I found myself only dialing in tones manually if I really felt the need to, because most of the time, with any of the amps, they just worked. In fact, there aren’t a whole lot of ways to make the amps sound bad, especially if you don’t mess much with the EQ and compression. These plugins were designed to be as mix-ready as possible right off the bat, and although you can fine-tune their parameters, the idea is for you to stop worrying about dialing in a tone and start worrying about making good music. The winning aspect that all of the Toneforge amps share is their ease of use. However, there is a certain thread among the entire line that ties them all together, making them feel like a cohesive whole-but that’s not to say they all sound the same.Ī glimpse at a few more of the models in the Toneforge series. This design makes Toneforge Jason Richardson stand out from the rest of the collection, and offers a little more room for creative exploration when dialing in tones.Įach of the four amps in the Toneforge collection bring their own strengths and weaknesses to the table. On the front panel of each section, the amps include unique controls such as “Edge” and “Shimmer,” and feature the ability to make the input drive the amp instead of a dedicated gain knob. There is a clean, rhythm, and lead channel, each of which offers quite a wide range of tones-a big difference from the rest of the line. The largest difference however, is that this is a three-channel design. On the end of the chain is EQ and compression again, but this time modeled after the chain used to achieve the tone on Jason Richardson’s album “I”. The Jason Richardson amp is accompanied by two impulses, this time with a nameless JST cab and a PRS 4×12. On the back end is another EQ and compression chain that has been “redesigned.” While Guilty Pleasure is without a clean channel, it does gain a new cabinet. I’ve never been a fan of virtual wah pedals because without the real-time performance aspect, I feel the whole purpose is defeated-but it’s there if your automation game is on-point. In the effects loop, there is the option for a delay, reverb, and for the first time a wah pedal, designed to “just work” with the amp, says JST. There is a single channel front panel amp with a “black” overdrive stompbox in front. At a price point of $79, Guilty Pleasure’s sound can range from active rock to full-out metal.
The amp also features a clean channel that the original didn’t, giving it some extra versatility.įor Toneforge Guilty Pleasure, JST stripped back the feature set again, focusing more on making one great amplifier that can cover a wide range of tone. In addition to an overdrive stompbox, a reverb, delay, and rotary effect were all added to the Ben Bruce amp, reducing the need to venture outside of this single plugin in order to craft a more complete tone. This iteration really opens up the line in terms of features, which is reflected in the increased $99 price point. The next to be released was Toneforge Ben Bruce, which tweaked the original Menace into a signature amp from the Asking Alexandria guitarist. There’s not a whole lot to experiment with, but it does provide a strong starting point for heavy guitar tones. At $79, not only is Menace among the cheapest of the bunch, but it is also the most strictly limited in scope. This amp has just one cabinet with four preset microphones. The amp features a “green overdrive” pedal (seemingly a not-so-subtle nod to the revered Ibanez Tube Screamer) in front of the amp that can be switched on or off. Since it was the first, it is the most bare-bones amp of the collection, and the one that set the framework for further iterations.
Let’s start at the top of the line with the original Toneforge Menace. After that, it’s all just icing on the cake.
Overall, each amp features a front panel to tweak the settings, a cabinet and microphone selection, an EQ, compressor, and an Impulse Response (IR) loader. These JST amps are marketed as “guitar tone simplified,” offering straightforward and intuitive GUIs for amps that deliver a mix-ready tone for those with limited time and budget.Įach of the four amps operate similarly, but all have unique feature sets that give each their own space in the line.
Recently, JST released the Toneforge Jason Richardson signature amp, so what better time to review the whole line than now? The lineup currently features four amps: Toneforge Menace, Toneforge Ben Bruce, Toneforge Guilty Pleasure, and of course, the new Toneforge Jason Richardson. One line of amp sims with rising popularity is the Toneforge line from Joey Sturgis Tones. Not only are amp sims sounding better and better, but they are getting cheaper and cheaper as well.
#Joey sturgis toneforge menace plugin simulator
The amp simulator market has come a long way in the past few years. The GUIs for the entire Toneforge range are simple and intuitive, making it easy to quickly dial in a mix-ready tone and focus on tracking.
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