Amp emulators are undoubtedly a valuable tool for getting great guitar and other tones quickly and easily, but what if you need to inject a little something extra to really get the instrument to stand out in the mix? One of our favorite tricks: plug the emulator into a tube-powered direct box, like Groove Tubes‘ heavy hitter, dubbed The Brick. Recently we had a band in the studio and when it came time to lay down the harmonica track, we plugged in our trusty harmonica mic into a amp emulator. The sound was totally usable, but the harp was the main instrument and it needed to really cook. We plugged the output of the emulator into The Brick, adjusted the gain, and the sound was just there. The end result was perfect for the track and sounded great. The tubes added just the right amount of grit and warmth and really made the track come alive and sound like there was an amp there in the room. While this trick was used on harmonica, it could be used on any direct source – from guitar to bass to synths – anywhere you want to add some “vintage” flavor to your direct recording.