This is an epically long demo of IK Multimedia’s Guitar Rig Brian May collection. It’s totally boring so here’s the notes so you can get what you need out of it.
Firstly, this is not a review. The app is amazing but I was curious to see how the two bits of gear that I own were emulated in the IK Multimedia software.
I have a BMG RS and the KAT Treble Booster Classic.
So I took some of the presets – which are all amazing and compared the real TB classic with the emulated one.
Some quick notes – I understand that the treble booster classic in 80’s mode is basically Cornish mode so in fact it’s not really an 80’s booster exclusively as a Cornish could have been used as early as 1975.
Accordingly, I tracked a tone with the RS sim on in some cases, followed by it off then with the sim still off, I put on the realTB Classic in the same mode and settings as Jamie’s presets.
For 1970s material I then tried the same track in 1980s mode.
A couple of thoughts and observations:
This is essential kit. Jamie Humphries and IK Multimedia have made something really special.
I’m using the iPad running the iPhone version Peter IKmultimedia advises that you can hop the purchase between versions if you want to use the native iPad app (see here: https://www.ikmultimedia.com/faq/index.php…)
In the signal chain I had the TB Classic was a good deal quieter than the emulated one. There’s a couple of factors at play there. The patches were untouched outside of what I’ve described so the noise gate was applied after the real TB as opposed to before it in the patches.
The tracks are designed exactly as they were recorded. Accordingly, most will sit perfectly with backing tracks.
For more general purpose riffing around try the live rigs.
The sound of the real TB is very much different to the emulated one. The emulated one is great but the real TB classic in combination with Jamie’s excellent work yielded the best results for me.
In both cases the response to the volume control was quite good but best with the real TB. This could be in part due to the noise gate being first in the chain with the virtual presets. You can hear it clean up at 11:37 where I butcher Under Pressure.
If you’re doing this make sure your using an interface that can take the treble booster. For the purposes of this I used the Daniel Gómez designed Omec Teleport. My iRig Pro Duo couldn’t to as good a job with the TB.
One other tip for those who might gig with this. Try get your hands on a Lightning to USB adapter – the one with a lightning port. This way you can use any class compliant audio interface over usb and keep some power going into your device if you are gigging with it.
Apple say it’s not for the iPhone but it works perfectly well on my iPhone 7+
The sound I got back in the headphones is what is heard on the film. It is offered here untouched and without backing.
So here’s the tracks and some time codes:
00:00 Bohemian Rhapsody Riff
02:24 Bohemian Rhapsody Solo
04:04 Don’t Stop Me Now Solo
05:13 Hammer to Fall Riff
06:26 Hammer to Fall Solo
07:20 I Want it All Solo
09:31 Killer Queen Solo
10:55 Now I’m Here Riff
11:37 Under Pressure
Overall, this is the most amount of value you can get for 20 quid on the Brian May tone hunt. It sounds amazing. Jamie has kicked out of the park.
For info on the new software visit IK Multimedia’s Brian May Collection microsite.
