COLONIAL PACK – 35 Profiles

The Heritage Amp company sprang from the Heritage Guitar Company and was based in Brentwood, TN, just around the corner from where I live.  Paul Cochrane, the designer and builder of the Tim and Timmy pedals (one of my faves if you haven't already noticed) was the amp designer and builder at Heritage amps and came up with some incredible-sounding amps.  In an effort to put all of his favorite Marshall-type flavors into one amp, he came up with the Colonial.

With switches for changing the preamp section, tone stack, rectifier section, and a knob to change the negative feedback, he could accurately capture the sounds of a '59 Bassman, JTM45, Super Bass, and Plexi.  I really don't know what took me so long to get one of these amps other than they're not on every corner.  For the money, they are hands-down the best deal on the planet if you want amazing tone.

I've never been a huge fan of a Marshall clean sound but with the US/UK switches I was able to find amazing clean sounds that bridge the gap between American and British amps.  Once you get it cranking and setting the switches to the Plexi mode it gets an amazing, creamy, bouncy, smooth overdrive.  But this thing is LOUD.  It is the loudest 50 watts I've ever heard and it's nice to be able to "tame" it by getting it into my Kemper.  I included profiles using my trusty Timmy, Archer, and Red (Col. Angus) homemade od pedal as well as a few different cabs for some tonal variety.  This amp is fast becoming one of my all-time favorites.

Colonial Pack requires 3.3 firmware and while most profiles were made 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 recording into ProTools 10 using a Propellerhead Balance interface with no plug-ins or processing using my red Tom Anderson Cobra with 3 P90s.  Check out the soundclips below and as usual please excuse the sloppy playing...

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!

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.

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.