• From: Central North Carolina
  • Registered: 2014-12-31
  • Posts: 166

Topic: Joe's tones in Amplitube.

Hey guys, I'm wondering if any of you have been able to get any good Bonamassa tones from Amplitube. With the release of Amplitube 4 and the addition of the fx loop, silver jubilee and being able to swap speakers, seems to have really made it a little more likely to get it.

I don't do any recording with it and nstead I play live since amps arent really a possibility at my residence. The way I run it is by using two separate computers running amplitube each with a set of studio monitors. It adds a nice seperation to things and also makes it easier to have a setup like joes 4 amp configuration. I also run my real pedals on the floor before going into the interface. The signal chain is wah, supa-trem, Ts808 and other drives, into a tc reverb which is off  and that is just using to split the signal for now into the interface.

I've been able to get a relatively good Jubilee tone but there's something missing when using the built in cabinets. I'm having some trouble getting the umph I want from the cabinets. Everything sounds lifeless. In amplitube 3 I was using Le Cab with rosin digital impulses but they sound different with amplitube 4.

Does anybody have a a good idea of how to get a good Van Weeldon and Carol Ann tone from the amp sim?.

Guitars: Gibson 2015 LP Traditional in Honeyburst, Gibson LP Studio Deluxe, Fender American Deluxe Telecaster, MIM Fender Strat with Dimarzio Areas, MIM Fender Hss Strat,  Epiphone Sheraton II, Breedlove Acoustic
Amplitube 4 with Scarlett 6i6 and 2i4 interfaces through studio monitors.
  • Devan
  • Devan
  • BONAMETAL
  • Offline
  • From: Darwin, Australia
  • Registered: 2010-04-13
  • Posts: 1,304

Re: Joe's tones in Amplitube.

I do remember trying this a while back in Amplitube 3, just as an exercise to see if I could do it.  I only just downloaded Amplitube 4 over the weekend but have not had the chance to play with it in detail yet.

All the necessary ingredients are definitely there - it is a matter of setting it all up according to the other threads here that discuss his tone.

I am impressed that you run Amplitube on 2 x PCs and mix the signal that way.  I don't think I have ever heard of anyone else doing that.  What a novel way to get the separate amp thing happening without bogging down the CPU on a single machine too much.

I know that you use real pedals in front of Amplitube too, but have you tried the virtual ones within the software to see how they are?  I know if AT4 you can FINALLY run virtual pedals after the power amp stage, effectively giving you an effects loop In/Out for the pedals as well as the rack devices.  That should help with getting the 'JB' tone.

I use real pedals in front of S-Gear a lot, but not so much with Amplitube because it has such a nice range of pedals in built.

And to be honest, I've probably gotten close to the 'Joe Tone' using S-Gear than I have with Amplitube.  Don't get me wrong - Amplitube is great, but I found it was a lot of work to tweak, whereas the lesser options in S-Gear (4 amps and 4 effects units) made it quicker to swap and change things around.

I am looking forward to playing with the new feature in AT4 over the coming weeks, especially the speaker selection, and the pedals in the effects loop stuff, to see what sort of tones I can get.

I was VERY impressed with their Mesa/Boogie pack they recently brought out, and in fact use those most of the time.  I play a real Mesa/Boogie most of the time (A Mark II-C and a DC-10) so I guess my tonal preferences lean that way.

The main thing I find lacking in Amplitube is the cab/mic settings.  As you have said, they can be lifeless, unless you tweak a lot.  I am hoping that the new speaker selection ability will help with that, but until I play with them, it is hard to say.  I always found the IR files way of doing things on S-Gear (and on my Axe-FX) gives me a more realistic cabinet sound with the necessary 'oompfh'. 

IK Multimedia's method of setting up the mic placement is getting better, but probably not at the same level yet.  Then again, it beats trying to sort and audition thousands of IR files on your system!

Perhaps look to Torpedo's "Wall of Sound" pluging for the cabinet and room modelling?  I have got that plugin and had some success experimenting with Amplitube and S-Gear.  It makes cabinet configuring as easy as the native Amplitube one, but with the better sound quality and punch of IRs.  I think they have a 14 day free trial or something on their web site so you can try it out.

JBLP Gold Top #129 - redubbed "#1 in Oz"
  • From: Central North Carolina
  • Registered: 2014-12-31
  • Posts: 166

Re: Joe's tones in Amplitube.

Thanks for the kind words. I do all my delays and reverbs in amplitube and now there even better with the effects loop. I found putting real delays and reverb in line before the software runs away from you and really muddle the sound. I have a couple of different over drives such as the ts808 that I use before as well and they seem to do a good job of coloring the sound. My way works well in line along either phasers, flanger snake trems. I don't have a midi foot switched so I use real pedals to turn them on off hands free. I've looked at the behringer fcb-1010 and may grab one in the future.

I can copy everything of joes up to the Cabinet and mic. That's where it runs away because you really have to take a lot of time and experimenting with the different placement and speakers. When using Rosin Digital cabs I would usually just use an Ac30 2x12 and that gets the cab splitting like Joe uses. The micing of the cabs is a little more complicating because he uses the palmers. I think I've read he uses Shure sm57s and and eviminence mic that escapes my mind right now for live. I'd really like to know the recording techniques in studio but can't seem to find anything.

If you get playing around with the speakers and find one that matches an evm12L please let me know. I have no experience in that realm and really is why I'm struggle. I'll give that program a look that you suggested. I was turned on to those Rosin Cabs by a guy named Pixxylixx on YouTube and used them exclusively with Amplitube 3. They have great punch and depth. You get 3 different mic placements with each cab.

I've heard a lot of people rave about the Mesa pack. I pretty much wait until sells and ended up getting the Slash, Bendrix, Orange, and Fender packs for great prices. The slash pack had a dd12 stomp which really helps on the delay end but as Joe has said on the forum, you have to tweak the knobs a little because all knobs at 12 o'clock is too much for that one.

Guitars: Gibson 2015 LP Traditional in Honeyburst, Gibson LP Studio Deluxe, Fender American Deluxe Telecaster, MIM Fender Strat with Dimarzio Areas, MIM Fender Hss Strat,  Epiphone Sheraton II, Breedlove Acoustic
Amplitube 4 with Scarlett 6i6 and 2i4 interfaces through studio monitors.