After tinkering here and there with many of the iOS app guitar amp simulators for months, I finally decided I would really review them in detail and decide which was the best, and which gave the best value for the money.

So this is my review of all of the iPhone amp simulators you’ll find with pros and cons, prices and my truly honest review and impression of each.

I hope this helps you in choosing the app that you prefer. You’ll find some of these apps are better for live situations, and some for jamming at home, and others excel at recording.

Oh, and I also divulge the app I decided to purchase;  which I think was the best of the bunch.

“Jam Up” by Positive Grid

Pros

• comes  with 4 pedals: noise gate, overdrive, delay and reverb
• jam along to music on your device and adjust the speed of the music
• tuner
• place effects before or after the amp
• very quick 1 touch switch between presents, nice for live settings

Cons

• only 1 amp free
• only a sampler, no multi track recording
• can’t buy individual effects in app, you have to buy all or nothing

Cost

$10 gets you

• 20 amps
• 6 speaker cabinets
• 14 effects

Comes out to about 25 cents per item.

Honest Review

The effects are very clean sounding and sound great overall. The interface is simple and one of the most intuitive. You can pop in and out effects with a quick swipe, and it’s really a pleasure to use.

You could load song stubs, or anything in your music library, into the jam along feature and play over them which is great if you are practicing alone. The tuner is fairly standard, nothing special but useful.

Best For

Live setting thanks to the easy switching from one preset to another, and for casual use. Not great for recording.

Hardware Option:

Yes, you can get the JamUp Interface to connect your guitar to your iPhone or iPod.

“iShred Live”

Pros

• Good for live with easy preset changes.
• Tuner
• Great pedal previews so you can hear before you buy.
• Bypass amp simulator completely so you can plug your iDevice into a real amp and use it as an effects unit

Cons

• You have to pay extra to get the multi track recorder ($2), but it’s there
• Only 3 effects included
• Only 1 amp with clean and overdrive channels
• Presets aren’t at all useful
• Weak graphical design
• Small selection of effects (10)

Cost

• $.99 per pedal, with 10 available

Honest Review

I found this app unispiring. The presets didn’t get me interested. They are almost all drenched in delay. The interface is pretty ugly relative to the other apps.

On the plus side it’s a cheap app, unfortunately you get what you pay for here. My biggest issue however is the small selection of effects. The bypass is a nice touch if you want to use this with a real amp.

Best For

Live setting thanks to the easy switching from one preset to another, and for casual use. Okay for recording.

Hardware Option

None.

“Amp Kit” by Peavy “TOP Pick”

Pros

• Great BIG sounding simulator
• High gain
• Tons of presets that sounds good
• Buy more gear in packages to save money
• Record tracks and export or reapply effects
• Preview all effects before you buy
• Attenuates input automatically so you don’t overdrive the app
• Large selection of amps, pedals and mics
• Place effects anywhere in the chain
• Build in backing tracks to play along with (sweet!)
• You can exit amp and still let it play in the background
• Copy and paste recordings to other apps (like 4Track)
• Bypass amp simulator completely so you can plug your iDevice into a real amp and use it as an effects unit

Cons

• Slightly confusing interface
• No 1 click presets for a live situation

Cost

• $10 for 3 amps, 8 pedals, and 6 mics
• $5-6 for each amp
• $3-5 for pedals
• $.99 for mics

Plus you can buy packages of gear for reduced cost.

Honest Review

Wow, this app sounds great. The presets are very inspiring, and I broke a string shredding to the backing tracks which I haven’t done for years. That’s a good sign. This app has a ton of effects, great presets and lots of features. You can preview all gear and buying is flexible from within the app thanks to the package deals, and being able to buy individual effects.

I unfortunately couldn’t find the bypass feature to plug this into my real amp, and the interface is slightly confusing, but not hard to use.

In the end this app shined above all others, and is my #1 recommendation.

Best For

Unfortunately the interface is too clunky for a live setting, but great for jamming at home and one of the best for recording.

Hardware Option

Peavy has released a very nice Amp Kit Link guitar interface for your iDevice with internal circuitry to match the input of any iDevice.

“Guitar Tone” by Senoma

Pros

• One of the few apps that has 4 mics free out of the box
• Full sounding and very realistic sounding app
• Works natively and integrates with the famous Four Track app
• If you buy the Guitar Jack hardware interface to connect your guitar to your iDevice it automatically unlocks more amps
• Comes with overdrive, reverb, phaser, and 3 amps (custom, blues, 60 slant)

Cons

• Presets are hard to find and scroll through
• No noise gate in free app so it’s very noisy, and oddly there doesn’t seem to be a noise gate effects option, so this may not be fixable
• Can’t buy individual effects

Cost

• There are 2 amp packs with 12 different amps in each for $10 a pack
• There are 2 pedal packs with 12 different effects in each for $10 a pack

So you’re paying about $.83 per item.

Honest Review

In you have the Four Track app than this is a great option. Overall nice sounding effects. The 4 free mics are great and give you huge control of your sound. Easy interface to use and you can dial in diverse sounds very quickly which I liked a lot.

My biggest complaint is the seeming lack of a noise gate. This app however is very simple and doesn’t have a lot of extras like a tuner. There is a way to jam over your iPod music, but it’s a bit convoluted.

Best For

The presets are too difficult to use live, but this is a great app for recording with Four Track, and for just jamming. 

Hardware Option

Senoma has a high end guitar to iDevice adapter which hooks into the iDevice port at the bottom of the device.

“Amplitube” (Regular) by IK Multimedia

Pros

• Comes with 3 effects but only 1 cabinet
• There’s a cheaper LE version for $6

Cons

• The interface is simple but uninspiring, and to my taste old fashioned
• The store in the apps seems to be setup to make it too easy to accidentally click an in app purchase (just annoying design)
• The presets are very heavy on delay
• The presets interface is clunky and I found the Fender version of this app to have a much better preset interface
• The in app purchases are NOT universal, that means if you have an iPhone and an iPad, and you buy the gear on your iPhone, you have to buy it AGAIN for your iPad.
• People are reporting problems with transferring their gear from the LE version to the upgraded Regular version
• The multi tracker is $10 extra! Though it does appear robust.
• Lots of poor app reviews in the app store

Cost

• There are 18 pedals at $3 each
• 5 advanced effect units at $5 each, a doubler, pitch correction, harmonizer, deesser, morphing)
• 9 more amps, $2 for Fender amps, and $5 for others

Avg cost of gear is $3.

Honest Review

Even though Amplitube has been around the longest in this category and is one of the biggest brands they are also the most marketing oriented, and had the poorest product. It’s too bad. They seem to be driven by marketing. $10 more for the multi track? Hmmm.

While this app isn’t outright bad, I certainly expect a better experience, and the overall bad reviews say a lot about this app. Also, for me the fact that I can’t transfer my purchases to another device is a deal killer.

Best For

Okay, for recording and for jamming. Not great for a live situation.

Hardware Option

Yes, you can get the iRig. Here’s a full review of my iRig adaptor.

So, do you have a favorite app? A question about any of these above I can answer? Which are you planning on buying? 

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This post was written by

Michael Jae.

Michael is a guitarist of over 18 years and has taught lessons, played in front of live audiences, and wrote and recorded his own acoustic fingerstyle albums. He's especially fond of playing classic rock, heavy metal, classical guitar, and fingerstyle acoustic guitar in the style of Leo Kottke and John Fahey.

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