agreed, I have most of the UAD sims and while the sound is good and it’s nice to have them on the Unison slot in my Apollo, something just never feels completely right with them.
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So I’ve reviewed the guitar sims I own and downloaded demos of those that I don’t after I responded to your post here. Here’s my updated take on it:
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Neural DSP: I own the Plini plugin, so everything I write here applies to that one. Easily the best sound of all of them. Full bodied cleans, nice edge-of-breakup crunch, and good heavy rock tone (though I don’t usually play overdriven, more clean). It just feels and sounds the best to me, easily so. The included effects (reverb & delay) sound really nice too. The lovely bottom end here is one of the big differentiators in terms of sound compared to the others. Feel wise, this one responded the best as well.
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S-GEAR 2.9: I own this but never use it anymore as I felt it’s outdated. Got it out for this little review and it actually still sounds really good and it’s not outdated at all lol! Best sound after the Neural DSP (and maybe the Nembrini Audio) offering, especially the Marshall vibe is well captured to my ears. Nice cleans also. It has it’s own sound and feels good to play. Also recommended.
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Softube Amp Room: I don’t own it but tried it again after my post and I just can’t get it to sound right. It sounds and feels a little “hollow”, barely any low-end…basically it sounds like it’s meant for a mix more than anything. I’m sure it works well in mixes but the sound in itself was rather disappointing to me and the feel wasn’t that great either. I did not test the Marshall Collection though.
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Amplitube 5: It sounds ok, but also lacks bottom end and it’s the sound that most TRIES to sound like someone would imagine an amp to sound…hard to explain, I feel it’s almost a caricature of amps. I don’t think it responds too well either, feels a little dead to me. I wouldn’t pay for it (I have a free version + the Fender Collection 2 that was bundled with another product). The fender amps are cool, not fantastic but serviceable.
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SKNote Twin Reverb: Yeah, this one is nice. nice bright Fender sound, captures the twin reverb vibe nicely. It’s a good pick for that vintage tone, I think this or S-Gear 2.9 for that vibe.
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Kuassa Matchlock: I own this one as well. It’s cool. Sounds nice, feels alright. Nothing wrong with it. It doesn’t blow me away like Plini and is slightly less lively than S-Gear or the SK Note offering to me. Again, when on sale, this is a nice option, only a bit vanilla maybe.
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Guitar Rig 5: I don’t own version 6, but ver 5 easily has the least “realistic” sound of all tested sims. It sounds hollow and not lively at all, feel is ok. What’s cool about Guitar Rig is the crazy amount of effects and sound sculpting tools available. I think it helps to think of it more as a virtual FX & Sound Design rack than an amp sim. As such a rack, it’s an awesome offering for anyone who wants to explore soundscapes.
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Presonus Ampire: I own Studio One 5 Pro, so this is included with the DAW. They’ve hyped this one up quite a bit. I’d say it’s comparable to Guitar Rig 5, maybe just a little better.
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Nembrini Audio (I own the Cali Reverb, BST100 and Sound Master): These all sound very good. The Sound Master is quite a specialised tone, much less flexible than any other Fender amp would be. Of these three, I like the Cali Reverb (a MesaBoogie) the best for its cleans and the feel. All three feel very good to play, but Neural DSP’s Plini feels better to me. Also, all of these Nembrini Audio amp sims have a sharper high end to my ears, not sure why. But they are great nevertheless, feel really “mature” for lack of a better word.
I’ll reiterate that all I write here is obviously just my opinion, I hope it’s maybe useful to you anyway.
EDIT: I tested all of these with a Gibson Les Paul Tribute with Gibson 490r/t humbuckers
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Very useful, thank you !
Thanks fo the hard work. Now I know where to start.
I have to return borrowed my guitar amp, and seriously need a solution soon. I’ve never used computer plugins before and don’t even know if my 2010 Mac book pro will run them. If not, may have to go full hardware Quad cortex or something. May even be cheaper than a new Mac!
Ah, that reminds me I should purchase Helix Native. It’s $399 by itself, but discounted to $99 for Helix and HX Stomp/Effects owners such as myself.
Frankly most of the time I’m going to use my HX Stomp XL but I can see where having Helix Native will be useful.
It would be great just for the effects tbh, I’ve thought about it too
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It’ll be interesting to play with the models and effect without the restrictions imposed by the HX Stomp. Full Helix has more flexibility with Blocks and Paths. HX Stomp’s weaker CPU compared to Helix also imposes limitations. I was already aware of that before I bought my HX Stomp XL, but was fine with the tradeoff of less CPU power for less weight and size for taking to rehearsals and gigs.
Ibanez has finally gone headless! 
I guess the successes of Strandberg and Kiesel emboldened Ibanez to enter the market.
i like this one
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The Ichika Nito model also looks quite nice (to me) but I’m not sure 12" radius is a good fit for my fretting hand. My American Pro 2 Jazzmaster’s 9.5" radius and neck shape feels great. The 16" radius on two of my D’Angelicos also feel great.
Or LT. 
Really interested in compact size, I accepted limitations before 3.0 adding 2 blocks and more!
I’m looking forward to trying Helix Native on a new Macbook Pro - the one that some people thought would be release this month, but has been delayed by global chip shortages.
I really like the sound of the polyphonic pitch shifting on HX Stomp but did encounter cracking noises and such when the range was set to greater than perfect 4th down, just like the Youtube reviewers said. The unwanted noise is probably caused by the strain on the CPU.
And these new FX use CPU and lot.
I have a Pog 2. 
Apparently the new Fender Princeton amp (US Princess) also eats up higher CPU than other amp models.
Fortunately my role in the band does not require pitch-shifted tones.
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Does anyone know why they put two strap buttons on the bottom? That looks so gross to me.
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I love all kinds of electric guitar shapes, from your grandpa’s traditional, as inoffensive as it gets Tele style, to the tuxedoed jazz boxes, to wild and wacky stuff. Nuff said on that…
The strap buttons were probably influenced by Steinberger.
I had a Steinberger GM7TT (GM7 with TransTrem) for a short while. I admired what David Torn and Michael Hedges - 2 very different players to say the least - were doing with TransTrem guitars, so I wanted one too. Torn was getting pedal steel like sounds with his. Michael Hedges used his to more like, well, this (actually a guy covering Hedge’s tune, not Hedges himself)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91KTfh0QBb8
After I got my GM7TT I checked in with fellow Steinberger users. Some of them actually preferred using the lower strap button. I tried it, but decided I liked the upper one more.
I later sold the GM7TT because I really struggled to maintain the TransTrem. Some of the parts were as soft as butter, which made me worry about the longevity of the TransTrem. Lot of moving parts, and thus lots of adjustments to get it to change pitches correctly.
The one headless guitar in my collection is a Strandberg Boden OS 7-string. It’s ok, but the build quality was a disappointment. I heard later model Strandbergs like the Salen (Tele-inspired) guitars are of better quality but I’m not motivated to try. These new Ibanez headless guitars are more competitively priced.
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I always wanted to play a Strandberg Boden OS 7-string. Now that I have one I am quite disappointed about the build quality. However it plays fine and I love the design. But for this price its quite questionable if I would recommend it.
I’m not disappointed at all with the built quality of my 140€ Harley Benton fanfret 8 strings guitar!
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I never heard of that them system before. Can you use it in a band setting? It seems to stay in tune relatively to itself, how would it work with other instruments?
Can’t put them in the centre as usual. Probably annoy the tuners. Also, on the smaller bodies you could play lefty or rectus.
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