Neural DSP Morgan Amps Suite

If you’re looking for a plug‑in that beautifully recreates the classiest of boutique amps, read on...

If you were to ask me to name one fantasy guitar amp that I’d love to own but could never justify the cost, I’d say “a Morgan SW22R”. Morgan Amps definitely fit the ‘boutique’ label: they’re a relatively small company making high‑end, hand‑crafted products, many of which are inspired by classic amp designs. So, for example, Morgan’s AC20 is their take on the Vox AC30, the PR12 is inspired by Fender’s iconic Princeton Reverb, while the SW22R and SW50R have their roots in the (also boutique) Dumble. All are no‑expense‑spared recreations of long‑standing original designs, and built to the highest standards. And now, thanks to a collaboration between Morgan Amps and those clever brains at Neural DSP, I can afford access to these sounds through Neural’s latest plug‑in, the Morgan Amps Suite, which emulates the Morgan SW50R as well as their slightly more wallet‑friendly AC20 and PR12.

Amps, Cabs & Effects

Following the usual Neural DSP format, you get not only the three amps but also a compact collection of virtual stompboxes, including an excellent tremolo, a flexible cab simulation based on a Morgan 1x12 Celestion‑equipped cabinet with dual mic configurations, an IR‑loader, a nine‑band EQ, a studio‑style delay (tape‑based in this case), and reverb. The GUI includes an easy‑to‑use preset browser, transpose options, a very effective Doubler for an instant double‑tracked effect, a tuner, and a metronome. It can run standalone or as a VST, AU or AAX plug‑in in Mac and Windows hosts. But while all these extras are excellent, the amps are definitely the headline act here!

True to the Morgan hardware, all the models provide single‑channel amps with fairly compact control sets. So, for example, on the AC20, the Vol knob controls the preamp gain, and the Power knob the power‑amp level, while the Cut knob is a tone control (the equivalent of the AC30’s Tone Cut). As on the actual AC20, the Bright and Bass Cut switches provide additional tonal options and, for total accuracy (if perhaps not essential in an amp sim), there are also modelled Standby and Power switches. The PR12 and SW50R control sets are equally streamlined, but both also recreate the built‑in reverbs those amps feature.

As you push the amp controls further, things will start to break up in a really satisfying fashion.

What’s really impressive about all three amp models is their realistic response. These are perhaps all best described as ‘clean’ amps and, providing you get your guitar DI input levels right (starting at zero, dial in as little gain on your input as you can get away with), you can replicate that with all three models. However, as you push the amp controls further, things will start to break up in a really satisfying fashion, with a character that’s true to the original hardware.

If you want to go further, then the stompbox pedals provide plenty of additional gain possibilities. All flavours of classic blues and rock can be found easily, and there are metal tones if you push the more aggressive of the two overdrive stompboxes. The preset collection demonstrates this range very ably too — whether you want Chris Isaak cleans (the Blue Hotel preset), super classy funk (Strat 4th Position Funk; the compressor pedal is very good), John Mayer’s singing strat (Slow Dancing Bell Tone), Brian May’s crunch (Red Special Rhythm), or something beyond, there are good presets to get you started.

Simply The Best?

Neural DSP really are very good at what they do. In fact, as long as you’re happy to dip into their catalogue for the specific titles that suit your needs, I’m not sure that there’s a better way to access authentic software recreations of specific amps — if you’re looking to add some truly classy clean‑to‑crunch options to your ‘guitarsenal’, the Morgan Amps Suite plug‑in is currently as good as it gets.