Oh for
the old days, standing in front of a big guitar amplifier and feeling the
power! A Vox AC30, a Fender Twin, or a huge Marshall stack!! There's
a wonderful physical relationship between the guitar and the player and the amp
is the flux.Oh for
the old days, standing in front of a big guitar amplifier and feeling the
power! A Vox AC30, a Fender Twin, or a huge Marshall stack!! There's
a wonderful physical relationship between the guitar and the player and the amp
is the flux.
But are those days gone?
For many years now guitarists have been using small pedals to create distorted guitar sounds, but these were always used in conjunction with an amp. Than we moved onto just using a sophisticated pedal and by passing the amp. It never really cut the mustard though. And now technology has gone even further. The virtual amp is here.
Yes folks, would you like to sound like you're playing
through a Jimi Hendrix style Marshall stack? No problem. Would you
like a fifteen inch speaker or would a twelve inch speaker be OK. Just
dial it in. Would you like a classic tube amp, or solid state? Just
flick that switch. 
These simulators have been with us for a few years, but they have come to a point of being very close to the real thing. I'm sure many guitarists would find it hard to pick the difference in a blind test. They come in two forms; small boxes that you plug into a recording system, or a software within recording systems.
So how do they work? Well, it all starts with the original. Each classic amp has to be analysed.
The process of mapping the amplitude v frequency curves and sophisticated mathematics is required to individually measure every amp and painstakingly analysing its dynamic properties in every detail.
Engineers have spent hours and hours and not to mention a
fortune building up a comprehensive collection of the most popular amplifiers,
cabinets and effects in order to thoroughly analyse their tonal aspects, trying
to reveal their sonic signatures and to know about tube-powered amps, including
how different tube types respond under various conditions.
They’ve studied how a tube processes an input signal, how the signal is coloured and shaped, how distortion occurs, how the signal affects other parts of the system, and then modelled them virtually.
But the pay off is large sales. These simulators offer such a huge range of sounds at the push of a button (or click of a mouse), that they're worth their weight in gold. And just like the real amp, you can adjust all the usual parameters.
Session muso's can get sounds quickly, instead of tweaking controls for ten minutes to change a sound. That saves studios money. Recording artists can get new ideas and directions for their music quickly.
So will simulators replace the real amps? Not likely. There's still that physical connection for the guitarist having a big sound, feeling the sound, especially on stage. It makes them play differently. And as for recording, if you've got the time, an amp is still better, again for the 'feel' reason more than the sound.
Long live the amp!