Atomic Ampli-Firebox Mark II - Initial impressions

[Stratzrus]

I just unboxed my Ampli-Firebox Mark II and spent a little time exploring the three presets that it came preloaded with. I can tell right away that this is going to work well for me.

The clean preset is fine for practicing Jazz, the overdrive preset works well for Blues to Classic Rock, and the high gain preset will be fine for leads with some adjustment to the time based effects. And this is all without any fine tuning or exploration of other amp models or IRs which I assume can yield even better results.

I'm sure that once I dig deeper and dial in each of the presets they''ll be even more to my liking. I bought this to be my portable practice rig, particularly when I have to use headphones somewhere other than home. It's clearly more than up to the task. It can also serve as a backup at gigs. If all else fails (if for example my FM9 and guitar amp get hit by a massive power surge) I can plug it into my Power Station PS-100 and finish the gig having much better tone that I had when using my Cube 60 as a backup.

It's going to be wonderful to throw it into the pocket of my gig bag when visiting friends or going on vacation. So far it feels like the right thing at the right time for me.

I know there are other options that some prefer, particularly some of the Helix offerings but this is smaller, lighter, and costs less than anything I've seen that can produce tones I'd be happy with.

If anyone has helpful hints regarding favorite IRs to use with it or any other suggestions please share them. I'm just getting started with this so no thoughts are too basic.

It's a happy day when a piece of gear lives up to your expectations. So far I'm a very happy with the Ampli-Firebox Mark II.

 

[hemmelight]

Awesome! These are so attractive as a small all-in-one practice box.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Noice. I assume you'll need wall power for your headphoning practice? I still have the rechargeable Nu-X Mighty Plug for that but no doubt it sounds compared to the AFB?

 

[Stratzrus]

Noice. I assume you'll need wall power for your headphoning practice? I still have the rechargeable Nu-X Mighty Plug for that but no doubt it sounds compared to the AFB?

Yes, wall power needed. I don't know about the Mighty Plug. I have one floating around here somewhere but I never actually used it.

 

[dbagchee]

I had a feeling you’d dig it! Most folks that have a gripe with the Ampli-Firebox is from a workflow/editing/flexilibity perspective (and some of the weird Mesa models). I have presets in my Mark 1 that I haven’t touched for years and it still sounds great as an amp replacement on the pedal board. I think it’s perfect for your use case.

 

[GTR37]

I honestly can't wait to see the next thing Atomic is teasing , I really liked the tones out of those boxes and hope they have continued moving forward while they have been quiet these last couple of years

 

[quadgear]

. I assume you'll need wall power for your headphoning practice?

You can use a USB power bank with a cable that converts to 9v. Just need to make sure both can provide enough amps.


It's less simple and compact.