65 ACE30 PACK – 34 Profiles

It is a classic amp.  The diamond grill cloth, the copper metal panel, the blue alnico speakers, the unique tone stack, lack of negative feedback, Class A el84 power section... A design that has been copied and recreated a thousand times but it's hard to beat the original.  With its quick pick attack and clarity when playing softly to its creamy, saturated power tube overdrive when cranked, it has become a staple guitar tone for a long time.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on this beauty from 1965 and while mere profiles could never fully recreate the magic in this amp, I got 34 studio profiles of it that should please AC afficionados and help guitarists get close to capturing the original vintage tones created by the original beast.

I was most struck and impressed by the touch sensitivity.  The clips below show how picking dynamics can really dictate how much the amp will overdrive.  It makes it feel like a living, breathing machine instead of a computer-simulated model, however strange and ironic that is.

The 65 ACE30 Pack was creating using the latest 5.0 firmware. Most of the profiles incorporate the legacy delay but there are a couple that utilize the new expanded 5.0 delays.  Please forgive the playing in the audio samples as many of these weren't exactly in my wheelhouse.  Thanks!

M Britt Heavy Pack is all about gain.  From a Duo Recto to Eddie's 100w 3-channel to Merlin to Victor, these profiles try to cover your high gain needs, from hard rock to metal to chugga chugga goodness.  These 36 studio profiles and 14 d.i. profiles were mostly voiced with humbuckers and should be tweakable enough to get where you need to go tonally.  Some with done with my trusty 3P cab and some were done with traditional 412 cabs.  I enlisted some professional help dialing tones on some of these since it's not my usual style of music, but who knows?  The more I play them the more I feel empowered! Ha.

Heavy Pack requires 3.0 firmware or newer and while most amps were profiled using my trusty 3rd Power cabinet, the new separation algorithms make it easier to get more great sounds by switching to your favorite cabs as well.

These clips were recorded into ProTools 10 using a Propellerhead Balance interface and a Tom Anderson Cobra with a Duncan JB bridge pickup and 59 neck pickup.

M Britt Vintage Pack is a unique collection of Vintage amp profiles including a British 50w AC, a few blackface, silverface, and brownface beauties, Page and Peter Green's hidden gem, a Sears Twin Twelve, the 70's Clapton clean, Benson's jazz combo, a Jazzy 50-watter, B.B. King's and Ty Tabor's favorite L5, and a sweet '84 JK FACS.  There plenty of American clean and crunch tones as well as a few cool throwback British sounds.  The JC50 can cover about half of every 80's rhythm guitar sound and the PTone and Lab Series can get surprisingly warm sounds from a solid state package.  Hopefully, there's something for everyone (minus real high gain metal stuff, of course).

Vintage Pack requires 3.0 firmware or higher and while most amps were profiled using my trusty 3rd Power cabinet, the new separation algorithms make it easier to get more great sounds by switching to your favorite cabs as well.

Scroll down for sound clips.

When I think of my favorite overdrive tones, I always go to early 4-input Marshalls.  They can sound smooth or angry depending on how you play them.  I've gotten to play a couple of great old Plexis over the years and I own a '72 that I've profiled frequently.  I got the opportunity thanks to good friends to profile this '69 beauty.  It has been passed between friends from Nashville to L.A. and back.  It has that crispy top end that I hear on early Van Halen records.

I wanted to capture some variety, and even though I usually use my fave 3P 212 cab, I profiled this with 4 different cabs:  3P 212 CL80, Marshall 412 w/25w Greenbacks, Marshall 412 w/30w Celestions, and my Guytron closed back 212 w/Vintage 30.  I even got a few good clean sounds on top of the great overdrive tones.  There are even a couple where I just rolled the knobs up and dialed the Variac down to brown it out a little.  Hope you like 'em.

As most of you know I play in a country band, and although I can muddle my way through a couple of different styles, playing metal is not something I'm intimately familiar with.  That's why I did a little consulting/custom profiling with my buddy Paul.  He sent me this beautiful oversized-lunchbox beast and I have to admit I had never heard of this amp.  He sent me some suggested settings and beta-tested my results and I profiled some more.

I profiled with a couple of different speakers and tried different mics and combinations.  I dialed in and refined the profiles using a Les Paul and a Knaggs Kenai.  The profiles  have a lot more gain and more edge than I'm used to and they aren't something I can use on my gig, but they are kinda addicting to play.  Also included are 5 DI profiles.  Check them out.

One of the early boutique amp builders, Jim Kelley created some amazing amps used by Vince Gill, Bonnie Raitt, Lee Ritenour, and others.  There were only about 600 made so they're still pretty rare and though they don't fetch Dumble prices yet, they are amazing amps and built to last forever.  I profiled this tan 210 combo.

With all the pull knobs and two channels and proprietary power attenuator, there are a lot of possible settings and I couldn't possibly get to them all, but I tried to get some great usable tones from clean to crunch to saturated solo sounds.