While it does amp, cab and microphone modelling so that you can craft a guitar tone, it also offers an ‘amp design’ function. Second, BIAS isn’t quite from the same mould as other virtual guitar rigs.

Unlike software from the likes of Line 6 or IK Multimedia that has been ported from desktop to iOS, BIAS is coming in the other direction. I say ‘new’ but BIAS is interesting on two counts, the first of which is that it actually started life as an iPad app. However, we now have a new contender in the shape of BIAS from Positive Grid. In the Mac and PC realm there are a number of well-established products: Line 6’s POD Farm, IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube, Waves’ GTR, Peavey’s ReValver and Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig Pro would be among the obvious candidates. And to many ears (my own included), the quality of the results can be more than good enough to be used in a commercial music-production context.

However, they also offer a huge range of tonal variations that is difficult to match unless you happen to have a warehouse full of classic guitar hardware. For many home, personal or project studios where cranking up an amp is not an option, they are a necessary convenience. Love ’em or hate ’em, virtual guitar rigs are now a part of the music-technology furniture. With component-level adjustment and ‘amp matching’ features, BIAS can target almost any guitar amp sound - real or imagined!

Easiest way to bias guitar amp