IK Multimedia Amplitube

Amplitube Fender is certainly impressive in terms of quantity, in that you don’t just get the classic Twins, Bassmans and the like: you get an extensive range of models of Fender amps large and small, valve and solid-state. The common thread is that the modelled amps are all current products, although this includes recreations of some real classics. There are 12 models in all: a ’59 Bassman LTD, ’65 Twin Reverb, ’57 Deluxe, ’65 Deluxe Reverb, ’64 Vibroverb Custom, Vibro-king Custom, Champion 600, Super Sonic, MH500 Metalhead, Pro Junior, Bassman 300 and TBP1 Bass Preamp. There are also 12 cabinet models to complement the amps, and these can of course be mixed and matched. It’s an impressive list, but although several of them are truly classic amp designs, I wouldn’t agree with IK and Fender that they comprise “12 of the most influential guitar amps of all time”: I’m not sure that the Champion 600, retro-styled as it is, has been around long enough to warrant such a claim, and although it is a nice little amp, it’s hardly the classic that the model which inspired it is. Inevitably, they’ve not covered every Fender amp, even in the current range, and I was disappointed to find out that they’d not done a model of, for example, the Hotrod Deluxe, which I see used a lot on stage, and is capable of a bright, brash, spiky sort of sound that I’ve yet to hear well executed in software. You can get close by using, say, a Pro Junior head with a larger cabinet and tweaking, but it would have been nice to see the Hotrod range represented, perhaps at the expense of less widely used models.

The quantity is there, then, but does it actually sound any good? To be fair, neither IK nor Fender claim that Amplitube Fender provides exactly the same experience as a real amp, merely that it is better than the software competition: “Never before have you been able to get this close to the real thing on your desktop”. I’ve yet to come across a software amp emulation which feels like the real thing while playing, but I’ve always found Amplitube’s models to be amongst the better ones out there. More importantly, I’ve found them very usable in a re-amping/mixing context, where responsiveness isn’t critical. It’s the same situation here: Amplitube Fender doesn’t offer quite the responsiveness of a real Fender amp, though it’s not at all bad if played with low latency, but the sounds are excellent. You get a convincing emulation of real valves and speakers, along with nice organic-sounding tremolo and reverb effects — and it all sounds authentically ‘Fender’, too. Some competitors’ models are the equal of some on offer here, but to my ears there’s nothing else that offers both the same quantity and quality.

With Amplitube Fender, the Amplitube family has come of age to offer one of the best and most comprehensive guitar amp and cab modelling packages around. It’s a shame you can’t add the pedal of your choice without using a third-party plug-in or investing in another full version of Amplitube, but other than that, weighed up against the competition, I have no major criticisms. If you aren’t a fan of software amp modelling, I don’t suppose this will change your mind, but I sincerely believe that you’d be hard pushed to hear the difference when the results are heard in a mix — which for my money makes this an excellent investment that is cheap at the price, considering the range on offer. Matt Houghton  0