“You could easily record an album just using this plugin given the options that are on hand,” Burrell says
We’ve seen guitarist and instructor Sophie Burrell use IK Multimedia’s new AmpliTube 5 to nail Slash’s Welcome to the Jungle guitar tone with amazing accuracy. And Sophie was so impressed with AmpliTube 5’s capabilities that she’s now back for an even deeper dive into the incredible software.
“I’m going to jump in, and we’re going to do a tour of all the different amps and pedals that they have, and we’re going to create some cool tones,” she says at the top of her newest demo video, which lays out many of the features on offer in AmpliTube 5.
The highly-anticipated and newest version of the software, which comes a full five years after its predecessor, delivers 129 new gear models, a redesigned cabinet section with new VIR technology and improved power amp/speaker cab interaction.
There’s also an all-new resizable interface that allows for creating and routing rigs with ease, with improved gear selection, drag and drop placement and support for one, two or three-amp rigs with up to 57 simultaneous effects.
(Image credit: IK Multimedia)
Other features include IK’s new Volumetric Impulse Response technology, which results in 143,000 cab IRs, as well as a new mixer window and redesigned Custom Shop that allows the user to build a custom gear collection via an easy-to-navigate interface.
As for Sophie, she begins her demo by loading AmpliTube 5 as a Logic plugin, and then begins exploring.
First, she demonstrates how the amp models are neatly categorized into clean, crunch high-gain and bass sections. She also runs through mic placement and choice options, as well as the numerous room settings and pedals on tap. She even points out that you can swap out the type of speakers you want in your cabinets – pretty cool.
A highlight for Sophie? The “amp collections.” They have “Slash, Dimebag Darrell, Brian May, Jimi Hendrix,” she points out, as well as groups of amps from brands like Orange, Mesa/Boogie, Carvin and more.
“They look sick as well,” she says of the amp collections. “I love the graphics and the design. It’s literally like having these amps in your computer.”
“So that’s just a rough tour of all the different thing you can get your hands on,” Sophie continues. “Now I want to get in and create some tones.”
And create some tones she does. Sophie begins with a clean tone, anchored by a Fender Deluxe Reverb and tweaked with chorus and EQ pedals.
From there, she moves on to a crunch tone using a Slash signature Marshall, as well as delay and gate pedals and a Tube Screamer-style overdrive.
Finally, Sophie puts together a searing lead tone consisting of a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier amp, an EQ pedal, the same Tube Screamer-style box, a delay, a gate and a compressor. Killer.
“There’s really so many amps and pedals and speakers and mics and rooms and all sorts of things for you to choose from,” Sophie says.
“There are so many different combinations, and I’m sure you would easily be able to record an album just using this plugin given the options that are on hand to you. I just scratched the surface here. You could get lost in AmpliTube 5 for days, just creating tones and having a lot of fun with it.”
To have your own fun with AmpliTube 5, head over to IK Multimedia.
Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
