Opened Ampkit this morning after getting all the chores done around the farm, and decided to see about this pack.
First impressions
No compressor? Really? No bass-centric EQ? Hmmm. Not happy about that, but then again, there's some very adjustable EQ selections in the amps, as well as mic capabilities in Ampkit that are unavailable in Amplitube and JamUp, as well as Za couple of the amps faithfully having an onboard compressor (Ashdown and Trace) that is a dual compressor in the case of the Trace. Still, a bass-specific compressor would be extremely welcome to this lineup.
The pedals
The ToneMime is a nifty little pedal model, and from what I can tell, does a better job than JamUp of producing a SansAmp-esque quality. That being said, both are extremely useful in getting a good throaty howl out of a bass. The one knock I have on the Ampkit version is that the blend feature, at halfway, experiences a severe drop in output. Fully engaged left or right, however, it produced a good blending, but I did notice that drop in the center. JamUp doesn't do that for me when it blends. It's an add-in of the signal, as opposed to being what appears is an "either-or" scenario in AmpKit.
The Octapuss, is nice. I dig it. I've not purchased any pedals from Ampkit, but if the resolution of this pedal is any indicator of what Ampkit has to offer, then holy smokes, I dig it. tone, first and second octaves, as well as dry signal incursion were all nicely done, and the octaves were smooth-tracking and triggered and held well. No mean feat.
My biggest issue for pedals? No Airturn support that I could see. Womp Womp Womp Waaaaaaa. Still, if you don't plan on adding anything into your chain, running a set chain through Ampkit is a thing of beauty.
Heads
Valve in the instance of the Ashdown and Trace are nice, and give a good driving fuzz that when blended properly sit nicely in the mix. Drive in the Ampeg clones is nice, and digging into it does give it a good grind. I tested mine with flats, so the fuzz was a bit more old-school sounding, but the rounds on my 5 string should give it a creamier and more complex sound.
The American Bass King is pretty straightforward and didn't impress me that much. Malleable enough, but nothing like the Ashdown or the Trace in terms of tonal control and shaping. But in real life, not much is.
The Trace and the Ashdown I've used before. Great sounding heads, and very malleable. You can actually get very lost searching for the right tone if you don't go in with a good understanding of how these heads work in real life accompanied by a clear and concise idea of what you're actually looking for. Going in to just play around will end up costing you about 2-3 hours of your life spend twisting knobs, playing lines, and repeating "what if???"
Not that that's a bad thing.
The Voltage VT Classic, modeled on the Ampeg SVT CL, when coupled with it's 810 cab, actually does sound like an SVT. And the VR goes a step further with a touch more modern sound. Both have selectable mid frequencies, ultra high and ultra low switches and a drive that boosts both substantially. The output out of the CL is vastly different in terms of volume, however, being a much quieter output. I don't know if that was intended or not, but it was my experience. Still, when you toss it into the mix with the CL 810, it sounds like what you'd expect out of an Ampeg 810. Having stood in front of one going full tilt during our opening slot for Jackyl, that impression was pretty fresh in my mind. IMO, It's probably the closest to an actual Ampeg I've heard out of the Big 3.
What's missing? A good model of any RB series head from GK. But that will be tough to model accurately, to be honest. JamUp gets close, for sure. But it's very tough to replicate the abillity a GK head has for grind and tone when you push the rails hard. It's a complex bit of engineering that goes into how a GK head gets that GIVE sound, so simply adding distortion isn't going to work. And I have yet to hear a really amazing replication of a really driven 1001RB out of anyone. JamUp gets the gold star for getting close, though. Compression up front and on the tail end makes theirs the closest of the Big 3. Can, or will, Ampkit get closer? Only time will tell, but I would really like to hear it if they try.
Cabinet details
The mic positioning option is what I really like about the cabinet details section in Ampkit. It allows me to select the Germann 87 mic or the thinner-sounding SM57 clone, and then you can place it distant, on or off axis, depending on what you're attempting to accomplish. Why the others don't do this is beyond me. And because I work mainly in a live music environment, this nifty studio-based option allows me a LOT of possibilities that I simply wouldn't have in the real world without an exceptional amount of bleedover. The Trace actually allows you the option of woofer, woofer and horn, or distant, which I found to be very useful later when I wanted to add some detail back into the signal. Although you'll definitely want to re-EQ after changing this, as the tweeter is very bright when compared to the woofer alone.
Doubling Up
While not dual-amping via Audiobus to control the chain and what goes into where at what point in the chain, I did a simple dual amp set up of opening both JamUp and Ampkit. I had a custom Trace Elliot patch with a bit of the ToneMime in there, and it gave me a nice, big punchy sound, with a round attack from the flats on my Jazz bass, a very good, all-around rock tone.
In JamUp, I loaded the Treadplate, and a set of compressors, the Blue on the front end of the Treadplate, and the LA on the back end in limiting capacity. I then set the Treadplate up for a really creamy modern sounding distortion.
Coupling the two like this got me a huge bass sound, with a lot of saturation on the distortion up top. Playing along with a few songs that I have sans-bass tracks allowed me to hear how it should sit in a mix, and I was impressed.
Now, I can't control the overall chain, as this was all running parallel vs. series, but I'm used to having a DI from my bass, one from my effects loop and a mix on my cab from back in the day, all mixed FOH for a huge sound. And this kinda got it for me.
In short, I'll be exploring setting up like this for next weekend's Halloween blow out gig and see how it comes out. I still need to do some testing through the PA here at home, but it's a start. Although I doubt anyone will give a crap in the audience, I'm interested in hearing how it all sits in the mix with my actual band.
