In just about every way I’m totally stoked about IK Multimedia’s Amplitube, an amp modeling program that you can use on your iPhone and/or iPad.

Several times a week before my martial arts class I have about an hour to kill. Some days I study Thai, but other days I take my small beat-around Squier mini out of the car trunk and practice.

I had, for a while, used the Line 6 Pocket Pod for amp simulation. (Playing with no volume is only cool for so long.) But the Pocket Pod lacked punch. I couldn’t get a sound I was happy with to motivate me to practice. It sounded like a tin can, which is surprising to me since I’m a huge fan of Line 6 gear.

Thanks to Steve Jobs and his brilliant iPod Touch, and the folks at IK Multimedia, we now have Amplitube and the iRig interface.

Two Products

We’re actually talking about two products here. Amplitube is the actual software. The other – iRig – is the interface you use to connect your guitar and headphones to your iPhone/iPad. Both are relatively cheap, so you won’t be spending an arm and leg to get this setup. Believe me, the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

There is nothing to iRig at all, so I won’t spend any time reviewing that actual piece of equipment. It’s a very small, plastic unit with headphone and input jacks. There’s nothing more to say about it.

Amplitube

Amplitube, however, is obviously where things get interesting. Here is what IK says about it:

• Real time guitar and bass mobile multiFX app
• Full rig made by 3 simultaneous stompboxes + amp + cabinet + mic
• 11 Stomps, 5 Amps, 5 Cabinets, 2 Mics available
• Import and play with songs or backing tracks with real time effects
• 36 presets can be saved/recalled on the fly
• Includes tuner/metronome
• Free, LE and Full versions available
• Free and LE versions expandable with a-la-carte downloadable gear
• Same low-latency as Mac/PC systems

Just about every effect you will want or need

The sounds are very impressive, to be honest. You get to choose from five amp types (clean, crunch, lead, metal, and bass), all with fully-functional tone knobs. The controls are surprisingly wide-sweeping, so you have a great variety of tonal options.

There are also lots of effects that all sound very good, and you can chain them together in any or all of three available FX banks. The only effect that I think it missing is a compressor. They have a noise gate, so why not a compressor? I guess it’s a small sacrifice to make, but if they went so far as to do all the others…

But despite that you do get delay, fuzz, distortion, overdrive, wah, envelope filter, chorus, flanger, phaser, octave, and the noise filter.

Five cabinet types and two microphone choices are also included, so your choices are pretty much unlimited.

The lead amp

You can also store up to 12 presets and recall them whenever you want. Switching through them is pretty easy as well, although it would be nice if you were able to name the presets rather than just rely on remembering which sound is assigned to which number.

There is a setting for latency, a metronome, and a tuner. The tuner is quite nice (I was skeptical). Luckily, the metronome is loud enough to be heard over your playing, which I was afraid of.

Register for an account with IK Multimedia and you can also download free amps and, I suspect coming soon, effects. Right now there is only one distortion box available as a free download, but I imagine more will be coming at some point.

The biggest disappointment I have with Amplitube is the “songs” setting. In order to play along to a song you have to actually upload the song to your iPod using a web browser. Now, I don’t know about you, but if you’re using a damn iPod Touch, don’t you think you should just be able to choose one of the songs you already have on it? I mean, seriously, that’s an absolute no-brainer for me. The fact that they don’t have this feature (or if they do it’s not apparent to me at all) is a huge oversight on IK’s part.

Another disappointment, albeit smaller, is there seems to be no ability to record what you’re playing. If you have a great idea you have no way of storing it for later.

I would love to see IK address these points in a future update. They are important, guys… so listen up!

Overall, I think Amplitube and the iRig interface are brilliant. I love them, and will use them a lot. The Pocket Pod goes into the closet and probably won’t be seen for a very long time. If you are looking for any kind of travel solution to satiate your guitar needs, this is a perfect setup. Highly recommended!