Guitar Amp Pro can simulate the sound of popular guitar amplifiers and the speakers used with them. You can process guitar signals directly, which enables you to reproduce the sound of your guitar through a number of high-quality guitar amplification systems.
Guitar Amp Pro can also be used for experimental sound design and processing. You can freely use it with other instruments, applying the sonic character of a guitar amp to a trumpet or vocal part, for example.
The amplifier, speaker, and EQ models emulated by Guitar Amp Pro can be combined in a number of ways to radically or subtly alter the tone. Virtual microphones are used to pick up the signal of the emulated amplifier and cabinet. You can choose from two different microphone types, and you can reposition them. Guitar Amp Pro also emulates classic guitar amplifier effects, including reverb, vibrato, and tremolo.
The Guitar Amp Pro window is organized into sections according to different kinds of parameters.
Farther down in the Amp section, the knobs in the V-shaped formation are used to set tone, gain, and level. See Using Guitar Amp Pro’s Gain, Tone, Presence, and Master Controls.
An amplifier “model” consists of an amplifier, speaker cabinet, EQ type, and microphone type. You can create your own hybrids of different amplifiers, cabinets, and so on—using the pop-up menus at the top center of the interface. You choose the microphone position and type in the yellow areas to the left and right.
You can use the Settings menu to save your new hybrid amp combos as setting files, which also include any parameter changes you may have made.
How to build your amplifier model is described in the following sections:
You can choose an amplifier model from the Amp pop-up menu near the top of the interface.
The speaker cabinet can have a huge bearing on the type of tones you can extract from your chosen amplifier. The speaker parameters are found near the top of the interface.
The EQ pop-up menu and the Amp-EQ Link button are near the top of the interface.
Each amp model has a speaker and EQ model associated with it. The default combinations of amp, speaker, and EQ settings recreate a well-known guitar sound. You are, of course, free to combine any speaker or EQ model with any amp by turning off the two Link buttons.
The Gain, Bass, Mids, Treble, Presence, and Master knobs run from left to right in the V-shaped formation in the upper half of the interface.
The effects parameters include Tremolo, Vibrato, and Reverb, which emulate the processors found on many amplifiers.
You can use the pop-up menu to choose either Tremolo, which modulates the amplitude or volume of the sound, or Vibrato, which modulates the pitch.
Reverb can be added to either of these effects, or used independently.
To use or adjust an effect, you must first enable it by clicking the corresponding On button to the left. The On button is red when active.
Note: The Effects section is placed before the Presence and Master controls in the signal flow, and receives the preamplified, pre-Master signal.
Tremolo, Vibrato, and Reverb are described in the following sections:
Tremolo and vibrato are controlled by an On button, the FX pop-up menu, the Depth and Speed knobs, and the Sync button in the Effects section. Tremolo modulates the amplitude or volume of the sound, and vibrato modulates the pitch.
Reverb is controlled by an On button, the Reverb pop-up menu, and a Level knob in the Reverb section near the bottom. Reverb can be added to either the Tremolo or Vibrato effect, or used independently.
After choosing a speaker cabinet from the Speaker menu, you can set the type of microphone you want to be emulated, and where the microphone is placed in relation to the speaker. The Microphone Position parameters are available in the yellow area to the left, and the Microphone Type parameters in the yellow area to the right.
When you select either button, the graphic speaker display reflects your choice.
Tip: Combining both microphone types can sound quite interesting. Duplicate the guitar track, and insert Guitar Amp Pro as an insert effect on both tracks. Select different microphone types in each Guitar Amp Pro instance, while retaining identical settings for all other parameters, and mix the track signal levels. You can, of course, choose to vary any other parameters.
The Output slider is found at the bottom, below the Effects section. It serves as the final level control for Guitar Amp Pro and can be thought of as a “behind the speaker” volume control that is used to set the level fed to the ensuing plug-in slots on the channel strip or to Output channel strips.
Note: This parameter is different from the Master control, which serves the dual purpose of sound design as well as controlling the level of the Amp section.