SubMission Audio releases PreFire, powered by parametric Neural Amp Models

After a year in the making, I’m very excited to share PreFire, a new plugin by SubMission Audio, which features parametric Neural Amp Models of 11 different preamps known for the unique analog character they contribute to production signal chains in top-tier studios.

PreFire by SubMission Audio. (source)

As a guitarist, Neural Amp Modeler started as a project primarily to serve my desire to model the tones of my favorite guitar tube amps. I had a good idea of the characters I wanted in a good guitar tone as well as how I'd use it, which helped me to tailor the approach I developed with NAM. When SubMission first approached me about creating these models, I was very unfamiliar with the world of high-end studio preamps. We discussed what they had in mind and they helped me get a sense for the many ways that folks would use a preamp like these in a studio context, and it became clear to me that I'd have to be deliberate in tailoring our modeling approach to get the results that were needed. By the end, we had developed a highly-customized approach with NAM that left no part of process untouched.

Dropping the plugin into my DAW's signal chain, it's a thrill to see how the everything came together and the polish on the product that SubMission have made for their customers. In the April 2025 edition of Nail The Mix, I had the pleasure of watching Ermin take the plugin through its paces as he mixed A Hope In Hell by Bleed From Within's new album Zenith. It's an amazing experience to see someone with such an ear for detail use the models I developed to make little touches to a mix and witness the artistic half of what I'm chasing as I try to develop quantitative metrics to guide my work where my own ears might not be enough. (I also learn a lot every time I tune in for NTM and think it's awesome what Unstoppable Recording Machine does as a resource for people wanting to improve their craft.) (I also sincerely think that the mix on Zenith came out amazing, and it's so cool to me that NAM was an ingredient in it.)

From my perspective, PreFire is an excellent demonstration of what I want NAM to be able to do--to enable the digital realm of musical tools to reach a new level of realism, and for this to elevate the whole industry.

Check out PreFire here.

Enjoy!