IK Multimedia ToneX Heiga Studios Amp Series review – a collection of all-star amps taken from a world-class studio gives Tonex a serious quality boost
$69.99 (individual amps from $9.99), tone.net
People who work in pro recording studios spend all day every day doing creative stuff, surrounded by piles of top-quality gear – and they get paid for it. Is it any wonder they always seem to be so infuriatingly nice?
READ MORE: Universal Audio Paradise Guitar Studio review – all the classic tones you need for home recording?
More importantly for the purposes of this review, studio professionals are the real experts when it comes to capturing the sounds of great guitar amplifiers. So in theory at least, when the people who run Heiga Studios in Miami decide to contribute a library of amp models to the ToneX digital platform, it should be seriously good.
Heiga Studios Amp Series. Image: Press
Heiga Studios Amp Series For ToneX – what is it?
Just to be clear, this is not an app: ToneX is IK Multimedia’s modelling ecosystem, and the Heiga Studios Amp Series is simply a collection of extra sounds for it. So if you’re not using ToneX software or one of the ToneX pedals, you’re welcome to read the rest of this review but you might feel a bit like a pigeon fancier at a dog show.
As long as you are already on board the good ship ToneX, what you’re getting here – for a very reasonable price – is a total of 142 models captured from 10 of the amps in Heiga’s collection. Those amps are a Fender Twin Reverb, a Fender Hot Rod DeVille, a Vox AC30, a Roland JC-120, a Marshall JCM900, a Peavey 51050 II, a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo, a Fuchs Mantis, a Bogner Uberschall Rev Blue and – for the bass thwompers – an Aguilar Tone Hammer 700.
Notice anything? If you include the JCM900, five of the nine guitar amps are of the high-gain variety. That’s the kind of ratio that should have metalheads piqued.
Amps in ToneX desktop app. Image: Press
Heiga Studios Amp Series For ToneX – sounds
I tested these sounds two ways: firstly by loading up the amps in the main ToneX desktop app and auditioning them through studio monitors; and secondly by using ToneX Editor to load two at a time into a ToneX One pedal then recording them. Initial setup via the IK Product Manager app was a faff, but that’s not Heiga’s fault… and the sounds themselves are glorious.
As a Vox obsessive, I had to start with the AC30 captures – and while only a tiny logo distinguishes the Heiga ones from IK’s own in ToneX Editor, telling them apart by ear is a lot easier. The factory sounds are pretty good, but the new ones are sublime: rich and lifelike at all levels of crunchiness, perhaps even better than the ones in UA Paradise Guitar Studio.
The clean stuff also has plenty of depth – this might be the first time I’ve actually enjoyed playing through a JC-120 – but the high-gain amps are where things get really impressive. There’s lots of tonal variety between the different models, and none of the oversaturated washiness that often characterises this kind of modelling: no matter how much bite you want or don’t want in the midrange, the top end always remains crisp yet smooth. I don’t think Heiga Studios is particularly associated with metal bands, but on this evidence maybe it should be.
Amp model info. Image: Press
Heiga Studios Amp Series For ToneX – should I buy it?
Just as my theory about studio professionals predicted, these amps sound top-class – so if you are a ToneX user and you fancy a realism upgrade, this library will absolutely provide it. The only pity is that it’s limited to one software system – a system that, incidentally, I wasn’t able to get working within my DAW of choice, Logic Pro. I’d love to see a standalone Heiga plugin, making these excellent models – especially the metally ones – easily available to everyone.
ToneX Editor. Image: Press
Heiga Studios Amp Series For ToneX alternatives
Last time I checked, there were 639 ‘tone partner’ collections for ToneX available through tone.net – so you might want to have a browse through that lot for a start. Otherwise, you have strong options for home recording in Positive Grid Bias X ($149) and Universal Audio Paradise Guitar Studio ($149).
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
