IK Multimedia AmpliTube 5 MAX v2 Software Suite Reviews

This a great value that gives the player a ton of possibilities. Great amp sounds and effects!

I bought this as a part of IK Multimedia's Black Friday sale around Thanksgiving, and I'm SO GLAD that I did! It has reinvigorated my love for writing music. My guitar and bass tones have never sounded as good as they do with this app. For me, it's been a game changer. The tones I've worked with have been absolutely inspiring, to the point where I went from "I'm pretty much done with music" to "I feel like I could crank out an album" and my music productions have never sounded so good. Yes, I know music production is more than just great guitar and bass tones, but having these great tones at my disposal has also helped my mixing skills to the point where my recordings have never sounded as good as they do now.

Playing around with Amplitube inspired me so much that I went back to IK Multimedia's site to see what else was on sale for Black Friday deals, and I picked up Studio Max as well. Now the only thing holding me back in songwriting are my skills at the instruments I play.

THANK YOU IK MULTIMEDIA!!!

Definitely would recommend

Excellent piece of software but times are passing by. MXR and Boss are great pedals but new builders have emerged and would be nice to see emulations of other manufacturers, including bass amps like Markbass or EBS. Sweetwater service is top!

I had no issues installing and authorizing the software and if you know what you're doing you can get some really great sounds out of it. I really like messing with the mics and love the Brian May Deaky amp.

Very authentic tones, familiar workflow.

I've been using Amplitube for a few years and have always liked it. Occasionally, IK multimedia will run a sale, and when I saw that Amplitube 5 Max was on sale, it was a no brainer, I had to get it. This product is great for home recording. The amp sims sound amazing, and there is a wide range of tonal options within this software. I am not an audio engineer, but I do a ton of writing and home recording and this has proven to be a very creative tool. I also recently purchased EZ Drummer 3 and these two programs are very inspiring, creative tools that work very well together. Once you get the hang of the interface, Amplitube is very easy to use. I recommend this product for the home enthusiast, and it can certainly be used on a professional level. it is a steal! As always, Sweetwater's team displays top notch professionalism, and it's always a pleasure dealing with their sales crew and customer service representatives. If you're looking for a wide range of great sounding amp sims, I would highly recommend this product.

As a solo musician wearing all the hats, this gives me everything I'll EVER need for guitar tones. Easy to navigate and create your own sounds. Love all the amp, cabinet and stomp options. Just WOW!

I'm using Amplitube 5 for all of my practice now. It is the perfect tool for learning songs or song parts.

The MAX version is so much fun. The amount of amps, pedals and sounds you can get are incredible. And I think it sounds great through headphones.

It's very easy to dial up whatever tone you're looking for to match a song you're trying to play or learn.

The integrated DAW is really easy to use and allows you to pull a music track into a track and slow it down to play along with it, even record along if you wish. It's got a built in metronome, tuner, looper, etc. I wasn't expecting to use the integrated daw portion because I've already got a DAW but as it turns out, I'm lazy and having it all right there in Amplitube just saves time and makes me get to practicing sooner and I like the simplicity and ease of use.

The really cool thing though is that this really teaches you how all of these things work. You get vintage amps that most of us will never see, let alone crank up and play. All of the knobs work on the amps and the amps function like the real tube amp does. I've played a few of these amps and own a marshall and fender tube amp and was amazed at how accurate amplitube was to the real deal. The fender stuff especially.

So I'm having fun just messing around with the gear. I dont have the ability to crank 3 fender twins through multiple 4x12 cabs in a studio but I did in here because why not. And you get to see how pedals work with cranked amps, and even learn wet/dry setups, rack effects, mic placement on cabs and even mic and speaker options. Also having pro presets, like david gilmour's solo tones, is awesome because it shows you what amps were used, settings, pedal setups with their settings, etc. It's like guitar college. For that alone, it's worth it. This should give you a PhD in guitar gear.

There are amps that I didn't think I'd like but as it turns out, I was very wrong. And amps I thought I wanted that just don't do much for me. Thanks to this, I know exactly what real amps I might get in the future.

All in all, I'm blown away and would say it's very worth having and impossible not to have fun with it. You might not record with it and it doesn't take the place of real amps but I don't think it's supposed to and that all being said, I'd absolutely play this through a PA in certain situations.

I like the fact that names of the manufacturers are used. This helps to give me an idea of what the real amps sound like.

I had originally bought Bias platinum, but didn't like the fact that the amps only had 1 channel. Then this caught my eye. When I saw it was on sale, I pounced on it...and oh boy, am I glad I did! I do kind of miss the guitar match and design your own capabilities that came with Bias, but with all other parameters, this Blows it out of the water! Want am amp sim that sounds "real"? get this. You won't be disappointed.

highly polished piece of software. plugin works seamlessly with logic pro x on M1. you can literally get any sound you want with the plethora of combinations. note that the mesa boogie 2 is not included in this version and must be bought separately.

I use a mix of real amps and effects, along with DAW and VST's.
This application is top notch.

I bought Amplitube 2 when it first came out years ago. At the time I was impressed but not blown away. Version 5 is an amazing sounding upgrade! I have played guitar for thirty years and have owned several amazing amps from Marshall, Fender, Roland, Peavy, etc. with that in mind, it really is the best I have eve used in a recording situation. Love it!

I've been a guitar player since 1973, I have played in a zillion bands. Now, I must give credit when credit is due. Most amp sims get a sort get a meh out of me. But this one is very different. Whatever style of music that you play there are options to create your perfect tones. Really enjoy it and it is my go to for Producing and mixing the best guitar tones! I have ran across over my travels many amp sims but this ones is the best and most authentic one!

This software is really wonderful, the best tool every guitar player or music producers must have in the studio and the quality is supreme. Thanks Sweetwater!!!

So this is my first foray into digital / modeling technology. I've been a tube amp guy since I started playing. I'm pretty much a guitar to amp player with very little use of effects pedals.
I purchased the Axe I/O Interface with Amplitube 5 Max for Christmas because I wanted an easy solution for headphone practice and I was interested in experimenting with home recording. I wasn't expecting much as I've tried most of the modeling amps in guitar stores and absolutely hated all of them.
Boy, am I blown away by the quality of tones, flexibility, and ease of use. Not that I love every preset, but there are more than enough really good ones to cover everything I want to play. Not to mention the endless possibilities of setting up as many of my own custom rigs as I want.
At the time of my purchase I owned two tube amps - an EVH 5150 iii EL34 50 watt head and a REVV Generator 7-40 along with matching cabs for each. I've since sold the EVH and currently have the REVV listed for sale.
As an at home player who doesn't gig, I feel very comfortable using Amplitube 5 Max as my standalone "amp." I can use the money from my amp sales to add to my guitar collection. I'm not saying that head to head Amplitube outshines high quality tube amps, but it's close enough and in many ways better, especially for home purposes. I found myself not plugging into my amps even though I have a Captor X.
I can't say what's right for you, but unless you're a gigging musician or professional recording artist, I can't imagine how this wouldn't suite your home practice and recording needs.

Awesome software, and Adam was awesome as always helping land me on this in my search and making the rest of the process effortless!

I have been using Amplitube 4 for years and years. I've been satisfied. When this went on sale I felt it was time and now I regret not upgrading sooner. However, I would have wished that there were more new amps compared to V4. Also would have wished more new UI features. Most of the upgrades are on the sound quality which is a huge reason for buying this. So much more realistic in V5.. I own a couple of the actual amps that this software modeled after. Comparing between actual vs the plugin sound very close when recorded... For me and my band, we love this plugin because we spend more time recording and making music and not spend hours micing amps/cabinets. There's also the benefit of switching amps after recording the whole band to find the best tone that fits the song.

This amp/cab/pedal sim is one of the best IMHO. A re-creation of sounds from multiple name brands of amp/cabs and pedals. IF you are considering a sim option for recording or stage this would be the one. Fender, Mesa Boogie, England, and others. Run the signal through multiple cab selections, or multiple amp selections to fine tune your sound. Only drawback is typical amp/cab sim to sound less "full" than an actual amp and cab. Crank up the bass on the amp sim, add a 4x12 cab along to the amp default of a 1x12 or 2x12 seems to help. Also adding a 1x12 or 2x12 along with an amp default 4x12 seems to help define the tone a bit more also. Choose from a variety of Celestian and other name brand modeled speakers for these cabs as well. Mucho options for finding your sound. Put a decent hardware pre-amp and compressor BEFORE the interface input and the Waves X-noise plugin (Or something similar such as Z-noise) after the Amplitube 5 plugin in to minimize the sim amp hiss and Amplitube 5 sounds even better! (X-noise can "learn" the audio noise while you're not playing, just letting it detect the amp sim noise, and you can set the threshold and reduction level to your preference) If they would change one thing at this point, my preference would be removing the amp sim hiss and noise associated with amps and amp modeling. It's not excessive, just typical of what you'd expect from an actual amp. Until then, variable frequency noise reduction plugins help.

I've enjoyed this package so far. Some very convincing British crunch sounds, and lots of good clean sounds ( esp. the Fender sims). It seems to load faster and take less cpu than Guitar Rig 6. Unlike GR6, the patches employ stomp box chains in the gui. GR6 has much deeper effects, much like a rack setup in the 90's. I like the mixer tab in the Amplitube gui, which allows adjustment of DI volume or Room volume. As I noted, the clean amp sims are very realistic, and a cranked up Fender Deluxe patch sounds awesome! Lots and lots of patches to explore, even some patches obviously created for death metal drop tunings. I don't think you can beat this package for the price!

In the last ten years, amp software has improved drastically and AmpliTube 5 MAX certainly proves it. You get a good bang for your buck because you are able to have a vast collection of gear that although may not be "the real thing" it will certainly get you close. While I like it, I do have a few issues with it. The thing has a problem of constant popping which is ridiculous. I'm running it through a brand new UA interface and a MacBook Pro so don't blame the interface or the computer. It is also ridiculously loud and I don't the time to go and change the output level on every single preset.

I've been a long time user of Amplitube and just recently updated to Amplitube 5 MAX. I had hoped that what they were advertising was all included, but when I tried to open and use the VR-Tech in Amplitube 5 MAX, a pop-up states I still needed to upgrade. Also, when I tried to open the mixer... the mixer!... a pop-up stated I needed to upgrade, as well. This would mean they want more money and a significant amount $. I have since contacted their support to ask why this is, and at this time STILL have NOT heard back from IK Multimedia.

Anyone wanting this new version of Amplitube 5... better contact their sales personel first to have a better understanding of the games they may be playing with any upgrades you might want.

At this point, I am very Disappointed!

Can't get the software to download through their manager application even after going through all the troubleshooting steps. Extremely frustrating considering I don't have a problem with plugins from other makers, but I can't get anything from IK to download. Would love to use amplitube but apparently it's just not for me.

Constantly buzzing or loosing sound entirely and murdering my ears with a "static" sound that I cannot even describe. Happens out of nowhere for no certain reason. I had to reauthorize the software just to get the ToneNet to work. When it does work, it sounds amazing, and you can customize thousands of beautiful tones with ease. But that's rare. I purchased this to use with my audio interface as an alternative to my Positive Grid Spark Amp, and I wish I would have just stuck to that.

I installed this software multiple times and cannot get pass the Splash screen. I will attempt to get a refund , if possible. Otherwise this software is a wash for me.

I was excited to try amplitude, because it had real amp brands. Orange, Fender, Marshall, and many others. I was very disappointed in the sound. Super muddy, super thin, just really bad. Very disappointing.I understand why they don't do refunds.

I'll never understand this corporate mentality?

When buying software, you expect it shouldn't be difficult to get it to run on your computer.

But that isn't how IK Multimedia software works!

You can't actually install the software that you purchased.

Instead, you must install some buggy software called, "IK Multimedia Manager". Instead of on possible installation problem, they multiply them with this!

Buggy, simply because after you've downloaded and read their MANUAL on using the IK Multimedia Manager and followed their instructions to install ALL of the many, many pieces of software that are supposed to combine into the one Max product app that you thought you were buying and then you must register all of your software with the manager so, finally when you launch your software and try to use it, you will are told it was improperly installed ... try reinstalling it, again! REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT!

Having done this, repeatedly, and found that the only help that they offer is an online user forum that you must join and then beg for help from, it exceeded my tolerance level!

Obviously, IK knows about these problems because that is the only reason that they refuse to help anyone foolish enough to buy their Max product! They disdain their ignorant paying customers that can't get their new software working! So, they expect you to just, move along!

BTW I worked full time as a computer tech from 1984 through 2001. When I say their software is buggy, I know what I am talking about! Normally, I'd detail and report the bugs to the software company but IK doesn't permit that! Serious companies will want to know which computer, operating system, etc. is having problems but NOT IK!

If they seriously wanted the app to work, your app download would come in a single, installable package that would work ... like all of your other software does!!!

The reason companies like IK don't do this is their total and complete disdain for their paying customers ... once they have your money, that is! After they get that, they don't want to be bothered! That's why there is no way to get their support on installation issues!

Fortunately, I've only run into a couple of companies like this in my career.

Now it is clear why they must so deeply discount their software!

I guess I'm the fool since they've got my money and I've got bupkis!

Buyer BEWARE!

Tricky interface, and is about the worst guitar plugin I have. Thin on amps that you wouldn't expect to be thin, shrill. Avoid

It ties up a lot of space, the first time I used it I was able to get some ok sounds, the next time I tried to use it nothing, to me all the tone sharing got in the way, and it was not user-friendly, I just wanted to access my presets, and when I turn it on I just wanted it to work every time.

Buyer Beware. I purchased the full suite believing this was a complete set of plugins. Turns out almost everything that I would want to use is an additional purchase. To make things worse it is also impossible to browse the few plugins that actually are included without stumbling into the ones that are not available and blast you with static noise every few seconds. This is a shamefully dishonest trick. I wish I had read the reviews. Shame on IK. LAME.

Rarely write reviews, but felt compelled to try to help my fellow musicians here.

This product may sound like the best in its price class, I wouldn't know.

IK multimedia's product reg process is broken.

I am a long-time pc geek who has installed countless apps of various types and knows many, many work-arounds for difficult to install software. The amplitube5 max authorization process is corrupted to the point where their tech support ppl are essentially apologizing to the base, they are well aware and scrambling after this sale for amplitube5 max brought in a large group of new, unhappy customers.

Basically, trying to download and install thru their product manager app failed several times with a repeatable java script error mssg. After re-installing the product mgr app I tried again and it did download and install amplitube - nothing different done on user side, just the reinstall.

Once amplitube could be run, it had only the barest of presets - obviously the free edition. I authorized it through te product mgr app using the serial number provided by Sweetwater, it said successfully registered and referred to "Max" as the product level. Rebooted amplitube, still basic edition. Tried "reset purchases" (or whatever its called..) in the settings, tried several combinations of sequence, reinstalling, de-authorizing, re-authorizing, etc etc.

3 wasted hours for an amp sim... Forget it IK. Reminds of the bad old Sonar days.

PS Don't even ask about the ASIO input issues they are having - if the app would have authorized, I wouldn't have been able to get input into it anyway.

I know software is not returnable to Sweetwater, but this one stings, and will be memorable.

YMMV, but I don't waste time on this stuff anymore.

Wasted a lot of my week with the neckbeard download software and trying to accommodate the software in my studio. This would have been a great time to be more impatient.

My main gripe with it is that I use my ears for more than holding on my glasses, I am looking for professional quality sound. We all had a good laugh at Amplitubes version of a princeton with a strat or a Les Paul and marshall. If sounding kinda like a cheap approximation is fine for you or you just can't tell the difference, you save a lot of money on cabs and stuff but I would caution you strongly about thinking that this is some panacea that will make you into a musician.

That's not the big gripe tho... the "marketing sleezyness"

We will all be having a good laugh about this at some point but for now what I wish I had not done is installing the pushiest, most grasping and creepiest salesman ever onto my working computer.

The amps are unusable. The presets are horrible. Not easy to bypass elements and have to open extra windows to do that. 0 stars.