Turn your browser into a guitar amp. Connect your guitar through an audio interface, click Start, and play through four amp models with gain, a 4-band tone stack, a speaker cabinet, delay, reverb and a noise gate. No guitar handy? Play the built-in demo riff to hear every setting.
Last updated:
⚠ Use headphones, or turn your speakers down first: a microphone near speakers will howl (feedback).
Latency: –
IN
OUT
Click Play demo riff to hear the amp, or plug in your guitar and click Start amp.
Records the amp output (what you hear) and downloads it as an audio file.
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How to use the Guitar Amp Simulator
Connect your guitar to an audio interface (or a guitar-to-USB cable) and put on headphones.
Click Start amp with my guitar and allow access to the audio input. Pick your interface under Input device and the input your guitar is plugged into.
Set the Input level so the IN meter peaks at about two thirds while you play hard.
Choose a preset or amp model, then shape the sound with Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble and Presence, and pick a cabinet.
Add effects: raise the noise gate threshold if the amp hisses, and switch on delay and reverb. Click Record to save a take.
Getting a great tone in the browser
The signal flows through the simulator the same way it would through a real rig: input level → noise gate → preamp (gain and amp model) → tone stack → speaker cabinet → delay → reverb → master. A few habits make the biggest difference:
Gain staging first. Set the Input knob so your hardest strum peaks at about two thirds of the IN meter. Too low and the amp will not break up; too high and even the clean model distorts.
Less gain than you think. High gain sounds huge alone but muddy in a mix. Rhythm parts often sit best at 5-7 on the lead model.
Keep the cabinet on. A real guitar speaker removes almost everything above about 5 kHz. Without the cabinet, distorted tones sound like a buzzing bee.
Cut before you boost. Scooping the mids sounds heavy when you play alone; turning them up helps the guitar cut through a band.
Amp models and starting points
Model
Character
Gain
Bass / Mid / Treble
Good for
Clean
Glassy headroom, soft compression when pushed
2-4
+2 / 0 / +3 dB
Funk, pop, jazz, arpeggios with delay
Crunch
Mid-forward, asymmetric breakup that cleans up with your guitar volume
4-7
+1 / +4 / +1 dB
Blues, classic rock, indie
High gain lead
Tight lows, heavy saturation, long sustain
6-9
+4 / -5 / +3 dB
Metal rhythm, solos
Fuzz
Square-wave clipping, thick and woolly
6-9
+3 / +1 / -2 dB
Garage, stoner rock, 60s leads
Reducing latency
Setup
Typical round-trip latency
Playable?
USB audio interface, wired headphones, low-latency mode
10-25 ms
Yes, feels close to a real amp
Built-in sound card, wired headphones
25-60 ms
Usable for practice and tone tweaking
Any setup with Bluetooth headphones or speakers
150-300 ms
Too slow to play in time
Latency figures are rough guides: they depend on your operating system, browser, driver and buffer size. Chrome and Edge usually give the lowest browser audio latency; close other tabs that play audio for the most stable performance.
Frequently asked questions
How do I connect my guitar to the computer?
Use a USB audio interface with an instrument (Hi-Z) input, or a guitar-to-USB cable. Plug the guitar in, connect the interface to the computer, then click Start amp and choose the interface as the input device. A laptop's microphone jack is not designed for guitar level and impedance, so it usually sounds thin and noisy.
Why is there a delay between playing and hearing the sound?
Every computer audio path adds latency: the interface's buffer, the browser's audio buffer and the output device. Low-latency mode asks the browser for its smallest buffer, and the tool shows the output latency the browser reports. For the lowest latency use wired headphones (Bluetooth adds 100-300 ms), close other audio apps, and on Windows use your interface's own driver settings at a small buffer size. Under about 15 ms total feels immediate to most players.
Why does the amp howl or squeal?
That is acoustic feedback: the speakers are feeding the microphone. Use headphones, turn the speakers down, or make sure the input device is your audio interface and not the laptop's built-in microphone.
How do the amp models and cabinet simulation work?
The guitar signal is boosted and pushed through a waveshaper, a curve that clips the waveform the way an overdriven amplifier stage does. Each model uses a different curve, gain range and pre-EQ. The cabinet is simulated with a short impulse response that reproduces how a guitar speaker cuts off high frequencies above about 5 kHz and shapes the lows; without it, distortion sounds harsh and fizzy.
Is my guitar audio recorded or uploaded?
No. All processing happens in your browser with the Web Audio API. Nothing is uploaded. If you press Record, the recording is created on your device and downloaded straight to it.
What does the noise gate do?
High-gain sounds amplify the hum and hiss of pickups and cables. The gate mutes the signal when your playing falls below the threshold and opens instantly when you play. Set it just above the noise level: too high and it will cut off the end of sustained notes.
Are all the tools on FreeToolCabin tested for quality and accuracy?
Yes! Every tool on our site undergoes automated Q/A testing in real browser environments to ensure high precision, correct output, and zero errors. If you happen to spot a bug or have a suggestion, please contact us at [email protected] and our team will review it right away.