A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Normally $150

I had played around some with the free version of Tonex, and it was fun, but I quickly ran out of the 20 user slots available in the free model for downloading captures off the web. The SE version comes with 200 amp models, but more importantly it allows unlimited free or paid 3rd party captures. It also allows you the ability to "capture" your own amps. A no-brainer for $50:

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-aud ... a-tonex-se

https://www.guitarcenter.com/IK-Multime ... ex&index=3

How do these sample your amp? With a microphone? Does it send a freq sweep into the inputs?

mozz wrote: ↑Thu Apr 06, 2023 4:47 pm How do these sample your amp? With a microphone? Does it send a freq sweep into the inputs?

I haven't done it yet, but basically the same concept as a Kemper- you set the amp how you want it, mic it up, connect the software to it vis a PC interface, and the software sends bleeps and bloops to the amp and records the results. I've heard some (ok, a LOT of) tragically bad amp profiles, but also some good ones.

I'm not a "welcome our digital overlords" kind of guy, but at $50 it's a fun toy. I will say that when I plug a good TONEX capture into my MAZ18 through my PC interface, it sounds pretty cool.

Here's my question, so you now have a sample. The sample doesn't know you had all the bass mid treble at noon. You turn bass mid treble all the way up/ down, so now you have to take another sample because the amp now sounds different. This could end up being 50 samples. Or does it when you do the initial sample ask you to turn all the knobs so it gets a profile of the freq sweep? Same with the volume control, reverb, gain, master. That would take a very long time to sample all possible combinations.

If you are just sampling 1 setting that you like, 100 other people who have " twin reverb" are gonna sound totally different. Maybe I'm getting sampling and replication mixed up.

mozz wrote: ↑Fri Apr 07, 2023 7:01 am Here's my question, so you now have a sample. The sample doesn't know you had all the bass mid treble at noon. You turn bass mid treble all the way up/ down, so now you have to take another sample because the amp now sounds different. This could end up being 50 samples. Or does it when you do the initial sample ask you to turn all the knobs so it gets a profile of the freq sweep? Same with the volume control, reverb, gain, master. That would take a very long time to sample all possible combinations.

If you are just sampling 1 setting that you like, 100 other people who have " twin reverb" are gonna sound totally different. Maybe I'm getting sampling and replication mixed up.

You have it exactly right, and that was the big sticking point for me against "capturing" amps. If Joe used a Les Paul with EMGs to set up his Plexi for his amp capture, it won't sound that great if I try to play it with a strat with vintage wind pickups. If you're doing your own amp captures though, you can set them up for your own preferences. I can "capture" my YBA-1 at settings that sound good with my LP Special, then play it at home in headphones at night or use it was a plugin. That's the theory, anyway.

For amp captures created by others though, what I've found is you just wind up having to sift through mountains of garbage (especially the free stuff) to find the ones that work for you. I went through about 20 AC30s the other day, 15 were completely unusable, three sounded OK, two were pretty good. Some of the 3rd party guys seem like they know what they're doing and create stuff that works more universally. I haven't bought any yet, but will probably buy a few capture packs of unobtanium amps that'll be fun to try.

I wouldn't have spent $2k and up on a Kemper to do this, but for $50 I'll give it a whirl. I was busy last night and never even registered the update, hopefully this weekend.

I guess it depends if you are using a SM57 or other mic also. Does sound like a bargain for $50.