amp/cab settings in Guitar Rig 7 that load quickly and have cryptic names. I can't stop trying each one out, and practicing my usual scales and arpeggios has taken on a whole new fun dimension. Whatever I am interested in, whether it's endless sustain, shimmering reverbs, or hard rock flanging, it's all here and more, much much more.

After using this with a couple of JBL monitor speakers and my desktop computer, and an M-audio air 192/6 interface, I have stopped using my tube amps altogether. And I have been a tube amp/pedal platform guy since the 1990's.

Now, my ears do seem to better appreciate the subtle thickening of tone that I hear when I finally fired up my tube amp, and used my boost pedal to get some genuine overdrive/tube distortion clipping. It sure does sound rich and sweet, but I still have a feeling that Guitar Rig 7 can reproduce this sound, I just haven't figured how exactly how yet. Since I have Guitar Rig 7, I don't have the time or the inclination to fool around with my heavy tube amp, or my pedal board. It's a really nice collection, of pedals, but I don't miss them at all.

I got my M-audio interface as a SDOTD, about a year ago, and I looked at all the different guitar amp softwares out there. Nothing comes close to Guitar Rig 7, for my purposes. It's ease of use is hard to believe after trying some of the other clunky guitar crap you can download. It makes me feel so organized, and I feel like taking command of this software has taken me a lot closer to gigging on a regular basis. I find I practice a lot more, and get more use out of my clean tones, in addition to the endless variety of effects now at my fingertips.

Man I've tried basically all of the amp sims out there and I think this is the one that finally feels like I want it to. Amplitube for me has always been too noisy with a clunky interface. Neural is nice and simple but just doesn't feel like an amp to me. TH-U is actually probably my 2nd favorite, especially when using the rig player and their cab simulator.

I tried the demo for this after having not used my guitar rig 6 for a while, but I remember always loving the feeling of the Chicago amp. The demo for version 7 I thought was really nice because you can try everything for 30 min at a time (which is pretty generous compared to other companies).

I noticed every time I opened the demo and played a random preset that I would almost always be inspired by the tone to write something. That right there to me is a good amp sim (or instrument in general).

I kept playing around with it and noticed that all the ICM amps especially sound and FEEL really good, especially the dynamics. The ICM amp sims feel pretty dead on when it comes to pushing and pulling back gain on a tube amp. That's really hard to do well but I think NI nailed it with this technology. It's very inspiring and very easy to just sit back and have fun with sounds. Reading up on how NI developed ICM also instilled a lot of confidence in me for NI. For me, it's to the point where the Reverb Delight amp in GR7 could easily replace my Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb (also highly recommend) and behaves pretty much exactly like I want it to.

I hope NI updates some of the older amps with the ICM technology, because honestly I don't really enjoy playing those amps anymore. They have the artificial digital sound to my ears (high frequency stuff that usually gets toned down in analog rigs) and it's just distracting to me. None of the ICM amps gave me that feeling though, which again, is very impressive, as I think amplitube and Neural still have issues in that area, at least in my opinion. TH-U surprisingly not so much, but I don't love the interface as much as GR7.

I still think hardware has an especially soft spot in everyone's heart at the end of the day, but the ease of access for inspiring tones is what sold me. That is hard to do with hardware.

The other thing that really sets this plugin apart from other sims is the usability of the built in effects for literally any audio source. I can't confidently say you can do that and expect a good result with something like amplitube, that sounds like a headache. Maybe TH-U, but again, it's still a 2nd place to GR7. And man the amount of sounds in this plugin alone can set you up for a very long time.

I'm definitely happy with this product and will recommend to anyone that plays guitar, because $ is basically a new pedal, but this gives you a) so many great sounding and feeling gear options. b) high quality effects plugins that could replace other effect plugin bundles c) great practice and songwriting tools d) it's all portable if you have a laptop and decent interface. I paid $ to upgrade during the Black Friday sale.

Overall, highly recommend and hope I helped someone with this review. Coming from someone who has tried most of the amp sims out there (sorry bank account) and just wants to make great inspiring guitar sounds easily from anywhere, this is the best that I've tried yet.

Happy shredding!