Whether you're trying to keep the dBs down or you need a wealth of amps, cabs, effects, and mics at your fingertips, this collection of plugins will help you realize the tone in your head quickly and easily.
IK Multimedia AmpliTube 5
In addition to official emulations of Fender, Mesa, Orange, and Wampler gear, this robust plug-in also features a DAW, looper, and much more.
$199 street
ikmultimedia.com
Line 6 Helix Native
Packed with dozens of virtual amps and effects, this gateway into the Helix ecosphere mimics the tones of the company's hardware units in handy plug-and-play form.
$399 street
line6.com
Kuassa Matchlock
A decidedly Fender-flavored setup, this trio of amp models aims at copping Fullerton's greatest hits with two options for each amp and seven different types of mics.
$49 street
kuassa.com
Native Instruments Guitar Rig 6 Pro
The latest iteration offers a rack-based visual setup that allows you to customize every part of your signal chain right down to mixing up to eight mics together via the virtual mixer.
$199 street
native-instruments.com
Neural DSP Archetype: Cory Wong
Based on AI technology, this collection of amps and effects curated by the internet's favorite guitarist is targeted for players who are looking for clean and low-gain tones.
$144 USD street
neuraldsp.com
Overloud TH-U
This all-in-one suite offers hundreds of amp, cab, and effects options, including officially licensed gear from Randall, DV Mark, Brunetti, and THD.
$299 street
overloud.com
Positive Grid Bias Amp 2 Elite
Not only does this plug-in offer accurate models of legendary amps, it allows you to design your own amp from the ground up and includes technology to match either a mic'd amp or recorded track.
$179 street
positivegrid.com
Universal Audio Fender '55 Tweed Deluxe
If you dig the classic tones of one of Leo's best amps, this plug-in offers a faithful recreation and adds the ability to mix and match legendary mics.
$99 street
uaudio.com
Waves PRS SuperModels
This collection include two of the company's most popular models—the Archon and Dallas—plus an amp that was never released: the Blue Sierra/V9, which was an early version of the J-MOD 100.
$35 street
waves.com
Scuffham S-Gear
Covering tones from vintage tweed-style combos to '80s high-gain heads, this collection offers five amps, a handful of effects, and more.
$99 street
scuffhamamps.com
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EBS BassIQ Blue Label Triple Envelope Filter Pedal
The EBS BassIQ produces sounds ranging from classic auto-wah effects to spaced-out "Funkadelic" and synth-bass sounds. It is for everyone looking for a fun, fat-sounding, and responsive envelope filter that reacts to how you play in a musical way.
Reverend Vernon Reid Totem Series Electric Guitar - Shaman
Silos features six presets, tap tempo, one full second of delay time, and three voices—two of which are styled after bucket-brigade and tape-delay sounds. In the $150 price category, it’s not unusual for a digital delay to leave some number of those functions out. And spending the same money on a true-analog alternative usually means warm, enveloping sounds but limited functionality and delay time. Silos, improbably perhaps, offers a very elegant solution to this can’t-have-it-all dilemma in a U.S.-made effect.
A More Complete Cobbling Together
Silos’ utility is bolstered by a very unintimidating control set, which is streamlined and approachable. Three of those controls are dedicated to the same mix, time, and repeats controls you see on any delay. But saving a preset to one of the six spots on the rotary preset dial is as easy as holding the green/red illuminated button just below the mix and preset knobs. And you certainly won’t get lost in the weeds if you move to the 3-position toggle, which switches between a clear “digital” voice, darker “analog” voice, and a “tape” voice which is darker still.
“The three voices offer discernibly different response to gain devices.”
One might suspect that a tone control for the repeats offers similar functionality as the voice toggle switch. But while it’s true that the most obvious audible differences between digital, BBD, and tape delays are apparent in the relative fidelity and darkness of their echoes, the Silos’ three voices behave differently in ways that are more complex than lighter or duskier tonality. For instance, the digital voice will never exhibit runaway oscillation, even at maximum mix and repeat settings. Instead, repeats fade out after about six seconds (at the fastest time settings) or create sleepy layers of slow-decaying repeats that enhance detail in complex, sprawling, loop-like melodic phrases. The analog voice and tape voice, on the other hand, will happily feed back to psychotic extremes. Both also offer satisfying sensitivity to real-time, on-the-fly adjustments. For example, I was tickled with how I could generate Apocalypse Now helicopter-chop effects and fade them in and out of prominence as if they were approaching or receding in proximity—an effect made easier still if you assign an expression pedal to the mix control. This kind of interactivity is what makes analog machines like the Echoplex, Space Echo, and Memory Man transcend mere delay status, and the sensitivity and just-right resistance make the process of manipulating repeats endlessly engaging.
Doesn't Flinch at Filth
EarthQuaker makes a point of highlighting the Silos’ affinity for dirty and distorted sounds. I did not notice that it behaved light-years better than other delays in this regard. But the three voices most definitely offer discernibly different responses to gain devices. The super-clear first repeat in the digital mode lends clarity and melodic focus, even to hectic, unpredictable, fractured fuzzes. The analog voice, which EQD says is inspired by the tone makeup of a 1980s-vintage, Japan-made KMD bucket brigade echo, handles fuzz forgivingly inasmuch as its repeats fade warmly and evenly, but the strong midrange also keeps many overtones present as the echoes fade. The tape voice, which uses aMaestro Echoplex as its sonic inspiration, is distinctly dirtier and creates more nebulous undercurrents in the repeats. If you want to retain clarity in more melodic settings, it will create a warm glow around repeats at conservative levels. Push it, and it will summon thick, sometimes droning haze that makes a great backdrop for slower, simpler, and hooky psychedelic riffs.
In clean applications, this decay and tone profile lend the tape setting a spooky, foggy aura that suggests the cold vastness of outer space. The analog voice often displays an authentic BBD clickiness in clean repeats that’s sweet for underscoring rhythmic patterns, while the digital voice’s pronounced regularity adds a clockwork quality that supports more up-tempo, driving, electronic rhythms.
The Verdict
Silos’ combination of features seems like a very obvious and appealing one. But bringing it all together at just less than 150 bucks represents a smart, adept threading of the cost/feature needle.
EarthQuaker Devices Silos Multi-generational Time Reflection Delay Pedal
