Amp-in-a-box pedals are ubiquitous among the modern landscape of guitar effects, with many manufacturers boasting at least one in their lineup, and others, like Catalinbread and Wampler, practically specializing in this particular niche. Some of these pedals are convincing approximations that just get you in the tonal ballpark of the amp in question, while others are meticulously engineered recreations of very specific amplifier circuits that have been stuffed into compact boxes. They can all be exceptional tools for guitarists that want to achieve a colorful diversity of realistic amp tones with just one amplifier and a nicely outfitted pedalboard.
Naturally, the majority of amps-in-boxes are designed to replicate the tones of sought-after vintage guitar amps, meaning that most are either Fender or Marshall-inspired. This is all well and good, as many of these are genuinely amazing little analog amp simulations, but many guitarists have had their fill of the standard "American" and "British" amp tones, or happen to already own some of the real amps these pedals are mimicking. For guitarists seeking something a little different, the pedal scene has recently welcomed the addition of a handful of amp-in-box pedals that replicate the tones of lesser known, and sometimes rather offbeat, amps, both vintage and modern. Here are a few of my favorite under-the-radar amp-in-a-box pedals.
Tronographic Rusty Box
This is by far the most unusual amp-in-a-box I have come across, and also a personal favorite. The Rusty Box, from New York's Tronographic, recreates the circuit of the cult classic 1970's solid-state bass head, the Traynor TS-50B. This Canadian-made 50-watt head is well-known in certain underground rock circles for its use by David Wm. Sims of Scratch Acid, Rapeman, and The Jesus Lizard, as well as Volcano Suns and Shellac bassist, Bob "Rusty" Weston, whom the pedal is named after. The Rusty Box totally nails the bewitching blend of rich, even-order harmonic sonority and harsh rasp that is the TS-50B's signature tonal characteristic. It achieves its goal so perfectly that Weston himself uses one when Shellac tours overseas, rather than traveling with his Traynor, and he has described the pedal's tone as "exactly perfect." The Rusty Box can be used direct into a mixer, as a preamp driving a power amp, or as an effects pedal. It was designed for bass, but works equally well with guitar and baritone instruments. Tronographic has also released a guitar-specific version called the Boxidizer, tweaked for a more standard six-string mid-range voicing.
Bearfoot FX Model G
Bearfoot FX, out of St. Louis, Missouri, boasts circuit designs by Bjorn Juhl of BFJE and Mad Professor, and one of the most unique of these designs is the Model G, which captures the bark and snarl of a vintage Gibson tube combo in a green 4-knob box. Old Gibson amps like the Skylark and Falcon were possessed of a distinctive compression and high-mid presence that set them apart from similar Fender and Supro combos of the ‘50s and ‘60s. The Model G clones this tone beautifully, and better yet, its "C" knob even allows for adjustments that mimic the effects of different speaker types and speaker compression variations in these old amps. The "N," or "Nature" knob controls low end, letting you dial in the thump of a larger amp, or the more focused sound of a smaller combo. Besides the Model G, Bearfoot also makes a handful of other interesting amps-in-boxes that deliver tones from Hiwatts, Voxes, Fender tweeds, and others.
Tech 21 NYC Oxford
Tech 21 pretty much invented the amp-in-a-box concept with the Sansamp series of pedals and DI boxes, and the company's Character series carries on this legacy in splendid fashion with boxes that recreate tones from the usual Fenders, Marshalls, and Voxes, as well as vintage Ampeg VT series amps, and modern Mesa-Boogies. My favorite of these, however, is the Oxford, which does a tremendous impression of '70s Orange roar, and can be used as either an effect pedal or a DI box, with button-enabled speaker simulation that emulates the characteristics of vintage Greenbacks. The Oxford covers the full range of Orange, from present Brit chime, to T-Rex crunch, to Sabbath-style stoner tones, and its Low and High EQ controls are tuned to mimic a Neve console EQ, helping you further dial in convincing Orange tones for recording.
JHS Twin Twelve
With players from Jack White to Beck singing the praises of the vintage Silvertone 1484 "Twin-Twelve" amps for years now, it was only a matter of time before an enterprising pedal company distilled the essence of these pawn shop relics into stompbox format. That pedal company is JHS, and its Twin Twelve Overdrive does a bang-up job of capturing the loose, raw-throated bark and fuzz-tinged saturation of the 60-watt, tube-powered Silvertone 1484. These old Silvertones have gone up substantially in value as of late, selling for up to 1,000 dollars, and as they were not nearly as well made their competitors from Fender, Gibson, and other companies, they can be quite troublesome to keep running reliably. JHS's compact version can save you a lot of money and hassle, and is much more versatile, with a master volume, improved EQ, and a substantially lower price tag.
Catalinbread RAH
Portland, Oregon's own Catalinbread is one of the major players in the amp-in-a-box world, with a comprehensive line of meticulously recreated amplifier circuits crammed into small, attractive metal enclosures. All of them are excellent, but my favorite is the RAH, a pedal whose purpose is quite specifically to nail Jimmy Page's tone from Led Zeppelin's 1970 Royal Albert Hall performance. Page's tone from this legendary moment in rock history was derived from the Custom 100 Hiwatt heads he was using at the time, and it is both outrageously dynamic and freakin' enormous. Catalinbread has recreated it by painstakingly replicating the "Jimmy Page Hiwatt" in pedal form, and particularly, the three-knob tone stack that was at the heart of this amp. The result is a crazy-dynamic OD pedal that goes from sparkling, near-clean sounds with the guitar volume rolled back, to gut-rumbling crunch, to saturated, almost fuzzy lead tones when cranked.
Wilson Effects Dual Lotus Drive
There are a number of Dumble-derived amp-in-a-box pedals on the market today, from manufacturers that range from import mini-pedal titan Mooer, to Wampler, to relatively obscure Japanese companies like Tanabe and Shin's Music. But Wilson Effects, a company known mostly for specializing in wah pedals, has trumped them all with the Dual Lotus, a two-channel OD that houses a pair of Dumble circuits in a single enclosure, with an effects loop of sorts in between. In addition to gain and level controls, each channel has two clipping option switches, a low pass filter, a presence knob, and a tone control, for a bewildering array of Dumble-y drive options that will set you back around 220 bucks, saving you at least 60,000 dollars over the cost of a pair of genuine Dumble Overdrive Specials.
Wampler SLOstortion
Brian Wampler is the king of amp-in-a-box pedals, and his company has many, many excellent models in its product line that hit on everything from vintage Plexis and Fender tweeds, to Vox AC amps and Boogie Triple Rectifiers. The most unique of these designs is perhaps the SLOstortion, a drive pedal that puts the thick rhythm tones and refined saturation of an '80s Soldano SLO-100 at your feet. Soldano's 100-watt Super Lead Overdrive (SLO) set an early benchmark in high-gain, American-style tube distortion, and has been used at various times by a striking diversity of players, including Clapton, Knopfler, Warren DeMartini, Lou Reed, and Matt Pike of High on Fire, among others. Wampler's SLOstortion will get you most of the way to an SLO-100 (while saving you about 4000 bucks over the cost of a real one), with its broad spectrum of clean boost, smooth overdrive, defined crunch, and molten shred tones. Few pedals can boast this kind of clarity and dynamics in similarly high-gain circumstances.