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Redditors who have played with the plugin so far seem impressed. “Absolutely blown away. Every single amp, mic, cab and pedal option is usable and sounds amazing,” wrote one.
“I’m a mostly clean-to-slight-crunch player, and this is by FAR the most plug-in-and-get-great-sounds-out-of-it NDSP plugin for that style that I’ve tried,” wrote another.
But they also echo my chief complaint. The downside of all these guitar sim plugins is that they are getting increasingly expensive. Universal Audio’s recent Paradise Guitar Studio claims a full price of $199 (I say “claims” because most of the company’s products are on sale most of the time). John Mayer X is going for €169 + tax in the US ($198 at current currency rates), and even more in Europe, while Neural DSP’s previous Archetype, the Misha Mansoor X, is only €125 ($146). Perhaps in this Archetype, the “X” stands for “expensive”?
The new compressor and EQ.
That’s a lot of scratch for a plugin, though of course this one models gear worth many thousands of dollars and is far cheaper than buying modeling hardware like Neural DSP’s own Quad Cortex. (Those inclined to wait may be able to pick up Mayer X during one of Neural DSP’s biannual sales, often at 50 percent off.) And this one certainly sounds great.
If you’re one of those who suffer from gear acquisition syndrome (GAS), potent in both its physical and digital forms, these $150–$200 plugins add up quickly. Buy four or five and you’re into some real money! So if you already have other clean to mid-gain amp sims that work well for you, wisdom might suggest making your peace with what you have rather than looking for incremental improvements every time a new plugin appears. (There’s always a 14-day trial if you want to test Mayer X first.)
But if you’re newer to the amp sim market or have money to blow on your hobby or just love Mayer’s tones, Mayer X is certainly a wonderful place to start. Will you sound like Mayer? Probably not, given how much “tone” actually resides in the fingers, but you will get a great creative toolkit for bringing out the best in your own sound.
The real takeaway here is that technology has made it an amazing time to be a guitar player. We’re blessed for choices, and those choices get better every day.
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