BluGuitar Amp X

[Sascha Franck]

Which to be fair, might have some value on a dark stage if you are the type of player who likes to do the "turn knob to zero or max, then quickly turn it to about where you want it" thing.

Sure. But as there'd be LED readouts, you'd have to add a "want to adjust your amp without looking at it" criterium. And that's when it gets absurd.
The only reason why I could accept standard pots would be for things such as, say, wild manual delay maneuvers when playing with the feedback knob or so. But even in that case I think endless pots would be almost as suitable.

It's an inconvenience but it's not a dealbreaker for me.

For me it might be a dealbreaker. Not for common adjustments but in a live context. As might be known, I'm often playing "thrown into unknown waters" gigs, so I have to adjust small things here and there even when the gig is already going (which is why I'm as well thinking about proper remote control options, so I don't have to crawl on the floor...). Usually, I may just hold a note or chord and adjust. Parameter jumps are the worst thing you want to happen at that particular moment and soft takeovers aren't exactly what the doctor ordered, either, as you'd have to watch things. All that is instantly solved with endless encoders.

And fwiw, while I can sort of understand the aesthetic aspects on those "looks like analog but it's programmable" units from Strymon, I think that at least on their larger units (Timeline, Big Sky, etc.) endless encoders would be a way better solution.

 

[laxu]

Sure. But as there'd be LED readouts, you'd have to add a "want to adjust your amp without looking at it" criterium. And that's when it get's absurd.
The only reason why I could accept standard pots would be for things such as, say, wild manual delay maneuvers when playing with the feedback knob or so. But even in that case I think endless pots would be almost as suitable.



For me it might be a dealbreaker. Not for common adjustments but in a live context. As might be known, I'm often playing "thrown into unknown waters" gigs, so I have to adjust small things here and there even when the gig is already going (which is why I'm as well thinking about proper remote control options, so I don't have to crawl on the floor...). Usually, I may just hold a note or chord and adjust. Parameter jumps are the worst thing you want to happen at that particular moment and soft takeovers aren't exactly what the doctor ordered, either, as you'd have to watch things. All that is instantly solved with endless encoders.

And fwiw, while I can sort of understand the aesthetic aspects on those "looks like analog but it's programmable" units from Strymon, I think that at least on their larger units (Timeline, Big Sky, etc.) endless encoders would be a way better solution.

I can agree with all of that.

You will run into similar issues adjusting the amp settings, considering they are also just 0-10 pots with numbers on the pot hat. It will also pop up a "preset value vs current value" readout on the main screen for this.

I feel like they've painted themselves into a corner where you have that inconvenience of not knowing where your knobs point without turning them first, unless you are on the current settings you've dialed in. This won't matter too much for just playing (will mainly care about the preset you are in) but will be an inconvenience when you adjust something.

The whole unit would have been better off with endless encoders.

I'll have to see the final model in action to see if it makes sense to me, or if it feels like too much work for little payoff.

I've been cranking my Amp 1 ME through my 4x10 and it sounds glorious with my Strymon pedals so it's not like I really need more.

 

[norminal]