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Getting amps into NoAMPfree captures, dirt and cabs, and how to load them

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NoAMP doesn't ship with amps, on purpose. It plays your captures, and there are thousands of great ones out there for free. This page shows you where to get them and exactly how to load them. If you'd rather read the full manual, it's at illsea.com/docs/noamp.

1. What you're loading (NAM, Color, IR)

Three kinds of file go into NoAMP. In plain terms:

SlotWhat it is
NAM
(the amp)		A .nam file is a Neural Amp Modeler capture: a computer's fingerprint of a real amp, made by recording that amp and training a tiny neural net to sound exactly like it. Load one into an amp slot and NoAMP becomes that amp. This is the sound.
Color
(dirt, or
anything)		The Color slot is a second capture that runs in front of the amp, like a pedal before your amp. Usually that's a dirt box: an overdrive, fuzz or boost someone captured. But a capture is just a fingerprint of whatever made it, so Color can be any gear in the chain: an analog reel-to-reel tape deck, a preamp or channel strip, a console, a transformer, a broken cassette machine, a weird DI. If it exists as a .nam, you can stack it in front of your amp. Color means "the thing before the amp," not just "fuzz."
IR
(the cab)		An Impulse Response (a .wav) is a snapshot of a speaker cab plus a mic. It's what makes a raw amp sound finished and miked-up. Skip it if your amp capture already includes the cab (a "full rig" capture); add one if the capture is amp-only and sounds raw or fizzy.

You don't need all three. One amp .nam already sounds like a real amp. Add Color for dirt or flavor, add an IR when the capture needs a cab.

2. Where to get them, free

  1. Go to tone3000.com (the big library) or tonehunt.org. Both are free and huge.
  2. Filter for what you want: amp type, gain level, a specific pedal for the Color slot, or a cab for the IR. You do not need an account to download from tone3000.
  3. Click Download on a tone. You'll get a .zip. Unzip it, inside are the .nam files (and sometimes cab .wav IRs too).
  4. Drop them into a folder you'll remember, like Documents\NAMs. Keep amps, pedals and cabs in their own subfolders if you like, NoAMP's next/prev arrows walk whatever folder your loaded file is in.
Captures are made with Neural Amp Modeler, the free open-source project by Steven Atkinson. The captures are made and shared by the community, each carries its author's license, be cool and keep their credits with the files.

3. Load them into NoAMP

The NoAMP window: amp A and amp B cards, each with a Choose .nam button for the amp, a Color Choose .nam button, and an IR button.

Each amp card has three load spots: Choose .nam (the amp), the Color row's Choose .nam (dirt or any front gear), and the IR button (the cab).

The amp:

  1. On amp A, click Choose .nam and pick a capture. Done, you're playing that amp.
  2. The ◀ ▶ arrows step through every .nam in that folder, so you can try a whole pack without reopening the file box. Both arrows are MIDI-learnable if you want to walk them with a footswitch.
  3. For two amps at once, load a second capture on amp B and pan them apart for a wide, doubled rig.

Color (dirt, or any front-of-amp gear):

  1. Find the Color row on the amp and click its Choose .nam.
  2. Pick a drive / fuzz / boost, or any captured gear you want up front, tape, a preamp, whatever.
  3. Blend it with Col Mix and Col Level. It hits the amp exactly like a real pedal into a real amp.

The cab (IR):

  1. Click the amp's IR button and pick a cabinet impulse response (a .wav).
  2. Skip it for a full-rig capture; add it if your capture is amp-only and needs a speaker.

Swap or clear: once something's loaded, its button becomes a menu, Load new... replaces it, Clear unloads it. An empty amp slot reads No amp loaded; an empty Color slot reads No color loaded.

4. A few tips

Too fizzy?Your capture is probably amp-only. Load a cab IR, or turn down Treble and try the Bright switch off (in the amp's NERD view).
Too quiet / loud?Everything is auto-leveled so nothing clips. Use each amp's Level and the master OUT to balance. A red cap on the OUT meter means back off.
Which .nam is best?Try a few with the ◀ ▶ arrows. "Standard" or "full" captures are the most accurate; "lite" ones use less CPU.
Moved your files?Presets remember captures by file path. If you move or rename a .nam, a preset shows the name with (missing), just point it at the new location.
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