STUDIO DEVIL – VIRTUAL BASS AMP USER’S GUIDE
(Version 1.0, November 2008)
THANKS FOR USING STUDIO DEVIL!
Thanks for using Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp, the ultimate vacuum tube bass amplifier modeling plug-in!
We know you’re going to love the way you sound with Studio Devil!
TECHNOLOGY
Studio Devil’s Virtual Tube Amplification is a breakthrough in vacuum-tube amplifier modeling technology. Our patented
tube-modeling process is based on the dynamic characteristics of real 12AX7A vacuum tube preamplifier stages, the
building blocks of the world’s most coveted tube amplifiers. By accurately mimicking this preamp tube stage, virtually any
tube amp can be built through unique configurations and combinations of them. Virtual Bass Amp represents just a few of
the infinite number of virtual amplifiers that can be built with this technology.
When you play through Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp, you will notice that it responds just like a real tube amp. The tone is
rich, simple, and inspiring. And, the dynamic gain structure reacts to your fingers and picking style, allowing expressive
playing, just like the real thing! You’ll be amazed at how good your tone sounds playing through Studio Devil’s virtual tube
amplifiers. Until now, digital never sounded so…analog!
So…enjoy the newly found warmth of digital…enjoy Studio Devil!
Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp – User’s Guide, Page 1 of 9
©2008 Gallo Engineering & Design, PLLC. All rights reserved. “Virtual Bass Amp”, “Studio Devil VBA”, Studio Devil and the Studio Devil logo are trademarks of Gallo Engineering &
Design, PLLC. VST and the VST logo are trademarks of Steinberg Media Technologies, GmbH. Audio Units is a trademark of Apple, Inc.
Pro Tools and RTAS are trademarks of Digidesign. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
ACTIVATING YOUR STUDIO DEVIL PLUG-IN
Before you can use your Studio Devil plug-in, you need to activate it by getting a LICENSE KEY from our web server. Only
YOU are entitled to activate your product. You are entitled to install and activate this software as many times as needed,
but you are limited to using it on one machine at a time. If you plan on using this software on multiple machines at the
same time, you will need to purchase additional serial numbers. Contact customer support at [email protected] if
you need to request additional license keys or if your activation fails.
The following are step-by-step instructions on how to activate your plug-in and get you up and running quickly:
1. Insert your Studio Devil plug-in into your host application and open it. If you are running the plug-in for the first
time, you will see the following screen:
If you do not have a serial number, you may run the demo-mode version of the plug-in by clicking RUN AS DEMO.
If you choose to purchase a serial number at a later time, you can resume this activation by clicking ACTIVATE
from demo mode:
2. When you are ready to begin, enter your serial number and click NEXT:
Remember to write down and keep your serial number in a safe place! You will need it if you ever wish to re-
install your Studio Devil plug-in in the future.
Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp – User’s Guide, Page 3 of 9
©2008 Gallo Engineering & Design, PLLC. All rights reserved. “Virtual Bass Amp”, “Studio Devil VBA”, Studio Devil and the Studio Devil logo are trademarks of Gallo Engineering &
Design, PLLC. VST and the VST logo are trademarks of Steinberg Media Technologies, GmbH. Audio Units is a trademark of Apple, Inc.
Pro Tools and RTAS are trademarks of Digidesign. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
3. Your Studio Devil plug-in will now display your INSTALL CODE:
Write down this code or copy it to the clipboard by clicking COPY. You will need it for the next step. When you are
ready, click NEXT.
4. Your Studio Devil plug-in will now display instructions on how to bring your INSTALL CODE to our web server for
product activation:
5. Launch your web browser and go to http://www.studiodevil.com/activate to display our product activation web
page. Enter or PASTE the INSTALL CODE you just obtained into the space provided and click GET LICENSE KEY.
6. The Studio Devil web server will now respond with your LICENSE KEY. Write down or COPY your LICENSE KEY.
You will need it for the next step.
7. Return to your Studio Devil plug-in and click NEXT:
Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp – User’s Guide, Page 4 of 9
©2008 Gallo Engineering & Design, PLLC. All rights reserved. “Virtual Bass Amp”, “Studio Devil VBA”, Studio Devil and the Studio Devil logo are trademarks of Gallo Engineering &
Design, PLLC. VST and the VST logo are trademarks of Steinberg Media Technologies, GmbH. Audio Units is a trademark of Apple, Inc.
Pro Tools and RTAS are trademarks of Digidesign. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp – User’s Guide, Page 5 of 9
©2008 Gallo Engineering & Design, PLLC. All rights reserved. “Virtual Bass Amp”, “Studio Devil VBA”, Studio Devil and the Studio Devil logo are trademarks of Gallo Engineering &
Design, PLLC. VST and the VST logo are trademarks of Steinberg Media Technologies, GmbH. Audio Units is a trademark of Apple, Inc.
Pro Tools and RTAS are trademarks of Digidesign. All other trademarks are property of their respectiv
CONTROLS
The controls of Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp are pretty easy to understand. We designed them to be intuitive, simple, and
able to let you get your tone quickly. If you’ve used a bass amplifier before, then you already know how to operate them.
But just in case, here’s a description of the controls, what they do, and how to use them to sculpt your tone:
PREAMP CONTROLS
The PREAMP CONTROLS help you tweak your sound until it’s just right. Here’s a bit about what they do and how
to adjust your sound:
GAIN: This knob controls the amount of bass guitar signal that’s fed into the amplifier. Turning this control up (to
the right) means more gain, more distortion, more clipping, more compression, and more punch. Turning the gain
knob down (to the left) results in a cleaner tone, less distortion, but more dynamic responsiveness. This knob
also mimics the effects of gain knob capacitors, which controls a bit of your tone and the high-frequency
distortion. But whichever setting you choose, remember that Studio Devil acts just like a real tube head…you can
also use your bass guitar’s volume knob to achieve similar results. Experiment with both your bass’s volume
knob and the gain control to see what works best with your playing style!
BOOST SWITCH: Turning this switch on has the effect of increasing the overall gain and adding more preamp
distortion. When you just need a little bit more gain…where can you go from there? 11? It’s one louder. Flipping
the BOOST switch on gets you there. Here’s a trick: Even though a high gain knob setting with the boost switch
off may have the same overall gain as a low gain knob setting with the boost switch on, they will sound very
different. Try both to see what works best for your style of play!
TONE CONTROLS: (BASS, MIDS, FREQ, TREBLE) These TONE settings control the bass, mid, and treble
frequencies. The BASS knob sets the level for the lows, the TREBLE knob sets the level for the highs, and the
MIDS knob controls the level of the mid-frequencies. There are many different bass amps out there that all use
different frequencies for the MID control. So, to give you the best of all of them, we gave Studio Devil VBA a FREQ
knob which allows you choose what type of MIDS knob style you want! The FREQ knob allows you to set the
center frequency of the MIDS knob from 40Hz to 4kHz. Pay close attention to the dramatic range of tones you
can get from subtle changes in the MIDS and FREQ knobs. There are a lot of possibilities but it’s all about
tone…experiment until you find what works best for your sound!
Now remember, these tone controls come before the power amp compression, so not only do they affect your
tone, but they also allow you to control which frequencies compress more than others. If you want more control of
your tone without affecting the power amp compression, refer to the description of the GRAPHIC EQ section that
follows.
DEEP BUTTON: Pushing this button turns on the DEEP feature which adds more low-end to your bass. If you like
your sound with lots of bass, push this button on! If you’re playing through smaller speakers, and want to back off
the deep low end, push this button again to turn it off. This button lights up to let you know when the DEEP effect
is enabled.
BRIGHT BUTTON: This works a lot like the DEEP button, except it controls the high-end. Some preamp settings
can sound a bit noisy, especially when the GAIN or DRIVE is turned way up. You can help correct this by pushing
the BRIGHT button off. But if you like crisp, punchy highs, then push this button on to add more high frequencies
to your tone. This button lights up to let you know when the BRIGHT effect is enabled.
Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp – User’s Guide, Page 6 of 9
©2008 Gallo Engineering & Design, PLLC. All rights reserved. “Virtual Bass Amp”, “Studio Devil VBA”, Studio Devil and the Studio Devil logo are trademarks of Gallo Engineering &
Design, PLLC. VST and the VST logo are trademarks of Steinberg Media Technologies, GmbH. Audio Units is a trademark of Apple, Inc.
Pro Tools and RTAS are trademarks of Digidesign. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
POWER AMP / LIMITER CONTROLS
The POWER AMP / LIMITER controls allow you to add compression and loudness to your sound while minimizing
the amount of harsh distortion and audible clipping, just like when you turn up the volume on a real amp. Here’s
how the controls work:
DRIVE CONTROL: You can look at this control as the “Master Volume” of the amp. It sets the amount of power
amp soft clipping that occurs after your preamp in the signal processing chain. This has the effect of compressing
the sound and increasing its apparent loudness. Turn this knob to the left for a sound more like a preamp
recorded direct, or turn it to the right for more of that “miked up” power amp sound. When you turn the DRIVE
knob more to the left for clean sounds, you can compensate for the lower volume by boosting the GRAPHIC EQ
LEVEL SLIDER (see below). Or, if you turn the DRIVE up, you can compensate for the louder volume by lowering
the GRAPHIC EQ LEVEL SLIDER. This technique is the best way to keep a good level while changing the amount of
power amp drive and clipping. Experimentation is the key to finding what works best for you!
LIMITER CONTROL: This knob controls the type of power amp limiter by letting you choose from soft clipping to
hard clipping or anywhere in between! With hard clipping, any part of your signal that goes above the maximum
limit just gets clipped right off. This results in a buzzing or crunching that some bassists love. If you want a softer,
more pillow-like kind of feel, then soft-clipping is more for you. With soft clipping, the limiter pushes back against
your bass signal more and more as the level gets louder and louder. This results in a clipping that gradually
rounds off your peaks and sounds softer, mellower, and more muffled. Both the hard and soft clipping extremes
sound great, but with the LIMITER knob, you can select a setting anywhere in between! A good starting point is
somewhere between the middle and hard clipping…this is most like a real amp.
LIMITER LED INDICATOR: Between the DRIVE and LIMITER control knobs is a small red indicator light. This light
comes on when the limiter is really starting to clip. This is by no means a warning light! If you see this light come
on, it does NOT mean that you are overloading something, or doing something wrong. It just indicates that the
limiter is really starting to do some work, and it gives you an idea of how hard you’re driving it. In fact, many great
tones often drive this light on all the time. This light is meant to be a guide when it’s hard to hear what the limiter
is doing and when it’s hard to know if distortion is coming from the gain stage or the power limiter. But no matter
what, use your ears…they’ll tell you when it sounds right!
GRAPHIC EQUALIZER
Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp – User’s Guide, Page 7 of 9
©2008 Gallo Engineering & Design, PLLC. All rights reserved. “Virtual Bass Amp”, “Studio Devil VBA”, Studio Devil and the Studio Devil logo are trademarks of Gallo Engineering &
Design, PLLC. VST and the VST logo are trademarks of Steinberg Media Technologies, GmbH. Audio Units is a trademark of Apple, Inc.
Pro Tools and RTAS are trademarks of Digidesign. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
The GRAPHIC EQ comes after all the PREAMP, TONE, and POWER AMP / LIMITER processes and lets you adjust
the overall tonal character of your bass sound. Why have a GRAPHIC EQ when you already have tone controls?
Well, first, it has more bands and finer control than the tone controls. But more importantly, it comes after the
preamp distortion and power amp compression so it allows you to control the overall tone without changing the
other effects. Playing around with the subtle interplay between your tone knobs and the GRAPHIC EQ is where
you’ll discover all the great tones Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp delivers. Here’s how the GRAPHIC EQ controls
work:
EQ SLIDERS: Each of the graphic EQ’s seven sliders (starting from the left) lets you adjust the boost or cut for
frequencies within a certain band. Slide the handle up for more boost, or slide it down for less. Going from left to
right, the frequency bands go from bass (lows) to treble (highs). The frequencies for each band are specifically
chosen to work well with bass guitar and to give you lots of control over your sound.
LEVEL SLIDER: The rightmost graphic EQ slider controls the overall LEVEL of the EQ’s output. This comes in
useful to balance the overall volume of your bass between EQ on and EQ off settings. Another useful trick is to
set the EQ sliders all in the middle for no tonal change and use the LEVEL slider just to control the overall volume
output. Either way, the LEVEL slider lets you set your output volume when the EQ is enabled.
ENABLE BUTTON: Pushing this button turns on the GRAPHIC EQ feature. Pushing it again turns it off. You can use
this control to make quick comparisons of your EQ settings to see how it’s affecting your sound. This button lights
up to let you know when the GRAPHIC EQ effect is enabled.
CABINET SWITCH
Without a bass speaker cabinet, bass distortion and compression might sound thin and harsh. The “cabinet”
switch allows you to select a basic cabinet modeling filter to get the effect of hooking your amp up to a real bass
cabinet. There are 3 settings to choose from:
4x10: This setting emulates a miked-up 4x10 cabinet. It has a punchy bass and a slightly metallic, flangy tone
characteristic. This is the best setting for modern, loud tones.
1x15: This position is for a deeper, mellower sound like those you get from single 1x15 cabinets. This sound has
less highs and is a bit more “boxier” than the 4x10 setting. This setting makes for great classic and vintage bass
tones that really stand out.
D.I. (DIRECT BOX): This setting acts like a speaker simulator bypass. It lets a lot of the high end through, and gets
that “recorded direct” sound that many bassists love in the studio. It also allows you to use your own speaker
modeling plug-ins and impulse modelers. There are a lot of really great speaker modeling plug-ins out there, and
we want you to be able to use them to get your sound with Studio Devil! So if you chain our plug-in with other
power-amp or cabinet modeling plug-ins, make sure you set this switch to the DIRECT BOX setting. That way, you
won’t get the clashing effects of two speaker cabinets running together!
Well, that’s it for the controls of Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp…pretty straightforward and simple. But the main thing to
remember is this is all about tone and getting a great sound. Experiment with the controls until you find what you like. And
take your time to listen and play a while through your changes. You will find that Studio Devil reacts just like real amps,
small changes in your settings add up to a very different feel and texture of your sound. Keep tweaking until it’s just right!
Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp – User’s Guide, Page 8 of 9
©2008 Gallo Engineering & Design, PLLC. All rights reserved. “Virtual Bass Amp”, “Studio Devil VBA”, Studio Devil and the Studio Devil logo are trademarks of Gallo Engineering &
Design, PLLC. VST and the VST logo are trademarks of Steinberg Media Technologies, GmbH. Audio Units is a trademark of Apple, Inc.
Pro Tools and RTAS are trademarks of Digidesign. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
SETUP TIPS
Here are a few tips about setting up your Studio Devil plug-in for the best sound…
HI-Z INPUT: Always use a good quality sound card/interface with a Hi-Z input. The Hi-Z input allows you to connect a guitar
or bass directly with a ¼” guitar cord without degrading the instrument’s output signal. If you don’t already have a sound
interface with a Hi-Z (or “Instrument”) input, invest in one…you’ll need it!
SETTING A GOOD LEVEL: The idea here is to get the highest possible input signal without clipping your sound interface.
This insures that you get all the nice tube-like distortion from your Studio Devil plug-in, and none of the nasty digital clips
from your sound interface. At first, turn all the volume and tone knobs on your guitar or bass all the way up for the
strongest signal. You may even want to switch to the “Neck” pickup (if your instrument has one) which typically has a
higher output as well, but this isn’t necessary. Then, once you’re setup and plugged in, start strumming or plucking the
guitar or bass a little harder than you think you’ll be playing normally. While strumming hard, adjust the input trim control
on your sound interface so that you get the highest signal possible without any clips. Once it starts to clip, back off the
sound interface’s input level just a touch. If you still get too many clips, turn the input level down on your interface a little
bit more, but don’t turn the level down too much, or you won’t get the best sound out of your amp modeling plug-in. This is
the same basic technique for recording any other traditional tracks, but some extra care is needed here, where the
distortion and tone from Studio Devil’s dynamic amp modeling shouldn’t be clouded by harsh digital clips or lost by poor
utilization of the dynamic range of the sound interface.
LATENCY: Try to use a sound interface that has low-latency drivers and hardware. That way you can record though your
Studio Devil plug-in in real-time! Studio Devil plug-ins have been designed to keep the processing demand on the CPU as
low as possible, to allow even slower hosts to run our amp models in real-time…but if your driver is slow, you’ll still hear a
lag. Try ASIO drivers, too…they’re sometimes faster!
REVERB & DELAY: We decided not to throw in a couple of no-frills reverbs and delays, since your host should come with
some of the best ones out there anyway…plus, we figured why re-invent the wheel when we can spend our time inventing
something better: great tone with digital vacuum tubes! But, you’ll find that adding a little touch of your favorite ambiance
reverb or delay is really going to fatten up your tone…try it!
There’s not much else too it…except to pick up your favorite bass and start laying down the best directly recorded tracks of
your life! Remember, when you sound good…we all sound good!
SPECIFICATIONS
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Compatible with VST, Audio Units, and RTAS audio hosts (Mac/PC)
4x Up-Sampling Multi-Rate Processing Engine
64-bit Internal Floating-Point Precision
44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, and 192kHz sampling rate support
VISIT US
Remember…we’re dedicated to getting the best digital guitar and bass amp tones. If you dig the tone you’re getting from
your bass with Studio Devil VBA, then be sure to check out our guitar amp modeling plug-ins, Virtual Guitar Amp and British
Valve Custom. We have a lot of great stuff in the works, so come visit us on the web for the latest info:
(visit often!)
Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp – User’s Guide, Page 9 of 9
©2008 Gallo Engineering & Design, PLLC. All rights reserved. “Virtual Bass Amp”, “Studio Devil VBA”, Studio Devil and the Studio Devil logo are trademarks of Gallo Engineering &
Design, PLLC. VST and the VST logo are trademarks of Steinberg Media Technologies, GmbH. Audio Units is a trademark of Apple, Inc.
Pro Tools and RTAS are trademarks of Digidesign. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
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