VST Amp Rack can get you a nice clean(ish) Fender sound but, unfortunately, matching SRV’s playing style is entirely up to you!
Some software amp sims can struggle with clean guitar tones — is Cubase’s stock VST Amp Rack up to the challenge?
The plug‑in marketplace is awash with more guitar‑rig simulations than I care to count, but might you already have what you need in your DAW? Cubase’s stock VST Amp Rack (included in Cubase Pro, Artist and Elements) is not only easy to use, but also very capable. To demonstrate this, I thought it would be fun to try and create something inspired by a couple of classic clean (well, clean‑ish) guitar tones. So, with a few suitable audio examples to accompany us along the way (available on the SOS website: https://sosm.ag/cubase-0225), let’s get started.
Jimi Meets Stevie Meets John
Inspired by Jimi Hendrix (think ‘Little Wing’), and a source of inspiration for countless others not least John Mayer, it doesn’t get any more classic than the glassy cleans of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s ‘Lenny’. In a hardware world, the most obvious choice would be a Strat‑style guitar into a Fender amp — unless you have a superstar budget, in which case perhaps a Dumble amp. In practice, though, plenty of combinations can work, and the key element is finding the sweet spot for the amp’s input gain. This needs to be set just high enough that the dynamics of the playing can control: the sound is super‑clean when played softly, but becomes lightly overdriven when the playing is harder, as the valves start to generate more harmonics.
So, let’s assume you have a suitable guitar that’s equipped with single‑coil pickups. Can VST Amp Rack get us in the right ballpark? It certainly offers a number of Fender‑inspired amp models. The other obvious element of SRV’s ‘Lenny’ sound is a healthy dollop of a fairly expansive reverb (more ‘hall’ than ‘spring’?), and again the plug‑in ought to have us covered here.
The first screenshot (above) is a composite created from VST Amp Rack’s virtual amps, mics and post‑effects tabs, and shows the key settings I used to capture the essence of the overall sound. I picked the Tweed amp model and its associated cab, and to my ears it does the Fender clean sound very well, but it would also be well worth you experimenting with the Blackface or Deluxe models.
Note that your mileage may vary depending upon the output of the pickups on your guitar, just how hard you play, and your gain staging. At first, I found that I had to crank pretty much every control on the amp to get the Tweed model to start to overdrive when I played more forcefully! Of course, in the virtual world, you can easily fine‑tune the input gain of your DI signal: you can use your audio interface’s instrument preamp gain to drive the amp model harder, or to back things off a little. You could also look to the gain at...
You are reading one of the locked Subscribers-only articles from our latest 5 issues.
You've read 30% of this article for free, so to continue reading...
- ✅ Log in - if you have a Subscription you bought from SOS.
- Buy & Download this Single Article in PDF format £1.00 GBP$1.49 USD
For less than the price of a coffee, buy now and immediately download to your computer or smartphone.
- Buy & Download the FULL ISSUE PDF
Our 'full SOS magazine' for smartphone/tablet/computer. More info...
- Buy a DIGITAL subscription (or Print + Digital)
Instantly unlock ALL premium web articles! Visit our ShopStore.