review
AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix
It may be hard for today’s guitarists to imagine a time before multi-channel amps, modeling software, and multi-effects pedals. Yet this was exactly the situation when Jimi Hendrix burst onto the scene in the 1960’s, and specifically why he sounded so totally unique. The only way to get distortion back then was to crank an amp up to 10 and overdrive the power tubes — or to use fuzz pedals, which were still in their infancy. Jimi Hendrix not only adopted this first generation of new effects into his rig, he made them a vital part of his sound, and in the process created a new vocabulary for rock guitarists.
Fast Forward To The 21st Century
Forty years later Jimi Hendrix remains incredibly popular with guitarists, and his sonic imprint is still felt on today’s music. Of course, just about everything else about guitar gear has changed. Today we enjoy the riches of digital technology in our amps, effects, and computers. Yet many guitarists still feel that old school technology such as analog effects and tube amps are the ultimate in tone generation. Recognizing this, software companies have been using modeling software to simulate prized amps and effects that are too rare or expensive to be accessible for the average musician.
AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix
Based on IK Multimedia’s successful AmpliTube 2 software, AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix (AJH from here on out) is a stand-alone/plug-in software modeling collection of Jimi’s 1960’s era gear. You get models of 4 amp heads, 7 cabinets, 9 effects pedals, 5 microphones, and common studio effects in one package. Bucking the trend to cover the widest possible variety of equipment, this is a unique collection focusing on one mans’ now vintage gear, with the goal of allowing you to sound like he does on record.
The Gear
While all of the amps modeled here are now considered classics, they were common “workhorse” amps in their day. They are the Fender Bassman, Fender Dual-Showman, Fender Twin Reverb, and the Marshall JTM100 Super Lead. You also get models of three matching Fender speaker cabinet, three Marshall cabs, and a Sears Silvertone 2X12 cab. Classic microphones are represented by Nuemann and AKG condensers, Sure dynamic, and Beyerdynamic ribbon microphones. Pedal effects include five classic fuzz effects by Roger Mayer, Arbiter, Maestro, and Mosrite — plus a Fender Tremolo, a Univox Univibe, a Roger Mayer Octavia, and a Vox V846 wah. In addition you get models of “rack” effects commonly found in recording studios of the era such as compressor, reverb, rotary speaker, and EQ.
Extras
In addition to the models you also get a tuner, metronome, and a “SpeedTrainer” which allows you to load audio (such as Hendrix songs) and play along. You can also adjust the speed and tempo of the audio playback independently to allow you to slow a song down for easier learning. In addition, you can set loop points to hear the same riff or lick over and over until you figure it out.
Presets
AJH comes with presets for every song on Jimi’s three studio recordings, most with separate presets for riff, rhythm, and solo tones. There are also a number of miscellaneous presets including two “Star Spangled Banner” presets for the classic Woodstock performance. Of course, you can create and save your own presets.
Audio Routing
Audio is routed in the traditional order (stomp box, amp, cab, rack), however AJH uses a two-rig setup with eight possible routing configurations giving you plenty of options for sonic mayhem. You could run two complete rigs simultaneously, have two effects setups run into the same amp, one amp with two cabinets into two rack setups, etc…
In Use
I tested AJH using an Apple MacBook Pro with a 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2 GB of RAM. I used a MOTU 828 Firewire audio interface to get audio into the computer. I tested it in stand-alone mode and as a AU plug-in using Digital Performer 5 as a host application. It performed without a hitch in both cases and I had no problems with audio dropouts or glitches. Of course, older computers may not fare as well. The modeling technology AJH uses is computational heavy so the faster your computer processor and more RAM you have the better. Even my brand new laptop occasionally hit the 23 percent CPU load mark. Be sure to check the system requirements (or download the demo) before purchasing.
Does It Sound Like The Record?
In order to get the best results I could, I used the same model guitar Hendrix used — a Fender Stratocaster, although I didn’t flip mine over and play it left handed! And while I don’t profess to be in the same league as Hendrix I can come close enough to judge the tonal quality of the software. Taking advantage of the SpeedTrainer I popped a Hendrix CD into my computer and loaded song after song into AJH while using the presets to play along.
Naturally, there are innumerable variables when it comes to trying to copy the exact sound of a recording (equipment, player technique, room acoustics, etc.) and so I wasn’t totally surprised to find that many of the presets weren’t exactly “spot-on” compared to the CD tones. And while the presets weren’t always perfect to my ears, they were usually very close and easily captured the vibe of the song. And better yet, they were all very good tones and great fun to play. In fact, I would say buying this collection to simply copy Hendrix tones on record is only using a fraction of its capability and missing the best part.
Model Tones
While the presets are fun, in my opinion the best part of AJH is the models themselves. The Dynamic Saturation Modeling (DSM) technology used by AJH is amazing. I was very impressed by the dynamic quality of the amp models, especially the British Lead SL100. With the volume and gain cranked up to ten, it produced a nice Marshall crunch that easily captured the classic 70’s rock tone. Even better, when I played with a light touch it cleaned up just like a real tube amp, then digging in brought back out the grind — impressive stuff for software.
The other amp models were also impressive. The American Vintage D had just a hint of breakup with the gain and volume cranked; the American Vintage B had a dark, bassy tone with minimal breakup when cranked; and the American Vintage T has a bright, biting tone perfect for blues.
Another cool things about the amps is they are broken down into pre-amp, EQ, and power tube sections that you can mix and match. For example, you can take the pre-amp of the Marshall, mix it with the EQ of a Fender Twin, and the tubes of a Fender Bassman to create your own hybrid amp model. Very sweet. And of course, you can then run it through any of the included cabs.
The effects are also quite good, although the compliment is heavy on fuzz pedals (appropriate for Jimi’s gear), which are quite similar in tone. The Univibe was my favorite with a thick, rich, chorus. The tremolo is also nice and warm, albeit somewhat subtle. The Octavia seemed a little weak and could have been a little brighter in the octave range (although I certainly don’t have a real unit to compare it to.) The Vox wah was obviously the weakest link in the software chain. While it does include an auto-wah feature, there is really no way to accurately capture a wah effect without a physical rocker pedal. Currently you can only control the wah effect by using AJH as a plug-in and setting up effect automation in the host application. Something most guitarists probably aren’t set up for (requires an expression pedal) or familiar with.
IK Multimedia tech support informed me that a future version of AJH will be controllable by IK Multimedia’s Stomp IO foot controller, which can use an external expression pedal to control the wah. Of course, there is no reason you can’t add a real wah-wah pedal to your signal chain before the audio interface also.
Lone Ranger
Since the models are so good, it is shame you can’t currently load them into AmpliTube 2. However, IK Multimedia told me this would be available in a future version. [Update July 2008: AJH now includes X-Gear shell/host software which allows all the IK Multimedia guitar and bass software to work together under one interface.]
Documentation
AJH comes with a good printed manual that explains the software in detail including how to use it with several popular audio/MIDI sequencers.
Final Thoughts
The idea of modeling one artist’s equipment is a cool idea, and AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix does a great job. The presets aren’t always exact, but the models are fabulous and do a great job of capturing 60’s era gear. Don’t expect any rectifier high gain madness, this is all clean amp, fuzz box, univibe, grooviness. I really enjoyed playing through AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix and I hope this is just the first in a series of “artist” collections. Just imagine the possibilities…
Reader Comments
Better Guitar encourages your input. Agree with this review? Think I’m crazy? If you have used AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix, email me your comments and I’ll post them below. The more opinions we have available, the better our buying decisions will be.
Drew Provan
Great review! I love Hendrix so bought this. I use it through a Mac, like you, but where I am puzzled is what comes after the Mac. What I mean is, you can't just listen to it using the Mac since the internal speakers are tiny. So did you plug your Mac into an amp? Or headphones? Cheers.
Mark Starlin reply
To get audio into my Mac, I run my guitar signal into a MOTU 828 Firewire audio interface that has two Behringer Truth powered monitors hooked up to it. So after the signal goes into AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix it then goes back out through the audio interface to the powered monitors. If you have powered computer monitors, you could send the signal to them. Naturally, the better your monitors, the better AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix is going to sound. Or you could use headphones. You can set up your audio routing using the “Audio Setup“ menu item in the “Settings“ menu of AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix.
stats
- • 5 separate modules: tuner, configurable stomp pedalboard, amp head, cabinet + mic, and rack effects
- • 4 Amp models
- • 7 Cabinet models
- • 5 Microphone models
- • 9 Stomp Effect models
- • 4 Rack Effect models
- • High-precision Tuner
- • 2 Guitar rig chains
- • Jimi Hendrix song presets immediately recall the entire rig used
- • Plugin and Standalone version
Positives
- Great sounding, dynamic amp models; cool effects models; flexible audio signal routing; phrase trainer.
Negatives
- Controlling wah currently requires complex plugin host setup; Processor intensive - requires powerful computer.
Rating
- Performance: 8
- Sound Quality: 10
- User Interface: 10
- Overall: 9.3
Ratings Key
- 0 = Worthless
- 10 = Excellent
Approximate Street Price
- $199
Available At Guitar Center
-
IK Multimedia AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix Software Plug-In Standard
Company
- IK Multimedia
Audio Examples
- At IK Multimedia
Demo Download
- At IK Multimedia
System Requirements
- Intel Based Macintosh
- Minimal: 1.5 GHz Intel Core Solo processor, 512 MB of RAM, Mac OS X 10.4.4 or later.
- Suggested: 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo processor, 1 GB of RAM, Mac OS X 10.4.4 or later.
- Supported Plug-in formats: AU, VST, RTAS.
- PowerPC Based Macintosh
- Minimal: 866 MHz G4 processor, 512 MB of RAM, Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
- Suggested: Dual 1.25 GHz G4 or G5 processor, 1 GB of RAM, Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
- Supported Plug-in formats: AU, VST, RTAS. AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix RTAS requires ProTools 7.0 or later.
- Windows Based PC
- Minimal: Pentium 1GHz / Athlon XP 1.33 GHz, 512 MB of RAM, Windows XP or Vista.
- Suggested: Pentium 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 1.33 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, Windows XP.
- Supported Plug-in formats: VST, RTAS.