ampfixer


I still don't really understand what this product is. I know it's an amp sim but I would really like an overview of the concept and the components. It seems like an open source amp sim but it's not really apparent how the whole thing goes together.

I design and build real amps so this puppy may be down my alley and I look forward to the next developments.

  It sounds, "right up your alley," to me.  

    Does this help?  I wish they had "a quickstart pdf," cause people might be, "a lot less confused," with a 3 paragraph ( 1 page typed, maybe two with images ), "up and running," guide of sorts.    

...

When you download the demo, and unzip the package you get an installer, that will ask for your vst plugin folder..  After the install, on your start menu you will have an Acmebargig folder.  This folder will include:  Curve designer, Install Head, Uninstall HeadCase, and Set Redwirez folder.

The Curve designer allows you to design the curves of your tubes.  Set Redwirez folder, is to set the location of your redwirez impulse libraries, ( assuming you have purchased some ), Install head!!  ( I will come back to this ) and Unisntall is self explanatory.

In your vst plugins folder that you choose, the installer will create an Acmebargig folder...  " a lot of stuff is in this folder."  a lot of it is stuff used to for the application itself...   Lets worry about what you will see when you run Sonar... and go to load a vst fx

In your Acmebar folder on the menu you get:

Head Case - Builder
Head Case - Cabinet EQ
Head Case - Consolidated Cabs
Head Case - Effects Rack
Head Case Full Suite
Head Case - Loner

This is a lot of stuff...   So I think its way easy to get totally confused.  Builder is the building environment, it does not run stand-alone, you have to run it as a vst.  Full suite includes everything; however, "suite is not the builder environment."  Suite is the plugin used to run the things you have built, or the community heads.

( Remember heads are saved using the technology they developed.  )  Heads are basically modified jpegs, with all the information Head Case needs to load them on your computer.  ( download image/save target as ) http://www.virtualampstash.com/

When you start with this plugin I suggest, "ignore everything."  Start with the full suite, and see what the plugin does, when you run it like an amp sim...  When you see how to, "load a head, turn on the reverb, use the eq on the amp, change the speaker cabinets, and such."   When you have a good two --  five hours with the plugin.   Then all the other things, "Loner, Effects Rack, Cab Eq," make sense.  "Those are the module bits and pieces of the plugin, that you can load, if you just want, "a certain thing."   For example, "you just want a head as an insert fx. "  Load Loner, and load your head.

Builder is right up your alley!!  Omg, you would be awesome at it.   This is where you design and build virtual amplifiers.  I can't get to deep here, "its got a learning curve for me."  However..  You should really check it out.  I'd love to hear, what you could do

Cheers

synkrotron


Thanks LP, your enthusiasm is amazing.

I'll check out those links and do some more research.

synkrotron go fer it!! a secret weapon for your tone toolbox!!
 

@ RobertB, it is totally wild.  But, yeah..  Even my newer machine is working up a sweat...  :-)

Anyways guys!!  My first fuzz box is here.  This is not a super high gain, high gain...   Its more of a liquid fuzz... Its using really warm tubes and eq settings

http://vasampbuilders.blo...m.au/p/ja-customs.html

gustabo


@Linear Phase, - Dalton -, right?

The skin is from the user community, but the amp itself does not model anything.  

1.  I handpicked the tubes.

2.  Rebalanced the gain stages.

  3. set pre-cut, post cut, and tone stack. 

4.  built a brand new poweramp.
Edit = 5.  I forgot to say, "I rebuilt the stompboxes too."

Right now, "the amp is in balance," to my ears.  And it sure wont be the second somebody touches my dials!! :-)  lol...

I'm a little worried the amp is a bit hot, but hey, "its my first one," so I may have made a mistake or two.

Aside from its output possibly being, "way hotter than zero," the gain stages try and roll off, and create a fuzz, rather than a hi-gain.

Anyways, "people who re-amp can lower the fader on their mixer," and they should be fine.  +  I'll get better at this, as I continue to make em!!

Fun stuff...

Cheers

@Linear Phase, you misunderstood.
You're - Dalton - from the Guitar Amp Modeling community, right?

@ampfixer..
You're from Hamilton, Ontario? AcmeBarGig is head quartered there..

My name is Jonathan..  I don't have time for this right now

Robert B, I believe it will work on the P4 2.4 GHZ machine. It will be slow and expect some crackles but the Builder should work almost fine, the suite will grind to a halt though for sure. Earlier versions of this were built on the exact same spec'd machine with win xp pro sp3. In fact I have images of the builder running in Reaper at 12% cpu on that machine. Unfortunately I cannot find them..

It will take a while to load though but when it does it should work..

I want to mention a couple things here about the head building aspect in Head Case..
 
Head case was not designed to be a one to one electronic component matching system. First off thats not possible for a real time system no matter what type of snake oil you're getting sold, and second that would make head case a modeler, something we just don't support as a company.
 
This allowed us to remove whatever modeling limitations there is and just concentrate on making this thing useable by anyone. So, the question became if we are not modeling, then what is the driver, how will the user decide what to do, what changes to make, etc. The driver in head case is your strongest asset as a musician, the driver is your ear. So you open a head that gives you a tone close to what you're looking for. Lets face it, you will never get a head to perfectly match your tastes unless you can edit it yourself. So all heads you open in head case should be thought of as templates that can be edited very easily.
 
"I like the MAHAKALI, but it has a little too much bass and I want it to have more of a flabby distortion." You can do that, you simply open it in the builder and start playing around with the controls, as you do that, if you have played on a lot of different amps, you'll start to hear tones that sound familiar. Its this familiarity that will allow you to learn what does what faster. You'll get to remember when I have "that" control there it reminds me of my roland cube, when its here it reminds me of my old Traynor TS15..
 
You design a head like you would mix a track, in fact arguably, mixing a tack is more complicated. All you have to remember is one rule, bass into distorted curves (tubes) = big muff type tone. If you want more of a flabby tone then set the precuts and the channel cuts to more bass.
 
If you want more info, here is our youtube channel. This has some videos that explain things like signal flow, etc. As time progresses I'll be making more videos, so sorry its a little sparsely decorated right now.. haha
http://www.youtube.com/user/acmebargig
 
 

gustabo

I was just asking because the amp head posted above was posted on the CW forum and GAM forum almost simultaneously.
Just curious.

Sorry....  I should have put a smiley in my post above..  I've been running around since way early this morning..

Dalton posted my first headcase creation to virtual amp stash..   I asked him too, "cause I wanted to share with the community." 

Other than that...

I'm part of the Cakewalk Community.  I've licensed Cakewalk products, (specifically rapture) since 2007, but I only joined this forum when I purchased Sonar last year.  My Cakewalk Account reflects that, and the name on my member profile, matches the name in my Cakewalk Account.

I don't have a lot of forums to find out about, "new music software," because I am banned from Kvraudio.  I am not banned because of piracy.  I do not pirate.  I am banned because, "it didn't work out between me and the community."  I don't like them, "and they do not like me."


So I learned about Head Case because of this thread, that Bapu started.

That is all...   

gustabo


Like I said, just curious and I don't want to ruffle anyone's feathers, especially on the CW forums!
The CW forums are about the friendliest and most helpful I've ever run across, it's a true community.

Not to worry mate, not to worry :-)

ProjectM

Actually, you're GR tone was pretty good in my ears 

Hey!! Thank you :-)

GR is pretty good, "its nice and clean."  In a digital, sterile, "pro-tools," type of way.  I don't consider that a negative, because that can be really useful for recording, "if you are looking for a certain sound."

The best feature about Guitar Rig is, "Control Room Pro."  They have it really well laid out.  You can mix up to 6 cabinet and mic combinations.  I find the, "air," really beautiful.

There is a lot of positive things in Guitar Rig, "the ability to split your signal, the cool stombox models, and the great soundings reverbs,"  ( that ice reverb is so good ) but the midrange nose was weirding me out.  My second complaint was, "that I couldn't find any chime for my highs."

  There is chime on a Marshall!!  A lot of really nice, really bright, "chime, and top end lightning."  I found that going clockwise on the even harmonics in Head Case, "makes for really good chime." 

The other thing that totally weirds me out!!  I always preferred Marshalls to Mesa.  And I've been trying out the rectifiers in Head Case, "they sound like rectifiers," no doubt there.  However, "I find myself going to the other curves," to get the type of tone I'm totally mad about.

And synkrotron, I forgot to say, "on your SG, you have Gibson wound passive pickups."  Most likely humbuckers, or dual coils.  Those Gibson pickups have an unreal tone to them, a very beautiful sound, imho

I have been using HC for a while now. I am one of their Beta Testers.

I have GR4/5, Line 6 Pod Farm (Gearbox Gold), Amplitube Free with some custom shop heads, and now THD2 (full). All of these have uses. I won't say any of them are bad. Not even.
 
With HeadCase I can get the tone I want very quickly despite it's complexity! It is exactly this point I want to drive home to new users that may be put off by it's "Create Your Own Amp" tag.
 
To any new user try this:
1.D/L the demo.
2.Install
3.Load the Suite on a track with the default head.
4.Play and tweak.
 
I bet within 5 minutes you will have found sounds that just tickle your fancy!! I mean it's just that easy!
 
Now try this:
After you get a sound your happy with go to the Speaker/Cab button, then the Equalization button in the middle and play with that! Here is what I believe to be one of the secret weapons of HC (there are many!). You can sculpt the sound any way you want right here! The amount of USEABLE sounds you can get from right here is astonishing!!
 
The point I am trying to drive home here is again, the ease of use for new users. You don't need to build anything to get your money's worth out of this thing! Just use the heads that come with it and tweak yourself into oblivion!
 
To ampfixer: You will love this thing. As Ken said there is no relation to what Head Case does and it's electronic brothers, but you will love it once you get use to the interface. And it's not really that hard at all!!
 
Out of all my amp sims, THD2 is the one I like a lot. Head Case to me sounds a little bit better though. It can get that chime LinerPhase is talking about. It can get pinch harmonics better that all my amp sims. It is without a doubt my go to amp on the computer.

On and just a bit off topic---.  I downloaded Headcase and tried to get my head around it, but my big, fat head is too dense of a case for this big program.  I am sure it is great, but this one is not right for me, or I am not right for this program.  HOWEVER, in digging around I saw that in its cabinet configurations, it includes this company's iFace, which is a cabinet manager for Redwirez  IR's.  I love that little program.  So I just tonight emailed the company and found out that the version in Headcase is a newer version of the one I had been demo'ing.  While Headcase is not right for me, the iFace in it, and the fast and courteous email  communications I had with the company got me off my chair and opened my wallet to purchase iFace.  I had been putting off the purchase, but this thread and the great emails were the incentives I needed to act.  I understand that there will be a new version of iFace released sometime in the future and my buying the current version means I will get the new one when it is released.  Again, this little company has good, in fact, very good people skills!

So, it is a no for Headcase for me, but it is a big yes to this little company, and its now and future iFace.

Very Cool Linear Phase..
 

To help you with your skinning, we have a several resources available to you. Thats only if you want, I see nothing wrong with wat you're doing now...

There is a link inside the builder that will take you to a website dedicated to providing head skins for head case heads. There is also some Photoshop tutorials at the Beta forum that you can go through. They were done by Amit Talwar who did 99% of the skins in head case. He shows extremely effective and easy, I mean really easy ways to make amp skins for head case. There is also templates that have head skin objects in them already and all you have to do is turn on and off layers.. Etc. All that stuff will be going to the official Head Case web space called the Asylum in time. For now its living at the beta forum though
http://www.ampskindesigns.com/