So, in case it hasn't been mentioned elsewhere, this is publically a thing:
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/satriani/As with a number of other AmpliTube artist bundles, I'm not even a big Satch fan (though I have a few of his recordings, of course -- I'm not "culturally illiterate"!
) but the gear included should be of interest to a wide range of players. I have already broken my budgetary rules
and pre-ordered.
Just of the bat, there's an updated "based on 5150" amp model, and that's such a workhorse of hard rock and metal that the update is very welcome. There is also what is effectively an update of the "based on BOSS DS-1" pedal (the otherwise current model, the "Distortion" stomp, goes back to early days of AmpliTube, at least AT2, I think.) There are plenty of other older stomp models that I'd like to see refreshed as well, but I'll take what we can get! For that match, the Satch bundle has a new "based on OD-1" stomp, and I don't think that's been modeled before, but along with the new DS-1-based unit and the amps in this and the stock AmpliTube packages, there's a lot of stuff for '80s-type tones.
The "based on JVM410HJS" should be interesting. That amp seems to be a notably different thing than the original JVM410H (itself quite a contemporary workhorse), with some liking the "JS" revision less but others liking it more. I think in the past I've myself suggested that a JVM410H model would be a useful addition to Amplitube, and I'm interested in trying out the "based on JS" model here. The clean channel is supposed to be quite distinctive, and I'm interested in seeing how the crunch/OD channels stack up against the current "based on JCM800 and JCM900" models (which I often use when doubling overdriven rhythm guitar tracks).
The new stomp "based on Chandler Tube Driver" caught my eye not least because that pedal has been used by Dave Gilmour since the '90s (as well as by various other "names", like Billy Gibbons and Henry Kaiser). OK, now I need a whole bundle of refreshed Big-Muff-variant stomps, too.
And though cab models probably don't get as much love and press as ohter kinds of models, I've very intrigued by the Satch Green and Satch 60 cab models, for different reasons. The Satch Green seems to be effectively a "late '60s Marshall" cab with 20w Celestions. Casual online searching didn't find me a lot of info about Satriani's use of this kind of cab, so I'm not sure whether the original model has actual vintage speakers stashed away in it or whether they are current models from Celestion's Heritage Series. Either way, these are speakers not previously modelled in AmpliTube. Then, although the current "4x12 Brit 9000" cab is already a Marshall 1960A cab with G12T-75 speakers, the Satch 60 (presumably "based on Marshall 1960B JSB) would be the subtly (but probably noticeable) different Marshall 1960B cab with G12T-75 speakers. I think the only other 1960B-type cab in current AmpliTube is the "based on 1960BV (with Vintage 30s)" in the Slash collection. It may be a weird thing to thing the straight-vs.-angled cab model is exciting, but IMO the effects of cabs and speakers are usually hugely overlooked, and a pile of speaker and cab models is the AmpliTube guitarist's "secret weapon" just as a pile of physical cabs and speakers would be for a physical recording studio.
I feel like I should say something about the Rockman models, though I don't really know enough about them. They are, in any case, something entirely new in the AmpliTube arsenal (and, again,
super '80s
).
So ... yeah, much as with the Brian May bundle, I know I'm going to want enough of the kit in the Satch bundle that it would be more expensive to get it all piecemeal from the Custom Shop at a later date, so I preordered this bad boy.