Recording - July 2014 - 58

Universal Audio / Chandler

including most of the usual suspects when it comes to cabinet and mic
choice. This section also has a cool automatic preview feature, where
it will scroll through the choices for you as you play back your audio,
switching at intervals of one to eight bars.
This section may seem limiting to those of you used to amp simulator packages where you can virtually choose microphones, drag them around the
room, alter their angle, etc.. But this limitation is by design; Brainworx has
chosen to use its own mic and amp collections, a vintage Neve console, and
years of miking experience, to cover the bases for you and pre-place the
mics for the best sound. While you can grumble about the loss of tweakablility, it's hard to argue with the results!

In use
I have a long history with the real GAV19T amp. Not only have I seen
it previewed at many tradeshows like NAMM and Sweetwater's
Gearfest, but in 2012 I toured Chandler HQ and got to see and hear
various prototype stages of the GAV19T. Wade was also kind enough
to to send me a current production version of the GAV19T for comparison to the plug-in, which I love to do when I can.
I am not a guitar player, but as an engineer I know what good guitar
tone sounds like. What I can't speak to is how an amp responds to various players and guitars, from the player's standpoint. So, when you don't
have expertise-go get some! Over several weeks I brought in seven different guitarists, of varying age, style and technical ability, from student to
touring professional, to do some side-by-side comparisons.
The guitars on hand included a 1982 Gibson Les Paul Custom, a 1990s
Fender Strat Plus Deluxe, a Japanese 1968 reissue Fender Telecaster, an
Epiphone Les Paul Ultra II, and a lower-end Washburn Strat style guitar. For
a cabinet we used a custom-built 1960 Marshall 4 x 12 angled cabinet
made of Baltic Birch plywood, loaded with 2 Celestion Vintage 30s and 2
Greenbacks. Lastly the amp could be switched between 2-speaker or 4speaker use. I miked the cab with the classic mics you'd want at any guitar
miking session: a Shure SM57, an Audix i5, a Royer R-121, and in place
of a vintage Neumann U47, a Pearlman TM-47 (review coming soon!).
After letting each guitarist get used to the amp, I had them switch to the
plug-in version, where I used a Radial Engineering JDVPre for the front-end
capture and ran my UAD-2 card inside Steinberg Cubase 7.5 on a quad
i7 Mac. Finally, for matched comparisons, I re-amped the dry signal back
out to the amp through a Little Labs Redeye 3D (reviewed July 2012).
Thoughts and reactions
First of all, the GAV19T is a very forward, focused and powerfulsounding amp. This thing gets loud! Everyone was very impressed by its
versatility and its overall tonal variations. From clean jazz to simple overdriven indie rock to full on broken-up Hendrix tone, this amp can cover
most bases, and with the right overdrive pedals, even more! Also, while
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RECORDING July 2014

the real thing does have your typical amp noise, we were all
impressed by how quiet it was when compared to most of the
vintage style Fenders, Marshalls, VOXes and Peaveys I usually get in my studio.
Initially the hardest part of A/B-ing the hardware with the software is matching input levels. It's easy to overdo in your DAW;
that's why Brainworx added the adjustable Input Gain. Once
we got that match, we were all impressed by how each control
mimicked its real world counterpart, especially the Bias settings.
You may be waiting for the obligatory "has more air, is
more 3-D, and comes within 10 to 20%" statements that are
pretty common (and often true!) when comparing software
models with their real world counterparts. What makes it
harder with this amp simulator is that there are too many variables to be 100% accurate. My room will sound different
from Brainworx's room, my mics (even if the same models)
may not be in the exact same place and the exact same
angle, etc.. It is with this in mind that we were all so impressed
by the plug-in, because somehow Brainworx managed to
capture the overall tone, depth, and character of the original
despite these variations. In fact, in blind comparisons, a few
guys had a very hard time discerning between the two.
Unlike many of the amp modeling packages out there that
try to offer and do everything, the GAV19T succeeds by being
one particular solid, focused, and great-sounding amp. I
strongly agree with the decision to keep a tight rein on the cabinet and mic choices and feel that this is why the GAV19T emulation sounds as real as it does. It's hard for the end user to
muck it up with illogical choices and second guessing!
You can build a virtual guitar setup with this amp and
Universal Audio's other effects plug-ins... like the MXR
Flanger, Roland CE-1 Chorus or RE-201 Space Echo, various
reverbs, or perhaps an overdriven LA-2A or 1176LN or even
a Moog Filter for more crunch. Be aware. though, that the
GAV19T's accuracy comes at a healthy DSP cost; you will
only get two instances per UAD-2 processor chip (e.g. two
on a SOLO card, up to 16 on an OCTO).
Conclusions
This plug-in has surpassed my expectations and raised the
bar again in guitar amp simulations. It has also shown me that
a real GAV19T would make a wonderful and versatile studio
amp for any situation! Its price is definitely that of a well-made
boutique amp, so I have to feel lucky that I can get this level of
feel and realism for my UAD-2/Apollo rig for far less.
Prices: The real amp, $2050 street; the plug-in, $199
More from: Universal Audio, www.uaudio.com;
Chandler Limited, www.chandlerlimited.com
Paul Vnuk Jr. (vnuk@recordingmag.com) would like to
thank Wade Goeke of Chandler Limited for the loan of the
GAV19T, and Jeff Hart (who also built the cabinet), Rick
Palmer, Joshua Poore, Ben Robinson, Randle Scruggs, Silas
Short, and especially his longtime musical colleague
Christopher Short, for their playing contributions.

http://www.uaudio.com http://www.chandlerlimited.com

Recording - July 2014

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