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Amp Tone MP3 Samples

New link 6/2001

http://www.kometamps.com/html/kometsound.html -- Komet Amps

New links 1/2001

These links might also appear further below.

 

Sound Files at http://www.legendarytones.com - mostly fx. Solo, short, not hi-fi.

http://www.blueguitar.org/sounds.htm - some amp mod MP3s

http://www.bombfactory.com/soundclips -- new, Jan 2001 - mp3s of SansAmp ampsim software:
SansAmpDrums.mp3
SansAmpSolina.mp3 -- Solina String Ensemble synth run through SansAmp PSA-1 software.
1. Unprocessed
2. Increasing preamp dist.
3. Punch added to thicken mids.
4. Drive is increased for power-amp distortion.
5. Crunch is added, for blown speaker sound.

'http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?A_PROD_NO=AX100G -- MP3s of Korg AX100G floor processor. 8 500KB files. Short? Yes (not song-length). Solo? Yes. Hi-Fi? Yes.

Not focus on amp tone, but certainly good samples.

Echo 81 is Wall-style.

harmonizer AMinor61

Bender is pitch-shift whammy like Satriani or Zorn. Cool.

Funky_42 is wah, env filt, or autowah.

Fback_54.mp3 - echo. When hold a note, feedsback. In this clip, the feedback sounds (interestingly) synthetic compared to my Sustainiac Type B. The sample is very preamp-distorted.

Ringman_34.mp3 - ring mod. robot-like sci-fi. Martian guitar. Would like to hear Paranoid lead through this (I will add the Paranoid lead to the Reamp project).

SlowAtk_83.mp3 -- auto volume-fade-in.

Surf_43.mp3 - great job on this clip. Variable-rate trem with reverb. Compressor.

Amp tone MP3s found on the Web

There are many MP3s that feature a full band, with a full-length song, with heavy lossy compression, but that type of sample does not enable people to hear the details of the amp tone. Please make solo, short, hi-fi samples of amp tone, with any instrument and email the URL.

MP3 is currently underutilized for guitar sample clips, but the guitar and the Web multimedia capability are a perfect match. Here is a use of Web-based audio and video for guitar instruction.

Crossroads - crossroads-guitar.com - A new way to learn to play guitar with steaming videos, sound clips, tablature, live on-line lessons and much more.

ToneKing.com - "Comet amp samples coming soon," 8/10/2000.

Celestion speaker samples

Duncan 10-watt tube amp samples

Chapin Guitars amp tone clips - many of Dr. Z, Top Hat. Zeeta planned.

Dr. Z Maz 38

Dr. Z Route 66

Dr. Z Prescription

Good Joe Walsh-style instrumental MP3s - Danny Russell. (not solo, not short, hi-fi). Effective combination of MIDI instrumentation and rock guitar with miked tube combo amps.

All the guitar sounds are real guitars through an assortment of small orphaned combos that I've accumulated. The single mic was placed close on the speaker in all instances, but positioned differently depending on the particular amp in use, and/or just depending on what I needed to hear on a particular track. The guitar tracks were basically recorded flat and dry. On a couple tracks, small amounts of corrective EQ were used to remove rumbling or booming noises from below, but not so as to shape tonality. Also on a few of the solos, a small amount of amp reverb was used, mostly just to loosen up my playing a bit. No direct was used on guitar parts.

Since I had the amp with me in the same room as the playback monitors, I had to throw a thick blanket over the amp and mic to muffle the volume and minimize bleedthrough. Only problem is that amp doesn't ventilate with the blanket on. In two instances, I had an amps produce smoke while recording. That puts danger in the sound! You can't get that any other way. ...vocals on Head Around were sung through, and miked off of the same amp the guitars were recorded through (Marshall master volume combo). I sang into the amp using an ancient ('72) omni-directional condenser that came with my Sony portable cassette recorded that I somehow still have from when I was a kid."

Equipment was really basic. Nothing exotic. Mic is an Optimus 33-3018 dynamic, bought it on sale for $19.95 (cheap). It's Radio Shack's crappy version of a Shure 57. The only difference is that unlike the Shure, it probably wouldn't withstand the high SPL's of close-miking real drums... Soundcard, I couldn't even tell you. I can't find a number on it anywhere, but it does say Yamaha on it. It came with my 'puter. It's really noisy, but I think I've managed to utilize that to my advantage as an additional warmth to the final sound. The MIDI voices were all generated in software via Yamaha S-YXG50 (came with the soundcard).


Chris Manuel's music site - amps for samples include Boogie .50 Caliber, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Fender Pro Junior, and Marshall JCM600 head.

Kendrick amp demos

Kendrick amp demos by Gerald Weber

Mike Carlyle

Mike Carlyle's download page with several samples
Marshall Studio 15 amp (local page about this amp) - 6V6. TS10 poverdrive pedal. Built-in 1x12" speaker.

his MP3 amp tone page - his mp3.com page. Tele into 6V6 Tone. not solo. short. mid-fi.

I have a backup of spork and bonus> Spork (I have a backup)

Bonus (I have a backup)

Roccaforte Amps - samples - solo, short, not hi-fi (mp3 versions).

amp samples at tonefrenzy.com - solo, short, not hi-fi. In addition to amp section, has POD samples. The AX212 samples would be perfect except they are brought down to merely typical overall quality because of the current Tonefrenzy.com technique of deliberately mixing in the picking sound.

Darryl's ax84 samples (short, solo, almost hi-fi)

AX84.com has amp samples - 5 watt DIY collective amp project with ever-increasing variations.

Licho's AX84 samples - sounds like post echo added. czerw_s.mp3 is worth hearing - good AX84 with multiple preamps tube example, amp also has volume reducer single-position power attenuator. And pentode/triode switch. ziel_s.mp3 has chorus clean.

Peavey audio/video samples, various

Review of three amps (with sound samples) by Dorian Adams at his site - "30 watt amp taste test w/sound samples!" Matchless John Jorgenson, Dr. Z Maz 38, and the Kendrick Black Gold.

Amp tone samples at BrunoAmps.com - not solo. short. not hi-fi.

guitarhacker.com/soundclip.asp - various formats, gear, contributors from rec.music.makers.guitar newsgroup (typically not solo, not short, not hi-fi). Or try here

clips of the Mesa Subway Rocket Reverb and Kinman AVn pickups - modded Mesa/Boogie Subway Rocket Reverb with the 12" Celestion 90. NOS JAN Philips 12AX7s and NOS Sylvania EL84s. From Stratolux, including the riff-rock guitar-centered instrumental song, Downshift: '98 Fender Deluxe Strat w/rosewood fingerboard, original 70s script-logo MXR Phase 90, Mesa/Boogie Subway Rocket Reverb. Shure SM57 mic, ninety degrees off outside speaker cone, 1 1/2" from grille.

 

Beatles "The End" riff-trading 112 Kbps (500 KB) 160 Kbps (700 KB) - ~solo, short, hi-fi

harmony central MP3 album online - includes: (not solo. not short. hi-fi)

Fantabulosity: MP3s with amp tone
    Ampeg Jet 15-watt amp (1 MB) - clanky, liquidy amp tone.

DI, Marshall, and MIDI clips from Jarl Sigurd

LStar's Shred samples

Fuse Blower stompbox demo by Jacques at ts808.com.

Modelling amps and amp modelling processors

Zoom VAMS modelling samples CD - free mail order. I received this very quickly, like 5 days, with a neat little catalog of Zoom products.

Track

Product

1-37

GFX-8

38-44

GFX-707 & GFX-708

45-51

505II & 506II

52-64

GM-200

65-70

RFX-2000

71-73

RFX-1000 & 300

74

RT-123

75

??-234

76

ST-224


BOSS $5 demo CD of effects - also, GT-3 demo video, $5. BOSS Groove gear demo CD-ROM/Audio CD, $5. To order, in U.S., phone the Roland SuperStore at (800) 386-7575.

Crate DX series modelling amps - samples  (my product page)

Tech 21

Gaspedal.com - Tech21 product info/samples including Sans Amp

Tech 21: Trademark 60 - sample MP3s

H-C review of Trademark 10 - page 3 has samples

Tech 21: Trademark 10 - sample MP3s

Tech 21: SansAmp, Comptortion, and XXL Warp - click the Sounds menu

http://www.bombfactory.com/soundclips -- new Jan 2001 - mp3s of SansAmp ampsim software

Russian GuitarFX software site - no-delay software for live PC-as-preamp/amp use. Weird site layout and downloading, but seems like interesting software and top-quality content. By Simanenkov Dmitry, tube amp designer and digital audio engineer.

 

Broken tagging

[todo - fix hidden tagging here]

 

Using Word as an HTML editor has broken the bottom of this page and I have to untangle the tagging.

 

Processing phase 3: mix-down and production of the re-amp result

MD playback to Soundblaster analog In
Cubase entry-level software mixer/sequencer
Cubase wav editor
Reverb on reversed segment is from Cubase
Cubase mastering: EQ - bass and treble boost
Fraunhofer 192 Kbps MP3 encoding via Music Match

For re-amping, I hope for hard-drive playback/recording rather than 2 MD decks. Hope to use software EQ and overdrive rather than pedals.

I'm considering running an amp tone MP3 contest with gift certificate prizes to encourage more and better amp tone MP3s. I cannot be assured of creating definitive ideal samples of what great amp Tone should sound like. And my time and equipment are limited. That's why I am considering running a contest with gear gift certificate prizes. I'd like to see more and better MP3 pure amp Tone samples. A lot of gear and skills are required to be able to upload a short, good MP3. It could be sponsored by Tonefrenzy.com, Amptone.com, and the alt.guitar.amps newsgroup, as a collaborative project.

Please get sequencing/mixing software and mics, and upload MP3s of pure amp tone. Re-amping works well for this; record direct guitar, playback short track looped, use as input signal to play continuously while you work on your amp/pedal/software settings. Try: record guitar direct to hard drive, play back through PC with some software-based preprocessing (EQ, comp, dist), send out to power tube, spk, and mic, then return to PC for post-processing (EQ, comp, time fx). Good software and a powerful computer should enable this dual realtime processing easily. Expect a 20-40 mS lag?

The first demonstration MP3 to provide here is "what does power tube saturation sound like". I will show how to slam a tube power amp with an eq to test for musicality of narrow-bandwidth strong overdrive. I will compare TS9 to a tube power amp, and cascading TS9s compared to cascading tube power amp -> load stages, with miked speaker, and again with speaker terminal tap box. The TS9 does sound quite a bit like the power tube distortion signal that pushes the guitar speaker - but the final dynamic lens is important, of a speaker pushed by saturating power tubes. For this type of MP3, it is helpful to have low-volume cranked amp tone gear such as power attenuator combined with isolation cabinet. I am glad I have multiple speaker isolation boxes - this enables a variety of advanced configurations (e.g. cascaded miked speakers) and A/B tests.

Please suggest how I can serve out a lot of megabytes of amp Tone samples for free or nearly so. WinAmp has teamed with another company to provide online music lockers to store many MB for free. Would this work? Should I make amp Tone samples downloadable through MP3.com?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blues Harp

Blues harp re-amped - performed and recorded dry by Richard Rinn using a Shure Beta 87A mic. Provided by Richard to Amptone.com. Re-amped by Amptone.com, through slight smile EQ then Fender Blues Jr. amp. amptone-com_03.mp3, 340 KB, 28 sec, 96 Kbps mono

Can you suggest improvements on the Tone? How can I distort or EQ this to make it sound better? I could change EQ before the amp or in the amp, or move the mic, or add reverb or echo.

I have not listened to enough amplified blues harp to know what the best Tone sounds like. I would like to have a contest, providing Richard's dry WAV file so you can try to make a re-amped MP3 that sounds better than mine. But I need to set up something like an mp3.com area, because my site has limited download capacity. I would also like more people to send me short, dry WAV samples of blues harp, to re-amp it. I also plan to send Richard's clip through a 1.5 watt amp and an ancient Kay amp.

I tried to crank the bass, but a 60 Hz background appears. The clip came out less distorted than I expected - I could have turned it up a tiny bit more. The 60 Hz goes away when listening to speakers; it's obvious with headphones and a little more bass or gain. I guess the cupping technique acts as EQ as well.

Dennis Gruenling harp amp tone - harmonica that sounds like low sax - must-hear: song Jump Time, 2:17. Also, song 12 o'clock has amp'd harp throughout. Real Blues Magazine named Dennis Gruenling & Jump Time the best blues harp album of 1999.

German amp'd blues harp. Song "Boogie, bis Du brennst", at 0:08-0:21.

tooblue.net - blues radio or direct link to start playing - I was immediately greeted with vintage blues guitar amp tone. Lots of harp amp tone.

Designing Harp Tone Samples

Choices:

1. Which mic to use a. harp mics suited to overdriving the sound b. Shure Beta 87A vocal mic c. Rode NT-2 condenser

I don't know, so this could be an area to provide an A/B test pair.

2. Mic angle a. off-mic b. on-mic

Don't know

3. How far back from the mic a. Close, to get minimum room sound b. Far

Either way might be ok, close is safer

4. What sort of "clean" harmonica sound a. Very clean b. Mic-soaked c. harp->mic->amp->spk->mic

4a is certainly good, 4b maybe. 4c is not right for the *input* WAV.

5. What to play, how to play a. hand wah b. Chicago c. country

5b is what I especially have in mind - blues/rock saturated harp playing style.

Guidelines for Creating Better Amp Tone MP3s

I plan to provide the input WAV or 320 Kbps MP3 file at the site as well so that other people can process the input clip through their own gear and upload the result. This will teach the power of the studio technique of re-amping, as well. All files should include an indexing string to find full information about the clip.

There might not be a samples CD of harp. I bought a guitar samples CD for re-amp experimenting, and some other instruments are available as input on sample CDs.

There are similar questions for demonstrating guitar amp tone: should the input WAV be perfectly clean, or include preamp distortion? Which pickup should be used?

What is the goal of amp tone clips?

Amp tone clips can provide an example of how to use a tube amp and guitar speaker (instrument speaker) to create a sound that is richer and more interesting than a DI approach that doesn't use an instrument speaker and mic, and richer than using a solid-state power amp, speaker, and mic. I want to show that an ideal tube amp setup can produce a wider variety of sounds than an amp-modelling approach that does not use a power tube and miked instrument speaker. A tube amp can provably produce sounds that are beyond the reach of current amp modelling products, sounds that are worthwhile. I want to provide a challenging goal for the amp-modelling designers, and show musicians that they should not be completely satisfied with the Tone produced by today's amp modelling products. The goal is that everyone get better sounds from tube amp gear and from amp modelling gear.

For this reason, for A/B demonstrations, I will buy a POD or the Distortion Modeller from Line 6 when it hits the market in July. The store at Experience Music Project (emplive.com) carries $150 Squire Strats, and the display has no pedals or amp, but has a POD with headphones - appropriate for this high-tech music museum.

Why are the present amp tone clips on the Web inadequate? The existing clips on the Web are not helpful toward this goal of demonstrating the potential of tube amps and miked speakers.

Therefore provide clips this way:

When providing the clean input WAV and soliciting processed uploads of this same input WAV from other people, explain these demonstration techniques.

mp3

Ampaholics: The Vintage Collection Vol. 1 -- samples CD of vintage valve amps.

[mp3s]

guitarwar.com - does for guitar playing mp3s what I want to do for amp tone mp3s -- competition for the best.

[mp3]

redo:

Defective mono lo-fi MP3. Neck pickup, Blues Jr. EL84 15 watt tube amp, with 3-stage equalization, miked in an isolation box. download 01 (1.5 MB)

[mp3]

jamOne.mp3 - Texas Blues tone. He used just a Strat and an Ampeg Jet 15-watt tube amp for this recording. I'd like to hear this with a serious speaker cabinet - such as a 2x12 with low-wattage speakers.

Scott's page with several clips

[mp3]

A big issue for most people is where to upload samples to; long, hi-fidelity, stereo samples are *huge*. I just downloaded the Line6 samples - 34 MB (2 minutes at 3 Mbps T3). If I use both my domains ($25/month each), that's 6000 MB per month - raising the problem of popularity. If I post clips and everyone loves them and spreads the word, I'll have to remove the clips because I've exceeded my download limit. But Winamp has some scheme now with several gigs of space to use for such things, apparently. I think most samples play a single Tone for too long. It might be better to post very short, high-fidelity clips - perhaps mono - to hear 15 seconds of an amp tone (that should be enough to assess the Tone).

[mp3]

Who can provide the best amp tone sample? It is a whole set of requirements.

After all these requirements, it's clear why there are so few good or even fair amp tone samples online - there are advanced and specialized skills and commitments required as prequisites. Challenges aside, what audio material would be best? It is so much easier to think in terms of a great amp tone video. I have about the only amp tone video, and it is as poorly designed and recorded as most online amp tone samples so far. These experiences have given me a greater respect for producers and recording engineers. Recording a great amp tone is more difficult than producing a great amp tone at the guitar speaker, and creating and uploading a great sounding MP3 is even harder. end posted

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