I like the way these things sound! Anyone used them or any other PIA stuff?
Iāve used plenty of PIA stuff, but Iāve never tried ENGL 
Iāve seen ENGL amps around for quite awhile but Iāve never seen the amp sims from Plugin Alliance that you posted. Sounds pretty decent. Hard to tell for sure how they measure up to other amp sims. Thereās so many good sounding sims to choose from these days. Iāve only just begun getting my feet wet with these things. There is so much to consider and try out. Looks like itās going to be a long journey for me.
I can so relate to this! I have several amp sim bundles/collections, and between them just the number of preset choices is enormous. Pretty much inspired a song I wrote called āParalysis by Analysisāā¦! This is one case where the point of view about needing to commit to something decisively without dawdling applies pretty fully. One can waste a lot of time spinning through presets or endlessly tweaking the knobs (although that can be true with outboard hardware too).
And here we go again-- as above, I donāt need any more amp sims. But Iād never heard of these PIA sims before, so will I go check them out even though I totally donāt need them? Of course I will! 
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I didnāt realize PIA had gotten that good at making sims. I still really like the Scuffham ones, but some of these others are getting dang close. The new Waves ones sound really cool too.
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The demo sounds coolā¦ but a Poison shirt? 
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Iāve got all the P-A amp sims, mostly because I have an amp and amp sim buying problem, but also because they sound great. The ENGLās are excellentā¦ thereās a sim of a Chandler amp that I loveā¦ their Rectifier sims are pretty good, and just as infuriating to dial in as my actual Dual Recto. The Bassman is really good. The BX RockRack is supposed to be great too, but Iāve barely had a chance to get into that one yet. This may inspire me to actually dig into all these. Hooray!
https://mercuriall.com/cms/details_reaxis
@blairhall1974, I tried this Mesa Triaxis clone (in the link above) and I canāt stand it. I had high hopes for this thing and was pretty excited that there even was one. Iām currently running a stereo triaxis with a G Systems FX unit through a stereo Simulclass 295 power section. That Mercuriall plugin sounds like a digital clusterfuck compared to when I combo an MD421 on axis (center) with a U47 on the room. I have a friend pulling the trigger on a pair of torpedoes. I can get a dual rec sound out of those sims that Iām fairly happy with (though I agree it is a bit of a struggle). What I canāt find is a good Mesa Mk1 or C+ emulator, which is really the mesa sound I bought the Triaxis to achieve. I really REALLY like the Mesa Mk1. Its the only amp Mesa has ever made that I felt had a truly lovely clean tone.
The TriAxis can get damn close.
Edit: ā¦and i hardly ever use heavy high gain tones. When I need them, most of the time the TriAxis gets pretty close. When I do thereās also a couple Road Kings and a Diamond in town I can borrow. I have a Peavey 6505 that sits on a shelf in my garage, but honestly, I like the way it does the saggy JCM800 style crunch better than it does the high gain. So part of the decision to go with the Triaxis was that it can live in a rack and because its so dang versatile.
@Jonathan itās interesting you mention the Mercuriall simā¦ I got their ENGL E530 sim when it came out and looooved it. So much so that I bought an actual E530 and use it excessively. When the TriAxis sim came out I jumped on it quickly and have been somewhat underwhelmed. Now, my actually experience with a TriAxis is limited, but I have a few friends that I used to gig with that used them religiously, so I know what theyāre capable of. Youāre right, the sim doesnāt come close, at least to what I remember a well dialed-in TriAxis to sound like. I have however seen reviews of people gushing about it, and claiming itās an almost dead match to an actual one. Who knows. I do know I need to spend more time with it.
As for clean tone, as I live mostly in the high-gain world, most of my amps have garbage clean tones. I do have an Egnater Vengeance though which has a pretty great clean tone, and in the not-too-distant future Iām picking up a Vox AC30 to shore up clean tones plus Iāve always had a soft spot for a driven AC30. The DSL100 is surprisingly good in the clean department too. My first ever amp head was the original 5150, it wasnāt exactly great for cleans either, so Iām not shocked to hear youāre not getting much use out of the 6505. I traded my 5150 for some studio monitors back in the day, and Iāve kicked myself ever since. Probably picking one up again soon. But not for cleans! lol
@Jonathan do you, or anyone else, have any experience with the Marshall JMP-1? Iāve been thinking of picking one up and have read some great things about it, but Iām wondering if itās still useful. Definitely picking up a TriAxis at some point too, although those tend to still be a bit pricey.
Ok Iāl stop rambling now. yeeeeha!
Part of this is more or less me doing very different music than you, so no right or wrong hereā¦just different of course.
The AC30ās and DSL have zero twang. I need something way cleaner and chimey-er. Neither are good amps for country and church music clean tones. I tend to the think of the clean on both of those amps as kind of gritty, which probably is spot-on for what you need. At the same time I know that a Fender Deluxe is probably that last thing you want to show up to a metal gig playing! lol.
I bought the 5150 at the same time I bought a 6505. I bought them both, tried them out and kept the one I liked better. When I use the 6505, its on the rare occasion I need a high gain amp to blend and add color to the Mesa. I liked the way the preamp circuit in the 6505 was voiced over the 5150.
The JMP1 and Carvin Quad X were both complete no-goās for me. I liked the highly flexible routing features on the Carvin but tone wise I thought it was a toy compared to the TriAxis. Soldano makes a rack pre but its expensive. Same with VHT. And neither are as versatile as the TriAxis. BadCat and Matchless make a rack pre but they wonāt have enough gain for yourself. You may want to look into the Bogner one.
I got my TriAxis off eBay for $700. I got the Simulclass 295 off of Clint Lowrey from 7 dust. I think that thing was about $800.
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This is why I love these kinds of conversations! We come at things from two fairly different perspectivesā¦ at the end of the day, I have to remember Iām not just buying stuff for my own music so itās important to keep my mind open and look at things from a different point oā view.
Thanks for the response!
While Iām at itā¦really quickā¦if youāre thinking about going to a rack preamp, you can save yourself a bit of headache if you make sure the preamp is ā4-cableā compatible. Meaning you can run your drive based effects infront of the preamp and your time based effects post-gain and in stereo. Most of rack effects units like the G-Systems and Fractal have special I/O to accommodate these settings.
Haha. At 3 min this guy uses that Engl sim on an 808. Funny.
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