What You Get

I don't like listing features, as you probably know. So I'll do this my way. You get all the necessary amps, pedals, and rack effects a person will need under typical guitar recording situations. You get the ability to push the amps into power tube distortion (which is FINALLY convincing!....and even has speaker breakup), you get to utilize room sounds in ways I've never heard from an emulator, and you have pretty much every tool you'll ever need at your disposal. Basically, they've thrown in everything but the kitchen sink when it comes to guitar sounds.

So What! How Does It Sound?

If the top emulators from last year (minus the Amp Room stuff) were at 70% of real amps on a really good day, Amplitube 3 is running at about 92-94% of real amps on a really good day. It easily exceeds real amps on a bad day. What does this mean? It means if you have never gotten your real amp to sound awesome, the only reason to bother using it is for your own tinkering enjoyment. In terms of what the end listener is going to hear, Amplitube 3 is money!

To Who?

If you are robo real amp purist, you probably should check out last week's blog:

Better Than Cell Phones – The State Of Guitar Emulators In 2010

I think we are a year or two away before I recommend everyone toss their amps in the trash. In the mean time, I think 95% of us could kick 'em to the curb without losing sleep and/or business.

Tweaking Required

When I'm recording any of my real amps (1971 Marshall Super Lead, 5150, Rivera Knucklehead, or Fender Bronco) it's common for me to tweak about 45 minutes before I get what I'm looking for. Mostly, this is due to me needing something different every project I do. If a guy has “his sound” nailed we can usually get what we want with about 5-10 minutes of playing with mic placement, analog compression, etc. (I have no idea how much longer it's going to take now that I bought a 'Lil Freq analog EQ!) So, basically, it's a given that I've got to make a long drive to get to where ever I'm going.

Now that we've established that some tweaking is required for real amps, some tweaking is required for Amplitube 3 as well. Many of their presets are money right out of the gate. There are some surprising winners when you bypass some of the pedals and such as well. However, generally speaking, I had to play around for a good 45 seconds on average to get what I wanted at any particular time.

A few things you must know before using emulators:

• Emulators still require you to find the right guitar for the right sound. Some guys expect a Strat to sound like a Les Paul. No emulator I'm aware of can do this.
• Not all DI's are created equal. We established this in The Interrogator Sessions: Electric Guitar. I believe a Hi-Z input is absolutely required. Even those sound quite a bit different from box to box. The Waves Hi-Z input box is very good. I've found my Lil Freq's DI input to be vastly superior to the DI on my M-Audio Octane and Presonus Firestudio, for example.
• For high gain sounds, a Tubescreamer type pedal is required in my opinion. I use the yellow Modtone pedal I don't turn it off.
• For pretty much everything else, the Amplitube 3 guys have got it covered.
• Certain “Tweed-type” tones get a little boxy. I hate this, personally, but that's not any different than the real thing. The graphic EQ in the rackmount portion of Amplitube 3 is an excellent way to tweak without using the Algebra side of your brain.

Room Sounds

The room sound options are EXCELLENT in Amplitube 3. I can't remember any other emulator getting this THIS right. It's a very realistic room sound in a really good way. Not all guitars require such a room sound. I'd guess most of you would prefer the rackmount reverb thing to this, but for us guys who know and love using just the right amount of room in our guitars, this thing kills. You Iron Maiden kind of guys are going to love this.

CPU Usage

In “high quality” mode this thing slaughters right through my Intel Q8200 Quad Core with latency at 192 samples. (I've been upping that lately...I used to be a die hard 128 sample guy...not anymore!) In “low quality”mode, the CPU usage is dramatically reduced. I did notice a hit in tone, but it wasn't THAT big of deal. I'd say it lost 5% of it's “quality”...whatever that means. In that mode I could use quite a bit more instances. I never counted them up, but the CPU usage seemed to be in line with pretty much all the other emulators I have used.

Power Tubes

Unlike most emulators out there, this thing feels really close to what you get with cranking the power section. It's different with different amps, but the amp darkens, thickens, and gets more harmonic content going in a usually good way. (Of course, not all real amps like being worked this hard....Dual Rectifiers come to mind. Not all real amps do anything when turned all the way up....5150.) I've found this power tube feature to be entirely useful many times, particularly with the cleaner amps.

Speaker Breakup

If you push the power tubes hard, you can also hear the speakers breaking up. This can be very, very useful for some sounds and not-so-desirable for others. However, the fact that they've got it and sounds good is the key. Very few home recorders really get to use this aspect of electric guitar recording.

Pedals

I made a 3 page list of what I felt about each effect and ultimately decided not to include it in the interest of keeping this a review and not a book.

There a ton of pedals included. I think they all sound very good. I'm kinda hit or miss about random effects. For some effects, I want crappy sounds with plenty of lo-fi digital artifacts and such. On other effects, I definitely want the “boutique pedal” sound. If you find you need a $400 chorus pedal to be happy, you probably won't be happy with the chorus pedal included. The same goes with just about all of the effects. I thought the swell pedal was better than I had ever heard. The flange and phaser pedals were usable, but not quite up to the real deal MXR pedals. The EQ was extremely useful.

So basically, if you are ultra picky about your pedals, the emulators only "emulate". Purists will want more pure options, but for effects that aren't ultra critical to you, the included effects definitely fit the bill.

Rackmount Stuff

They've included a rackmount section which allows for all kinds of cool toying around. There's a 31-band graphic EQ, parametric EQ, tube compressor (that DOES have character!!!), fake ass reverb (in a great, Lexicon way....I get tired of room emulators sometimes!), digital delay, and this resonator thing.

The resonator alone is one of the coolest things ever. It reminds me of an old school version of the Native Instruments Spectral Delay....only better and worse. There is less control, but you can do some WICKED effects with this thing. If this was a $399 plugin and the only way to get it was to spend $400, I'd buy it in a second and use it all over every album I could. It would be awesome! I LOVE IT!

The rackmount thing was smart. Very smart! Some sounds simply need to be placed after the amp. A person could do this with their own plugins if they really wanted to, but there is something to having it all right here so you can save presets and such. Some sounds (particularly with delay and reverb) need to be placed after the distortion. You just can't get these sounds in front of the amp or even in the effects loop.

Flexibility

As you can see, they've pretty much hit each and every angle. The dumb thing is jammed pack with all the stuff you need to rock. It's obviously extremely well thought out by guys who play guitar, super easy to use, and the kind of thing that isn't too bad to tinker with when you have a guitar in your hand.

Reliability

I've been totally impressed by the consistent reliability of Amplitube 3. There were a few small issues with the original version that were completely solved by downloading the second version. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a newer update out now that is even better.

Downsides

I am a believer in Amplitube 3. I think it's the best thing out there, in my opinion. However, there are some downsides.

Opening the plugin takes about 3 seconds longer than any other plugins I toy with. In reality, this is nothing. However, I'm so “on edge” and in a hurry all the time, that I can feel the stress in my spine every time I have to open it. So it's good to have it always on the screen, if you can. I expect them to eventually fix this one.

Some tones sound right to me right out of the box. The Ace Frehley preset with the effects turned off and the gain turned down sounds right to me right out of the box. (I've developed a new found tolerance for the Recto sound. I'm not sure why!) Sometimes when I start tweaking with amps, pedals, mics, mic placements, rooms, etc I get “lost”. It seems that nothing I do can get me back to the mega sound I may have had previously. If you get lost, I recommend you go through the presets and find a few that excite you and save them as your own presets. If you get “lost”, they can be invaluable for getting back to a good starting point.

The Marshall sounds didn't excite me much. I've always been a Marshall fan, regardless of the trends that were going on. A good Marshall on a good day is my dream sound. However, none of these emulations got the “good” Marshall sound. None of the Amplitube 3 competitors has gotten it right either, for whatever that's worth.

Conclusion

Amplitube 3 is the new standard in guitar emulation. It's getting harder and harder for me to justify the time it takes to record a real amp. On many days, I simply do not bother. They've put together a very, very, very good sounding setup with about every possible option you could ever want in a very use-to-use, reliable package. I am impressed.

The Quest
Long story short. I'm a recovery guitar player turned recording guy. The quest for the Holy Grail of guitar tone has always burned in me. I've got plenty of killer guitar toys like the Rivera Knucklehead, Peavey 5150, and 1971 Marshall Superlead and a killer signal chain for recording electric guitar (Royer R121 > Vintech 1272 > Distressor EL-8x > Mytek AD96). I've always felt like there was something missing in my recordings.

So when we approach this review of Amplitube 2, I want to make it clear that I have all the fun toys and I'm still not 100% satisfied with my guitar recordings. There is something in the way. I have a feeling that many of you out there using killer amps and killer signal chains feel the same way.

Amplitube 2 offers numerous mic and mic placement options

An Old Purist
There was a day not too long ago (spring of 2008) when I felt that the electric guitar emulators were nothing more than toys. Back then, I was well known for being able to listen on Bash This Recording http://forum.recordingreview.com/f11/ and immediately know if I was hearing an emulator or the real thing. Then something crazy happened. I got it wrong!

So when I approach this review, I want to make it perfectly clear that I know what the real amps can do. I record guitar amps more often than I eat breakfast. I'm always a little late to jump on the new technology because I stick to my guns until it makes sense to get new and improved guns.

Amplitube 2 includes a comprehensive set of pedals

Features
There are some products where you know right out the gate that you have something that extremely well thought out. Some products just leap out at you and you say “Wow!”. I feel this way about Cubase. It's the main reason I never upgraded past Cubase SX3. (That'll change soon with Cubase 5.) I feel this way about Amplitube 2. It's clear that these guys know exactly what they wanted in terms of features and put some serious effort into making something that kicks major ass. I'm impressed.

Do You Want These?

• Tons of pedals?
• Tons of guitar amps that really sound different?
• Tons of power amps that really sound dramatically different?
• Tons of guitar tone controls?
• Tons of guitar cabinets?
• Multiple mics?
• Multiple mic placements?

You got 'em!

You know I hate listing features. Just check 'em out here.

Amplitube 2 is extremely full featured. It took me well over 20 sessions with it before I found something it couldn't do. (I'm one of those guys that immediately looks for that one thing a product can't do. It's a flaw.) The only problem is I can't even remember what that "can't do" function was. It clearly wasn't that big of deal.

Amplitube 2 Includes Numerous Amplifiers

The Sound
First off, I want to say that I don't believe in emulating. I don't bother. Trying to mimic another sound is not only boring, it seldom works right when nothing in the chain seems to have changed. So I'm not going to compare the Recto preset in Amplitube with a real Dual Rectifier. Why? I'll tell you why. Because I don't care! I don't need an A/B test to confirm my convictions. Either the tone excites me or it doesn't. I've already stated that I've recorded all kinds of real amps. I've never gotten the dream tone! So what do I care if I can perfectly emulate something that isn't even 100% ideal. That makes no sense to me.

Real amps take serious work to get up to par. In some instances we can get what we need in 2 minutes, but it's usually more like 30 minutes of tinkering. Sometimes it takes all day. The reasons for that are something I don't have time to get into here but I cover in depth in Killer Home Recording: Electric Guitar.

With Amplitube 2, you plug in. You hit a few knobs and you are there. You can certainly tweak later if you so desire, but I've found that snagging an exciting sound seldom takes more than 2 minutes. It seems like all the conventional obstacles have been removed. What obstacles am I talking about? I'm talking about that X factor that keeps my real amps from sounding screamingly awesome on recordings. That road block simply doesn't exist in Amplitube 2. The Amplitube 2 tracks sit in the mix very well without any of the excessive low mid stuff I often fight. In other words, the Amplitube 2 tracks sound finished on the way in. I don't feel the need to shoe horn them into a mix like I find myself always doing with real electric guitar tracks. I don't mistake excessive low-mid crap for “thickness” with Amplitube 2 like I often do with real electric guitar tracks. (I've got a damn room mode that always seems to hide the mud in my electric guitar sounds I have to solve!)

Does Amplitube 2 sound as good as a real amp? First off, that's an overly simplified question. Which real amp and which tone are we going for? Will it do the EVH brown sound as good as an old 50 watt Marshall Plexi through a $2,000 cabinet with 20 watt speakers? No. It won't. At least I haven't figured out how to get that one. Will it come close? You bet your ass it will! Will it sound good doing it? Definitely! What's funny about this topic is a Rivera Knucklehead won't do the EVH brown sound nearly as good as the vintage Marshall rig either, but it will also sound damn good trying. (Again, emulating is stupid!) The same could be said for just about all amps. There are only a few that really nail that sound.

If you check out the Real Guitar Amp vs Emulators Shootout on Killer Home Recording: Electric Guitar you'll find that the sound from emulator to emulator to emulator varies quite a bit. They vary so much that it's difficult even for a guy like me to pick out the real Knucklehead. Why? Because these modern emulators like the Amplitube 2 do have real tone. They do sound good. On their own, I'd probably lean in the direction of the real tube amp in terms of flat out tone. (If a killer real amp gets a 100%, Amplitube 2 gets a 95.5%.) However, by the time I screw up the tone of the real amp with mics and such I end up losing 10% and that's with the tools I mentioned above. (Royer R121 / Sennheiser MD421 / Shure SM57 / etc > Vintech 1272 > Distressor EL-8x > Mytek AD96). Most home recorders aren't going to have such tools at their disposal.

Real World Electric Guitar Recording Problems
I do a lot of different types of sessions. One day I'm doing a live band. Another day I'm doing MIDI techno programming. I do quite a bit of guitar recording as well, but how often are my amps used? I'd say 30% of the time. If I really wanted to have the ability for crushing guitar sounds all the time, I'd need more cabinets. I'd want at least three of them. I need a modern metal type of cabinet (Recto / Orange / Bogner). I'd need a vintage cabinet like a late 60s Marshall with 20 watt speakers. I'd need an open back Fender-style cabinet. I'd need a smaller cabinet with maybe an 8" or 10" speaker of some kind.

Then when plugging a Recto into my G12H30 equipped 1x12 cabinet isn't happening, I can figure out something that will. I'd love to tell you that the old Marshall cabinet is the best cabinet in the world (for 95% of all music I'd say it is) but there are times when the band is going to prefer something else. Who is going to accommodate that? The band? Yeah right! 2% of all musicians in bands take their tone seriously enough to have "their sound". Most just buy something with Mesa Boogie on the cover, plug in, smile, and make their credit card payments.

So simply putting together a signal chain as mentioned above that pushes $5,000 isn't good enough. If the guitar doesn't mate with the amp and the amp doesn't mate with the cabinet, all that is pointless. I'd take a guitar > amp > cabinet setup that all work extremely well together over the fancy recording toys any day of the week.

So, to make a long story short. If you don't have all the necessary tools, you are playing a game of hit and miss. Of course, this also assumes that you are taking the time on your recordings to try out all your cabinets. How many home recorders spend a day on the amp head and a day on the cabinet? This is what the big boys are doing. If you are not, you've already compromised and you are at the mercy of the gods. Spin the wheel and hope you get the tone you are going for.

The only ideal solution is to have all available tools at your disposal. This is the main reason I love the Amplitube 2 emulator so much. Maybe the Gibson SG Mr. Guitar Player uses feels a little wrong with amp #1, we just move on to amp #2 or use cabinet number #2. This ability to match the guitar with the amp / cabinet works the same way a real setup would, but without consuming the cash, space, and time it takes to implement the real thing.

Downside(s) of Amplitube 2
On my ancient computer system (Athlon 64 2800, 2GB of RAM) I can only get 2-3 instances of Amplitube 2 running simultaneously with latency at 160 samples. I suspect this will be a non-issue with the Quad-core computer I've been eyeballing. This slows down workflow quite a bit. It would be nice if I could just fire up 5 instances without having to render / freeze tracks. I don't consider this the fault of Amplitube 2, and I suspect my next computer will have no problems. Just be advised that if you are using Amplitube 2 on an old computer that freezing / rendering guitar tracks is a vibe killer.

Reliability
Amplitube 2 has been 100% reliable. Using it nearly every day for a month I can't recall having one single problem with it. Again, this is a testament to the caliber of products that IK Multimedia is cranking out.

Conclusion
Amplitube 2 kicks ass. I'm considering selling all of my real amps now why they still have a little bit of value because they may not in 2 years. Is Amplitube 2 perfect? No. The technology is very close and I suspect that in another 2 years the emulator stuff will be so good that no one will think twice about using it.

I think the best testament to the sound of Amplitube 2 goes like this. I am producing a band. They have some rocking songs, but for the most part they don't really sound like a "guitar band" like Guns N Roses or something. The plan was to record the guitars DI, use Amplitube 2 as the "scratch tone" and then later reamp the guitars through a real amp. Well, as the record as progressed the guitar player said, "Brandon, I don't want to reamp. I'm 100% happy with this." I agreed. What was to be gained from reamping? In this case, I was actually worried about what we'd lose. Today and I went back to listen to the tracks. No one on Earth will ever know these were done with an emulator and in fact, I suspect I will get compliments on my guitar sounds. I'll put money on it. In other words, Amplitube 2 is a winner even if you've got 3 very desirable real amps collecting dust in the corner.

I suspect that if I sold all my guitar amps and was forced to use Amplitube 2 for the rest of my days, it wouldn't bother me one bit.