Review: Ample Guitar VC (Vintage Cherry) by Ample Sound

Ample Sound delivers another amazing guitar plugin at a very competitive price. Vintage Cherry (a.k.a. The Gibson SG) can pull off almost anything you can throw at it.

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Review: Ample Guitar VC (Vintage Cherry) by Ample Sound

Ample Sound strikes again with Vintage Cherry, a standalone VST/sample library which samples a vintage (cherry colored) Gibson SG guitar. The plugin is packed with more features than you can shake a stick at, including a riff engine, tab player, amp and cab simulators, and combines instant playability with deep customization. Ample Sound is well known for their guitar plugins, and Vintage Cherry does not disappoint.

Ample Guitar VC (Vintage Cherry) sells for $119 from Ample Sound

Thoughts

Ample Sound is Back… in Black! Well, Vintage Cherry, to be more precise, but the guitar sampled here delivers one of the most recognizable and sought after guitar tones in rock and roll history, heard on many classic records such as… you guessed it, AC/DC’s Black In Black, among others. The Gibson SG is the staple guitar of AC/DC guitarist Angus Young, as well as many other masters such as Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath and Robby Kreiger of The Doors. If you have heard any songs by AC/DC or Black Sabbath, you already know the tone… squawky, fierce, and aggressive, perfect for both slightly overdriven blues, or more aggressive rock metal. There’s an edge and rawness to the tone that is truly one-of-a-kind.

Ample VC Presets List

The plugin comes with a few presets as well, which specifically aim to emulate the tone you hear in some of the most famous rock songs of all time- perfect for really hearing the range and iconic nature of the sampled instrument.

The plugin itself is laid out nicely, and as soon as you press the keys on your MIDI keyboard, you will notice how playable and responsive the instrument is- it’s a real joy to sit down and just jam out with the Vintage Cherry plugin. Multiple articulations- such as sustains, slides, palm mutes, harmonics, hammer-ons and pull-offs- are mapped to keyswitches. Some of the articulations respond to velocity as well, and there are customization options for nearly everything in this plugin. You can adjust the tuning by simply clicking each tuning peg, for instance, as well as a robust sample editor, custom mapping for any parameter, and more. The depth on offer here is second to none, giving you incredible control over how you want to actually play and perform with this instrument. There are two large sample sets available, one for the bridge pickup (more treble-y and biting) and the neck pickup (more warm and smooth).

Amp/Cab Modeling Panel

There are also multiple amp/cab models to choose from, representing the most iconic amplifiers in rock, from Marshall and Mesa-Boogie to Roland and Fender, along with 7 matching cabinets. To get a double-tracked, stereo sound, just click a button in the interface, and it instantly doubles the guitar track and pans them accordingly, giving you a more full and polished sound, akin to a professional studio recording. There is a robust strumming engine, again with a ridiculous amount of customization: 14 strum notes and 28 ways to play each and every chord, with a Strum Legato engine for smooth legato transitions while strumming, humanization settings for a more realistic and nuanced performance, all with a built in sequencer with MIDI export. Not too shabby!

Riffer Panel

Some of the more advanced features of this plugin include the Riffer, allowing you to draw out which string will play which note, as well as automating velocity, dynamics, pitch bend, and more. Consider it almost a “sequencer-in-a-plugin”.

Guitar Tab Player

You also get a Tab Player, which allows you to import Tab files of your favorite songs, or songs you’ve written in other Tab programs, and play them back inside the plugin, as well as export the entire TAB to MIDI! While some users may not use these advanced features, they will certainly come in handy and interest many, and I consider them just more innovative ways to perform and interact with this plugin.

Facts

Currently $119 (full price $149)
Standalone plugin, VST2, VST3, AU and AAX format.
5.6 GB, 10 GB required for install.

Ample Guitar VC (Vintage Cherry) sells for $119 from Ample Sound

Demos of Ample Guitar VC (Vintage Cherry) by Ample Sound

Videos of Ample Guitar VC (Vintage Cherry) by Ample Sound

Contributor Brian Freeland reviews Ample Guitar VC (Vintage Cherry) by Ample Sound
“Ample Sound delivers another amazing guitar plugin at a very competitive price.  Sampled from a Gibson SG, Vintage Cherry, can pull off almost anything you can throw at it.”