The Free Alternative to Neural DSP’s Archetype John Mayer X
Get John Mayer's guitar tones with incredibly accurate amp sims—for free.
The new release from Neural DSP, Archetype: John Mayer X, is worth paying attention to. Neural DSP has built a reputation as one of the leaders in AI-powered guitar tone modeling and their products consistently set a high bar for realism and musical feel. They’ve also played a major role in helping guitarists understand that digital amp modeling using AI-powered neural networks isn’t just a serious alternative to traditional gear, it’s literally the future of guitar tone. Their new plugin, Archetype: John Mayer X, continues to prove that point.
Accurately recreating the musical feel and experience of guitar amplifiers in software is no small task, and it's exactly the kind of challenge Neural DSP has proven capable of tackling. It's the same challenge that Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) has been tackling as well. Both platforms use a similar approach to modeling guitar amplifier tones, and both platforms perform mathematically on par with each other in terms of tone accuracy and feel. So why does Neural DSP’s Archetype John Mayer X plugin cost around $200, but NAM models of similar amps are free?
For starters, it helps to understand the difference between NAM and Neural DSP (we go more in depth on that topic here). In the simplest terms, Neural Amp Model tone captures are created by guitarists in their studios using the open source Neural Amp Modeler plugin. These creators then share their NAM captures with the guitar community, for free, primarily here on TONE3000. They’ve already invested in their own gear, and their time, to create sharable NAM captures. They’re not paying for overhead stuff like salaries, offices, and marketing. They do it for the love of music. With over 200k tones available for free on TONE3000 and growing, clearly the NAM community cares about this.
The next issue is the gear itself. If you’re a Mayer fan, you’re probably aware that he’s known for playing some extremely rare gear that you simply can’t buy in the real world. More specifically, it’s his famous Dumble Steel String Singer that so many of us lust after. That’s where Neural DSP’s Archetype John Mayer X plugin delivers the goods: they offer an AI-powered model of his actual Dumble. That’s definitely cool. But is $200 worth of cool? Especially when you know there’s a free alternative to Neural DSP’s Archetype John Mayer X?
Download Neural Amp Model ➝ Dumble Steel String Singer
The same make and model of that Dumble Steel String Singer that John Mayer plays is available for free as a NAM capture on TONE3000. It was also captured using advanced, AI-powered neural network modeling software; just like the one available for around $200 from Neural DSP. While both amps were captured using the same make and model as the Dumble Mayer plays, the Neural DSP version comes from his own personal amp. Again, that’s very cool. But it does beg the question: are you willing to pay a premium for a digital model of an amp because of what the amp is, or because a famous person owns it?
Finally, Neural DSP’s Archetype John Mayer X plugin offers all of John Mayer’s most beloved gear, including his Klon pedal, his signature PRS amp, and his boutique Two Rock amp head. But guess what? NAM captures of all those pieces of gear have already been available to the public for months before they were being sold as an expensive plugin. Were they modeled on the stuff he actually owns? Nope. But they were modelled on the same gear.
Download Neural Amp Model ➝ PRS J-MOD 100
None of this is about choosing sides. Neural DSP deserves real respect for pushing the industry forward and setting expectations for what AI-driven guitar tone can be. At the same time, the NAM ecosystem proves that world class tone can also thrive in an open, community powered environment. If you are curious about the new Archetype: John Mayer X, it is absolutely worth checking out. But if you want to explore John Mayer–style tones today at no cost, TONE3000 offers the best free alternative to the Archetype: John Mayer X plugin. Compare them for yourself, play them through your own setup, and decide which approach inspires you most (and fits within your budget).
