This product was reviewed using 14-day Trial – All thoughts and opinion’s within this review are my own and do not reflect those of the developer or others.

INTRO

Gojira is known for their drastic contrast in sound, from death metal with thrash metal influences to surreal ambience, with depth and soul. To achieve this stark contrast, and create their diverse sounds, a collection of amps and pedals have formed the bases of what has allowed them to express themselves, creatively and emotionally.

Neural DSP has worked closely with Joe Duplantier, front man and guitarist of Gojira, to recreate a collection of his gear into one plugin, the Archetype Gojira, promising to offer the same contrasting, monstrous tones that Gojira employ every day, in the studio, and on the road. Let’s check it out.  

Experience

Opening Archetype Gojira, from the beginning its hard not to like it. The GUI clean, black with white font, Icons, and controls, for an immaculate look. Very well thought out and laid out, with the component module menu across the top, and the plugin control just below.  The “Hot” amp is right there in all its glory, and the head cab selection menu at the bottom rounds it off.  

The plugin overall, seems to be less demanding compared to previous Neural DSP products. It lacks the “High/Normal” quality switch which means its running with optimum sound quality all the time without incurring the high demanding usually accompanied with it.
 
The input and output level controls have level indicators that make it easy to set gain staging. The noise gate does a great job of keeping the noise levels in check, and is always at the top so it can be quickly adjusted when needed without changing modules. 

Pitch effects 

There are 2 effects, WOW, a pitch shifter, and OCT, an octaver pedal. The pitch shifter has 3 modes, and a wet/dry adjustment for fatso mode, as well as an expression pedal that can be moved using the mouse, but it can also be controlled via midi for real-time use. It works great, and it’s very easy to use, being that I don’t have a midi expression to utilize, I could only test using the mouse but in that regard with worked just fine, and I especially enjoyed using for creating crazy ambient tones.  
 
Fatso mode allows for blending of the dry signal and the pitch signal, which is great for creating thicker sounds while pitch shifter but also has the benefit of helping with the tone chocking out when the pitch is set very low. 
 
Blade 1 is a standard pitch shift when in the default resting position is the dry signal, once the expression starts moving it changes shift, there’s no wet/dry adjustment. 
 
Blade 2 acts much in the same manner as blade 1 but at its highest setting reaches a higher pitch. 
 
The OCT adds 2 independent octaves, -1 and –2 octaves below the dry signal. It’s pretty cool for creating heavier, thicker tones. When utilized in conjunction with WOW, can sound massive, and sludgy (in a good way.) This combination also allows for a cool almost pipe organ effect when set correctly. 

Pre-Effects 

From left to right there’s an Overdrive (OD), a Distortion (DRT), Phaser (PHSR), and Chorus (CHR) pedal. OD is pretty standard, but great for tight boosted leads. DRT is very similar to a Rat pedal, depending on the settings it can add some dirt to the signal, but it can also be used to add fuzz, from raunchy to a gnarly, brutal tone.

PHSR is very simplistic, one control, much like the MXR Phase90. I like setting it fairly low for a slow phase shift. CHR adds another layer of Dimension to the tone and is very adjustable. These 2 effects combined, or separate, are great for ambient cleans, psychedelic rock, and other application that may call for them. 

Cab module 

The included cab section is very robust, with a respectable selection of 6 mics. Each mic dynamically adjustable, as well as fine tunable with the side adjustment controls, and it allows for up to 2 mics at one time. There are 3 cabs to choose from, with distinctly different voicings, each sounding as good as the last, and complimenting each amp depending on the settings.  
 
The cabinet module was built using hundreds of impulse responses captured meticulously captured by Adam Nolly, no short cuts were taken there.

My only disappointment is that it doesn’t allow for multiple cabs at one time. It would good to be able to mic the Hot cabinet, and the rust cabinet at the same time to blend the tones. Regardless each cab is high quality sounding and will do the job nicely.

Also included, is the ability to load up to 2 impulse responses, with volume and pan controls, and a phase button to make sure everything is working well together. The cabinet module is also fully bypass-able by clicking on the Icon in the module selection menu or by clicking the active/inactive button at the left and right of the cabinet interface, for use with third-party Impulse loaders, with third party impulse responses, or use with a cabinet simulator.

I played around with the mics quite a bit, and found several combinations suitable for use. The classic 57/421 mix, 57 bright/ 57 dark combo, a newer personal favorite 421/121, but settled on a 160 set bright and a sm57 set dark to give a pleasant balance of all the frequencies. It seemed to work well with all 3 cabs and each amp for my personal tastes.  
 
I consider cabinet 1 to be the classic rock cab of the bunch, suitable for 60/early 70’s type stuff, and clean work. Cabinet 2 I feel like has a voice more suited to late 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s sound. Cabinet 3 has a very modern voicing, suitable for most modern applications. That said they are all great to use with each amp and are suitable for any application one can think of. 

Post FX 

After the head but before the cab, there is a 9-band equalizer to fine tune and adjust the signal as needed. I didn’t use it much in testing, but it’s nice to have when the time calls for it.  Separate at the end of the signal chain is the DLY (Delay,) and REV (reverb.)  

DLY is very rich in controls and adjustability, and can go from a simple slap back to airy, wide and gargantuan sounding with the turn of a few knobs. It can be set in ping pong mode, and also has a mod switch to change it up for a more echo type delay.

Rev is a lush sounding reverb, with a shimmer switch. It can produce huge ambient sounds, but is also great for adding simple room ambience feel. With the shimmer on it has a beautiful blooming shimmering sound as the name might suggest.  
 
Mixed with the delay, phaser, chorus, and/or octaver, it makes for some great ambient combinations. Adding the pitch shifter only enhances this to create some crazy huge, spacy cleans, and with the help of DRT, create some crushing fuzz tones suitable for prog rock and metal. 

The Amps 

There are 3 amps in Archetype Gojira, modeled with Joe Duplantier to capture the essence of the variety of monstrous tones, employed by Gojira. 

Clean 

The vintage voiced amp, capable of clean and low gain tones, but also able to achieve natural tube saturated tones when cranked. It’s great for edge of breakup tones. 
 
Clean has a bright switch, Gain, bass, mid, treble and a level control, simplistic and really all that’s needed for a clean to crunch amp. It excels on its own but becomes a whole new amp when used in conjunction with the plethora of pre & post effects included with archetype Gojira.  A quick run through the presets will give a good idea of what this amp is capable of producing. 
 
With the bright switch up, I set the gain and EQ controls to between 1 and 2 O’clock, and left the level and noon.  I found that with cab 3 it got a very Fender Bassman type tone, which made for a great platform for adding effects. It has a great rock tone with the OD or DRT set appropriately, and is capable of making some amazing ambient, spacey tones that I could get lost in noodling around with for days. 
 
I’m not sure what amp this was based on, but it definitely has the vintage flair, and I really enjoying playing around with all the effects through it. 

Rust 

This is the mid gain amp, but trust me when I say it has more than its share of gain, and is more than suitable for high gain application. Its capable of low crunch tones at low gain and even cleans up a bit when the guitar volume is turned down. When the gain is turned up, it’s a throaty, harsh monster. 
 
Rust has the typical, Low, Mid, High and Gain controls, as well as Master, Presence, Depth and Amp level controls in the power section. Master controls the overall volume of the amp, and the level is good for fine tuning volume to match the different amp volumes. Presence and depth do a good job of adjusting the low and highs, to keep the bottom end from being to flubby and the highs in check. 
 
It’s hard hitting and unapologetic that’s for sure. It takes the OD and DRT as well as a third-party fuzz well. With mild gain, adding in delay, reverb, the octaver, chorus and the DRT dialed for some fuzzy tone, it can produce a thick chewy synth type sound, like something from blade runner, it’s pretty awesome to hear, and the pitch shifter just adds to the insanity. It sounds great for metal, doom and obviously suitable Gojira type tones, that is the goal of the plugin after all. I really had fun with this one. 
 
I’ve heard a lot of people throw around what they thought this amp was based on, and I’ve no idea if it was ever revealed, but it could be a Peavey 5150, 5150 II or possibly EVH 5150 III’s blue channel. Regardless it sounds good. 

Hot 

The description “Hotter than magma,” is almost an understatement. This amp is ultra-high gain. It’s aggressive, punchy, and mean sounding, and yet it remains defined and articulate for leads as well as rhythm work.

It has an identical control layout to Rust, and the controls operate in much the same way, but that’s where the similarities end. This amp should make any metal guitarist happy, covering a huge gain range from heavy metal, to death metal and everything in between. It works well with all the in-suite effects, so as with the Rust amp, look forward to creating some heavy, crazy ambient spacey tones. It will cover what rust wont for Gojira tones, especially the hard-hitting riffs off Magma, and should cover most heavy tones off the new Fortitude album. 
 
For my needs, the gain set to 4 o’clock was plenty enough. I added a little bit of depth and presence, pushed the low, and highs, and from there I only adjusted the mids, depending on if I wanted a more modern tone or a more scooped thrash tone. 

This one definitely has 5150 III vibes to it, which would make sense, since the 5150 III has become an intricate part of Gojira’s tone. It’s really hard not to get a good sound with the Hot amp. 

UPS/DOWNS

This plugin has a huge variety of tones, from shimmering ambient cleans to bone crushing death metal tones. A Quality selection of Cabinets, and mics, as well as the ability to load third party impulses, and is fully bypass-able which is always a nice option. The GUI looks great and is quick and easy to navigate. Every component is high quality and fulfills a purpose, without getting in the way. It’s hard to find anything to complain about with Archetype Gojira. It’s also not to demanding on the CPU compared to previous Neural DSP products.

One suggestion to Neural DSP would be to perhaps make it so each side of the Cabinet module can be independently assigned a different cabinet. This would be a quick way to add yet another layer of versatility to the plugin, as well as future plugins. Yes, it’s a bit on the expensive side at €129.00, but you get a hell of a lot for that price, and is equivalent to analog equipment that could easily surpass $8000 in total value. 

Conclusion

Archetype Gojira, comes out snarling, but also has a soft side. It covers a dramatic variety of tones, and will definitely get you the Gojira tones of new as well as old, if that’s what you’re after, it should also be treated as a studio Swiss army knife, bringing a multitude of effects to the table to shape and sculpt your tone. It’s a fraction of the cost of the real counterparts of some really killer gear.  
 
I was blown away when Archetype Gojira first launched and coming back to it, it has been just as impressive the second time around. Neural DSP offers a free 14-day full functioning trial to try it and see if its right for you, so go check it out! 

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