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]

 

[timbuck3]

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.



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.

The led readout display under that wanky cover looks like its from the 1980/1990 like on my novation supernova synth. For 2k it should at least look like the boss g1 modeler display

 

[2dor]

Still not ready, still in R&D.

They're on revision 6 which wiped the slate clean compared to revision 5.

Vid's pretty cool though. Shows the guts and some of the process they're going through, A/B-ing with the real amps they're going for etc.

Wonder if this whole neural network thing got them back to the drawing board:

 

[EOengineer]

Still not ready, still in R&D.

They're on revision 6 which wiped the slate clean compared to revision 5.

Vid's pretty cool though. Shows the guts and some of the process they're going through, A/B-ing with the real amps they're going for etc.

Wonder if this whole neural network thing got them back to the drawing board:

View attachment 36384

He’s lost the handle and there’s zero chance this product ever sees the light of day. By the time they get there someone else will debut a new technology that entices him to redesign.

 

[Whizzinby]

Still not ready, still in R&D.

They're on revision 6 which wiped the slate clean compared to revision 5.

Vid's pretty cool though. Shows the guts and some of the process they're going through, A/B-ing with the real amps they're going for etc.

Wonder if this whole neural network thing got them back to the drawing board:

View attachment 36384

 

[jellodog]

He’s lost the handle and there’s zero chance this product ever sees the light of day. By the time they get there someone else will debut a new technology that entices him to redesign.

Sadly, I think you're right. The last few years have seen some massive shifts in portable digital modelling devices whilst all this development and redesign has gone on.

 

[jellodog]

Okay, well at least this is sounding good though! That's a positive

 

[2dor]

Okay, well at least this is sounding good though! That's a positive

Definitely. The sounds are there.

 

[GTR37]

He’s lost the handle and there’s zero chance this product ever sees the light of day. By the time they get there someone else will debut a new technology that entices him to redesign.

TB3 still good for another year

For the record I agree with you it’s become a farce now 7 years , it’s like a band with no direction or producer
If this was being funded by anyone but Thomas it would be released by now ,
I hope he has deep pockets or he is likely going to end up bankrupt , to even reconsider redesign in year 7 is just crazy

 

[GTR37]

Definitely. The sounds are there.

Tones were decent , I could have done without the plumbers butt crack angle

 

[jellodog]

I think this has become Thomas' life's work now. That's probably why he's gone so far with this.

I suppose if and when he pulls this off it will be his defining achievement. Guessing it's what he wants to be remembered for. He's gone all in.

Continuing to listen to this video and even more impressed, the more I hear. Even with this being a room mic and on YouTube, I can tell that it's another level up from the Amp1.

 

[dronerstone]

This has become the "Chinese Democracy" of guitar gear.

 

[Whizzinby]

He seems like such a good and honest dude that you can’t help but root for him. This is starting to feel slightly awkward though…

 

[GuitarBilly74]

I still have my Amp1 and I love it. I was very interested in this originally but I completely lost interest by now. Between the high price and the never ending updates, it's gotten a bit ridiculous.
He should never have announced it if it was so far from being ready.
The Amp1 sounds fine, just adding a few effects and flexibility to it would've been sufficient IMO.

 

[laxu]

The Amp 1 Mercury Edition is so good that it always sounds just as good as any similar voiced tube amp I've owned, and against the best modelers on the market, at any volume. I was blasting NAM captures of the Amp 1 today through a Fryette PS-100 and 4x10 cab, and then swapped for Friedman, Marshall, Bogner etc...the BluGuitar always sounded like it belongs in the same pantheon. So IMO it's the real deal.

But it's a subset of what the Amp X aims to do, so that's a tough challenge. Especially since the plan is that the Amp X is "it", that they don't make an "Amp X 2" in a few years, but keep making this one better. They need to have the digitally controlled analog hardware right before they can try to make it sound exactly like all those tube amps.

By comparison with digital modeling you can always do more software, rewrite all the software, optimize etc which is not so easy with analog since you can't just slap more resistors and capacitors in there.

The Amp X tones demonstrated in this video sound really nice to me, especially when he was playing the "Dire Straits a bit wrong" stuff and the H&K Replex. That Vox AC30 Top Boost sound was also real nice.

It was cool to see the control software they use to make this stuff, and it certainly looks complicated to get all those nuances right. But it does look like they have lot of the core functionality down at this point where they were actually just tweaking stuff on the Amp X front panel etc.

The BluGuitar guys seem like such genuinely nice folks you want to root for them. I still hope the Amp X turns out great, and finds its market.

I still want an Amp X because I love the Amp 1 so much. I'm not big on having every option under the sun, but just a curated collection of really good stuff. That said...I wish it was coming out already.

 

[laxu]

The Amp1 sounds fine, just adding a few effects and flexibility to it would've been sufficient IMO.

Yeah if I could get that H&K Replex sound and better reverb out of the Amp 1, that would be enough for me. My absolute minimal rig is the Amp 1 ME + Source Audio Collider + tuner + BluGuitar Nanocab.

That neodymium speaker Nanocab will probably be really light. The current one is only 10 kg so with the Amp 1 it's something like 11.2 kg total, which is nothing for an amp that is as loud as a 50W tube amp (60W speaker so you need to use the half power mode on the Amp 1).

 

[EOengineer]

I sincerely hope these guys are successful. They pull this thing off and it’s a monumental achievement and the kind of thing that wins you an engineering legacy.

They are trying to solve a very hard problem, but they’ve proven they can push the envelope, as they’ve done with the Amp 1. Only time will tell but we’re all rooting for Blug to stick the landing.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

I think he‘s a good guy, but he has already made so many strange, incomprehensible and downright wrong decisions that I think he urgently needs help and guidance from outside to finally bring the product to market and not go under irrevocably.