BluGuitar Amp X

[GuitarBilly74]

I can't remember if I ordered the head and Musicians Friend sent the floor model or vice versa by mistake. I packed it back up and didn't try it and I sort of regretted not giving it a go before returning it.

It's not bad at all. The Blug stuff does sound better though, at least for Marshall based tones. The H&K sounds more like, well, H&K amps, which are cool in their own way.

 

[laxu]

It's a great concept. I recently tried out the Hughes and Kettner floor unit (Black Spirit, I think) and while I prefer the tone of my BluGuitar ME, the functionality was pretty great. If the Amp X combines the BluGuitar tone with that kind of flexibility, it will be awesome.

I saw the Black Spirit in a store in Japan and didn't realize how huge it is physically. The Amp X is at least a bit more friendly size.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

I saw the Black Spirit in a store in Japan and didn't realize how huge it is physically. The Amp X is at least a bit more friendly size.

Yeah it's pretty big, but when you consider that you would only be taking that and a cab (or even the unit alone via DI), it's not that bad for everything it can do. I used to have 8u+ racks to get that kind of versatility.

But yeah the BluGuitar will be smaller and I bet it will also sound better.

 

[laxu]

Yeah it's pretty big, but when you consider that you would only be taking that and a cab (or even the unit alone via DI), it's not that bad for everything it can do. I used to have 8u+ racks to get that kind of versatility.

But yeah the BluGuitar will be smaller and I bet it will also sound better.

Yeah, I was just taken back because I always thought the Black Spirit floor unit was fairly compact but it's like 3/4 of a Helix Floor.

The BluGuitar will also be at least a little bit less ugly, but neither is winning any "elegant design" awards.

 

[saarangnarayan]

 

[GuitarBilly74]

Yeah, I was just taken back because I always thought the Black Spirit floor unit was fairly compact but it's like 3/4 of a Helix Floor.

The BluGuitar will also be at least a little bit less ugly, but neither is winning any "elegant design" awards.

I actually like the BluGuitar design. Thomas came up with something that's uniquely his, which is hard to do on a floor format.

The other day, I was watching an outdoor show and I was at a good distance from the stage. I looked at the guy's pedalboard and I could immediately tell he had a ME there. It was pretty much the only thing I could identify on his board from say, 50ft away from the stage. So that's cool :)

 

[mbenigni]

Thomas Blug has that "playing guitar at you" / "too much eye contact" thing down to a science.

 

[jellodog]

Thomas Blug has that "playing guitar at you" / "too much eye contact" thing down to a science.

Yes! He has those "Come to NAMM eyes".

 

[Whizzinby]

Thomas Blug has that "playing guitar at you" / "too much eye contact" thing down to a science.

LMAO. I’ll never unsee it with him now.

Like bro, this is getting uncomfortable…

 

[timbuck3]

View attachment 23228

Some new Amp X tidbits from BluGuitar's latest livestream.

• They've been working on getting vintage wahs just right, among other things.
• They seem to have made their own expression pedal with Amp X branding, styling etc.
• The Amp X should release this year!

Blug seemed pretty happy and confident about their progress.

There's also a cool shot of the Amp X prototype internals spread apart, seen above. That thing is just absolutely packed if you consider putting the two layers together! Something like this would be impossible to build without surface mount components. The power supply and poweramp alone takes a good chunk of space.

I'm still not convinced that using regular 0-10 style pots for the 4 "X controls" with the little displays above them is the right move, infinite rotaries would make more sense to me. But I'm not an amp designer so maybe BluGuitar has good reasons to go with this solution instead, even if it makes adjusting different fx a pain in the ass in comparison.

Agree on the rotaries for 2 k$ .. I would also rather see qc switch/ knobs instead of the square buttons and 2 rows of the for 2 k

 

[timbuck3]

I think the first trick it has to pull is to convince people that it isn't vapourware*!

That being said, I'm still entirely unconvinced in the idea of chargeable Blugprints, unless the unit actually ships with a much larger number than has been previously mooted.

* I jest - I'm sure it will see the light of day, but it has been a *very* long time since it was originally unveiled!

I agree on all your points after paying 2k I don’t want to pay more for extra stuff