NAM capture discovery

TONE Search

Describe the guitar or bass tone you are after. The AI explains the tone and the gear behind it, then finds and ranks matching Neural Amp Modeler captures from TONE3000. Open any pack to download its NAM files or ask which one to use.

  1. Describe it. Name a song, an artist or an album, or just say what you hear: "glassy clean with a bit of hair", "tight modern metal rhythm".
  2. Read the brief. The AI sums up the tone, lists the amps, pedals and guitars behind it, and gives practical tips. With web research on, it checks real sources first.
  3. Pick a capture. Matching packs are ranked by fit. Open one to see its NAM files, download them, or ask which file suits rhythm or lead.

About TONE Search

What is a NAM capture?

Neural Amp Modeler is a free, open-source way to capture a real amp, pedal or full rig as a small model file (.nam). Load it in a NAM player and your guitar goes through a faithful copy of that gear.

Where do the captures come from?

Every pack is a real upload on TONE3000, the community library of NAM captures. TONE Search does not host or change them; downloads come straight from TONE3000 and credit their creators.

How good are the matches?

The fit score is the AI's judgement of how close a pack gets to your tone, based on its gear, tags and description. It is a starting point, not a verdict: try the top few and trust your ears.

Tips for better results

Name the amp if you know it. Say whether you want a head (to pair with your own cab) or a full rig. Refine in plain words, such as "more gain", "darker" or "cheaper amp". Turn on web research for songs and artists so the gear comes from real sources.

Welcome to TONE Search

Describe the guitar or bass tone you want, from a famous record or in your own words. The AI explains the tone and the gear behind it, then finds and ranks matching Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) captures from TONE3000 that you can download.

Try it for free

You can test it out with 12 searches an hour using this site's keys. No sign-up needed.

Want more?

For more than that, connect your own free keys in Settings. They're saved only in your browser, used just for each search and never stored on this site's server. With both set there is no hourly limit.

  1. A TONE3000 key (easy). Register for a free TONE3000 account, then copy the secret key (it starts with t3k_cs_) from your TONE3000 settings.
  2. Your own AI (slightly technical). Set up a free Cloudflare Workers AI account: create an API token with the Workers AI template, note your Account ID, and pick a model from the model catalogue. Or connect any other OpenAI-compatible AI host you already use.

Your search history

Saved only in this browser, with the answers, so reopening a search is instant and uses none of your hourly searches. Nothing is sent to this site.

No searches yet. Your searches will appear here.

Settings

Use your own keys instead of this site's.

Your keys stay private. They're saved only in this browser. Each search sends them securely (HTTPS) to this site's server, which uses them for that one request to contact TONE3000 and your AI provider, then forgets them. They are never stored, logged or shared, and never included in exports.

Please note: this page shows Google ads. Like any script on a web page, the ad code can technically read what's saved in your browser for this site, including these keys. Use keys you can revoke, ideally with a spending limit, and remove them with Clear all when you're done.

No hourly limit with your own keys: add both an AI key and a TONE3000 key. With only one of them, searches still count toward this site's hourly limit.

AI provider
TONE3000

Register for a free TONE3000 account, then open your TONE3000 settings to find your API key. Use the secret key, which starts with t3k_cs_.

Use TONE Search from your AI assistant (MCP)

Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other assistants can use TONE Search as a tool, through MCP. Your assistant does the thinking (it plans the searches and ranks the packs), so no AI key is needed, only your own TONE3000 secret key (set it above). There are two ways to use it:

  • On this site: paste an address into your assistant. Nothing to install. Each address gets 120 tool calls an hour, including up to 12 web research calls.
  • Install it yourself: run it on your own computer with Python. No hourly limit.

Option 1: use it on this site

Claude.ai or ChatGPT

  1. Claude.ai: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector. ChatGPT: Settings → Connectors → Create (turn on developer mode first).
  2. Name it TONE Search and paste this address, which includes your key:

Keep this address private, like the key itself. Keys in addresses can appear in server logs, so where an app can send a header (below), use that instead.

Claude Code

Claude Desktop, Cursor and other apps with a JSON config

Add it under mcpServers in the app's config (Claude Desktop: Settings → Developer → Edit Config; Cursor: ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then restart the app. If the app doesn't support headers, use the address with the key instead.

Option 2: install it yourself

  1. You need Python 3.10 or newer. Download the code and install what it needs:
git clone https://github.com/daverage/tonesearch.git
cd tonesearch
python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt
  1. Add it to your assistant. Claude Code, run from the tonesearch folder:

Claude Desktop, Cursor and other apps: add this to the app's config, replacing /full/path/to/tonesearch with the folder you downloaded (on Windows, use python instead of python3), then restart the app completely:

Check it works

Start a new chat with TONE Search turned on and ask: "Use TONE Search to find NAM captures for Gilmour's Comfortably Numb solo." It should look up the rig first, then search TONE3000 and rank the packs itself. Tell it whether the result was right: it records your rating, which improves results for everyone.

If it doesn't connect, see the MCP troubleshooting guide.