Tube amps are generally preferred by serious guitarists for their warm, harmonically-rich tone. They usually sound louder than solid-state amps of a similar wattage and have a presence to their distorted sound which is hard to replicate with transistor or even digital modeling technology. Almost all tube amps come with separate channels to allow switching from clean to distorted tones. These amps do require more maintainence as Tubes deteriorate over time, and require changing from time to time.
The following are 3 classic tube amps that have written their way into rock history.
Marshall JCM 800
Marshall amps are a British institution and the JCM800 is one of the company’s most universally acclaimed pieces of work. An evolution of the Plexi but with extra punch and edge, the JCM800 became the sound standard for modern Rock and Metal. Initially rebranded as the JCM800 in the early 80s from the MV (master Volume) series, they were Marshall’s flagship until the JCM900 in 1989. Finding favour with guitar players such as Randy Rhoads, Steve Vai and Slash, JCM800 stacks were standard in countless rock and metal live gigs and videos.
Marshall JCM800
Soldano SLO-100
Soldano was founded in Los Angeles in 1986 by Michael Soldano and became known for high gain amps as well as stompboxes and effects units. The Soldano sound is intensly overdriven and saturated and also features EQ after the preamp distortion. They SLO(Super Lead Overdrive) amps were especially popular as with lead guitarists in the late 1980′s. The tube-driven Soldano’s began as modifications to a Mesa Boogie Mark II amp, and the resulting product became known for it’s high quality, attention to detail and the company for it’s customer service.
Soldano SLO 100
Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier
Mesa Boogie has had a long history of producing amazing amps, Their Mark I – IV amps are some of the most admired in history. Their Rectifier series took off in the 90′s and before long was the signature heavy guitar sound for that era, used by artists such as Metallica, Korn, Dream Theatre and Limp Biskit. The Rectifiers produced a crazy extreme distorted guitar sound, combined with an amazingly creamy Tone and earth shaking bottom end. The Rectifiers were also renowned for their punchy mids.
Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier
In a previous news entry, we reported that Jem and Steve Vai were running a design contest for somebody to come up with a custom Ibanez Jem paintjob. Well, the winner has been announced and it’s congratulations to Alessandro Serrago on his winning design submission. You can see the winning design here. There’s also a link on the page which will take you to all the finalists.
Ibanez will produce 2 guitars with the winning design. One for Steve, and one for Alessandro. Not sure of the actual specs, but it’s a shame they’re only producing 2 as it’s a pretty amazing looking guitar.
Bullet Cables are part of innovative Californian company Core One Creative Inc. They sell very cool guitar cables and jacks. You can purchase bulk cable lengths, individual jacks or pre-fashioned complete cables. The jacks are quite creative and feature amongst others, skull, syringe, bullet and spark plug inspired designs. (see examples below).
The site features instructions on how to customize cables and patch cords, so you can attach the jacks yourself. The only tools needed are a hex wrench and a box-cutter. All connectors have been designed as standard instrument jacks. The products are shipped internationally and some countries have established distributors. Sales inquires can submitted to the company for countries where there isn’t established distribution. See their Tech and FAQ page for more details.
Spark Plug Jack
White Dice Cable
There are many amp modeling and effect simulators available on the market today. They usually come in the form of dedicated amps with built in modeling, external effects units or software plug-ins. The plug-in option has continually developed and diversified ever since Line6 released Amp Farm for Pro Tools in 1998. Today, some of the more notable options include Revalver which is now owned by Peavey, M-audio’s Eleven for Pro Tools and IK Multimedia’s Amplitube
One of the most authentic yet affordable options available is Studio Devil, a virtual tube amplifier processor based on dynamic models of vacuum tube pre-amps and power stages. Studio Devil is available for VST, Audio Units, and RTAS hosts, compatible with both Mac and PC. It also comes with a range of products for guitar and bass as well as a free streamlined version.
I would seriously recommended going to the Studio Devil website and listening to the demos of the product. You can also purchase and download online.
This is an overview of the StudioDevil Product range. The website contains more detailed specs:
Studio Devil Amp Modeler Pro
US$149.00
Studio Devil Pro
- 15 Preamp Models
- Authentic Tone Controls: Gain, Bass, Mids, Treble, and Presence
- Boost, Deep, and Bright Switches
- 3 Power Amp Models with Drive Control
- Impulse Modeler / Cabinet Processor imports any WAV or AIFF file
- 32 Cabinets
- 7-Band Graphic-EQ
- Sweepable Parametric EQ
- Wah-Wah
- Compressor / Sustainer with two modes and Attack controls.
- Modulation Effects: Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, and Tremolo
- Echo / Delay Modeler
- Reverb with Level control and 3 Modes: Room, Club, and Hall.
- Noise Gate with adjustable Threshold and Gating Slope controls.
- Built-In Chromatic Tuner and Level Meters
- Master Volume control with Clip indicator.
Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp
US$69
Studio Devil Bass
- Vacuum Tube Preamp Model with Boost Switch
- Authentic Tone Controls: Bass, Treble, and a Parametric Mid
- Bright and Deep boost pushbuttons
- Power Amp Drive Control
- Variable Knee Limiter
- 2 Cabinet Models: FIR-based 4×10 and 1×15 speaker cabinet
- D.I. Box Emulation
- Built In 7-Band Graphic Equalizer
Studio Devil Virtual Guitar Amp
$79 US
Studio Devil Guitar
- 8 Distinct Amplifier Models
- Three Unique Amplifier Styles: Classic, British, and Modern
- Three Independent Channels Clean, Crunch, and Lead.
- Boost Switch
- Authentic Tone Controls: Bass, Mids, Treble, and Presence
- Power Amp Drive Control
- 2 Cabinet Models
- D.I. Box Emulation
- Built In Noise Gate
Studio Devil British Valve Custom
Free download
Studio Devil Custom
- British High-Gain Amp emulation based on Marshall® stack
- Power Amp Drive Control
- Built In 4×12 Cabinet Emulation
- Realistic Tone Controls: Bass, Mids, Treble, and Presence
Yet another cool guitar interface for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad.
AmpliTube iRig combines an interface adapter and guitar and bass tone mobile software. The iRig interface plugs into the device (iPhone etc..) and the guitar/bass input jack plugs into the interface, as does the headphones, amp or powered speakers. You get a combination of 3 simultaneous stompbox effects, plus simulated amplifiers, cabinets and microphones. You can also import and play with songs or backing tracks with real time effects.
There are also free and light editions of the software which have less features than the full version.
Features (Full version) :
- 10 Stompboxes – delay, flanger, phaser, overdrive, distortion, filter, wah, fuzz, octaver, chorus
- 5 Amp Types – clean, crunch, lead, metal, bass
- 2 Microphones – dynamic and condenser
- 5 Cabinet Types
- 36 presets
- Tuner
- Metronome
Amplitube iRig
