AmpLion 2 Rock Essentials opens to an amp face view with drop-down selectors for amp model, channel, and toggles for the various amp features. Along the top are tabs for viewing the pre board, amps, cabs, and post board views. The controls along the bottom are red and black, with the familiar silver, purple, and gold faces on the three amp models, plus very cool knock-off looks for each of the various pedals. With everything right there, easy to find and use, this is an attractive start to the plugin.

There are three main amp models to choose from in AmpLion 2 Rock Essentials: The Bartender Deluxe 65, which is a Fender emulation; the Martial 59, a Marshall clone, and the Jukebox 30, which is like a Vox AC30 Top Boost. Each amp model has multiple channels and a very nifty panel switch for looking at mods and options, like the 'Brown Sound.' The Bartender and the Jukebox both have reverb and tremolo built in, and across the bottom is a universal input, output, stereo control, double track, noise gate, and hiss gate.

The cab view in AmpLion 2 Rock Essentials has four different cab emulations, including a 1x12 for the Fender, a 2x12 for the Vox, and two 4x12s for the Marshall with Greenback and G12 speaker models. Each cab can be miked up with nine different mics, including SM57, SM7B, e906, MD421, and i5 dynamics, C451, U87 and C414 condensers, and an R-121 ribbon. Each mic can be adjusted for position, distance, level, and pan using knobs or clicking and dragging the mics on the GUI.

The pre board lets you choose from the Drive, Jukebox Wah 84, Modulation, EQ, and one of the Delay pedals, up to four at a time. The Drives include the 808 IceScream, O-Drive 1, Distortion Puls, MeltedFace Fuzz, Corny T-Boost, and the Ravemaster T-Boost.

The post board has a slightly more limited selection of pedals that make more sense after the amp emulation, like the Modulation effects of Mrs. Flanger, Stoner Phaser, and Cloned Chorus, the DigiDelay and Memorized Delay, the DigiVerb, and the GraphEQ and ParaEQ.

PLATFORM: VST2/VST3/AAX

Whats New:
Updates: official site does not provide any info about changes in this version.