Not that long ago, John Mayer wasn't a huge fan of amp modelers. In his view, they got close. They sounded good. But when you take electric guitar tone from clean to the edge of break up, they left something to be desired.
However, that was then. This is now, and having recently put his name – and his über grail-worthy tube amps – to a signature Archetype X guitar plugin from Neural DSP, Mayer is officially a digital convert.
More than that, he can’t tell the difference between his plugin and real amps. Inded, he has now shared a demo video documenting the early stages of prototyping the plugin, A/Bing it with his amp rig, going back and forth, looking confused because... well, because he couldn’t tell them apart.
This was the Pepsi Challenge except with a Dumble Steel String Singer (serial #002) and some 1s and 0s, with a Two Rock prototype going head-to-head with an algorithm.
“I had the engineer switch between signals without my knowing. ‘That’s the amps,’ I’d guess. ‘Plugin,’ the engineer would say, several times. It fooled me,” he says. “Neural DSP had done it. It wasn’t just a faithful recreation of my sound – it was the first plugin I’d ever heard that proved that digital modeling could create a digital emulation with zero compromises.”
The fact it had Mayer fooled was enough. He was convinced. Modeling tech had finally achieved what he'd previously pulled them up on. It was bound to happen eventually.
Neural DSP launched the Archetype: John Mayer X on Wednesday, promising a digital in-the-box solution for nailing Mayer’s tones. You had the aforementioned trifecta of tube amps, plus emulations of the matching cabinets and microphones that Mayer uses with them.
There’s an intimacy to the way his rig responds. It breathes, it opens up, it carries emotion – and capturing that behavior was one of the most meaningful projects we’ve taken on
Neural DSP's Doug Castro
You have the capacity to use them all in parallel, just as Mayer might in a live situation, all this gourmet boutique, high-end electric guitar amp tech at your fingertips.
And then you have the effects, the Gravity Tank, a custom-designed emulation of his Victoria Reverberato spring reverb and harmonic tremolo unit. Yes, this is what you need to get that Gravity tone. Douglas Castro, Neural DSP’s co-founder and CEO, said putting this together was no gimme. Mayer’s rig pretty much has its own lifeforce.
“There’s an intimacy to the way his rig responds,” said Castro. “It breathes, it opens up, it carries emotion – and capturing that behavior was one of the most meaningful projects we’ve taken on.”
Mayer says what you see in his Instagram video is not far from the finished article. There were not many revisions.
“I’d like to say that we went back and forth countless times, making tweaks until it was right, but the truth is that they pretty much nailed it on the first try,” he says. “Only a few EQ changes and some revisions to a couple of the effects pedals were needed.
“The thousands of hours of creation came to fruition yesterday when the plugin was released, and it’s been a joy to see and hear players putting this software to the test and being as impressed as I was in this video.”
For longtime Mayer fans, it would also be a joy to see him mess around on a Fender Stratocaster. His PRS signature guitar sat this one out, though Mayer did also share test footage of him playing a Silver Sky on his Instagram stories.
“Thank you to every guitar player who created such clever and great sounding presets and for spreading the word,” says Mayer. “I can’t wait to hear all the new music that’s created with this plugin. Getting my sound is just the beginning of what it can do, and I can’t wait to hear what musicians create with it.”
You can find out more at Neural DSP. The asking price is €199. But be sure to read Guitar World’s review of the Archetype: John Mayer X. Spoiler warning: we liked it a lot.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
