Recording - July 2011 - 47

way to $300 for 500 gear credits. As you go up in number the price per credit gets smaller. Once you fill your account with some credits, it’s time to shop. On average, amps range from 5 to 20 credits, cabinets and microphones are generally 5, and effects (both pedal and rack) range from 5 to 15 depending on their style and their collection of origin. The Custom Shop allows you to try anything for a 2-day trial period before you buy it. After that you must wait two months before you can try that item again. The other thing to be aware of is that the Custom Shop website window must be open alongside AmpliTube and/or your DAW for the demos to work; this requirement ends when you purchase items. Installation/getting started For the most part the install/upgrade process is quite painless. IK has done away with the Syncrosoft-based USB key scheme of past versions, and even updated and streamlined the online registration/copy protection process. There are two things to be aware of when you upgrade to 3.5 if you posses a previous version. First, AmpliTube 3.5 installs automatically as the free version. To get back all of your previous equipment you will need to launch the Custom Shop, sign in to your account which contains your past registrations, and then click the “Restore My Gear” tab. Second, since the preset menu is a complete redesign, presets are stored in a new location on your computer, and you will need to manually copy and paste your old presets to this location if your wish to use them. AmpliTube’s GUI is made up of 3 sections. The top section is where you manage your presets and patches, make your routing choices, pull up which module you want to tweak, launch the Custom Shop and more. In the big middle window you choose and edit each module. This includes dialing sounds on your amps, tweaking effects, as well as choosing your speaker cabinets and how and where to mic them. In the bottom section you adjust all physical I/O settings and handle MIDI routing. This section contains a numeric edit window, a noise gate and master volume and panning for each applicable module. A fourth section is available in the standalone version of AmpliTube, offering a 4track recorder and speed trainer good for jotting down ideas as well as loading up tracks to learn complicated riffs. It also has its own simple drum machine with expandable grooves to jam over, making it handy to sketch and capture song ideas. Time to play! Just as with my previous AmpliTube review, I enlisted the help of my sound

design partner and bandmate, guitarist Christopher Short. Aside from being a versatile, in-demand session guitarist and sound designer, Chris has been actively using AmpliTube since version 2 and he has an intimate knowledge of the various modules. From speaker breakup to the new and improved effects, all the way to the drastic changes that can be had by moving and changing the mic positions, we were instantly impressed. Chris constantly loved to point out how most of the effects pedals and the amplifiers truly reacted like a real-world piece in regard to input level and playing style.

As for the other improvements and additions introduced in version 3.0, what we really appreciated was how IK have listened to their user base... from simple things like the drag and drop effects pedal selection to the expansion of a much more realistic mic selection, including a Royer R121 (nicely done, I might add), all the way to third-party MIDI controller support, it’s refreshing to have a company that listens and responds to its users. Even my earlier observation about a lack of esoteric and truly weird effects holds no longer true in version 3.5! So what do the different amps and effects sound like? To help you get a handle on the vast expanse of choices, Chris and I spent some time going through them all, and you should, too. Go to the Custom Shop, free up an afternoon and dive in. Here are some of our impressions of our faves. To save time, we kept each amp head matched to its corresponding cabinet, and— no—we could not list them all. (If you buy a new amp, you’ll want to buy the matching cabinet, so save credits for that.) Guitar Amps • Soldano SLO100: Ultra-beautiful, fragile clean all the way to full-on heavy-metal thumpin’. This is the amp in the whole AmpliTube universe and should be where your first credits go! Seriously, you can thank us later. • Orange RockerVerb: Crunchy gain and nice forward tone. Very modern and versatile and one of the top amps in the collection.

• Orange Tiny Terror: Tight narrow midrange with thick breakup, especially with the 7 Watt switch engaged. Chris felt it was very Brian May-ish. • Orange 120: Very wide ranging, classic tone. IK even modeled the original version’s F.A.C. (Frequency Analyzing Control) which is a unique midrange sweep eq and each setting changes the sound drastically. Another fave of ours. • Orange AD30 : Has a very ’70s tight midrange honk. • Fender 57 Deluxe: Simple classic Fender tone, period. • Fender Pro Junior: Gives you the “I’m in my bedroom with my first practice amp” sound, which is cooler than you might think. • Fender 64 Vibroverb: Has a great tremolo and spring reverb. The mod version adds a great over-driven sound, great for Blues and Americana indy rock. • Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb: Nice thick tones with great break up and nice honk, great for classic rock vibe... bass and bite. • Fender 65 Twin: Beautiful tone! If you want the Fender tone, this is the one to grab, in our opinion. The tremolo is über-realistic with that thick wonk, wonk, wonk only found on Fender amps. • Fender Super Sonic: In our opinion, this is Fender trying to be Marshall... this one is a tad “meh”. Nice to have if you own the whole Fender pack but there are better choices for heavy amps in the Custom Shop. • Fender Vibro King: Big Big BIG bassy tone married to the Fender honk. This does clean with vibe, plus it has a Fat switch. • 59 Bassman: Natural overdrive, very tight and classic and it rolls like no other stone. Think Keff in a box. This is another of the true must-haves! • Fender Princeton Reverb: Very clean, great spring reverb, the tremolo is not as pronounced as on other Fender models. • Fender 57 Champ: If you like Led Zeppelin I you need this and you need to push it hard! This is the sound of “Communication Breakdown”. • Fender Champion 600: Similar to the 57 Champ, but brighter and more forward. • Fender MH: Fat metal tones Fender style. Tight with a low-mid punch. Has more of an ’80s hard-rock sound vs. metal to our ears. • THD Amp: Nice fat clean tone with reverb and quite sculptable, another of our faves. • Metal Lead T: Uuuhhhmmmwow! Not sure if that’s a word. This is as thick and in-your-face aggressive as AmpliTube gets!!!! Based on a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier Red Channel. • Metal Clean T: Similar to the Metal Lead T, but this is the green channel of the same Mesa. • Metal Lead V: This is classic hard rock/metal tone, à la Van Halen.
RECORDING JULY 2011

47



Recording - July 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - July 2011

Recording - July 2011
Fade In
Contents
Talkback
Fast Forward
Put Your Foot Down!
A Guitar Gear Grab Bag
Fat Guitar Tones Without The Mud
Rupert Neve Designs Portico 5017
iOS Music Tools For Guitarists
Reviewed and Revisited: BOSS RC-30 Loop Station
Reviewed and Revisited: IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3.5
Tech21 Blonde
It’s Your Music—Know Your Rights. Chapter 16: Licensing Music For Video Games
Eventide Space
Recording’s Showcase of Sounds
TC Electronic Flashback, Shaker, and Hall Of Fame
Readers’ Tapes
Advertiser Index
Fade Out
Recording - July 2011 - Recording - July 2011
Recording - July 2011 - Cover2
Recording - July 2011 - 1
Recording - July 2011 - Fade In
Recording - July 2011 - 3
Recording - July 2011 - Contents
Recording - July 2011 - 5
Recording - July 2011 - Talkback
Recording - July 2011 - 7
Recording - July 2011 - Fast Forward
Recording - July 2011 - 9
Recording - July 2011 - 10
Recording - July 2011 - 11
Recording - July 2011 - Put Your Foot Down!
Recording - July 2011 - 13
Recording - July 2011 - 14
Recording - July 2011 - 15
Recording - July 2011 - 16
Recording - July 2011 - 17
Recording - July 2011 - 18
Recording - July 2011 - 19
Recording - July 2011 - 20
Recording - July 2011 - 21
Recording - July 2011 - A Guitar Gear Grab Bag
Recording - July 2011 - 23
Recording - July 2011 - 24
Recording - July 2011 - 25
Recording - July 2011 - 26
Recording - July 2011 - 27
Recording - July 2011 - 28
Recording - July 2011 - 29
Recording - July 2011 - 30
Recording - July 2011 - 31
Recording - July 2011 - 32
Recording - July 2011 - 33
Recording - July 2011 - Fat Guitar Tones Without The Mud
Recording - July 2011 - 35
Recording - July 2011 - 36
Recording - July 2011 - 37
Recording - July 2011 - Rupert Neve Designs Portico 5017
Recording - July 2011 - 39
Recording - July 2011 - iOS Music Tools For Guitarists
Recording - July 2011 - 41
Recording - July 2011 - 42
Recording - July 2011 - 43
Recording - July 2011 - Reviewed and Revisited: BOSS RC-30 Loop Station
Recording - July 2011 - 45
Recording - July 2011 - Reviewed and Revisited: IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3.5
Recording - July 2011 - 47
Recording - July 2011 - 48
Recording - July 2011 - 49
Recording - July 2011 - Tech21 Blonde
Recording - July 2011 - 51
Recording - July 2011 - 52
Recording - July 2011 - 53
Recording - July 2011 - 54
Recording - July 2011 - 55
Recording - July 2011 - It’s Your Music—Know Your Rights. Chapter 16: Licensing Music For Video Games
Recording - July 2011 - 57
Recording - July 2011 - Eventide Space
Recording - July 2011 - 59
Recording - July 2011 - Recording’s Showcase of Sounds
Recording - July 2011 - 61
Recording - July 2011 - TC Electronic Flashback, Shaker, and Hall Of Fame
Recording - July 2011 - 63
Recording - July 2011 - Readers’ Tapes
Recording - July 2011 - Advertiser Index
Recording - July 2011 - 66
Recording - July 2011 - 67
Recording - July 2011 - 68
Recording - July 2011 - 69
Recording - July 2011 - 70
Recording - July 2011 - 71
Recording - July 2011 - Fade Out
Recording - July 2011 - Cover3
Recording - July 2011 - Cover4
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