Name: Toontrack Metal Amps EZMix Pack
Brand: Toontrack

MusicRadar Verdict

For demos, and even the occasional tone in a pro-quality production, here's all the heavy you need.

Pros

+
50 presets. Tones are high quality and ready to go.

Cons

-
By nature, it's a limited set.

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Very little fills up your time quite like mixing: balancing levels, altering EQs, adding effects... it can get tedious, fast. Fortunately, Toontrack saw fit to speed up the whole process with its EZMix 2 plug-in, which offers a range of presets ready-made for mixing, with no further adjustment required.

"If you're after gained-up sounds that don't need any extra work, each preset offers tight and satisfying dirt"

It has found favour with the likes of Misha Mansoor, while a range of expansion packs now cover more specialist sounds, from producers such as Andy Sneap to genre-specific presets - and that's where the Metal Amps Pack fits in.

The pack comprises 50 presets (40 for guitar, 10 for bass), based on impulse responses and modelling of classic high-gain amps and cabs, all custom-made by pro engineer Jocke Skog. If you're after gained-up sounds that don't need any extra work, each preset offers tight and satisfying dirt, while effective noise gating affords machine gun-like precision to your rhythm playing.

The core tones are great, though each preset offers just two controls - usually gain and EQ, but these can branch out into parameters such as modulation depth or cabinet blend. For anyone used to the sprawling interface of Guitar Rig and its ilk, the EZMix approach could seem a little limiting, but for demos and even the occasional tone in a pro-quality production, here's all the heavy you need.

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism, and has spent the past decade writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as a decade-and-a-half performing in bands of variable genre (and quality). In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.

Matteo Mancuso wears a white T-shirt and plays his Yamaha Revstar in Tobacco Burst live onstage during a soundcheck before his festival appearance at at Casa del Jazz, Rome.

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