Guitar Amp

The Guitar Amp effect emulates three vintage guitar amps: Combo USA, Combo UK and Stack. It emulates the amp, its speaker and the microphone recording it. In addition up to three stompbox effects can be used.


Guitar Amp window

Input section

The Level knob controls the level of the guitar signal presented to the amp. The level indicator located next to the knob can be used to make the amp see the same input level a hardware amp would: The indicator assumes you're playing the guitar fairly hard (like some powerful rhythm chords). Don't worry if the level is much lower while playing more subtle parts: a real amp would see a lower level too.

The level indicator is just a way to make it easier to set up the amp to work just like the hardware version. You can ignore it if you like. You can, for example, use a higher setting to get more distortion.

Amp section

Three amp types are available:

Speaker/Mic section

The Output knob controls the output level. Typical values range from 0 dB (overdrive sounds) to approx. 10 dB (clean sounds). The meter on the right shows the output level. It is important to stay out of the red section when the amp is played live, in order to avoid clipping.

The Mic Center/Edge slider controls the position of the recording microphone. 0% is at the center of the guitar cab's speaker, 100% is at the edge. The slider offers 7 positions.

You can use the box below the Mic Center/Edge slider to load your own speaker impulse response file. The Mic Center/Edge slider is not available in this case.

Note: the impulse responses are shared with the Convolutor effect.

Stompbox effect sections

Three stompbox effects can be inserted between the guitar and the amp. Each effect features two knobs.

Playing guitar through the Guitar Amp

It's best to connect your guitar to a high impedance input. Low impedance inputs compromise the guitar pickup's treble response. Some sound devices have a dedicated instrument input. A high-impedance DI box or preamp can be used if your sound device doesn't have one. You can also try using a stomp box effect as DI box.

To play the Guitar Amp live you have to turn on the Mon (Soft Monitoring) button (located at the top of the main window). Also, you have to either make the Guitar Amp visible or engage the track's Rec button.

Finding your tone

Basic amp sound presets are available.

The CLEAN presets provide good starting points for clean sounds. You can adjust the Volume knob to fine tune the break-up point, so the sound is clean when you play softly, and gets dirtier when you play harder. You'll probably have to adjust the Output level after changing Volume significantly.
The DRIVE presets provide good starting points for overdrive sounds. You can adjust the Volume knob to change the amount of overdrive.

Tip: Clean sounds you hear on records usually aren't as clean as you think, and distorted sounds usually aren't as distorted as you think. The guitar fits better in the mix this way.

The FUZZ presets emulate a fuzz box by overdriving the amp's input tube using a Booster stompbox effect.
The FX presets use stompbox effects to create several commonly used guitar sounds.

In addition to the stompbox effects you can use effects in the track's effect slots. You can place them in a Multi Effect if you need more slots.

The Guitar Amp's output signal is similar to the signal coming from a microphone placed close to a guitar cab. One would typically apply studio type effects like EQ, compression and reverb to it. Clean guitar sounds may benefit from a Compressor effect (turn up the Attack knob to approx. 25 ms.).