GarageBand Guitar Sampler

// March 23rd, 2009 // Guitar

Welcome to my GarageBand electric guitar amp/effect sampler. With the release of the Apple iLife ’09 suite, came a big update to the GarageBand program. There were a lot of enhancements to the product, such as lessons, interface tweaks, and some new songwriting features, but none of those come anywhere near as important (to me) than the new guitar amp and effect models now built-in to GarageBand. The following is a sampling of the default amp/effect models included with the software. They are infinitely customizable and they very well may contribute to the retirement of my Line 6 POD 2.

The stock amp/effect combos are all based on different settings using the following amp models:

“Vintage Stack” – Based on a vintage 60′s Marshall Plexi
“Small Tweed Combo” – Based on the classic ’57 Fender Twin-Amp Tweed Combo
“Modern Stack” – Based on a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier
“English Combo” – Based on the classic Vox AC15/30
Blackface Combo” – Based on the vintage 60′s Fender Blackface Combo

And the following ten pedal models:

“Auto-Funk” – Filter
“Blue Echo” – Delay
“Fuzz Machine” – Fuzz
“Grinder” – Distortion
“Phase Tripper” – Phaser
“Retro Chorus” – Chorus
“Robo Flanger” – Flanger
“Squash Compressor” – Sustain
“The Vibe” – Vibrato
“Vintage Drive” – Overdrive

Without further ado, here are the samples as performed by an almost guitarist on an almost strat.

Bell Bottom Rock

Vintage Stack
Fuzz Pedal

bell-bottom-rock

Big Hair Metal

Modern Stack
Sustain Pedal (Off)
Overdrive Pedal (Off)
Delay Pedal (Off)

big-hair-metal

Bluesbreaker

Vintage Stack
Fuzz Pedal

bluesbreaker

Brit Pop

English Combo
Sustain Pedal (Off)

brit-pop

Chunky Chorus

Vintage Stack
Sustain Pedal
Chorus Pedal

chunky-chorus

Classic Crunch

Vintage Stack
Overdrive Pedal (Off)
Delay Pedal (Off)

classic-crunch

Clean Combo

English Combo
Sustain Pedal
Delay Pedal (Off)

clean-combo

Country Twang

Blackface Combo
Sustain Pedal

country-twang

Crystal Arpeggio

Vintage Stack
Flanger Pedal
Delay Pedal

crystal-arpeggio

Dark Vibrato

Modern Stack
Overdrive Pedal
Vibrato Pedal

dark-vibrato

Dream Pop

English Combo
Flanger Pedal
Chorus Pedal
Delay Pedal

dream-pop

Dreamy Texture

Blackface Combo
Sustain Pedal
Vibrato Pedal
Delay Pedal
Phaser Pedal

dreamy-texture

Dublin Delay

English Combo
Sustain Pedal
Overdrive Pedal
Delay Pedal

dublin-delay

Eighties Alternative

English Combo
Sustain Pedal
Flanger Pedal
Chorus Pedal
Delay Pedal

eighties-alternative

Fat Stack

Vintage Stack
Overdrive Pedal (Off)

fat-stack

Glam Rock

Vintage Stack
Phaser Pedal

glam-rock

Heavy Riffing

Modern Stack
Distortion Pedal

heavy-riffing

Honky Tonk

Small Tweed Combo
Overdrive Pedal

honky-tonk

Indie Fuzz

Small Tweed Combo
Distortion Pedal

indie-fuzz

Jazz Club

Blackface Combo
Sustain Pedal
Vibrato Pedal (Off)

jazz-club

Liverpool Bright

English Combo
Sustain Pedal

liverpool-bright

Lowdown Blues

Small Tweed Combo
Overdrive Pedal (Off)

lowdown-blues

Memphis Clean

Blackface Combo
Sustain Pedal

memphis-clean

Old School Funk

Blackface Combo
Fuzz Pedal (Off)
Filter Pedal

old-school-funk

Power Punk

Modern Stack
Fuzz Pedal (Off)

power-punk

Punk Rock

Modern Stack
Fuzz Pedal

punk-rock

Rockabilly

Small Tweed Combo
Delay Pedal

rockabilly

Seattle Sound

Blackface Combo
Fuzz Pedal
Phaser Pedal (Off)

seattle-sound

Seventies Metal

Vintage Stack
Fuzz Pedal

seventies-metal

Smooth Soul

Blackface Combo
Sustain Pedal
Vibrato Pedal

smooth-soul

Sparkling Clean

Blackface Combo
Sustain Pedal
Vibrato Pedal

sparkling-clean

Spy Movie

Small Tweed Combo
Sustain Pedal
Delay Pedal

spy-movie

Stadium Solo

Modern Stack
Overdrive Pedal
Delay Pedal

stadium-solo

Super Flange

Vintage Stack
Overdrive Pedal
Flanger Pedal

super-flange

Surf

Blackface Combo
Sustain Pedal

surf

Vibrato Blues

Blackface Combo
Overdrive Pedal
Vibrato Pedal

vibrato-blues

Woodstock Fuzz

Vintage Stack
Fuzz Pedal

woodstock-fuzz

dandyman says:

March 23, 2009 at 9:11 pm

My personal favorites are: Country Twang, Memphis Clean, Sparkling Clean, Classic Crunch, and Bluesbreaker. As you can see, I tend to favor the clean tones. What are your favorite combos?
dandyman says:

April 10, 2009 at 9:48 am

I’ll be creating some head to head comparisons between the Line 6 and Garageband versions of the Small Tweed Combo, Vintage Stack, Blackface, and Modern Stack. They are the only four amp models they have in common and I’m curious to hear them “side by side” without any effects.

dandyman’s last blog post..I Bought a Guitar and Now I Die
Matthias says:

June 10, 2009 at 6:40 am

Heavy Riffing sounds great, I don’t know how to tweak garageband to give me that sound, could you help me?
gibson j-45 guitar says:

July 30, 2009 at 11:28 pm

nice
..I like yor blog.
I think I will visit again.. to read some of your blog article…
good information…
W4RM4N says:

August 9, 2009 at 3:47 pm

Thanks for this. Appreciate the work! Now I can play with the ones I like.
Matty says:

March 13, 2010 at 10:20 pm

Just wondering what interface do you use to connect garage band to your guitar at the moment.
At the moment I am using the Line 6 UX1 and it comes with their software Ableton’s Live 4 for recording and the line 6 Amp farm where you can use the the software to simulate guitar amps and tones…however does GarageBand do the same thing are there tones and guitar samplse better than the line 6 amp farm? also is garageband easy to record tracks as I still think ableton a bit tricky compares to logic?
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dandyman says:

March 14, 2010 at 9:06 am

The quality of effects within GarageBand aren’t bad, but I wouldn’t say they’re better than the Line 6 models. Where GarageBand has an advantage over say a Line 6 POD is the price. GarageBand is free and recording an electric guitar is as simple as plugging in a cable with a 1/4″ plug on one end and an 1/8″ jack on the other. GB also gets an advantage in flexibility. The interface gives you a number of ways to mix and match effects to get a sound that may not be available to you via Line 6 or other hardware.

All of that being said, when you compare a specific amp model in GB to the same model available in the POD, the POD sounds a bit more real. It is actually quite similar to the difference between a Line 6 model and a real mic’d amp. If you’re not a professional musician though, the simple fact is that you’re most likely going to be very pleased with the GB samples. I tend to use them, when I can’t be bothered to drag out the POD and various cables and just want to record something quickly.

Oh, I almost forgot about one advantage to the GB samples over the external Line 6 POD. If you don’t like the sound of a particular amp/effect combo, you can change it in the software and here what it sounds like. With an external amp/effect device you have to change the settings and play it again. If you’re a real stickler for the external sound, you can use GB to find the “right” sound and then program your POD accordingly.

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