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Loud, Hot, and Fully Blown

“…if I turn it down, the sound changes. And I can’t get the sustain I want.” 1 – Eric Clapton discussing the recording of Blues Breakers

Time seems to have a dulling effect on our collective memory. Stories that we thought would last forever don’t seem to be as relevant in today’s culture. Things that were shocking no longer seem to shock. Sounds that were too loud and aggressive no longer seem as loud or as aggressive as they once were. In 1968, Cream was at the height of it’s commercial success. Bringing intense, improvisational blues rock to audiences night after night. As Mickey Hart said in Beware of Mr. Baker, “They were like Vikings. It was like scorched earth. They were there to take heads.”2 But they were simultaneously falling apart at the seams due to internal friction, they would break up by the end of the year.

But not before releasing two albums and going on a farewell tour. At this point, there was no question audiences were going to be subjected to some very serious volume, specifically coming from cranked Marshall amplifiers. But just like a distant memory, that’s no longer what people hear when they listen to these performances. In stark contrast, modern sound systems put cranked Marshall amplifiers to shame. With advances in sound reinforcement and improvements in audio quality, audiences now experience a much higher fidelity concert, in some cases in stereo or multi-channel audio. And while there is still room to grow, to take live shows to new levels of creativity, the days of driving guitar amplifiers to their destructive brinks are faded memories of the past. It was with this in mind that we set out to revisit some of the sounds heard on Disraeli Gears when we realized Wheels of Fire and it’s groundbreaking live performances might be more interesting to analyze.

This Wheel’s on Fire

Figure 1: Live recording configuration from 1968 concerts used for Wheels of Fire. From “An In-Depth Interview with Engineer/Producer Tom Dowd,” by P. Laurence, 1975, Recording Engineer/Producer, Volume 6 (Number 3) p. 38.

Tom Dowd first worked with Cream on Disraeli Gears and would go on to work with Eric Clapton extensively during his solo career. He may have been the first, or at least one of the first engineers to figure out how to record a Marshall amplifier on full blast. While most would have asked the artist to turn it down for the purposes of making a proper record, Tom let it rip and got it all on tape. And for this we are forever grateful. Despite his involvement with Cream in the studio, Tom had a busy career working for Atlantic Records and for the live recordings on Wheels of Fire he was only present early on to check sound quality before turning the engineering reigns over to Bill Halverson, a relatively new engineer from Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco, then on his second remote assignment.

Bill opened up to an interviewer in a mid-70s publication regarding the recording setup he used for these live performances. Two mics, one on each amp, selecting one of eight speakers across two cabinets per amplifier, blended, and that’s it. And it really is. Clapton had a wah pedal in between his guitar and amp, and nothing else. He relied on volume, tone controls, and the pickup selector to emphasize different passages. More bass for his famed Woman Tone, more volume for blistering solos, rolling back during verses, and changing pick attacks to signal delicate melodies or phrase notes more aggressively, all tied together with an amazing vibrato technique. It would be his voice in the days when he didn’t like to sing.

Cascading Distortion

But then how does the guitar end up sounding like that? It’s certainly distorted, sometimes violin-like, sometimes thick and muddy, sometimes harsh. It’s really combination of things. The humbucking pickups in The Fool pushing the front end, the amp turned up loud driving the power-amp into saturation, and the speakers also getting pushed to the edge of their operable state. It’s interesting, because on playback, far removed from the physicality of the loudness, to a young listener it probably sounds just like a muddy guitar. A recognizable and primitive sound that would get refined by boosting treble, cutting bass, and scooping mids through subsequent hard rock and heavy metal bands. Ultimately ending up in a buzz-saw onslaught until we just couldn’t take any more.

However, if you take a moment to let your ears adjust and unlearn the modern sound of guitar, you might find that this sound is richer, more nuanced, and more dynamic. It’s not squashed and brittle, it breathes with each note. Especially for younger guitarists who can’t yet play with speed, slowing down and learning to articulate phrasing might not be such a bad thing. We’ve read that the Marshall amplifiers Clapton was using were transitional, meaning old stock with new head boxes and logos. While these amps may look like the new models with split cathodes, they’re likely not. Since we’re using the Normal channel, the differences are actually minor, it was the Treble channel (Channel I) that changed drastically between these two revisions, nonetheless we’ve employed the VG402B Amplifier.

More Lore

“I had a little Shure microphone which no matter where I’d put it, it just distorted! …I ended up in the center of [the] speakers, not in front of any of them.”3 – Bill Halverson discussing how he recorded Cream live

That’s revealing and something we focused on when dialing in the VG 4×12 ’67 Cabinet. Using a combination of Offset and Cabinet Drive we were able to replicate the sound of an off-center mic picking up a speaker playing well above it’s operating range. The sound in unmistakable, start with a medium output humbucker in the bridge position and you’ll be right there next to the band in hallowed halls. You can roll off the highs with your tone control or engage the Dark Boost for convenience, simulating tone control effects while also providing a boost for solos via the EQ100 Treble Boost (or in this case, treble cut via the Invert toggle). Lastly, things wouldn’t be complete without the WH100 Wah. Control via MIDI for hands free operation or just let the default setting wrap around your notes, it’s a classic.

The Presets

It was also important to dial in some echo to create sense of space, sounds bouncing off the walls as listeners ears are getting melted. In this case we went with the AMB200 Spring Reverb set to a short decay with a decent amount of pre-delay to get a slapback repeat that was pleasing to our ears. That’s another cool thing about our Ambience modules, they can be configured with shorter decays to get a variety of room sounds as well as the traditional echoes that they’re known for. The spring reverb is in Mono, a nod to the times, but check out the Echo Chamber or Plate Reverb for stereo options.

Loudness IIDownload

Loudness II: starts off with the basics: cranked amp, offset mic, and cabinet drive. Instant bliss.

Loudness IIbDownload

Loudness IIb: engages Dark Boost for violin-like leads, switch to the neck pickup for even more cream.

BoleroDownload

Bolero: engages both Dark Boost and Wah in fixed position which helps to accentuate lead passages.

CleanishDownload

Cleanish: dials it back just a little for a change in mood.

1 Port, Ian S. The Birth of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul and the Guitar Pioneering Rivalry that shaped Rock n’ Roll. Scribner, 2019, p. 227.

2 Beware of Mr. Baker. Directed by Jay Bulger, Insurgent Media, Pugilist at Rest Productions, 2012.

3 Genzolini, E. Cream: Claption, Bruce & Baker Sitting on Top of the World. Schiffer, 2023, p. 49.

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Celebrating 10 Years of AmpStamp

A look back at the first 10 years of AmpStamp, and a technical decision that we’ve never talked about.

It’s hard to believe that AmpStamp turned 10 this January. 10 years of coding, 10 years of listening tests and A/B comparisons, 10 years of chasing classic recordings down endless rabbit holes. We wanted to take a moment to mark the occasion and share something we’ve never really talked about publicly. It’s a technical decision that shaped the sound of AmpStamp from day one, and looking back, we probably should have been talking about it from day one.

Convolution, on a Phone, in 2016

When we shipped the first version of AmpStamp (then called Vintage Guitar) on January 19th, 2016. At the time, the standard approach for cabinet emulation on mobile was algorithmic. A chain of filters, some carefully tuned EQ curves, and a hope that it sounded close enough. It’s a reasonable approach—it’s lightweight, it doesn’t tax the CPU, and on headphones most people couldn’t tell the difference anyway. The major iOS amp sims of the day were all going this route. But there was another approach, well-established on desktop by then, used in plugins like Two Notes Torpedo and various IR loaders that pro studios were already running: convolution. Instead of approximating what a speaker cabinet sounded like with filters, you could take a recorded snapshot of an actual cabinet—an impulse response—and mathematically apply that snapshot to a guitar signal in real time. It’s not an approximation. It’s the actual sound, re-applied.

We went with convolution. With Support for iPhone 4. In 2016.

This was, to put it mildly, not the obvious choice. Real-time convolution at audio rates was expensive on mobile hardware of the day, and getting it to run cleanly while also handling the rest of the signal chain—amp model, effects, all of it—took some work. But the difference in sound was undeniable. A real cabinet has resonances and complex behavior that algorithmic models, no matter how carefully tuned, just don’t fully capture. Once you’ve heard your guitar through a convolution-based cab, going back is hard.

To be clear about what we did: we captured real cabinets ourselves and built a custom convolution engine. We weren’t shipping an IR loader for users to drop in their own files—we were using IRs as the foundation of how every cabinet in AmpStamp sounds, baked in so that guitarists could just pick a cabinet and play. Convolution was the engine, not a feature.

The Part We Kept Quiet About

Here’s the thing—we didn’t talk about it. The technique itself wasn’t patentable, convolution and impulse responses had been around for ages, and the concept of using IRs for guitar cabinets was already old news in high-end studios. What we had was an early, performant implementation on mobile, which is a craft advantage, not a legal one.

The thinking at the time was, if we publicly say AmpStamp uses convolution, we’re basically pointing competitors in the right direction. The work to get there on mobile was nontrivial, but once someone knew where to look, the path got a lot shorter. So we let the app speak for itself and figured guitarists with good ears would notice the difference.

That was a mistake. Not the technical decision—the marketing one.

The Lesson

On the App Store, no one hears the difference unless you tell them what to listen for. Guitarists scrolling through amp sim apps aren’t doing blind A/B tests. They’re reading screenshots and bullet points, often listening through phone speakers, making decisions in seconds. The technical decision that made AmpStamp sound more authentic was completely invisible at the point of purchase.

Meanwhile, “convolution-based cabinet modeling using real impulse responses” is exactly the kind of bullet point that gear nerds among us actually read carefully. We had the substance. We just didn’t put it on the label. It would be years before convolution-based cabinet tech became the standard on iOS. The major mobile amp sims didn’t move in that direction until somewhere between four and seven years after we shipped. By the time the field caught up, the differentiation was gone—and we’d never even claimed the ground when it was ours to claim. It’s a lesson we’re carrying forward.

Hear It For Yourself

Which brings us to Free Previews, our newest feature. The idea is simple—we want everyone to be able to hear these tones, regardless of whether they’ve paid for the gear yet. Pull up a preset, hit play, and hear what AmpStamp actually sounds like. The amp, the cabinet, the convolution under the hood, all of it. No subscription, no purchase, just the tone in your ears.

It’s the answer to a question we should have been asking 10 years ago: how do we let people hear what we’ve built? It turns out the best way is to just let them play it.

Looking Forward

AmpStamp is still going strong. The convolution engine we shipped in 2016 is still doing its thing, still helping guitarists land on tones that sound like the records they love. We’ve added a lot since then—new amps, new cabinets, new effects, the recent Cabinet Drive feature, and most recently the EQ200 Dual Parametric Equalizer which has unlocked a whole new realm of heavy metal tone exploration.

And we’re bringing what we learned to SynthStamp, our new app that launched on April 3rd of this year. SynthStamp is built on the same philosophy—technical decisions that most users won’t see at first, but that you’ll hear immediately. Model 5001 is the first ARP 2600 emulation on mobile, with full patch cabling, and Model B500 is, as far as we can tell, a first-ever circuit-bendable take on the Casio SK-1. All models also accept stereo audio input for real-time effects processing, which almost no other synth app does.

This time, we’re telling you up front. We learned that one the hard way.

Thanks for 10 years of AmpStamp. Here’s to the next 10.

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SynthStamp™

We’re excited to announce our new app, SynthStamp!

The Vintage Synth Playground You Can Take Anywhere

SynthStamp is a celebration of the history of electronic music, featuring fully modeled engines and familiar user interfaces behind some of the most desirable synthesizers. Tap and drag to patch, save your patch as a preset, and export presets to share across all of your devices including Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Yes that’s right, iPhone. Take your sound anywhere.

Choose Your Adventure

There’s a lot to dig into, we know you’ll have fun creating some inspiring sounds. Key features for this initial release include:

  • Stereo audio input for realtime effects processing
  • Model 5001 based on the ARP 2600–finally on mobile
  • Circuit-bendable model B500 based on the SK-1–we haven’t seen one either

Stay Tuned for New Gear

We’re launching release 0.9 to get these synths out there and in your ears. We’re seeking some early feedback and will be rolling out an official 1.0 release shortly. This will include additional features like sequencing and, of course, more synths. Let us know what you think and what you want to see next!

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The Best Sounding Marshall in Denmark

“…there was this guy in some band that had a great-sounding Marshall that we used. We dubbed it the ‘Best Sounding Marshall in Denmark.’ We used his head for the majority of the album.” – Kirk Hammet1

Let’s take a moment to revisit one of the all time classic metal tones from Metallica’s second album, Ride The Lightning. In a previous post, we found an extremely convincing tone with our Mesa/Boogie Mark II C+ model, positing that the band got their Mesas earlier than we thought. However, a recent photograph from the Master of Puppets re-issue book gave us something new to think about. That, and the fact that we just launched the EQ200 Dual Parametric Equalizer has really changed our take on this tone. Before we dive into Kirk’s revealing quote above, let’s review some history.

Early Days

While the Marshall 2203 (Master Volume) amplifier remains a classic to this day, we came across an interesting observation about the cat-and-mouse game between service technicians and the engineers working at Marshall. For a select few technicians who knew about amplifier design and could translate the concerns and complaints of their customers into actual modifications, they would become legends in the industry. It all started with a simple request to make amplifiers louder to accommodate performing in larger spaces. Eventually, many realized that they liked the sound of their amplifiers on full blast but couldn’t take that extra volume into smaller venues like rehearsal or recording studios. Enter the concept of a Master Volume control.

The goal of a Master Volume control was simple: get the sound of an amplifier running at full volume without the loudness. Despite the simplicity of the concept, different approaches really changed how an amplifier could sound. First and foremost the preamplifier needed to be boosted in order to provide more volume and with that came a decision about how and where to boost, as well as frequency compensation choices to avoid undesirable characteristics. Variations for boosts included adding additional tube stages at the input, cascading Normal and Bright channels if available, or even repurposing tubes from tremolo circuits to get some extra gain. Once the preamplifier was blazing it was time to add a second volume control, but this also came with a choice as placing a volume control before or after the Phase Inverter didn’t sound the same. Taking things one step further, some technicians even created (famously) resistive loads that could take the full output of an amplifier on blast down to line level for re-amplification into a second amplifier, effectively placing the volume control after the power stage, capturing the theoretical “true” output of an amplifier.

Model 2203

The team at Marshall had to be aware of what their customers we’re doing, because in the mid-70s it appeared that they attempted to capitalize on these advancements by developing the model 2203: a master volume amplifier that essentially cascaded the Normal and Bright channels of it’s predecessor, with a pre-Phase Inverter master volume control. And history was made.

But customers and techs didn’t stop there. They continued to experiment with new modifications to the 2203, including shifting to a post-Phase Inverter volume control and adding clipping diodes for even more distortion. Additionally, a true line-level output was pioneered and served as a much safer way to employ post-processing when compared with previous attempts using resistive loads at the output of the amplifier.

JCM 800 Series

And so what did the engineers at Marshall do? They listened to their customers (and technicians) and introduced the model 2210. Note, the model 4210 actually came first and was a combo amplifier in the same series. While Marshall had already incorporated a second volume control in their now famous 2203 model, they attempted to incorporate the latest trends with their newest model. This included clipping diodes, an effects loop, and reverb. The effects loop was likely a compromise to a line out since running the output of effects back into the amplifier was more economical than requiring players to purchase a second amplifier. Again, it appears that this was Marshall’s answer to the community of techs that were making names for themselves offering enhancements to their stock factory products.

Ride the Lightning

But back to the main story, let’s take a look at that photo! This provides some insight into what Metallica and producer Flemming Rasmussen might have done during the recording of Ride the Lightning.

From Metallica | Back to the Front (p. 65), by Taylor, Matt, 2016. Copyright 2016 by We’re Only In It For The Music and Moonrise Media LLC.

On top of the amplifier, connected in series, we see two T.C. Electronic Dual Parametric Equalizers. While we know the Aphex PEQ-1 was used on later albums, it had not occurred to us to try this out with Ride The Lightning. Of course, these pedals are from a different company but the effect is the same—parametric equalization. With the recent updates to the VG408D Amplifier, we created the Lightning II preset in a 2203-style configuration with the EQ200 Dual Parametric Equalizer and the results are nothing short of amazing. Lowering the gain from the amp to match the capability of early master volume revisions combined with more drive from the OD101 Overdrive, you can hear the unmistakable metallic chunk on those muted power chords.

We also see an Ibanez Tube Screamer, and a Stereo Box. The latter likely used as a splitter though it’s not clear how. The splitter might have been used to record both direct and mic’d sounds for the guitar, slightly blended to provide more top end in the mix. Also, it’s worth noting that this is could possibly be a cascaded amp configuration. With AmpStamp, we decided to take advantage of the FX Loop with the VG408D Amplifier as opposed to running two amplifiers in series, for convenience.

Preset: Lightning II

Lightning IIDownload

The classic tone revisited. It’s just sounds more… metallic! The treble shines through and though this tone would be abandoned on later records it’s place is cemented in metal history.

Preset: Lightning IIb

Lightning IIbDownload

An alternate take on this updated tone, with less treble and more resonance. This tone seems like it was used on Fight Fire with Fire before things got dialed in on subsequent tracks though ultimately we’re not sure of the tracking order.

Take a listen! We think the resulting tone speaks for itself. Apparently lightning does strike twice.

1 Metallica’s Kirk Hammett Talks ‘Ride the Lightning,’ Cliff Burton and Taking Guitar Lessons from Joe Satriani | Guitar World. https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/metallicas-kirk-hammett-talks-ride-lightning-cliff-burton-and-benefits-taking-guitar-lessons-joe-satriani. Accessed 2 April 2025.

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Hendrix Woodstock Tone

Re-re-re-re-re-re-visited. Needless to say, we’ve been after this sound for some time now. It’s one of the first tones we debuted with, and this is now the sixth iteration in our quest. We’ve got something new to share, take a listen.

First Rays of the New Rising Cabinet Drive

With the release of AmpStamp 1.10, we introduced Cabinet Drive, meant to simulate speaker distortion when running amps at louder volumes. The effect ranges from adding subtle bite helping guitars stand out in a mix, to blurring and distortion almost like a fuzz pedal. We found the sound Hendrix conjured for Woodstock to be somewhere in between. His Marshall amp was running loud, but maybe not at full bore.

Active Bypass

Another interesting find that we haven’t directly spoken about before is that Hendrix was using the heel of his UniVibe foot pedal to cancel the effect. This was certainly not true bypass, the effect of pushing down on the heel of an original UniVibe pedal disables modulation, which in turn moves the swirling filters out of audible range. In their resting position these filters still have some impact on the guitar signal. We’ve provided this feature in the PH100 Phaser, in fact several of our pedals offer this capability though it may not be obvious. In this case, it’s critical!

Based on our listening tests the UniVibe pedal was placed after the Fuzz Face. Though there has definitely been some debate on pedal order, we clearly hear the UniVibe modulating the distortion of the Fuzz Face. This helps create that sharp top end heard during blistering solos in the recorded performance. Additionally, the bright treble quality of the guitar, when not due to the wah pedal, is probably due to the UniVibe in cancel mode.

Setting Gain Levels

Hendrix was one of the handful of players that regularly used their volume knobs, even with the Fuzz Face engaged. It was like another version of a tone control, and you should be able to experience the same detail with this preset. Try rolling back the volume so that with the FZ102 Fuzz off, the guitar is relatively clean. Then, with the fuzz on, you should still get the same intense blast of energy even with the volume down, but the fuzz should now have more bass, a bit more hair. It’s a cool middle ground. Of course, when leads need to be ripped, you can push the volume to full blast and let your fingers dance across the fret board.

And so here it is. The latest iteration in our quest for Woodstock tone. We updated the preset switch for the PH100 Phaser to utilize the Cancel feature when off as opposed to true bypass. And we added a healthy amount of Cabinet Drive to push the guitar into sonic chaos. We left the expression pedal for the WH100 Wah, adding the ability to change the speed of the phaser via knob.

Preset: Woodstock VI

Woodstock VIDownload

The sound finishes with the VG402C Amplifier, configured for ’69 topology, and the VG 4x12A 100W ’67 Cabinet for period correct tone. We think you’re going to really love jamming on this sound, we’ve found the combination of fuzz and phase shifting to be extremely inspirational, for both clean and heavily distorted tones. It’s no wonder that one of the most memorable live performances was created from this sound. Now it’s your turn.

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AmpStamp 1.10 – Turn It Up

Get ready for a combination of metals so sweet alchemists would be proud, _the_ secret weapon amplifier, a classic distortion prime for modification, and sub-octave sounds that will rattle your brain. Let’s dig into the next release of AmpStamp.

Introducing Cabinet Drive

ATTENTION: No speakers were harmed in the making of these tones.

By the mid-1960s, amplifiers were getting louder. Concert amplification had not matured beyond public address systems previously installed in many halls, specifically tuned for voice. Guitarists were forced to use their amplifiers to adequately fill space. Amps needed to get louder. Way louder. When Jim Marshall introduced the first 100 watt amplifier to the world, combined with up to two 4×12″ cabinets, the game was on. As amplifier power sections were getting, well, more powerful, speakers could not keep up with the increased output. This would eventually force complimentary development in speaker technology, but before that could happen, many speakers saw their last days. Pushed to the edge both physically and electrically, speakers would either tear or overheat causing irreparable damage.

It’s that sound, right before untimely end, that we sought out with our new feature Cabinet Drive. Made available on specific low power speaker models, Cabinet Drive allows individual cabinets to be over-driven akin to being pushed by an amplifier that is too powerful. The effect can be dialed in to simulate subtle peak voltage effects that often happened with mismatched power specifications between peak and root mean square (RMS), or the more extreme effects of sonic destruction. Note: when Cabinet Drive is engaged, the global Master Volume control becomes interactive and can also be used to control drive level.

The Secret Weapon

Th 315B Amplifier features a unique tone circuit that covers a wide range of possibilities, from warm and mellow to bright and cutting. It was Paul McCartney’s first amplifier, and possibly used by Dave Davies of the Kinks, more on that at a later time.

Heavy Metal Starter Kit

One might suggest parametric equalization was a critical element in the birth of heavy metal, we certainly would. This effect brought scooped mids to it’s inevitable extreme. Beyond that, the tight control over all frequency ranges makes it a must-have in any toolkit. We recommend trying this on anything and everything. From fuzz to distortion, FX loops, and even clean tones, if you’re looking for variation, the EQ200 Dual Parametric Equalizer won’t disappoint.

Mod Culture

Is anything really stock? From the first recorded sounds, artists and engineers have clung to special gear, either formally modified, or hand-selected from mass-production for tonal qualities that enabled performances beyond normal expectations. Eventually wizards emerged, claiming special talents that could transform ordinary equipment into things otherworldly, and oh the tone, oh the tone. For guitar players, this started with modifications to their amplifiers for more sustain. Before distortion became the neatly packaged effect that we know of today, musicians were discussing distortion as a means to sustain notes for much longer than seemed humanly possible. Phrasing lead passages or melodic parts could now encompass note lengths previously unheard of, perhaps held only by traditional brass or woodwind instruments via breath control.

But we digress. With the CS102 Distortion, we included several popular modifications that can transform the pedal from it’s humble beginnings into a screaming monster with sustain for days, literally.

Inspired by a payphone hack, the OC104 Octave Fuzz effect never really found it’s place outside of a notable solo from Jimmy Page. Truly a one-trick pony, we’ve added a couple of features to make things more interesting. It’s a great pedal to throw into any mix, if only just to see how things react.

Aluminum, Nickel, Cobalt

Ah, the sweet sound of alloyed metals. In this case, aluminum, nickel, and cobalt. Typically lower in power than their ceramic counterparts, but with way more character. Paired with the right amp, the VG 1×12″ 15w ’63 Cabinet really sings. Hint: crank the Bass up beyond what you would normally set, this speaker takes it really well. We promise you’ll be delighted by the thump in your playing that you don’t typically hear on records these days.

207A Amplifier Update: Bass Boost

Fresh on the heels of introducing the 1×12″ 15w ’63 Cabinet, we felt it was necessary to allow for increased Bass from the 207A Amplifier. With that comes a very famous defect in tweed Fender amplifiers classified as blocking distortion. With an increase in bass, and a lack of filtering, you can now dial in the amount of blocking distortion from minimal to extreme with the Bass Boost control. Keep in mind that this also depends on where the Volume and Tone controls are set. Blocking effects will be reduced and/or eliminated at lower volumes.

408D Amplifier Update: Boost Channel ’83 / ’87

With the introduction of the 408F Amplifier, we didn’t want to leave the 408D Amplifier in the dust. It was around the same time that the team at Marshall made a number of adjustments, including repositioning where the tone stack was in the Boost Channel signal chain, likely to match what had been recently achieved with the Silver Jubilee series. In this case though, the clean channel volume is noticeably louder which may have resulted in extending diode clipping to the clean channel as an option in the Silver Jubilee series. Here we’ve added a new Boost Channel option to choose the era of gain lineup, ’83 being the original release and ’87 the updated, re-positioned version. With the updated version, this will sound more like a classic Master Volume 2203 model on lower gain settings with the enhanced ability to scoop mids. With increased gain, you’re definitely in heavy metal territory which is a major feature of the 2210 model. Time to dig in.

Same Subscription, More Great Products

As always, we think you’ll find that AmpStamp has endless variations of tone to satisfy guitarists in any genre of music. If you’re already a subscriber, thank you! If you haven’t subscribed yet, hurry up! You’re missing out! Check out the Gear Shop and stay tuned for new products.

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Black Sabbath Tone Retrospective

It’s time to gear up for “Back to the Beginning,” Black Sabbath’s final concert planned for July 5th, 2025. Whether it was in the spirit of experimentation, or a desire to make each song distinct, Tony Iommi covered a lot of ground with each Black Sabbath record. This wasn’t just a case of setting up a few mics and running through the songs. With a mix of acoustic pieces and experimental passages for guitar, it’s clear the band’s vision was not just to be heavy, they wanted to take the listener on a journey. Join us as we walk through a brief history of Black Sabbath tone.

Early Days: Copy of a Copy

In the late 60’s and early 70’s there weren’t that many options for guitar players when it came to tone. Marshall had borrowed from Fender and focused on improving the loudness of their amplifiers. Maestro debuted the Fuzz Tone in 1962, and once it became popular from a Rolling Stones hit single, many seized the opportunity to make their own version of fuzz. But if you didn’t like the sound of fuzz, guitarists had to turn it up to get the sound they were looking for–the concept of a master volume wouldn’t come until the mid 70’s. And when amps were turned up, they typically got flubby from too much bass, harsh from poorly designed power amps, or even broken due to speakers that couldn’t handle loud volumes for long periods of time.

Preset: Paranoid

ParanoidDownload

Enter Paranoid, our take on the early sound of Black Sabbath. There is some photographic evidence of Iommi during the recording of Paranoid with a white SG and Laney and Vox amps.1 While it’s unclear where the Vox was used, early Laney amps were essentially copies of the first Marshall circuits, similar to the JTM45, if not the original Fender version which allegedly came from an RCA manual. These early designs were heavy in bass frequencies which created a market for treble boosters. Marshall eventually added more treble and reduced bass with their High Treble channel, later referred to as Channel I. However before that, a popular effect like the EQ100 Treble Boost would find it’s way on to several classic recordings.

With only one guitar, Iommi tended to double his parts and hard pan them left and right. With “Paranoid,” in particular, it sounds like there were different mic placements for each take. The left channel sounds more towards the center of the speaker, providing a brighter sound, and the right channel sounds more towards the edge of the speaker, providing a darker sound. We’ve mapped one of the toggle switches on the Floor Controller for easy access, aptly titled “Bite.” We also couldn’t help but include the RM100 Ring Modulator, featured during the solo in “Paranoid.” Add the WH100 Wah for tracks like “Electric Funeral”, and we think this is a really great snapshot of this early period in Black Sabbath tone history. Fire up the tritone, and let it rip.

Playing Notes: Paranoid

Something that I found interesting when taking a closer look at these classics is that my phrasing didn’t always line up with what Iommi was actually playing. It’s subtle, but take a moment and pay attention to his rhythmic style. For instance, there is a pause at the end of measure 6 in section B during the verse where I almost always add additional content to fill the empty space. It took a lot of concentration to leave that gap and then come in on the repeat with a palm-muted E power chord. I was adding accents there too! One additional note, in measure 2 of section A, Iommi lifts his fingers after each note for a staccato feel. I had previously barred the D and G strings on fret 7 which does not sound the same.

Playing Notes: Iron Man

The riff that launched a thousand bands! Made even more famous by cartoon deadbeats Beavis and Butthead. When looking more closely at this song, there is a lot of restraint in Iommi’s playing. And the rhythm of the main phrase is peculiar. I was not sliding from the D to E power chords, opting to add more stops than are present in the recording–I seem to have a heavier rhythmic strumming style. It’s definitely a challenge to try and match a recorded performance. You can learn something about your own way of playing by trying to mimic others.

Master of Reality: A Bigger, Heavier Sound

“It was part of an experiment: tuning down together for a bigger, heavier sound.” – Tony Iommi2

With their third album, Iommi made some drastic changes. In retrospect, this might have been a response to the new term being used to describe their music–heavy metal. The question being, could the music get any heavier? After experimenting, Iommi settled on tuning his guitar down to C#, and increasing the Bass level on his amplifier for added …heaviness.

Presets: SweetLeaf II, SweetLead II, Master of Reality

SweetLeaf IIDownload
SweetLead IIDownload
Master of RealityDownload

We’ve seen claims that a Laney Klipp 100W amplifier was used on Master of Reality. Let us know if you have a link to a source where Iommi states as much. While this amplifier is still on our list to explore, we had some success combining the FZ102B Fuzz and the EQ100 Treble Booster which is a more traditional approach for this tone given the information we have. We also fine tuned the cabinet selection for better results. There is definitely something heavy about this tone. It has a chunkiness that you can really dig into with palm-muted power chords …turn on, tune down, and feel the heavy.

Playing Notes: Sweet Leaf

Another heavy riff from the master. And another riff where I was adding more when there should be less. The biggest difference was in the first measure/section A. I found it extremely difficult to pause between the first transition from the A to D power chords. I tend to want to add something during that eight note rest. In fact, you can sometimes hear a pick scrape from Iommi just prior to the D power chord which sounds like it’s from an up stroke getting ready to hit the next chord. There’s also a slur at the end of section A that isn’t always in time as we’ve notated, feel free to experiment when playing along with the record.

Vol. 4: A Touch of Brightness

On the next album, things are brighter. Possibly as a reaction to tuning lower and increasing Bass to try and make things heavier. Ultimately, the final mixes sounded too dark, the impact may not have been as intended. With Vol. 4, we hear new JBL speakers, the fuzz is out, but the lower tuning remains. It’s like a return to the early days, with monster riffs–possibly one of the best in the catalog.

Preset: Vol. 4

Vol. 4Download

This is a fairly straightforward tone, back to basics. The brightness inherent in the 2×12″ C 100W ’68 Cabinet shines through and helps rhythm guitars cut, especially with lowered tunings.

Playing Notes: Supernaut

While a simple song, consisting of only two riffs, it’s certainly one of my favorites. Apparently, it was a favorite of Frank Zappa’s too.3 Regardless, this song is all about slipping and sliding on the fret board. It sounds like section A is played with one finger, either the index, or middle. Try using only one finger and sliding into the D, then slurring down to B, and back up to D. The song really came into focus once I realized that, and it’s fun to play! Not to mention the monster chorus riff. Make sure to note the difference in the last chord in section B before the repeat. It’s subtle but it helps the transition to the 7th chord both harmonically and physically based on economy of movement. And one more thing, pay close attention to measure 6 in section A, there’s a slide back down to E at the beginning of the measure that’s really hard to catch.

Commercial Excess

Iommi admitted in his autobiography that as the band grew more successful, things became more difficult. There were difficulties keeping the band focused, an eventual lawsuit with management over mismanaged funds, and no shortage of party favors to keep everyone going. Nonetheless, this didn’t stop Iommi from trying to keep things interesting with each new record. With Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage, we continue to see experimentation between bright and dark passages (an acoustic chorus in a heavy metal song!?), new synthesizer sounds, all against a steady foundation of heavy riffs.

Presets: Sabbra Cadabra, S.B.S., Sabotage

Sabbra CadabraDownload
S.B.S.Download
SabotageDownload

With the next few albums, we hear a more compressed tone, similar to Alnico speakers from a Vox AC30. Being there is evidence that Vox amplifiers were in the studio during some early sessions, we queued up the 2×12″ C 30W ’67 Cabinet, however still using a classic Marshall head similar to the Laneys Iommi was using. The sound was impressive enough to share.

Playing Notes: Sabbra Cadabra

Watch out! This riff moves fast. It’s in 12/8 time, similar to 4/4 with quarter notes having a triplet feel. This is another great example of Iommi slipping and sliding on the fret board with economy of motion helping to maintain a faster tempo. In section A measures 1-2, I found it easiest to slide from E to G with the middle finger leaving the index finger free to grab the high E. Note, the initial slide from E to G is a hammer-on, not picked!

Playing Notes: Hole In the Sky

Another monster riff in 12/8. While the whole song is excellent, the best part has to be the power chord bends in section B. They sound so sinister.

Playing Notes: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

I saved “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” for last. It’s one of Iommi’s magnum opuses that successfully combines softer elements that stand in contrast to the heavier parts. The transition to a gentle, acoustic chorus, then back to heavy electric guitar is extremely effective. This helps set the mood and especially strengthens the heaviness of the riff in section D. Note, I’ve transcribed embellishments from the first chorus only which are more or less similar to the second chorus, hopefully this helps provide a range to experiment with while playing along.

In today’s landscape, it goes without saying that heavy metal guitarists rely solely on preamp distortion, keeping master volumes low for tighter bass response, and use modern speakers like Vintage 30s for balanced tone. But imagine a world before all of this was in place. Heavy metal wasn’t a concept, just heavy music. The word heavy could apply to lyrics, tone, or image. Black Sabbath seemed to embody all three. Without a blueprint to follow, what else could heavy music have sounded like?

1 Grow, Kory. Liner Notes for Black Sabbath. Paranoid: Super Deluxe Edition. Warner Records Inc., 2016, p. 8.

2 Iommi, Tony, and T.J., Lammers. Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath. Da Capo Press, 2011, p. 98.

3 Butler, Geezer. Into the Void: From Birth to Black Sabbath and Beyond. Deyst, 2023, p. 131.

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Punk Rock Tone

If you haven’t been yet, I highly encourage a trip to the The Punk Rock Museum. It’s jam packed with memorabilia from all eras of punk. There’s an amazing list of tour guides from famous band members that helped shape what punk rock music is today. And there’s a bunch of other stuff to keep you occupied too. What really stood out to me, outside of getting to meet a hero of mine in the flesh, was the Jam Room. It’s a well maintained stockpile of real gear that bands used to play live and record with. And you can pick up and play these instruments too. Yes, you.

I’ve seen hands-on exhibits before. Where the artist wants you to interact with their installation, or being able to make your own art inspired by another artist’s work. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen an example of an artist giving you their tools for inspection, or to actually make your own art with. I immediately took advantage of the opportunity to play through a modded 1978 Marshall JMP 2203 MKII that belonged to Chett Lehrer of Wasted Youth, thanks Chett! I did not ask what mods were done on the amp, but it’s a master volume model and it was set up with the preamp gain cranked and the master volume slightly above bedroom practice level, just loud enough to fill your ears. There was a brightness that you could already hear would cut through a mix, but it wasn’t too harsh.

Sitting in a room and playing through a Marshall is something every guitar player needs to experience. There was obviously special significance with this one, it was one of the amps that inspired the music. This is exactly what the band heard back in the early 80’s, and what inspired countless songs that we consider punk rock gold today. And it goes on. The gear, the music, the personalities, the influences. It’s all right here. You can reach out and touch it. I played part of a song I wrote to see how it sounded through a piece of history. And it sounded great.

In 1978, Marshall was still stocking cabinets with 25W speakers from Celestion. It would be a few years before higher power experiments would pay off and the G12-65 would be introduced. It’s unclear why, despite being sold as a standard 25W speaker, Celestion was either forced to due to supply constraints, or decided to intentionally, change the speaker cone and the color of their magnet covers. The latter obviously has no impact on tone, but it does help with speaker dating. The result in 1978 was a “new” Celestion 25W speaker using an updated cone dubbed “Kurt Meuller” after the company who supplied them, with a black magnet cover as opposed to green. These new speakers were loud and in-your-face right out of the gate.

Preset: Fast n’ Loud

Fast n’ LoudDownload

The aggressiveness of this speaker, the way it shapes the sound of a distorted guitar amp, played perfectly into the burgeoning style of music that would later be known as punk rock. Whether the music influenced the technology, or vice versa, or non of the above, it’s unclear. What is clear is that for a while, Marshalls saw new life in the punk rock scene. With this preset, we’ve assembled the core components of this sound in AmpStamp, and added some room resonance to put you in a similar space. While you should make the pilgrimage to hear this amp for yourself, now you can rock out any time you want, anywhere you want.

The Punk Rock Museum is a celebration of the history of punk rock, but it really feels like new history is being made. Taking part in documenting and sharing this history in a way that hasn’t been done before feels fresh, exciting, and certainly new. Is this really punk though? Who cares.

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Van Halen 1 Tone – The Brown Sound

It’s safe to say that the guitar community has been trying to recreate Eddie Van Halen’s tone on Van Halen I since it’s debut in 1978. That’s over 46 years of detective work and speculation. If you’re a veteran, welcome… we’re not going to tell you anything that you didn’t already know. If you’re just getting started, counterintuitive as it may seem, this might not be the best place for you to begin. Regardless, we want to give you a chance to play through gear that actually sounds like that first record, a very specific tone not heard on later albums. In early interviews, Eddie hinted that he didn’t care for the sound of his guitar on that first record.1 In reality, it’s become one of the definitive sounds of rock guitar for many players, old and young, and though a mistake, immortalized as “The Brown Sound.”

The Magic Marshall

The main question on most people’s minds has always been, how did Eddie achieve such an extreme level of distortion out of a non-master volume Marshall? First on most lists is the Variac, used to reduce the voltage supplied to the amplifier, purportedly causing clipping at a lower volume. Next is setting the bias of the amplifier, some say high, while others say low because it might not have been adjusted post-Variac, and still some say it was correctly re-biased at the lower voltage level. Then it all gets mixed up, between EQ pedals and preamp boosts, specific brands of vacuum tubes, not to mention a resistive load placed on the output of the amplifier stressing the transformer to the point of destruction while simultaneously allowing the amplifier to be run at full tilt.

Did we capture any or all of this? No, of course not. But what we do have is an accurate model of a non-master volume Marshall that sounds like it should, with enough gain to spare. We’re of course referring to the 402C Amplifier.

The Speaker Blend

Once out of the amplifier, the next critical element is the speaker cabinet. In this case, and for many guitarists of this era, a blend of two or more speaker cabinets was used to create a distinctive tone that served as a sonic signature. Something that would be hard to duplicate and therefore set them apart on the airwaves. The predominant combination that most suggest is a blend of Celestion Greenbacks and JBL D120s. Of course, that still doesn’t narrow it down. No two speakers sound alike from the same lot, let alone those that were made years apart. And each speaker has a variety of incarnations. This was where our quest really slowed down, until now.

We managed to get a hold of a very particular speaker, the 2×12″ ’77 100W Cabinet, and when blended with the 4×12″ ’73 100W Cabinet, the whole definitely becomes greater than the sum of its parts. It was nothing short of magical when we first heard this combination of cabinets and speakers.

The Guitar

We also think it’s important to mention the guitar, because your guitar is probably not going to sound like ours. That’s one of the reasons why we make recordings, to ensure that you can hear what we hear regardless of the axe you’re using at home. And so in our case, we landed on a Strat with a beefy humbucker in the bridge position, straight not angled, with a modern two-point bridge. There is a thick quality to this tone that did not come through in the custom Frankenstrat builds that we attempted. Suffice to say, any normal Strat with a high-output humbucker in the bridge position is a reasonable starting point.

Preset: Frankie

FrankieDownload

And that’s it really, the rest is history. We’ve got the EC101C Echo, EQ110 Ten Band Equalizer, PH103A Phaser, and FL101 Flanger to fill out the minor details. To our ear, the core tone is there. No need for fancy delays or reverbs, though we didn’t shy away from using the AMB 400 Plate Reverb. We think that once you strike your first A-chord, new portals will open up transporting you to tone nirvana. The chase is over, so… what are you waiting for?

1 Rosen, Steve. Tonechaser – Understanding Edward: My 26-year Journey with Edward Van Halen, Robert Smith/API Productions.com, 2022, p. 65, 75.

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AmpStamp 1.9 – Good Dirt

With the release of AmpStamp 1.9, we explore a funk classic, dive deeper into late ’80s hair metal, and solve one of rock’s most revered and long standing mysteries.

Achieving Higher Ground

It goes without saying that the envelope filter is a really cool crossover effect. Stemming from early electronic music pioneers like Bob Moog, the E combines the functions of an Envelope Follower with a Voltage Controlled Filter, both available as early as 1968 in modular synthesizer format.

When Mike Biegel of Musitronics set out to build something new for guitarists, it’s unlikely he could have predicted the instant success of this effect. By tracing the amplitude of an input signal, in this case the guitar output volume, this could be converted into a voltage that could shift the frequency of a filter. The sound is similar to rocking a wah pedal back and forth, but automatically, hence the common alternate name for this effect, auto-wah. The EF100 Filter inspired funk classics from artists like Stevie Wonder and Bootsy Collins, and paved new sonic highways with artists like Jerry Garcia. It’s an effect with instant appeal that continues to be sought after today!

And in a similar vein, we’re introducing another synthesizer classic, the RM100 Ring Modulator! More experimental in nature, a ring modulator takes two inputs and generates frequencies at the sum and difference of the input and output. It gets even more complex when each of the inputs represents more than one frequency, for instance with chords on the guitar. We encourage you to try this effect on everything, but be careful!

Sidechain Input

We’re also excited to introduce support for Sidechain Input, specifically with the EF100 Filter and RM100 Ring Modulator, for use in DAWs like Logic Pro. Sidechaining is a technique that became popular when using compression. The concept involves using an alternate signal to control the amount of compression that’s affecting the main audio signal. For instance, the mix bus could be compressed more heavily whenever the kick drum hits, a common practice in dance music production. For guitar, however we have repurposed this solution to provide multi-input capability to these two effects.

  • For the EF100 Filter, this means that your sidechain input with control the filter, however your main input, likely your guitar, will be the signal that the filter is affecting. So you could in fact modify the filter on your guitar whenever a kick drum hits.
  • For the RM100 Ring Modulator, the sidechain input will act as the carrier and replace the internal oscillator. This means that you could modulate your guitar with virtually any input, including your voice! Now you can unlock the demonic spoken intro to Iron Man by Black Sabbath, “I am Iron Man!”

Nineteen Eighty-Seven

Clad in silver tolex, the VG4008F Amplifier and VG 4×12 300W ’87 Cabinet are going to be a welcome addition to any thrash metal enthusiast’s collection. The tonestack was truly dialed for thrash, but the amplifier remains versatile with decent crunch and clean tones as well by disengaging Rhythm Clip.

Legendary Tone

Stay tuned for a new Classic Sounds Series post coming up. We’ve unlocked on of rock’s great mysteries and we’re extremely excited to share our findings with you. Of course, we’re talking about the unmatched tone of Eddie Van Halen on their debut record, recorded in 1977, released on February 10th, 1978. Many have tried, all have failed. It’s a tone that has become mythological at this point. Unachievable by mere mortals. There are pedals involved, possible modifications to the amplifier, a specific selection of speakers and cabinets, the recording techniques employed, not to mention the virtuosic playing. There is a lot to unpack, and we (the collective we) have been unpacking it for 46 years. Not anymore!

Same Subscription, More Great Products

As always, we think you’ll find that AmpStamp has endless variations of tone to satisfy guitarists in any genre of music. If you’re already a subscriber, thank you! If you haven’t subscribed yet, hurry up! You’re missing out! Check out the Gear Shop and stay tuned for new products.