Suhr SE100

Plug-in Manual

Developed by Brainworx Audio in partnership with JS Technologies

and Distributed by Universal Audio.

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Here is a brief history of the design genesis of the SE-100 in John Suhr’s
own words, “The SE-100 is a high gain mod I did when I first moved to LA in
91. It has been used in the original CAA 3+ preamp by Lukather, Henderson,
Landau, EVH (on F.U.C.K) later it had an update bringing it to the SE which was
a little smoother and gainier.

The SE mod is in the Marshalls that Reb Beach used, as well as in both Doug
Aldrich amps which are used with Whitesnake and when he was with Dio. It
gives you gobs of smooth gain with loosing that Marshall character.”

Every SE100 Hand Wired is meticulously handcrafted and offers a number of

unique features such as: four gain stages, a plexi-style output transformer.
For high gain addicts, this amp delivers muscular British crunch, chest
pounding high-gain, and well defined, bone crushing drop tuning tones -
all with a simple turn of the gain knob!

Brainworx have painstakingly modelled the SE100 exclusively for the Apollo.
The plugin takes full advantage of Universal Audio’s Unison technology giving
you ultra the realistic playabilty and the response of real tube hardware.
Play live through the SE100 with near zero latency or process your
recordings later to dial in the perfect tone.

Not only does the plugin nail the heart and soul of the SE100 but you’ll find
the extra features you’ve come to expect from Brainworx products. A full
FX Rack with host syncable lo-fi delay, noise gate, tight and smooth filters,
power soak and a power amp bypass feature.

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On top of this you find no less than 120 advanced impulse reponses created Unison Technology
at Brainworx’ studio using boutique cabinets, high end microhones and their The Suhr SE100 plug-in was developed with the Apollo
Neve VXS console. series interfaces in mind and made compatible with
Unison preamp technology. Of course the Suhr SE100 will
Key Features Summary work with any UAD-2 device, but to experience ultralow
• Exacting emulation of the original Suhr SE100 Tube Guitar Amp latency along with important impedance, gain ‘sweet spots’, and circuit
• Plugin approved by John Suhr and Doug Aldrich behaviors of the real amp, you need an Apollo interface. In order to do
• The SE100 Hand Wired incorporates Suhr´s sought after SE 3+pre-amp this, you should insert the Suhr SE100 in the preamp insert position of
mod, paired with a finely tuned ‘68 plexi output power section,which Apollo’s Console application. This will greatly enhance your experience,
delivers a variety of classic and modern high gain overdrive tones, and making the tone and behavior of your sound an exact replication of the
100 Watts of power original hardware.
• 120 Brainworx´s advance impulse responses included IR´s
• FX Rack include host-syncable lo-fi delay, noise gate, tight and smooth
filters, power soak, pre and power amp bypass
• Unison™ Technology for Apollo Interfaces

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Plug-in Manual
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Amp 4 Treble
Adjusts the treble. Turning it clockwise increases the amount of top-end,
1 Presence giving your tone clarity and brightness. Turning it counter clockwise will
Adjusts the amount of high frequencies added to your tone. Turning it produce a warmer sound, ideal for dialing in smoother Jazz-like tones.
clockwise will add more sparkle.
5 Level
2 Bass Adjusts the overall output (Master Volume) of Channel 1.
Adjusts the amount of bass. Turning it clockwise increases the amount of
bottom-end, giving you a fuller tone. Turning it counterclockwise will reduce 6 Gain
the bottom-end, which is useful when performing at louder volumes. Adjusts the overall gain of Channel.

3 Middle 7 Depth
Adjusts the midrange. Turning it clockwise increases the amount of Selects the amount of low-end boost added to the SE-100’s power section,
mids. Turning it counterclockwise will reduce the mids and produce a this will provide more bottom end while retaining clarity.
mid-scooped sound.

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FX Rack 3 Threshold
Continuous knob, -120db to 0db. The Noise Gate will dim the output signal
Noise Gate of the amplifier as soon as the input signal (your guitar signal) falls below
1 Closed a certain level. This level is called Threshold. Adjust the Thresold so the
When lit, this LED indicates that the Noise Gate is Closed. This means the noise of the overdriven amp will be reduced, but make sure you don´t cut
Threshold setting is higher than the incoming signal and the noise gate fading notes or chords.
dims the output signal of the amplifier by the amount adjusted with the
Range control (e.g. 38dB in the picture above). 4 Range
Continuous knob, 0db to 100db. The output level of your amplifier
2 Noise Gate on/off will be reduced or muted when the input signal is lower than the
On/Off switch. Enable or disable the Noise Gate completely. Switch up Threshold setting. You may dim the output level only by a few
(‘On‘) means the Noise Gate is activated. decibels (dB), or completely mute the output in pauses by setting the
Range to its maximum.

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Amp Filters 3 Smooth Frequency

1 Tight Filter With the Smooth filter you can cut high frequencies of either the DI guitar
Three-way switch: ”Pre”, ”Post” and ”Off”. With the Tight filter you can cut signal (Pre) or the processed amp output (Post).
Low frequencies of either the DI guitar signal (Pre) or the processed amp
output (Post). 4 Smooth Filter
• Pre: If your pickups produce an unintentional rumbling bass sound you Three-way switch: ”Pre”, ”Post” and ”Off”. With the Smooth filter you can
can filter the low end before the DI sound even hits the amplifier. cut HIGH frequencies of either the DI guitar signal (Pre) or the processed
• Post: If you want to cut some of the low end of your amplifier setting amp output (Post).
(maybe even only temporary) you can use this studio quality high pass • Pre: If your pickups catch a lot of hiss or noise you can filter the high end
filter to reduce the bass. before the DI sound even hits the amplifier.
• Off: When set to Off the Tight filter is in bypass mode. • Post: If you want to cut some of the high end of your amplifier setting
(maybe even only temporary) you can use this studio quality low pass
2 Tight Frequency filter.
With the Tight filter you can cut Low frequencies of either the DI guitar • Off: When set to Off the Smooth filter is in bypass mode.
signal (Pre) or the processed amp output (Post).

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Plug-in Manual

Delay 2 Tap*
We closely modelled a vintage delay stomp box to capture the true Use this parameter with your mouse to click with the groove of the song
essence of retro delay effects. Limited frequency bandwidth and ever and the delay will adjust to your tapping automatically. This is a nice and
decreasing high frequencies on repeats add authenticity to the sound. easy way to set delays to musically pleasing times, especially if there is
We also included more contemporary features like a mix parameter & no fixed tempo in the song.
DAW controlled bpm / tempo sync. We realise you will use your favourite
selection of external effects, such as Chorus, Flangers, Reverbs and 3 Time
even other Delays to achieve your signature guitar tone but an instantly Alternatively you may just dial in a delay time based on milliseconds using
accessible delay is extremely useful when surfing and creating patches. the Time knob. Use this parameter to adjust the delay time between 15ms
For example, testing a new lead patch without hearing at least a touch of and 1000ms.
delay wouldn’t sound realistic for many players, so we added this effect
for your convenience; plus we love vintage style echo! 4 x2*
Use this button to redouble the current Delay time.
1 Delay On/Off
Use this parameter to activate or deactivate the delay and all of its 5 /2*
parameters with this switch. Use this button to half the current Delay time.
• Switch up: Delay is activated.
• Switch down: Delay is bypassed / off. x2 & /2 Buttons
Both buttons can be pressed repeatedly as long as the maximum delay
time of 400ms is not exceeded.
* Note: Custom control, not automatable

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1 Host BPM 4 Lo-Fi

Click on the BPM number in the GUI and a pull-down menu opens up. Now Use this parameter to add creative destruction to your delay signal.
you can select musical values like half notes, quarters, triplets, etc. All With the Lo-Fi knob you control the amount of internal distortion, the
values will be based upon the tempo that is being displayed in the BPM resampling quality, etc. The higher you go the worse the quality gets from
window. The tempo will be synced with the tempo of your audio session a pure technical stand point... but the more interesting it may sound for
automatically. many guitar sounds and styles.

2 Mix
Recording Chain
Use this parameter to control the amount of dry (unprocessed) vs. wet
(processed) signal. The Mix parameter blend in as much delay signal with Brainworx Advanced IR Technology
the dry amplifier sound as desired. For unobtrusive delays we recommend Simply select a speaker and a complete studio setup by browsing through
settings around 10%, heavier effect sounds may require settings of 50% the Recording Chains pull-down menu.
or more.  
In the past two decades Brainworx owner Dirk Ulrich has produced and
3 Feedback recorded with members of Dream Theater, Toto, Michael Jackson and with
This controls the number of repeats. While a setting of 99% will result in many more famous and infamous acts. The Brainworx Studio in Germany
an almost infinite delay loop, a typical setting for a rock lead sound may (www.brainworx- studio.de) is equipped with one of only nine NEVE VXS
be around 25%. 72 consoles ever made, and it also hosts some of the best outboard EQs
and mic pre-amps available.

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Plug-in Manual

Using this impressive setup Dirk has produced a huge variety of custo- Many amp simulations give you some captured impulses of a selection of
mized ‘Recording Chains’ for the Suhr SE100 amplifier, which you can cabinets and microphones, then they leave it up to you to EQ and further
apply to your Plugin amp settings. Imagine a selection of 120 perfectly process these incomplete setups by mixing different microphone setups,
mic’d and EQ-ed cabinets that you can select and use instantly with a adjusting phase and EQ, and so on. But this really is not an easy job; it
single mouse click! takes years of experience to get it right.
   
We carefully placed up to 12 microphones on each cabinet used. These Now all you have to do is select the Recording Chain that sounds best for
mics were then fed to individual channels on the vintage Neve VXS console.  your amp channel and setting, adjust the Tone Stack and Gain and you’re
This configuration gave us fine control over the mix of the various micro- good to go. Recallable, reliable, flexible and fast.
phones used and the ability to apply Neve filters and EQs. The final mix  
was routed to Pro Tools for recording.  And if for any reason you should not like any of the Recording Chains the
  Plugin offers, you may use the very last setting (labeled Cabinet Bypass)
An innovative new approach was also used to capture various pre-amps and use your own mic’d cabinet or external IR software. This setting
and EQ chains. A parallel chain was created that was split to three will also give you the sound of a tube amp wired straight into a console,
different hardware preamps and EQs. These parallel chains were also which also may be a nice effects sound.
routed to their own discrete channels on the Neve VXS console and then
sent to Pro Tools for capture. This routing allowed us to record each chain 1 + / - Switches (Plus / Minus)
individually or blend them for interesting combinations. Browse through the Recording Chains by either using the pull-down
  menu of the Recording Chain text box (see above) or just click through the
settings using the ‘+’ and ’-‘ symbols.

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Plug-in Manual

1 Auto & Bar selection 3 Input Gain

If you are trying to find the best sounding Recording Chain for your song If you want to drive the input of the Suhr SE100 preamp harder or softer
it can be a hassle to have to play a few chords, grab the mouse to select you may adjust the input gain to your liking. Some single coil pickups from
the next Recording Chain, play a few notes again, grabbing the mouse older or vintage guitars may deliver low level output that can be compen-
again, etc. sated with the Input Gain.
The opposite goes for a lot of heavy metal style humbuckers. If you have
For this reason the SE100 offers you Auto mode: Just select a pattern (1 recorded the DI signal too hot or if you are using other plug-ins before
Bar, 2 Bars or 4 Bars) and the plug-in will activate the available Recording entering the Suhr SE100 amp plug-in you may want to dim the input signal.
Chains automation, following the actual tempo setting of your DAW. You
can now play uninterrupted and simply listen to the sound of the various With most standard guitars you can and should leave the Input Gain at 0
Recording Chains as the plug-in switches through all of them every single (zero) though.
bar, every two bars or every four bars, depending on your setting. As soon as
you hear the speaker setup you like best just stop Auto mode by clicking 4 Bypass Pre Amp
the AUTO button again and manually select the desired Recording Chain. Bypass the pre amp section.
Afterwards just fine-tweak the Tone Section and Gain and there you are. With the Bypass Pre switch you can switch off the Suhr SE100 preamp
completely, which may be wanted if you record your own hardware (tube
2 RC Info or solid state) guitar pre- amp with the SE100. In this case you may still
The RC Info feature showing you exactly what kind of setup was used to use the internal Power Amp and speaker / Recording Chains simulation
produce the Recording Chain you selected. and will be able to achieve amazing results recording your guitar sounds
without using an external Power Amp and speaker.
Switch up: Preamp is bypassed (off), Switch down: Preamp is active (on).

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Plug-in Manual

1 Bypass Power Amp

Cabinets we used for the Recording Chains
If you want to use only the distortion of the Suhr SE100 preamp you may
switch the power amp simulation off. This may sound cool if you use the Suhr PT 2x12
SE100 plugin to distort other signals than a guitar. For a realistic guitar The Suhr PT 2x12 speaker closed-back cabinet comes loaded with two
recording we recommend leaving the power amp on, as it is an integral Celestion G12H75 Creamback speakers, is capable of handling 150 watts.
part of the overall sound of the amp.
Suhr 4x12
2 Power Soak Suhr custom made 4x12“ Speaker Cabinet (Straight) loaded with four
Controls the output volume. Vintage 30 Speakers.
In the Hardware world power soaks are being used to reduce the volume
of a guitar power amp. This way you can crank up a (tube) guitar power American 4x12
amp to drive it until it starts clipping, and still record at a volume which Mesa Boogie Rectifier® 4fb 280W 4x12 Vintage 30
will protect your hearing and keep the neighbors friendly. A clipping tube The STANDARD Rectifier® 4x12 is the “oversized” 4x12, providing
power amp adds distortion and harmonics to the guitar amp signal and thundering low-end punch and resonance which is perfectly tuned with
is something most guitar players love. A fully cranked up tube guitar the smooth, tailored midrange and articulate, clear high-end. This is the
amp tamed in volume with a power soak will sound different than the most popular 4x12 cabinet and an icon in heavy music.
same amp with the master volume turned down. We have modeled the
behavior of the Suhr SE100 tube power amp, so you may experiment with
different settings of the Master of the amp and the internal Power Soak.
We recommend a setting of roughly -10dB for most scenarios.

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Plug-in Manual

English 4x12 Friedman Vintage 4x12

Marshall 1960TV Lead 100W 4x12 Greenback G12M-25 Friedman 412 Vintage Cabinet closed-back  110W - 2x12“ Celestion
The 1960TV is loaded with Celestion® G12M-25 Greenback speakers, Vintage 30 (Bottom Slot) / 2x12“  Celestion Greenback  G12M-25  (top
which are more forgiving than the 75 Watt Celestions used in the 1960A™; slots)
the 25 Watt Greenbacks have a warmer, more saturated sound. This The Friedman Vintage 4×12 Cabinet is a 4×12”, closed-back speaker
100 Watt mono cabinet is 65mm taller than a 1960A and 1960B™, which cabinet which utilizes tongue and groove Baltic Birch construction to
results in a lower mid-range resonant response. deliver the bass, mid response and great sound you would expect from a
To re-create the classic looks and tones of yesteryear, Marshall offers the Friedman cab. The vintage salt and pepper grille cloth is reminiscent of
1960TV cabinet. The 1960TV houses four Marshall/Celestion designed the legendary British amps of yesteryear.
re-issue 25-watt Greenback speakers and is finished with the mid- At the heart of the cab are two 16 Ohm, Celestion G12M-25 Greenback
to late-‘60s style EC fret cloth and the smoother levant covering. The speakers placed strategically in the top two speaker slots of the cabinet.
Marshall 1960TV stands an impressive 4 inches taller than a standard The G12M Greenback has evolved over the decades but still retains its
4 x 12“ - hence the ‚TV‘ in its name which is an acronym for ‚Tall, Vintage‘ essential sought-after tone. This model is voiced with additional broad
. mid-range attack and restrained top-end, giving a forward, punchy
attitude to chords and a searing lead tone without fizz: ideal for Fried-
man’s high-powered rock heads. It’s an ideal speaker to bring drive and
definition to modern high-gain amps.
Loaded in the two bottom slots are two Celestion Vintage 30 speakers.
The V30’s sound has been captured on thousands of recordings from a
diverse range of notable players. It features enormously detailed and

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Plug-in Manual

complex overtones, a warm low-end, a famously rich vocal mid-range and ORANGE 4x12
a beautifully detailed top-end. This cab delivers a wonderfully intricate Orange® PPC 212 closed-back 120W - 2x12 Celestion Vintage 30
Vintage 30 crunch, revealing the complexities found in hand-wired speakers 
boutique amps. The 120W Orange Amplifiers PPC212-C guitar speaker cabinet is crafted
using 13-ply high-density 18mm birch plywood throughout like every
The combination of these two different speaker models provides the warmth Power Projection Cabinet (PPC). Orange speaker enclosures, like Orange
of the Greenbacks and the power and thump of the V30’s, creating a formi- amplifiers, are built to last with manufacturing techniques that assure
dable speaker cabinet that is a perfect match for any Friedman 100 Watt head. extremely rugged construction. Orange‘s unique ‚skid‘ design feet help to
As with all Friedman cabinets, oversized 12-gauge speaker wire is acoustically couple these cabinets to the stage to provide a tighter bass
soldered between the speaker and terminal, assuring that you capture response and full range definition. All Orange Amplifiers‘ speaker enclo-
every ounce of valuable tone. The BE 4×12 is handcrafted with pride in the sures are equipped with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers and are equipped
U.S.A. and designed to withstand the rigors of the road. with comfortable flush cabinet handles. The Celestion Vintage 30 Speaker
recreates the sound of the original Celestion Blue with new cone and
FEITEN 4x12 coil assembly. Improved performance: rated at 60W capability, handles
Feiten Vintage closed back cabinet loaded with 2x12“ Warehouse extra heat generated by higher power equipment. The Vintage 30 handles
ET65 speakers. massive overdrive tones with ease. It‘s a classic 2x12 loudspeaker.

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Top Toolbar 3 Copy / Paste

To set up variations of similar sounds you don´t have to dial in all the
1 Undo / Redo parameters several times. Let´s say you like your setting A and want to
You can undo and redo changes you made to the controls of the SE100 use the same sound, just without delay, as setting B.
plugin at any time. The Undo / Redo will work for as many as 32 steps. • Simply press Copy while you are in setting A.
This makes experimenting and tweaking knobs easy. If you don´t like • Switch to setting B by pressing ‘B’ in the settings section.
what you did... just undo it. • Press Paste, now setting B is identical to setting A.
• Bypass the Delay.
2 Settings (A/B/C/D)
The SE100 amp plugin offers four internal settings (A/B/C/D) which will Now you can switch between A & B and play the same sound with or
be stored with every preset. So, one preset can contain up to four amp without delay.
and effects settings.
You may use similar amp settings with more or less delay, different delay 4 FX Rack
times, etc., to quickly switch between different sounds, or you can switch Toggle between FX Rack and Standard view.
from clean to crunch to lead within one setup / preset.
The Settings can be automated in your DAW. This way it´s possible to switch 5 About
from a dry rhythm sound to a lead sound with tons of delay, for example. Information about the development of the plugin.

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Factory Presets • Set the controls of the Tone Stack to the center position (’12-o-clock’).
• Play through as many Recording Chains as you like and pick the one that
We have made a lot of presets for the SE100 amp plugin, many of them have sounds closest to what you are looking for before altering the knobs.
been made to work perfectly with classic guitars like Strats, Teles or Paulas. • Once you found the Recording Chain you like best for your sound, start
All of the factory presets offer A/B/C/D variations, do try them out! tweaking the Tone Stack and Drive to fine tune your amp settings.
• Add Delay or activate the Filters, the Noise Gate, etc. for variations of
This effectively quadruples the factory sounds you can browse through, your sounds.
and many similar amp settings sound quite different with different Filter • Plug in, Rock out!
or Delay settings.
These presets are only intended to give you an easy start and to demo Experiment, be creative. We are confident that the different tone selec-
some of the tones you can get out of the SE100 amp plugin. tions of the amp and the huge selection of Recording Chains will offer
you many possible combinations that will sound great on a big variety of
Creating your own Sounds & Presets musical styles and genres.
When you start to create your own sounds the most important elements Combine the SE100 amps with other plugins (dynamics, effects, room
to adjust are the Drive, Recording Chains and the Tone Stack. simulation), and you will be able to create countless world-class produc-
(Bass, Middle, Treble, Presence, etc.) tion-ready guitar sounds in the box. Enjoy.

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Plug in, Rock out! - www.brainworx.audio