modulus

Most of the guitar amplifiers I’ve owned have had stenciled numbers on the side, been passed on from five other bands before landing in my garage or bedroom. Amps are like that, are a bit like old cars or motorcycles. They arrive, and are used, then disappear into that great gig domain from whence you may see them again, or you may not. Would that it were possible to invoke them all again. And all the other amps that you could never own for reasons of economy or rarity, or any other reason. Then there are the great guitar riffs and patterns and solos of all time.

With these come as part of their uniqueness the sound of the amplifier the guitars were played through on the records and the concerts. The distinctive sound of the configuration of amplifier and effects of each major guitarist is as unique as anything they played and in as many ways as crucial and central to their sound as the notes themselves. Jimi Hendrix and his epic Marshall Stacks. Fresh-faced early Beatle George Harrison and his modest undersized Vox amps. I had a Vox guitar once. A cherry-red Junior. I loved that thing. I had no amp, so I played it through my dad’s stereo system.

Think of the crisp metallic sound treble reverberation of Hendrix’ Fender Stratocaster on And the Wind Cried Mary or Andy Summer’s distant chorus and echo Fender Telecaster sound on the Police’s Walking on the Moon these are as much about the way the guitarist set up the amplifier and pedal effect as they are about the chords played. This is so obvious is goes without saying, except that in today’s world amp and effects configurations have been largely the province of guitar amps, and physical effects pedals.

AmpliTube 4, is a major upgrade to the world’s most powerful guitar and bass tone studio for Mac/PC, is here and will take you to a level of hyper-realism and customization of tone you never knew possible.

Here are some of the specs:

• Hyper-Realistic tone
• 3D Cab Room w/ selectable room simulations
• Dual Mic placement on any speaker
• Individual speaker selection
• Speaker interaction modeling
• Cabinet mixer for microphones, room, DI and master level
• New British Series Amps
• Power Amp/Speaker dynamic response
• Acoustic Simulator
• Effects loop slot between pre and power amp
• Universal effects placement
• Rack effects can be used as stomp effects
• Stomp effects can be used in rack section
• 8-track DAW/Recorder
• 4-track Looper
• UltraTuner
• Built-in Custom Shop

AmpliTube 4 is also a guitar and bass tone studio for Mac/PC that works as a standalone application and as a plug-in for your favorite DAW. AmpliTube recreates the entire guitar/bass signal chain from instrument to recording device.

So it is entirely possible now for me to reproduce exactly the sound of Chris Squire’s metallic bass sound on Siberian Khatru from Close to the Edge for example, or Simple Mind’s Charlie Burchill’s shimmering twin Jazz Chorus amps with echo like the ones I saw him play in Melbourne, Australia in 1983. I remember that Like a Glittering Prize sounded like it was coming out of a guitar factory.

What’s particularly interesting with Amplitube 4 is that you can also actually “make” your own amplifier cabinets and modify the ones that come standard. Its called the “cab room”. It has five separate customization sections: cabinet selection with size adjustment where you can alter the speaker cabinet to go with the amp, a speaker selection where you can change the speakers, a microphone selection and placement area for finding the best place to put the mics, different virtual room types where you can try out different surrounding recording spaces, and a mixer that allows players to mix the levels of the mics, the room ambience, direct amp signal and overall main mix.

Amplitube also has full MIDI support which means you can use it with external controllers.

AmpliTube can work as a 64-bit plug-in for the most popular DAW (such as Pro Tools, Logic, GarageBand, Cubase, Live, Reaper) or can be used in stand-alone mode in Mac OS X and Windows. The plug-in and standalone versions offer the same function and sound, but the standalone version also offers a built-in 8-track recorder and DAW, plus a 4-track looper so you can capture your ideas at the moment of inspiration. Both the standalone and plug-in versions are included when you install AmpliTube.

AmpliTube can work as a 64-bit plug-in for the most popular DAW (such as Pro Tools, Logic, GarageBand, Cubase, Live, Reaper) or can be used in stand-alone mode in Mac OS X and Windows. The plug-in and standalone versions offer the same function and sound, but the standalone version also offers a built-in 8-track recorder and DAW, plus a 4-track looper so you can capture your ideas at the moment of inspiration. Both the standalone and plug-in versions are included when you install AmpliTube.

It arrives out-of-the-box with the ability to add equipment to your such as amps, pedals, cabinets from Fender®, MESA/Boogie®, Ampeg®, Orange®, Soldano™, Groove Tubes®, Gallien-Krueger®, Jet City Amplification™, THD® and T-Rex®, Fulltone®, Z.Vex®, Carvin®, Morley®, Wampler Pedals®, Dr. Z®, ENGL® etc. I’m loving using Amplitube 4 as I could never conceivably own all the amps represented in its vast database, nor would I want to. But the ability to model them means I can call upon them any time. Its like having my own private guitar store at my fingertips.

RRP: $149.99

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