TooB Amp Constructor Kit
Blocks for construction guitar amplifiers. Version 0.2.
DESCRIPTION
Rack-ready blocks for building guitar amplifiers.
Separate blocks are provided for parts of the guitar amplifier signal chain:
- Input Stage: basic trimming shaping, and noise-gating of the guitar input signal.
- Tone Stack: Bassman and JCM800 tone stack.
- Power Section: flexible configurable of power-stage gain structure.
- Cab Sim: basic cabinet simulation.
- Chorus, delay, and reverb blocks.
The power section is currently based on super-sampled arctan wave shapers that provide rich even-harmonic overdrive. Up to three drive sections allow flexible and nuanced control of gain structure. Power supply sag is based on circuit analysis of the Bassman. Use the SAG and SAGD knobs to get amps with a more "forgiving" or "naturally compressed" feel.
Usage notes: Ideally, you want to keep all of the VU meters in the signal chain peaking solidly in the yellow. The first thing you should do is use the trim knob in the input stage to get your guitar signal peaking in the range of -12dD and 0dB. No harm if you go into the red a little bit; but being dramatically low, or high won't produce good results. When experimenting with Power Section settings, the same thing is true: use the trim buttons in each of the three sections to keep signals peaking in the yellow. Most of the EQ stages hard clip at signal levels of +/- 100 in order to allow recovery should any of the filters run away while sweeping EQ controls. It doesn't matter if the meters run into the red a little bit. but running the signals deep into the red will hard clip eventually. Gain stages are designed to produce output signals in the range -1 to +1 as long as their inputs are in the range -1 to +1.So trim their inputs properly in order ensure that your signal hits the gain stages in their sweet spots.
The motivating philosophy behind the TooB Amp Constructor Kit is twofold. First, provide a basic serviceable Guitar Amp simulator that allows users to customize the guitar amp signal chain easily by dropping off-the-shelf effects into the signal chain either ahead of the input stage, or in effect send positions in the chain. The TooB Amp Constructor Kit does not include a lot of effect pedals, because it anticipate that users will use existing Reaktor libraries such as Brett Blocks. It could also probably do with a compressor somewhere in the signal chain. But there are plenty of compressors already.
Secondly, the TooB Amp Constructor Kit is intended to provide a starting point for more ambitious builders who would like to focus on providing improved components without having to build the entire signal chain -- perhaps a better power stage, or cabinet simulators that provide non-linear speaker effects, or a convolution-based cabinet simulator.
The initial 0.1 release is deliberately light on presets. I'm a jazz guitarist, so my ears are predisposed to warm, clean, dark signal chains. The power section is definitely capable of more overdriven sounds. I'm not quite sure how far it can be pushed. I don't really have the ears to distinguish good and bad tones when it comes to more aggressive sounds. So I would be extremely grateful if users with better ears than mine could contribute presets. Email me at rerdavies at gmail dot com. Audio samples would be helpful.
Release Notes:
0.2 Bug fixes
- Added SAGD (Additional distortion when power supply sags).
- Fixed zero-crossing bug in the Power Section Sag implementation that was causing pops and glitches.
- Reversed labels of Delay Wet and Dry knobs.
0.1 Initial release.
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Includes the Metavarb reverb block, by Stephan Schmitt, and Brett Lavallee -- a simple light-weight reverb, without which a guitar signal chain would not be complete.
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