Nembrini Audio Unveils the BG Extasy Boutique Guitar Amplifier Plugin
Guitar amp plugin specialist, Nembrini Audio, is proud to launch their BG Extasy Boutique Guitar Amplifier, meticulously modelled on the Bogner Ecstasy 101B head guitar amplifier.
Nembrini Audio has carefully reproduced the incredible tone and versatility of this famous boutique guitar amplifier which is hailed as a modern classic and widely regarded as one of the most desirable guitar amps on the market today. The BG Extasy Boutique Guitar Amplifier plugin has 3 distinctly voiced channels morphing past, present and future tones and a much sought after range of switching possibilities. The new plugin has all the detail of the amp plus it extends the possibilities of the original hardware thanks to the versatility of the digital world with new powerful features for the maximum control of tone.
BG Extasy Boutique Guitar Amplifier Plugin
- A complete recording chain means users can select between six different guitar cabinets, four microphone emulations with on/off-axis position switch, continuous position and distance knobs. A complete Mixer section with Solos, Mutes, Pans and Faders allows users to blend together the two microphones with the Studio Reverb.
- The Impulse Loader can load up to three third-party impulse responses, blend them together using volume, pan, phase, solo and mute controls plus a useful browser window has been added so all third-party IR files can be easily searched.
- New optimized Noise Gate section
- Includes a cleaner circuit to reduce rumbling and harshness
Talking about the BG Extasy Boutique Guitar Amplifier plugin, Igor Nembrini, founder and creator of Nembrini Audio said it's 'Classy, Versatile and Ecstatic, breathing like high gain boutique amps with infinite options.'
For an introductory period only, BG Extasy Boutique Guitar Amplifier (as an iLok-protected** AAX-, AU-, VST2-, and VST3-supporting plug-in) for MAC OS1.9 and above or Windows 7 and above, is available to purchase for only $39.00 USD (normally $137.00 USD) until 19th September 2021. The AuV3 format for iOS can be purchased for $9.99USD (normally $19.99 USD).
For more information:
Nembrini Audio
TOTO, CHRISTOPHER CROSS, and MEN AT WORK will embark on a North American tour in Summer 2025, produced by Live Nation. The tour kicks off on July 18 in West Palm Beach, FL, with tickets on sale December 13 at totoofficial.com. Citi cardmembers can access presale tickets starting December 11.
The run commences on July 18 in West Palm Beach, FL, and will stage several dozen appearances prior to the final event on August 30 in Ridgefield, WA. The general on-sale begins Friday, December 13 at 10AM local time here: totoofficial.com. Citi is the official card of this tour. Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets in the U.S. beginning December 11 at 10AM local time through the Citi Entertainment program. For complete presale details, visit citientertainment.com. Additional performances not cited below will be forthcoming shortly.
Steve Lukather shares, “I am thrilled about this tour. Christopher and Colin have been close friends of mine for a long time. This is a tour that musically works, and brings a fresh new Summer tour package to the circuit. I could not be more thrilled an idea that germinated months ago was able to take flight and become a reality.” Colin Hay offers, “The mix of Christopher, Steve with Toto, and Men At Work rings true to me. I think it will make for an exciting night of music for old and new fans alike. Let’s go!!” Christopher Cross states, “I’m honored to be sharing the stage during the summer of 2025 with my dear friends Toto and Men At Work.”
Toto has celebrated one accomplishment after the next throughout 2024. The song “Africa” has been certified DIAMOND for sales of TEN MILLION copies by the RIAA in The United States. Current cumulative sales now exceed 10.5M. Additionally, “Hold The Line” has been certified triple platinum for sales of three million copies, while “Rosanna” hit the milestone of double platinum with sales of two million copies. Both “Africa” and “Hold The Line” have reached the milestone of a BILLION streams on Spotify. Cumulative Toto album sales now exceed 50 MILLION copies, while the band’s repertoire is played more than THREE MILLION times daily on Spotify alone by an audience that continues to get younger month to month. Consistently, over 50% of the band’s streams are from those 34 years or younger. Total streams now exceed 4 BILLION at Spotify, and 6 BILLION across all platforms.
Individually and collectively the band’s family tree can be heard on countless Grammy Award winning albums across all genres. Toto are one of the few 70’s bands that have endured the changing trends and styles while continuing to remain relevant. Joining Steve Lukather (guitar/vocals) and Joseph Williams (vocals) are Greg Phillinganes (keyboards / vocals), Shannon Forrest (drums), John Pierce (bass), Warren Ham (horns / percussion / vocals), and Dennis Atlas (keyboards / vocals).
Grammy Award-winning rock band Men At Work formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1979 and are best known for the breakthrough hits that include the billion streamed "Down Under," alongside "Who Can It Be Now?," "Be Good Johnny," "Overkill," and "It's a Mistake." The band achieved a global success as a Grammy-winning, multi-platinum selling act before disbanding in 1985. Due to demand, members Colin Hay and Greg Ham reunited in 1996, and revived Men At Work, touring the world until 2002. Following the death of Greg Ham, and while touring Europe as part of Ringo Starr’s All Starr Band in 2018, Colin Hay again entertained the idea of touring once more as Men At Work and has continued to do so since 2019. The band’s current touring line-up features Jimmy Branly on drums, Yosmel Montejo on bass, and San Miguel on guitar, all originally hailing from Cuba. On sax, flute and keyboards is Scheila Gonzalez, and Cecilia Noël performs harmony vocals and percussion. Steve Lukather and Colin Hay are close friends who have wanted to tour together for a long time. They are both members of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band.
Special guest Christopher Cross and the members of Toto have been friends and collaborators for more than four decades. On September 1, they appeared with one another in front of a capacity crowd at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl. In February, Cross will tour Europe with Toto on a run that will stage performances in front of a potential quarter million fans. Joining Cross are Francis Arnaud (drums), Kevin Reveyrand (bass), Jerry Leonide (piano), Andy Suzuki (winds & keys), and vocalists Lisbet Guldbeck, Chrissi Poland and Nicky Richards.
Christopher Cross burst onto the music scene with his 1980 self-titled debut album winning five Grammy Awards, including – for the first time in Grammy history – the “Big Four” most prestigious awards: Record of the Year (for the single “Sailing”), Album of the Year, Song of the Year (“Sailing”), and Best New Artist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Cross has sold more than 12 million albums. His music has garnered five Grammys, an Oscar, a Golden Globe, an Emmy nomination and five Top 10 singles.
For more information, please visit totoofficial.com.
- 7/18 West Palm Beach, FL iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
- 7/19 Tampa, FL MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
- 7/21 Birmingham, AL Coca-Cola Amphitheater
- 7/22 Alpharetta, GA Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
- 7/24 Burgettstown, PA The Pavilion at Star Lake
- 7/25 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
- 7/26 Boston, MA Leader Bank Pavilion
- 7/28 Gilford, NH BankNH Pavilion
- 7/30 Bridgeport, CT Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater
- 8/01 Atlantic City, NJ Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena
- 8/03 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
- 8/05 St. Louis, MO Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
- 8/06 Noblesville, IN Ruoff Music Center
- 8/08 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
- 8/09 Tinley Park, IL Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
- 8/11 Clarkston, MI Pine Knob Music Theatre
- 8/13 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live
- 8/14 Charlotte, NC PNC Music Pavilion
- 8/15 Nashville, TN Ascend Amphitheater
- 8/17 Oklahoma City, OK The Zoo Amphitheatre
- 8/18 Irving, TX The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
- 8/21 Phoenix, AZ Arizona Financial Theatre
- 8/23 Las Vegas, NV Fontainebleau
- 8/24 Inglewood, CA Kia Forum
- 8/25 Concord, CA Toyota Pavilion at Concord
- 8/27 Salt Lake City, UT Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
- 8/29 Puyallup, WA Washington State Fair (On-Sale Coming Soon)
- 8/30 Ridgefield, WA RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater
Carlos Santana will hit the road for additional dates of the Oneness Tour in 2025.
Santana will perform songs from their fifty-year career, including fan favorites from Abraxas to Woodstock to Supernatural,and beyond.
The US portion of the tour kicks off in Highland, CA at Yaamava’ Resort & Casino at San Manuel on April 16 making stops in Phoenix, AZ; Albuquerque, NM; San Antonio, TX; Sugar Land, TX; Thackerville, OK; Tulsa, OK; and Nashville, TN.
The Europe and UK portion of the tour begins on June 9 in Lodz, Poland with stops throughout Europe and the UK, ending in Copenhagen, Denmark on August 11. Full tour dates are below.
Tickets will be available starting with a fan presale beginning on Wednesday, December 11 at Santana.com. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general on sale beginning on Friday, December 13 at 10am local time at Santana.com.
The tour will also offer a variety of different VIP packages and experiences for fans to take their concert experience to the next level. Packages vary but include premium tickets, exclusive merchandise item & collectible laminate.
For more information, please visit santana.com.
2025 Oneness Tour North American Dates:
- Wednesday, April 16, 2025 - Highland, CA - Yaamava’ Resort & Casino at San Manuel
- Friday, April 18, 2025 - Phoenix, AZ - Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
- Saturday, April 19, 2025 - Albuquerque, NM - Isleta Amphitheater
- Tuesday, April 22, 2025 - San Antonio, TX - Majestic Theatre
- Wednesday, April 23, 2025 - Sugar Land, TX - Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land
- Friday, April 25, 2025 - Thackerville, OK - Lucas Oil Live at WinStar
- Saturday, April 26, 2025 - Tulsa, OK - River Spirit Casino Resort *ON SALE 2/18/25
- Tuesday, April 29, 2025 - Nashville, TN - The Pinnacle
2025 Oneness Tour Europe & UK Dates:
- Monday, June 9, 2025 - Lodz, Poland - Atlas Arena
- Wednesday, June 11, 2025 - Budapest, Hungary - MVM Dome *ON SALE 2/13/25 AT 1PM
- Friday, June 13, 2025 - Berlin, Germany - Uber Arena
- Sunday, June 15, 2025 - Hamburg, Germany - Barclays Arena
- Wednesday, June 18, 2025 - Glasgow, UK - OVO Hydro
- Thursday, June 19, 2025 - Manchester, UK - Co-op Live
- Saturday, June 21, 2025 - London, UK - The O2
- Monday, June 23, 2025 - Paris, France - Accor Arena Paris *ON SALE 1/10/25
- Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Ziggo Dome
- Thursday, June 26, 2025 - Antwerp, Belgium - Sportpaleis
- Saturday, June 28, 2025 - Zurich, Switzerland - Hallenstadion Zürich *ON SALE 4/11/25
- Monday, June 30, 2025 - Vienna, Austria - Wiener Stadthalle
- Wednesday, July 2, 2025 - Mantua, Italy - Piazza Sordello – Mantova
- Wednesday, July 16, 2025 - Rosenheim, Germany - ROSENHEIM SOMMERFESTIVAL 2025, Mangfall Park
- Friday, July 18, 2025 - Montreux, Switzerland - Montreux Jazz Festival
- Saturday, July 19, 2025 - St. Julien, France - Guitare en Scène *ON SALE 12/19/25
- Monday, July 21, 2025 - Nimes, France - Festival de Nîmes
- Wednesday, July 23, 2025 - Monte-Carlo, Monte-Carlo Summer Festival *ON SALE 12/18/25
- Friday, July 25, 2025 - Marciac, France - Jazz à Marciac Festival
- Sunday, August 3, 2025 - Marbella, Spain - Starlite Occident Festival
- Friday, August 8, 2025 - Cologne, Germany - Lanxess Arena
- Saturday, August 9, 2025 - Hanover, Germany - ZAG Arena
- Monday, August 11, 2025 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Royal Arena
Nile Rodgers Put Rhythm Up Front (and Cory Wong Listened)
Funk-guitar wiz and Wong Notes host Cory Wong flips the script and sits in the 100 Guitarists guest chair.
Funk-guitar wiz and Wong Noteshost Cory Wong flips the script and sits in the 100 Guitarists guest chair. Wong cleared his schedule to talk about one Nile Rodgers’ work on the Halo 2 soundtrack. We were lucky that got him to return our call, but we did move on quickly.
Wong is a scholar of all things rhythm guitar—and that means all things Nile. We talk about how the Hitmaker voices his progressions—“You hear Nile play a chord progression … and it’s that song”—and the role of rhythm guitar in general. Cory delivers his list of best Nile performances, tips for direct guitar sounds, and most surprising Nile collabs.
Ever wonder what it would sound like if Nile Rodgers produced David Lee Roth covering Willie Nelson? Give a listen and drop us a know when you check it out for yourself.
This episode is sponsored by JAM Pedals.
More info: https://www.jampedals.com.
A menu of vintage-voiced, modulated, harmonic, and reverse delays makes an intriguing smorgasbord of echo textures.
An imaginative array of wild to rich and familiar echo textures. Darker EQ profile lends authenticity to tape-like effects. Smart, if somewhat cramped, control layout.
Harmonic delay mode can be cloying at most settings.
$249
Diamond Dark Cloud
diamondpedals.com
The art of using and building delays is, at this point, a discipline populated by a thousand little cults. Vintage-minded analogists, digital micromanagers, and seekers of chaos all live under this strange umbrella. What’s refreshing about Diamond’s Dark Cloud is the way it spans so many points on the echo spectrum without 30 push-buttons and an enclosure the size of a cigar box.
It does many of the things detail-minded sound crafters demand of their delays, like tap tempo and creating precise subdivisions fast. And while it’s a digital delay, it seems very carefully designed and EQ’d to feel very analog, vintage, patinated, and moody. Indeed, in many situations it proves worthy of its name.
Crafted for Controlled Chaos
The sturdy, Canada-built Dark Cloud is a nice study in design efficiency. While there are enough tightly packed controls and switches to make some players nervous, the Dark Cloud does a lot with four knobs, a mini-toggle, and two footswitches. The toggle doubles as a mode selector when you click down and a subdivision switch when you click up. Footswitches serve the function of tapping out tempo, instantaneously or momentarily doubling delay rate, or setting up the harmonic delay mode for octaves or fifths. And though the four knobs for delay time, mix, feedback, and modulation rate are ordinarily enough, each functions quite differently depending on the mode, making the Dark Cloud deceptively simple.
Softly Spoken Expansiveness
Tape mode is, needless to say, well suited for the Dark Cloud’s darkish tone profile. Repeats drift and dissolve into mist as the echo signal degrades, and in traditional sorts of tape delay settings (short-to-medium-length delays, a 50/50 mix, and anywhere from two to five repeats), the Dark Cloud maintains a responsiveness and a not-too-overbearing presence that are simultaneously spacey and subdued. But the tape setting is also fantastic at more extreme settings. Fast repeats mated to speedy modulations and maxed-out feedback levels yield results that sound like Joe Meek wrestling a Space Echo, and you can create many accelerating/decelerating oscillation effects that suggest the old Roland tape delay standard-bearer if you engage actively and in real time with the controls.
“Fast repeats mated to speedy modulations and maxed-out feedback levels yield results that sound like Joe Meek wrestling a Space Echo.”
Harmonic and octave-up effects paired with reverbs and delay have a way of generating polarizing effects. I am generally on the side of those who find that a little goes a long way, and that too much is a saccharine tone nightmare that evokes being eaten alive by Smurfs. If you want to be devoured by wee cannibals, that’s your business, and the Dark Cloud will go there, particularly if you run wild with the feedback control. But the pedal also makes space for mellower applications. I had great luck with slapback delay times, fast decay, moderate mix levels and modulation rates in the ballpark of a Leslie’s whirl. In this setting, the harmonic delay took on the feel of an old Vox or Farfisa organ tracking my chord melody. If you stray from the Duane Eddy zone on the fretboard, single-note melodies tend to bring out the harmonic delay’s more cloying side. However, if you dig the shimmering qualities associated with these effects, you’ll find the Dark Cloud is a rich source for them, especially if you tinker with the harmonizing fifth setting on the pedal.
The Dark Cloud’s reverse delay mode is the one where the dark and cloudy facets of its personality become really intriguing. Like the tape mode, it’s a great match for drive effects from mellow boosts to gnarly fuzz—whether you situate it upstream or downstream from the pedal. But using the effect in clean settings reveals a lot about how the pedal’s EQ emphasis and duskier repeats make reverse echoes more seamless, organic, and something closer to the effect of reverse tape, especially when you keep the modulation and feedback to a minimum. In this way, the Dark Cloud’s reverse delay betters that of many of its peers and makes echoes sound less like they were grafted on as an afterthought. The reverse-echo textures can also range to more mangled extremes. If you’re a fan of Daniel Lanois’ warped-echo-and-melting-tweed-Deluxe sounds, adding fuzzy gain and attenuating your guitar tone generates a spiraling, hazy distorted signal that sounds a little like a reel of 2" coated in dust and molasses. (There’s an audio sample of that kind of thing attached to the online version of this review.)
The Verdict
If I’d had my way, I would have nixed the Dark Cloud’s harmonic delay mode, stuck with the very nice tape and reverse modes, and charged a little less. Still, a lot of players will love the many strange high-pitched and pixilated sounds available via the harmonic mode. And together, the three modes add up to a uniquely varied echo unit that can see a player through many moods—from deeply psychedelic to hyperactively effervescent.