MusicRadar

It looks like a Fender amp, and it sounds like one, too.

1 of 3 » View in gallery

• Related News
• Review

IK Multimedia's AmpliTube is one of the most acclaimed software amp simulators on the market. It's been rolled out in various forms, including AmpliTube 2, Jimi Hendrix, Ampeg SVX, Metal and now the officially endorsed Fender version.

All bear the 'Powered by AmpliTube' legend, and between them they cover an impressive 38 amps, 45 cabinets, 57 pedals and 30 rack effects.

AmpliTube Fender includes 12 amps, 12 cabinets, nine microphones, six pedals and six rack effects. Like all AmpliTube products, Fender comes in both plug-in and standalone formats, the latter intended for live performance (or practice, of course).

You can choose from a number of preset routing configurations, to create, for example, dual amp setups. The standalone version also includes the rather useful SpeedTrainer audio player, which enables you to slow down tracks to aid in learning parts.

Overview

As the name implies, AmpliTube Fender only emulates Fender guitar gear. With such headline amps as Twin Reverb and Vibro-King in the pack, this is patently obvious, but the rack effects (Pitch Shift, Tape Echo, Sine Flange, Triangle Chorus, Wah and Compressor) are sourced from Fender's more recent Cyber-Twin amp, while the pedals (Blender, Phaser, Fuzz Wah, Tape Echo, Volume and '63 Reverb) are from throughout the company's history.

There are cabinets to match their respective amps (although you can mix and match) and, with the exception of the Bassman 300 and Metalhead, these are all combos. Mic emulations vary from the commonplace SM57 and U87 to the more unusual Beyer M160 ribbon and Sennheiser MD441. On- and off-axis settings and near and far positioning allow for plenty of sonic variety from the mic options alone.

IK is keen to point out that AmpliTube Fender is its most accurately modelled package to date, citing extensive use of their Dynamic Saturation Modelling (DSM) and the recreation of each and every stage of the amps and effects. The company has also developed something called Volumetric Response Modelling (VRM), which has enabled it to capture the sound of the Vibratone Rotary Speaker.

Of course, Fender has approved the sounds of the package, too. You'll also find options for activating oversampling for pedals or amps and a high-resolution mode – inevitably, these carry an accompanying CPU hit.

Amps

Clearly, AmpliTube Fender's big draw is its amp emulations. Half of these stem from Fender's rock 'n' roll hey-day and include the '59 Bassman LTD, '57 Deluxe, '64 Vibroverb Custom and '65 Deluxe Reverb, as well as the '65 Twin Reverb and Vibro-King Custom already mentioned.

The other six amps are more recent: the Champion 600, Super-Sonic, MH-500 Metalhead, Pro Junior, Bassman 300 and TBP-1 Bass Preamp.