Changing Settings versus Switching Amps

Many guitarists use different tones to maximize the contrast between sections of a song (intro, verse, chorus, or bridge). Some examples include:

Soft (or clean) tone for the verse, kick in the distortion for the chorus.

Using tremolo during the intro and the bridge.

Doubling the rhythm track halfway through the verse to build momentum.

Pro Tools automaton is the key to these and other techniques:

For simple, single amp contrasts such as soft/loud, choose an amp and automate its gain, drive, volume or other parameter to achieve the desired tone change. This uses the least amount of processing resources of the examples provided here.

To switch amps, automate the Amp Type selector and any other controls (you cannot automate the selection of Pro Tools plug-in Settings files). Depending on the amount of overlap or crossfading you want between tones, you might be better off using the next, multi-Eleven workflow.

See the Pro Tools Reference Guide to learn about Snapshot automation, Glide, and other automation features,

For maximum flexibility, control and variety, use a dry track bussed to multiple Aux Inputs, each with a different Eleven tone (see Blending Eleven Amps for instructions). Configure one for tone A, configure the next Eleven (on the next Aux Input) for tone B (which could be a completely different amp and sound) and so on. Then use Pro Tools track Volume (fader) automation to fade the different Eleven tracks in and out at the right times. This gives the greatest amount of control over the transition between amps and tones, while also letting you stack and layer amps.