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Blue Cat's Free Amp

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Free Amp

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Blue Cat's Free Amp
"The free guitar amp simulation plug-in"
Price: Freeware
Blue Cat's Free Amp - The Free Guitar Amp Sim Plug-In (VST, AU, AAX, VST3) (Freeware)

Blue Cat's Free Amp is a completely free guitar and bass amp simulation plug-in offering four amp models created with the acclaimed Blue Cat's Destructor amp simulation modeler.

MacOSUniversal BinaryWindows Vista or newerWindows x64 (64-bit)VSTVST3AAX64-bit AAXAudio Unit
Also in Bundle: Free Pack

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Inspired by legendary guitar amplifiers from the real world, the included "classic clean", "classic drive", "modern drive" and "classic bass" amp models cover a wide range of guitar and bass amp tones, from clean vintage sounds from the early days of electric guitar to modern high gain metal tones.

Operating the virtual amps is extremely simple: launch the application or load the plug-in in your favorite host application, choose a preset or an amp model, and play! Like with a real guitar amp, you can tweak the frequency response with the included EQ and adjust the amount of drive - but watch out, it goes to 11!

With version 1.1, you can also load your own impulse responses (IR): add your favorite cabinet, microphones & room setup and feel at home!

Last but not least, this plug-in is entirely free: no registration required, no dongle, no newsletter... It's just 100% free!

If you are looking for a more powerful guitar and bass amp simulation modeler, check out Blue Cat's Destructor. For a complete amp simulation solution with built-in effects, check out Blue Cat's Axiom.

Main Features

  • Free guitar and bass amp simulation plug-in.
  • 4 amp models inspired by legendary amplifiers: "classic clean", "classic drive", "modern drive" and "classic bass".
  • Simulations based on the Destructor V2 dynamic distortion and amp modeling engine.
  • Built-in Reverb for every amp model.
  • Load your own cabinet or reverb impulse responses to add color to the amp simulation.
  • No latency.

Blue Cat Audio Standards:

  • Available as a standalone application and in most plug-in formats for Mac and Windows.
  • Full MIDI control and automation support, MIDI Learn.
  • No CPU load on idle: processing shuts down when fed with silence (optimal CPU usage).
  • Customizable user interface with transparency & zoom.
  • Smooth Bypass: noiseless plug-in activation / deactivation.
  • Undo/Redo.
  • Full featured integrated presets manager.
  • Copy/paste the state of the plug-in between instances.
  • Any sample rate supported.

Typical applications: Guitar amp modeling for clean, crunch or heavy distortion tones.


Blue Cat's Free Amp - The Free Guitar Amp Sim Plug-In (VST, AU, AAX, VST3) (Freeware) Blue Cat's Free Amp - The Free Guitar Amp Sim Plug-In (VST, AU, AAX, VST3) (Freeware) Blue Cat's Free Amp - The Free Guitar Amp Sim Plug-In (VST, AU, AAX, VST3) (Freeware) Blue Cat's Free Amp - The Free Guitar Amp Sim Plug-In (VST, AU, AAX, VST3) (Freeware)

User Comments & Reviews

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Downloads

MacOS

Need help with downloads? Click here!

System Requirements

MacOS

  • An Intel or Apple Silicon processor.
  • Mac OS 10.9 or newer.
  • For the plug-in, any VST / Audio Unit / AAX compatible application (64-bit) .
  • For the standalone application, a Core Audio compatible audio interface.

Windows

  • An SSE2-enabled processor (Pentium 4 or newer).
  • Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8, 10 or 11.
  • For the plug-in, any VST / AAX compatible host software (32 or 64 bit).
  • For the standalone application, an ASIO, MME or WASAPI compatible audio interface (ASIO recommended).

For more information about supported platforms, see our Knowledge Base.

Versions History

V2.0 (2026/10/02)

  • Next-generation amp models, rebuilt with the powerful Destructor V2 engine.
  • Bass is in: a dedicated bass amp model joins the lineup.
  • Reverb built into every amp, using the reverb from the Axiom multi-effects processor.
  • Standalone app included: use Blue Cat's Free Amp on its own, or in your favorite plug-in host.
  • Legacy V1 models included for seamless compatibility with existing projects.
  • Smoother transition between presets (in particular between presets using Impulse Responses and others using modeled cabs).
MIDI Control:
  • All plug-in parameters can now be controlled with MIDI notes, pitch bend, NRPN, 14-bit CCs, aftertouch or channel pressure, in addition to existing MIDI CC.
  • New MIDI "learn once" mode for parameters control (deactivates itself once learned).
  • Plug-in can now send Bank Select and Program Change messages upon changes in the user interface to keep in sync with external controllers.
  • Fixed plug-in sending Bank number 0 when loading a preset that is not located in a bank.
  • Fixed audio dropouts when navigating presets via next/previous and plug-in set to send MIDI Program Change messages.
User Interface:
  • Revamped 3D HD Graphics.
  • Windows multitouch support (manipulate multiple controls at the same time with several fingers).
  • Windows accessibility: native system widgets are now scaled according to text size settings on Windows 8 and newer in settings windows.
  • Can now follow host zoom in Blue cat Audio hosts.
  • Fixed window opacity changes not shown in plug-in when host application modifies it.
  • Fixed selected text in text edit box sometimes not easy to read on Mac depending on the color scheme.
  • Fixed text edit boxes sometimes losing focus when hovering mouse over other controls.
  • Fixed revert current preset not always triggering undo properly.
  • Windows: fixed return key sometimes unexpectedly forwarded to host while typing in a text edit box.
Presets Management:
  • Find currently selected preset easily in the menu (folders containing the preset now display a check mark).
  • Show current preset in Finder/Windows Explorer.
  • New option to cycle next/previous preset in current bank only.

V1.3 (2024/09/09)

  • Windows: Multi monitor High DPI scaling support for high resolution displays (4K monitors, hi-res laptops...) for Windows 10 version 1607 (Anniversary Edition) and newer.
  • Mac: Improved Retina display support, with crispier graphics at all resolutions and zoom levels.
  • Mac: fixed random GUI refresh issues in Reaper on Retina displays.

V1.23 (2024/02/15)

  • Fixed GUI performance issues on MacOS 14 (Codename Sonoma).

V1.22 (2022/12/12)

  • Added Apple Silicon support for AAX Plug-in Format.

V1.21 (2022/09/02)

  • Added an option in global & preset input settings to send MIDI events when MIDI-enabled parameters are modified in the plug-in (to update control surfaces accordingly).
  • Improved undo management and automation when using the mouse wheel to move knobs.
  • VST: improved parameter value display in some host applications.
  • Mac: installers and plug-ins have been notarized to avoid security warnings on Mac OS Catalina and newer.
  • Mac: fixed user interface display issues on early versions of MacOS 10.9.
  • VST3: fixed some parameter update issues in some hosts.

V1.2 (2022/01/03)

  • Native Apple Silicon (M1 processor) support.
  • Dropped 32-bit support on Mac.
  • Now requires MacOS 10.9 and newer.
  • Added MIDI control support (MIDI CC messages) for Next and Previous Preset commands, with MIDI learn.
  • Improved MIDI & automation control settings with lock, reset and "save as global setting" capabilities.
  • Unicode support.
  • Reduced the number of threads used by the plug-in.
  • Reduced memory footprint.
  • VST3: fixed random crash in Ableton Live 11 upon load.
  • VST3: fixed parameters update issues in Studio One when bouncing tracks.

V1.13 (2020/12/15)

  • Arrow keys can now be used to navigate presets.
  • Improved smooth plug-in bypass (faster and smoother transition).
  • New high resolution graphics for knobs.
  • Reduced disk footprint.
  • Misc DSP performance enhancements.
  • Windows: improved GUI loading performance.
  • Mac Audio Unit: fixed plug-in listing in some host applications (Plogue Bidule).
  • Mac: fixed GUI performance issues on native P3 displays and improved performance on other displays.
  • Mac: fixed mouse wheel that required large movements to change parameter values.
  • Mac: fixed mouse cursor flickering issues.
  • Mac: fixed Esc key not closing fine edit parameter dialog.

V1.12 (2019/12/20)

  • Improved convolution performance for large impulse responses.
  • MIDI Program Change preference is now saved into session instead of global preferences, so each instance can now use different MIDI channels. It is also saved in the user default preset.
  • VST3: added program change support for VST3 plug-in format.
  • Mac: much faster GUI rendering on recent Mac OS systems.
  • Mac: fixed user interface not properly shown on retina displays in some applications built with the 10.14 Mac OS SDK (Cubase 10.5 for example).
  • Mac: fixed settings panel rendering issues in dark mode on Mac OS Mojave and newer.
  • VST: the user interface is now properly resized in Cubase on Windows when loading skins.
  • Dropped support for legacy RTAS plug-in format.

V1.11 (2018/12/13)

  • Improved convolution performance for the impulse response loader on multicore processors.
  • Now included in the Free Pack bundle.

V1.1 (2018/10/09)

  • Load your own cabinet and reverb impulse responses.

V1.0 (2018/07/10)

First release.

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