Best Neural DSP plugins: 10 Neural plugins tested with sound samples

Whether you want to admit it or not, we’re now firmly into the age of the amp modeler. Most modern guitarists are unwilling to lug a heavy 2x12 tube amp around with them these days, and recording a tube amp at home? Forget about it. The convenience of modeling now ranges from pro guitarists playing on the biggest stages and recording in the studio, to us regular guitarists recording and practicing at home. With the best Neural DSP plugins as part of your setup, you can get mix-ready, ultra-realistic guitar tones at the click of a button.

I’ve been using guitar plugins for a long time, with my first foray being Line 6’s POD Farm back in the noughties, and ever since then, I’ve been using them for the majority of my home recording exploits. Amp plugins make it much easier to audition sounds, tweak settings, and get them fitting nicely into the mix, and with the recent advances in modeling tech, they sound nigh-on indistinguishable from the real thing.

I was provided access to all the Neural DSP plugins in this guide, so you can rest assured I’m not reading from the spec sheet here. I’ve used, recorded, and tweaked every single amp and effect of each plugin, ensuring that they're firmly put to the test to determine which is the very best for your particular use case.

In my opinion, if you’re looking for the utmost versatility in a Neural DSP plugin, you should go for Archetype: Nolly X. For those who prefer their tones on the heavier side of the spectrum, then I’d definitely recommend checking out Archetype: Gojira X.

Neural offers two-week free trials for each of their plugins, which is a great way to audition them before you commit to buying one. I’ve included sound samples for each plugin so you can listen to how they sound in the context of a mix as well as with solo guitar sounds to help you narrow them down. If you want to learn more about Neural’s plugins before you buy, check out our extensive FAQs section, and our how-to-use guide for more info.

My top picks

Best overall

Overview: Of all the guitar plugins I tried out for this guide, I found Neural DSP Archetype: Nolly X to be the most versatile. Whether you want pristine clean tones, mid-gain riffing, or searing leads, it has the versatility to cover everything that you need. With four amp models and seven effects (including the EQ section), it may not sound like much but you can cover a tremendous amount of ground with just this single plugin.

Usability: The interface is incredibly easy to use with everything clearly labeled for you. Even if this is your first plugin it won’t take you long to get up and running. Along the bottom, you have the ability to mix and match your amp and cab models, with them running left to right in order of dirtiness. This means you can quickly mix and match for your base level tone before diving deeper into the amp settings.

Along the top, you have separate options for your pre-amp stompbox section, amplifier, cab, EQ, and post-amp effects. Before the amp, you have your usual selection of compressor, two overdrives, and interestingly, a delay stompbox for some more ethereal sound exploration. After the amp, you can choose from a single delay and reverb. It doesn’t sound like much on paper, but sometimes having fewer options gets you to where you want to be much quicker.

Sounds: The sounds here are simply superb, and whether you’re playing funk, rock, metal, blues, country, or anything else, you’ll be able to dial in a tone that suits you. The four different amps each have their own character and there’s plenty of range within each. So you can get cleanish tones from the first two models as well as more gain-y sounds if you turn up the gain or add some overdrive in front.

The presets are fantastic too, which is where I encountered the first real issue with this plugin. There’s no easy way to save your favorite presets within the plugin itself. Instead, you’ll need to create your own folders on your computer itself, and either drag and drop presets, or go back into the plugin, rename, and then move it to the correct folder. With so many presets to choose from, this honestly feels like a real oversight and something that shouldn’t be that difficult to correct.

Neural DSP Archetype: Nolly X Sound demos

Best for metal

Overview: I had to pick Neural DSP Archetype: Gojira X as my top plugin for modern metal players. Gojira’s tone and techniques are so widely aped now that they’ve become a staple part of the genre, and this plugin gives you those exact sounds quickly and easily. With three amps and matching cabs that give you clean, rhythm, and lead tones plus a great selection of effects it’s the best choice for modern metallers.

Usability: The layout is similar to the other Neural DSP plugins in that you have your individual sections across the top. Gojira X features an additional expression section at the start that gives you a whammy-style effect and an octave pedal, a signature of the band's sound. Next up you have your pre-amp stomps with overdrive, dirt, phaser, and chorus effects.

Next up you’ve got your amp and cab sections, a separate EQ, and then finally your post-amp effects which feature delay and reverb. At the bottom of the plugin you can quickly select amp and cab models, and there’s a link button that allows you to mix and match or automatically select an amp with its matching cab. The ability to freely move the microphones to your preferred position in the cab section is really powerful too.

Sounds: From classic 80s metal tones to modern djent, Gojira X can handle pretty much anything heavy. The three amp models deliver pristine cleans, chunky crunch tones, and saturated lead sound in that order, and while there’s certainly flexibility in the ability to dial in rock and blues sounds, this plugin is definitely performing its best in the metal genre. One thing to note is that if you’re using your own IRs, there’s no way to audition a bunch of them in the plugin, instead you have to load them one by one which is a bit of a pain.

In terms of effects the whammy is absolutely superb, I didn’t notice any glitching manipulating it with my mouse, although you’ll need to delve into MIDI mapping to get the best out of it with an actual footswitch. Having two overdrives in front of the amp allows you to drive the clean amp really hard, getting dirty tones out of it, and provides plenty of saturation options when using the dirtier amp tones. There’s no ability to swap the modulation effects to after the amp which is a shame, but probably not a dealbreaker for most metal players.

The delay and reverb section has an excellent amount of options too. You can add tape saturation and modulation to the delay tails for some expansive warbling tones, and the reverb has a shimmer mode alongside handy low and high cut knobs that let you dial it in nicely when playing with a full mix. With a gigantic amount of presets to get you started from players like Nolly, Lee McKinney from Born of Osiris, Ihsahn of Emperor, and Greg Kubacki from Car Bomb, it’s a modern metal paradise in terms of tones.

Neural DSP Achetype: Gojira X sound demos

Best for clean

Overview: It was a toss-up between this and the Tone King plugin to determine the one with the nicest clean sounds, but in the end, I decided that Neural DSP Archetype: Cory Wong X delivers the best clean tones overall. Again, we’ve got three amp models and matching cabs, a generous nine effects to play with including the EQ section.

Usability: I really love the interface of Cory Wong X, it’s bright and clear without being too harsh on the eyes, and compared to some of the others which are very dark and moody, it’s honestly refreshing to look at. As with the prior Neural plugins the design is the same, you’ve got individual parts of the chain across the top with an expression section that features a wah pedal, a pre-amp effects with envelope filter, compressor, tube screamer, and an additional overdrive pedal.

Next up you have your standard amp and cab sections with the ability to tweak tones, move microphones, and load custom IRs. Post amp you’ve got a selection of chorus, delay, and reverb for dialing in more ambient soundscapes. Along the bottom of the screen, you can quickly select any amp head and cab combo, linking or unlinking them to mix and match tones.

Sounds: I started with the presets and to be honest, I find Cory’s own sounds a little too surgically clean for my taste. If you’re playing your favorite Jimmy Nolen licks or you like these modern, ultra-compressed clean tones it’s fantastic, but I like my cleans with a little ambiance on them. Thankfully with the post-amp effects section, you can absolutely dial in post-rock-friendly clean tones for epic auditory panoramas alongside fast tremolo picking and fingerpicked chord work.

The first amp model appears to be emulating that straight into the mixing console clean tone, with the second offering a warmer, fuller sound. The final amp adds a bit more hair and has a gain switch for some dirtier tones if wish. It won’t do metal tones of course, but you can definitely get some nice classic and modern rock tones out of it once you drive it harder with the two overdrive pedals. It can also do some nice DI bass tones too, making it more flexible then you might at first think.

Neural DSP Archetype: Cory Wong X sound demos

Best for bass

Overview: The Neural DSP: Parallax X plugin looks a little bit different from the rest, and is one of only two plugins the company offers exclusively designed for bass guitarists alongside the Darkglass Ultra and some select sounds in Archetype: Cory Wong X. Here, you have just a single amp and cab selection alongside compression, two flavors of distortion, and an EQ section. Don’t let that put you off though, this is an endlessly versatile plugin for bass.

Usability: I’ll admit to finding the user interface of Parallax X a little bit mystifying at first. At the top, you only have the choice of amp and cab section, whilst at the bottom of the amp screen there’s a section for low compression, mid distortion, high distortion, and equalizer. Each of these can be switched off at will and offer numerous options for tweaking your sounds. It’s quite basic visually compared to the other plugins I tested for this guide.

On the cab screen, you have two speakers to choose from and each can be miked up with varying condensers, dynamic, and ribbon microphones alongside the ability to load your own custom IRs. Again, you can freely move the microphone to any position within a 90-degree radius of the speaker cone, giving you the option for more direct sounds or warmer, softer bass tones.

Sounds: In terms of tones, you might think it’s limited with only one amp and cab to choose from, but you can get a surprisingly huge range of sounds out of it. Whether it’s funky slap tones, punchy pop, or metal grind Parallax absolutely delivered in my tests. There’s a huge array of presets that will cover the vast majority of tones for players, whether you’re a full-time bassist or a guitarist moonlighting on your own recordings.

For the serious bass players, the main amp section works like a graphic EQ and you have three points you can drag around the screen to tweak your tones to your liking. They work as low, mid, and high, with low moving between 70 and 400 Hz, the mids fixed at 400 Hz, while the high end can be moved between 100 Hz and 2 KHz. The additional EQ section gives you low and high cut controls, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1 kHz, and 1.5 kHz, so there’s a huge amount of scope for nailing your desired bass tone.

The mid and high controls also have their own drive knobs for adding some grind to your tone, and once you get used to the overall look of it, it’s a really powerful interface for mixing in bass tones with drum and guitar sounds. My one criticism is that there are no modulation or octave effects, so if you like to add additional sounds to your bass tone, you’ll need to use plugins or plug regular stompboxes in front of your audio interface.

Neural DSP Parallax X sound demos

Best for rock

Overview: The Neural DSP tone King Imperial MKII would be my number one choice for anyone who plays rock, whether modern or classic. It can also do some phenomenal blues tones, so if you’re not the sort of player who’s into the decidedly heavy-tone skewed lineup Neural offers, this is the plugin for you.

Usability: Tone King has a slightly different look to the plugins I’ve tested thus far for the guide with a similar layout, but a slightly less polished aesthetic versus the newer versions. The general gist is the same though. Across the top, you’ve got expression, pre-amp effects, amp, cab, EQ, and post-amp effects to scroll through. At the bottom of the plugin, there are options to look at the front or the back of the amplifier.

Before the amp, you’ve got a wah pedal in the expression section, and a compressor with two overdrives to help tame or saturate your tones. The amp section offers some pretty standard options with a lead or rhythm channel, plus the option to add reverb and tremolo. As with all the plugins you can manipulate the mic position via your mouse, and there are options to mic the amp in mono or stereo. Finally, the post-amp effects include chorus, delay, and reverb.

Interestingly you can put the amp on standby (why you would want to do this I don’t know), attenuate the output, bypass the rhythm channel, and add some high-frequency compression. You can also change the color by clicking on the Tone King logo, switching between beige, black, green/blue, red, or brown.

Sounds: Out of all the plugins I tested for this guide, the Neural DSP Tone King Imperial MKII was my favorite. As a predominantly rock and metal player, it delivers an incredibly lifelike tube amp tone that’s really akin to playing through a real amp, with some incredibly satisfying amp tones that can cover a lot of ground. Whether you want classic rock, thick blues lead tones, or cutting modern sounds Tone King does it all.

Having a single amp to choose from stops you from getting option paralysis and although it doesn’t have as many presets as some of the others here, there are definitely plenty of options to get you started. It does phenomenal clean tones too, and if it wasn’t so versatile it might well have taken the spot for best cleans in this guide.

With such an excellent effects selection you can get a myriad of sounds out of it from experimental progressive rock tones to your classic rock and blues lead tones. It can’t do high gain, but it will cover pretty much any other style with the right amount of tweaking. The original Tone King is based on the Deluxe Reverb, which as one of the most popular and versatile amps ever made gives you some clue as to what this plugin is capable of.

Neural DSP Tone King Imperial MKII sound demos

Best for djent

Overview: I’ve gone for the Neural DSP Archetype: Rabea X as my favorite plugin for djent tones. That said, you could definitely cover the djent sound with Nolly X, Gojira X, Fortin, and the Soldano SLO-100 plugins. The reason I went for Rabea X over all of those? Well, it might be that low-tuned tones are the core of djent music, but ultimately you’ll need something super versatile to cover the span of sounds djent can contain, and Rabea X is nothing if not versatile.

Usability: We’re back to the more modern Neural plugin look with Rabea X which is a little newer than the previous two. Across the top, you have sections for synth, pre-amp stomps, amp, cab, an EQ section, and post-amp effects. With a full-on synth built into it, you’ve got the potential for some really wild sounds. The synth gives you an arpeggiator, two oscillators, a filter, and the ability to set it as pre or post and blend it into the mix of your overall sound. It’s an instrument in its own right with a huge amount of flexibility.

The pre-amp stomp section features a compressor, octave, fuzz, and overdrive pedals for plenty of gnarly gain sounds. The three amp models cover clean, rhythm, and lead tones with matching cabs that can be stereo-miked with a variety of different sounds. Again, you can load your own IRs if you wish but be warned, it’s painfully slow auditioning them if you don’t know your tones. The usual EQ section features a refreshed look versus the other plugins I tested, and finally, you’ve got delay and reverb stomps to choose from in the post-amp effects section.

Sounds: I picked Rabea X predominantly for its high-gain tones, but really it’ll cover a wealth of styles in the rock and metal sphere. The three amp types can give you spanky or ambient cleans, low and mid-gain crunch tones, and of course, all-out drop G# djent. It really does excel in the high gain though, and will definitely suit the heavier type of guitar player. With presets specifically for baritone and seven-string guitars plus a powerful noise gate, it’s definitely worth looking at if you’re into chugging.

The effects selection is really versatile, with most of the major effects covered. It’s nice to see a fuzz pedal in the selection too, something I didn’t come across much in the other plugins. Although the modeling world hasn’t quite got a good handle on fuzz yet, the vintage setting is particularly nice here. Dialing in more expansive post-rock tones is definitely viable here with some nice settings available on the reverb and delay including a freeze mode on reverb stomp. That said, it would be nice to be able to switch the effects chain around, a criticism that can be made of all the Neural DSP plugins to be fair.

The tracking via the synth is surprisingly good, and although you do get some artifacts here and there, it’s a natural effect of a guitar's dynamic that’s unavoidable. With careful playing, you can definitely make it sound as though it’s an actual synth, and using it to underpin your regular guitar tone makes for some really interesting timbres. Overall Rabea’s plugin is a really interesting one, but I loved it for its heavier sounds.

Neural DSP Archetype: Rabea X sound demos

Also consider

For me, the plugins are above are the ones you should be spending your money on, and will have most bases covered. I did get to test a wider range of the plugins however, so if you didn't quite find what you were looking for above, here's some more for your consideration.

Neural DSP Soldano SLO-100 X
Amps: 1 | Cabs: 1 | Effects: 7
Another ultra versatile plugin I tested, the Neural DSP Soldano SLO-100 X can cover a lot of ground, and very nearly made it as both the best metal and best djent options. Its high-gain sounds are absolutely sublime, but it can handle rock and blues duties too with a wide variety of sounds available. The effects selection gives you compression, two overdrive pedals, chorus, delay, and reverb, so there are plenty of options to craft a wide variety of sounds, but there’s nothing wildly out of the ordinary if you’re the more experimental kind of player.
★★★★½

Neural DSP Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+ Suite
Amps: 2 | Cabs: 3 | Effects: 7
Following essentially the same format as the Soldano plugin, the Neural DSP Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+ Suite takes another classic amplifier that’s adaptable to lots of different styles. In my testing I found it can do high gain to a point - think classic thrash tones - but isn’t really suitable for more low-tuned stuff. If you’re into your rock and blues though it can absolutely cover those off, with plenty of versatility thanks to the really in-depth EQ section on the front of the amp and the ability to use two channels plus three cab options.
★★★★½

Neural DSP Archetype: Tim Henson
Amps: 3 | Cabs: 2 | Effects: 7
Neural DSP Archetype: Tim Henson is an interesting one, as it’s based on the tones of a guitar player who’s decidedly divisive and likes to mix up his styles. If you’re a fan of Polyphia you’ll love this and I found that Tim’s plugin is certainly versatile, and the only one I tested that features an amp aimed purely at acoustic guitar. There’s a decidedly normal approach to effects pedals, apart from the multi-voicer which can deliver some properly out-there sounds, adding four pitch-shifted voices to your guitar tone.
★★★★☆

Neural DSP Fortin Nameless Suite
Amps: 1 | Cabs: 1 | Effects: 6
If you’re exclusively playing extended range instruments then Neural DSP Fortin Nameless Suite delivers some brutal sounds that’ll ensure that 8-string stands out in the mix. The amp tones are decidedly clanky, bringing the heaviness that’ll please players of more extreme styles. It seemed like a shoo-in for best djent tones during my testing, but I found Rabea’s plugin to be much more versatile whilst still being able to handle the heavy sounds. The Fortin amp sound is one that’ll suit a particular type of player, but for me, it was one of the least versatile plugins I tested.
★★★★☆

How to use Neural DSP plugins

If it’s your first time using Neural DSP plugins, then like many guitarists you may find yourself struggling to get a good sound. Unlike plugging into a real amplifier, getting great tones out of a plugin requires a little more exploration as there are more working parts in between you and your sound. Here are some tips to get you started.

Input gain

We could write multiple articles on this subject alone, and input gain is something that’s been hotly debated online. There are multiple ways you can get the best sound, but what it really comes down to is ensuring you have a good level of signal going into your audio interface before you start messing with any settings in the plugin itself.

Many guitarists make the mistake of having their input gain too low or too high, which means when you get to the plugin itself it doesn’t sound quite right. To further complicate things, different audio interfaces offer different levels of gain on the input, so there’s no one setting that every guitarist can use.

What it boils down to is making sure you’ve got the right amount of input gain to get a good signal, so not too little, and not too much. Finding the sweet spot will take some experimentation but it’s well worth taking the time if you find you’re not quite getting the sounds you want from the Neural plugins.

Amp/pedal settings

Tweaking and amp and pedal settings is no different from what you’d do with the real deal, and here it’ll all come down to personal taste as to what suits you. You can’t mess with the order of things with the Neural plugins, so if a plugin has its chorus pedal before the amp you can’t change that. Neural plugins do feature a huge selection of presets, so if you’re not really sure what you want it’s easy enough to cycle through these to give you a good starting point.

Cab sims and IRs

In my opinion, the cab is the most important part of the whole sound, and tweaking here can have a significant impact on your overall tone. The built-in impulse responses in the Neural plugins allow you to freely move the microphone position, which gives you a lot of flexibility. You can stereo-mic them with different microphone types, which is what you’d do in actual studio environments.

The ability to load your own cab sims can offer even more flexibility, although as I’ve mentioned in the guide multiple times, the Neural plugins don’t do a great job of letting you audition 3rd-party IRs, so be prepared to slog through them all if you’ve got a large collection. I tried some of my York Audio IRs with the Neural plugins and they delivered some superb guitar tones, so it’s well worth exploring this avenue if you aren’t satisfied with the stock sounds.

EQ and compression

One thing to remember when listening to your favorite guitar player’s tones is that it’s unlikely you’re hearing them without EQ and compression. As a general rule, I like to start with cutting the lows from 60 Hz, and the highs from around 14 KHz. This takes out a lot of the low-end rumble and harsh high-end from the sound, which can give you a much more natural amplifier tone.

Compression is something that needs to be explored to your own taste. Many of the Neural plugins feature a compressor on the pre-amp effects which can help tame some of your playing dynamics. If you’re mixing multiple guitars together during recording, then bus compression can help tie everything together.

FAQs

How we test

When testing the Neural DSP plugins for this guide, I was given access to each of the plugins to personally test each. My tests were carried out using Pro Tools, a MacBook Pro M3 Pro, Yamaha HS5 monitors, Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro headphones, and a Universal Audio Apollo X4 Gen 2 as my recording rig. I used multiple guitars for my tests, including a Fender Telecaster, a Gretsch semi-hollow guitar, a Chapman Baritone, and a PRS SE Mark Holcomb SVN.

For each plugin, I’ve provided an audio sample using a recent song I’m working on with my band. It includes a rhythm guitar part and a lead part. All rhythm parts were played with the default plugin setting (where appropriate) and the lead parts used a separate plugin. Apart from the Oxford Limiter on the master bus with a clean limit setting, I didn’t use any other plugins when exporting the audio, to ensure a completely uncolored sound sample.

Each audio sample features an ‘in-the-mix’ version as well as a solo guitar version. This is so you can hear how it might sound in your own productions versus how the guitar would sound on its own. All of the audio samples were played using my Telecaster in series mode, giving a humbucker-esque tone that’s well suited to the heavier style of the sound sample.

Aside from these tests, I also thoroughly explored the vast majority of the presets for each plugin, auditioning them through my studio monitors and headphones. Here I tried a variety of guitars to determine the sounds of each plugin and to see which category they’d best fit. During this phase, I made notes of how the interface feels, how easy it is to navigate, and whether everything is clearly labeled.

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