oh, yeah sort of. I'm no expert, but dif. amps respond differently and often have their own tone based on a variety of things from the types of wires used to the wooden/poly box used to house them. Amp sims ofc try to mimic the sound of dif. real life amps. strings ofc have a huge effect on tone, aswell as what tuning said strings are in. e.g., I currently have some earnie ball strings (bronze phosphor I think) that are optimized to put out a nice, rich tone in drop D. Dropping tuning to C# not only changes how they feel but how their actual tone sounds (a bit tinnier with less tension). their are a variety of effects pedals for things like wah, distortion, vibrato, delay, etc. The Mercuriall MT-A I just put on my computer essentially is an effects pedal sim (it was free too!), and I guess it's technically a distortion pedal.
