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Your new digital tone compendium has arrived...

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Like us, many of you will probably have less-than-fond memories of your first practice amp. Often a single-channel affair, even those graced with such luxury features as an overdrive switch tended to rasp harder than a surform in a wasps' nest – the AM radio in your parents' kitchen probably had a richer bottom-end response.

Hang on a minute though, it's 2010. Most of us are walking around with telephones in our pockets that allow us shoot video, access the internet and listen to our entire record collection. And thanks to AmpliTube for iPhone, we'll soon be using our mobiles as headphone amps too. That's considerably more practical, not to mention rocking, than anything Tomorrow's World ever promised.

"Anything that makes practising this enjoyable is a winner in our book."

It stands to reason then that the touchscreen generation expects more from a practice amp than such trifling functionality as merely amplifying the sound of electric guitars. While the likes of Vox and Line 6 have packed a smorgasbord of sonic treats and tricks into their entry-level amps over the last few years, it was Fender – whose fifties Tweed and sixties 'Blackface' designs are still the high watermark for most tonehounds – that launched the most complete do-it-all practice solution yet in 2007.

More than just a practice amp, the original G-DEC was a 'Guitar Digital Entertainment Center', crammed with innovative features and impressive enough to get a four star review. But digital technology moves fast. Just as this year's king of the smartphone hill won't look quite so clever in the not-too-distant future, three years on, the first incarnation of the G-DEC sounds a little dated with its MIDI muzak backing tracks and sometimes over-egged sounds that just don't get the adrenaline pumping.

Enter G-DEC 3. This time around, things are very different. G-DEC 3 features banks of sounds and backing tracks created in the studio by genuine Premier League rock, metal, blues and country stars such as Eric Johnson, John 5 and Brad Paisley, along with members of Fall Out Boy, Def Leppard, Anthrax, Sepultura and many more. It's easy to see how this makes G-DEC 3 the next logical step for budding players whose appetites have been whetted by the wildly popular Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games.

Sounds

Straight out of the box, you're just a twist of the large Encoder knob away from being able to jam along with a range of backing tracks, and there's enough variety to suit players of almost any persuasion.

Not only is each backing track matched to an appropriate preset guitar tone – although you can change it if you want to – but it can also be set up to loop perpetually. This means that you can carry on trying to perfect that tricky lick over and over again without having to reach for the amp controls and risk breaking your concentration – a nice touch.