In ScopeRise #2, we reviewed the Jim Marshall Dynatube Amp/Cabinet Combo.  But there is a lot more to the Dynatube Guitar Suite.  In fact the entire bundle covers four of the most famous guitar rigs ever made, including:
  • Jim Marshall: A Classic Rock n' Roll workhorse.
  • Mesa Boogie: A Fierce, Heavy Metal sonic bulldozer.
  • Vox:  The legendary sound of the 'British Invasion' pop of the 60's.
  • Fender Twin: Clear and Clean classic amp, with the classic Fender sound.
The bundle represents great value not just because of the four combos included, but in addition, the user interface allows the combination of any of the above four amp heads with any of the other four cabinets.  This yields a total of sixteen possible head/cabinet combinations.

I decided to make some quick out-of-the-box demos of each of the four combos.  These are quick and ad-hoc, without much tweaking in order to just get an impression of the sound of these combos.

     
Dynatube VOX 'Rock' preset with pre-effects
 
Dynatube Mesa Boogie 'Brutal' preset (no other effects)
 
Dynatube Jim Marshall with pre-effects
 
Dynatube Fender Twin 'Mellow Vibrato' preset (no other effects)
 
 

     
 

 

GaryB:  If you use Dynatube strictly as an amplifier and not for distortion, it's about as good as computer amplifier models get.  The thing about certain native guitar rigs is that it's all processed sounds.  Personally, I'd rather use Dynatube, pedals and Scope effects, as I think it's the most real guitar sound available without an amp.

Nova Express:  After my first recording session with Dynatube - one word: AMAZING!  I have had a JCM800 superlead 100w since 25 years ago so I'm used to his sound.  This is the first time using a plug in that I've got the sensation of playing with the real thing!  It's unbelievable!  As I'm a fanatic of re-amping I bought the Dynatube for the convenience of zero latency monitoring during the tracking and then re-amp later with my amp (SonicCore-->HD24XT converter --> radial reamp DI--> JCM --> m160 ribbon --> Neve preamp --> HD24XT converter --> SonicCore).  This plug in changed my mind.  Why re-amp if the sound is already there?  I can feel the difference in the preamp stage and master stage like the real thing, and frankly it never happened in real life to put the master to 10 with a real jcm800 100W.  It's freaking LOUD (I always need a power break).  This is the first time I'm happy with a virtual preamp.  It's so dynamic!  You can control the drive directly with the volume pot of the guitar exactly like in real life.  We were really surprised.  It's exactly like having the real amp in front of you.

Ume:  Just want to tell you that I like it so much that I bought me a http://www.marshallamps.com/product_ran ... ode=JMD501

Astroman:  I have the Dynatube bass bundle, which I found so convincing that I'll get at least the Fender emulation of the guitar set.

Dante:  Well looks like I will have to earmark the dollars to get the Dynatube Bass bundle as well.  Look for a future review on that one.

Dante April 2011

Listen to more sound examples here

Download the Dynatube Guitar Manual here.