This month, Roger Adler explored the world of digital amp and effect modeling with two cutting-edge programs, AmpliTube 2 and Guitar Rig 2. The effects created by these programs are nothing short of amazing, but you don''t have to take our word for it. Below are clips created from both programs, simulating a variety of tones, from sparkling clean to down and dirty. You be the judge.
Vox Sounds
 | AmpliTube 2 A Vox AC30 clean rhythm tone, using AmpliTube 2. The distortion is tweaked slightly to achieve that "jangly" AC30 sound. Flash is Required to hear this track |
 | Guitar Rig 2 A Vox AC30 in Guitar Rig 2, with various parameters tweaked to taste. This clip is a little less ballsy, a softer version of the Amplitube version. Flash is Required to hear this track |
Fender Sounds
 | AmpliTube 2 A replication of a blackface Fender in AmpliTube 2. There''s plenty of sparkle and twang in this simulation. Flash is Required to hear this track |
 | Guitar Rig 2 Another classic Fender simulation in Guitar Rig 2. This example isn''t as bright as the previous example, but the spring reverb is much more pronounced here. Flash is Required to hear this track |
Marshall Sounds
 | AmpliTube 2 A cranked Marshall lead tone, based on a JCM 900. This is a great recreation of the interplay between a EL34-packed Marshall and a 4x12 cabinet packed with Celestions. Flash is Required to hear this track |
 | Guitar Rig 2 Another simulation of a dimed Marshall. This is based off a plexi sound, with the bass cranked. Notice it sounds bigger than the last example, but that might not be what you''re looking for in a particular instance. Flash is Required to hear this track |
Auto Wah Sounds
 | AmpliTube 2 An Auto Wah sound in AmpliTube 2, put through a 50-watt Marshall. Notice that this wah fluctuates at a predetermined tempo - when the tempo is locked to the track you can get a cool, "in sync" sound. Flash is Required to hear this track |
 | Guitar Rig 2 Guitar Rig 2''s take on the auto wah - it is warm, sustained and would be great for a unique lead solo. Notice that the Guitar Rig wah follows the rhythm of the way each note is played. Flash is Required to hear this track |
Solid-State Metal Sounds
 | AmpliTube 2 AmpliTube 2''s take on a high-gain rhythm sound with a tight, focused bottom-end. Flash is Required to hear this track |
 | Guitar Rig 2 Guitar Rig 2''s take on the high-gain rhythm sound. This clip features a double stack of cabinets, and has a bit more midrange. Flash is Required to hear this track |
Mesa Boogie Sounds
 | AmpliTube 2 In this clip, AmpliTube 2 replicates a Mesa Boogie Dual Recto at full-tilt. There are more mids here and not as much bass as the previous solid-state examples, but still plenty of attitude. Flash is Required to hear this track It''s also easy to add effects to your sounds - in ten seconds, you can add a convincing Leslie effect to the simulation. Flash is Required to hear this track |
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Tom Bedell in the Relic Music acoustic room, holding a custom Seed to Song Parlor with a stunning ocean sinker redwood top and milagro Brazilian rosewood back and sides.
A born storyteller, Bedell doesn’t keep his passion to himself. On Friday, May 12, at New Jersey boutique guitar outpost Relic Music, Bedell shared some of the stories he’s collected during his life and travels as part of a three-city clinic trip. At Relic—and stops at Crossroads Guitar and Art in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, and Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center in Wheaton, Maryland—he discussed his guitars and what makes them so special, why sustainability is such an important cause, and how he’s putting it into practice.
Before his talk, we sat in Relic’s cozy, plush acoustic room, surrounded by a host of high-end instruments. We took a look at a few of the store’s house-spec’d Bedell parlors while we chatted.
“The story of this guitar is the story of the world,” Bedell explained to me, holding a Seed to Song Parlor. He painted a picture of a milagro tree growing on a hillside in northeastern Brazil some 500 years ago, deprived of water and growing in stressful conditions during its early life. That tree was eventually harvested, and in the 1950s, it was shipped to Spain by a company that specialized in church ornaments. They recognized this unique specimen and set it aside until it was imported to the U.S. and reached Oregon. Now, it makes the back and sides of this unique guitar.
A Bedell Fireside Parlor with a buckskin redwood top and cocobolo back and sides.
As for the ocean sinker redwood top, “I’m gonna make up the story,” Bedell said, as he approximated the life cycle of the tree, which floated in the ocean, soaking up minerals for years and years, and washed ashore on northern Oregon’s Manzanita Beach. The two woods were paired and built into a small run of exquisitely outfitted guitars using the Bedell/Breedlove Sound Optimization process—in which the building team fine-tunes each instrument’s voice by hand-shaping individual braces to target resonant frequencies using acoustic analysis—and Bedell and his team fell in love.
Playing it while we spoke, I was smitten by this guitar’s warm, responsive tone and even articulation and attack across the fretboard; it strikes a perfect tonal balance between a tight low-end and bright top, with a wide dynamic range that made it sympathetic to anything I offered. And as I swapped guitars, whether picking up a Fireside Parlor with a buckskin redwood top and cocobolo back and sides or one with an Adirondack spruce top and Brazilian rosewood back and sides, the character and the elements of each instrument changed, but that perfect balance remained. Each of these acoustics—and of any Bedell I’ve had the pleasure to play—delivers their own experiential thumbprint.
Rosette and inlay detail on an Adirondack spruce top.
Ultimately, that’s what brought Bedell out to the East Coast on this short tour. “We have a totally different philosophy about how we approach guitar-building,” Bedell effused. “There are a lot of individuals who build maybe 12 guitars a year, who do some of the things that we do, but there’s nobody on a production level.” And he wants to spread that gospel.
“We want to reach people who really want something special,” he continued, pointing out that for the Bedell line, the company specifically wants to work with shops like Relic and the other stores he’s visited, “who have a clientele that says I want the best guitar I can possibly have, and they carry enough variety that we can give them that.”
A Fireside Parlor with a Western red cedar top and Brazilian rosewood back and sides.
