BluGuitar Amp X

[Boudoir Guitar]

Me too. A lot of companies are now pushing out tube preamps with IR loading built in, but that's just half the battle.

Whatever BluGuitar does, it works. Every time I plug it into a cab it sounds, feels and responds like a nice Marshall style tube amp, even at ungodly loud volumes.

I managed to scare myself the other day, plugging the Amp 1 ME into my Bluetone 4x10, cranking the Amp 1...and forgetting to turn on its powersoak to reduce volume.

So if the Amp X can be that, but even more versatile tones + good sounding fx...I'm down. But being used to effects from Fractal, Strymon, Source Audio...fx quality is going to matter. At least the H&K Replex delay they demoed in some live stream sounded really good.

I'm 0% worried about the amp and cab tones, those are already great with the Amp 1 and Blubox (which I really should have kept...), it all comes down to usability and fx quality.

I'd love to build a stereo or wet/dry rig with Amp X + Amp 1 + two BluGuitar 1x12 cabs.

 

[Whizzinby]

Curious to see if he can land the plane on this one. Interesting concept, but I’d like to see some more demos, particularly in different styles.

 

[laxu]

Curious to see if he can land the plane on this one. Interesting concept, but I’d like to see some more demos, particularly in different styles.

I'm sure there will be plenty when it actually comes out. I just hope that instead of Blug coming in on various YT channels to explain the Amp X, he just sends it to various people to demo.

He's a great player, but within his blues-rock genre, with a bit of that Van Halen or Gary Moore thing thrown in. But he's not really a metal guy, so someone else to showcase those tones would be better. I think Ola Englund's demo of the Amp 1 Iridium Edition is still one of the best demos of it...and also funniest when he gets scared by how loud it is when he cranks it.

Blug's style aligns perfectly with what I want so it's no wonder I also use BluGuitar and basically EQ on 5-5-5 through the BluGuitar Fatcab with the Amp 1 Vintage channel is spot on. I just use more humbucker guitars than he does.

I'm also sure Blug will have the same uphill battle as with the Amp 1. He needs to showcase that yes, this small little thing is actually a proper, high power amp, that sounds and feels like a nice tube amp, and gets loud AF too.

When I had a Bogner and the BluGuitar, I had some real personal dissonance because my ears said the Amp 1 ME sounded just as good as the Bogner, but surely the "real deal" tube amp that costs like 2x more must be better? Yet the BluGuitar was lighter, less noisy, and actually louder than the tube amp (by about 3 dB - the typical difference between ~50W vs 100W).

BluGuitar's amps are also not pretty, and don't look particularly "premium" compared to traditional tolexed boxes. I don't know what happened to it, but a couple of months ago Blug was showing a "limited edition" color for the Amp 1 ME in their live stream:

IMO they should take this color and use it for the Amp X because that immediately makes it look much nicer than the gray/silver.

 

[hemmelight]

BluBluGuitar!

 

[laxu]

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.

 

[Orvillain]

Oh that looks rock and roll.

 

[jellodog]

Oh that looks rock and roll.

Mate. C'mon.

Some of those components are handling as much as 12 OR PERHAPS EVEN 18 VOLTS!!

Imagine putting that on your tongue. Nightmare!

 

[saarangnarayan]

infinite rotaries would make more sense to me.

I’ve heard that current spikes (DC? Voltage? Dunno, I’m not an expert but an expert friend once told me this) can do weird things to them where they can change values dramatically on their own, so using 0-10 pots is more stable.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

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.

My guess is that there are some purely analog circuits that will be controlled by the X controls, along with the digital effects.

 

[laxu]

My guess is that there are some purely analog circuits that will be controlled by the X controls, along with the digital effects.

Yes, but if you recall a preset those settings will still be applied using digital control to an analog circuit.

This is the same thing as e.g my Strymon Compadre - which is actually a fully analog compressor and boost circuit, just controllable digitally.

Even my ASM Hydrasynth Explorer (not that expensive synth) has infinite rotaries with no notches and it has zero problems with parameter values fluctuating.

But it is entirely possible there is some effect that I don't know about that makes those 0-10 pots more desirable.

I need to try asking about this again in some BluGuitar live stream if I happen to catch it when it's live. I asked in one live stream but the question was ignored.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

Yes, but if you recall a preset those settings will still be applied using digital control to an analog circuit.

This is the same thing as e.g my Strymon Compadre - which is actually a fully analog compressor and boost circuit, just controllable digitally.

Even my ASM Hydrasynth Explorer (not that expensive synth) has infinite rotaries with no notches and it has zero problems with parameter values fluctuating.

But it is entirely possible there is some effect that I don't know about that makes those 0-10 pots more desirable.

I need to try asking about this again in some BluGuitar live stream if I happen to catch it when it's live. I asked in one live stream but the question was ignored.

Right, but these are 2 different control paths.
Does the Strymon Compadre uses infinite rotaries?

If you ask Blug, please post his reply here, I'm interested to know what his reasons are.

 

[JiveTurkey]

The trick this has to do is convince people it's better than grabbing a Katana head.

 

[laxu]

Right, but these are 2 different control paths.
Does the Strymon Compadre uses infinite rotaries?

Nah, Strymon is the typical 0-10 pots as well, I was talking about restoring those values from presets as the encoder should not matter for that.

I brought up the Hydrasynth mainly because the control concept on it is exactly like the X controls. But obviously it's a digital synth so maybe that is why it's no problem.

 

[mbenigni]

If you ask Blug, please post his reply here, I'm interested to know what his reasons are.

It might just be a question of cost and complexity. (Which Blug probably wouldn't be in a hurry to disclose.) Passive pots are probably more compact than encoders/LEDs and the electronics to power, decode, etc.

 

[laxu]

It might just be a question of cost and complexity. (Which Blug probably wouldn't be in a hurry to disclose.) Passive pots are probably more compact than encoders/LEDs and the electronics to power, decode, etc.

Possible, though with the small displays you don't need LED rings or anything like that.

 

[Sascha Franck]

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

I'd bet that he hasn't. It's just not on their radar. Business as usual.

 

[laxu]

I'd bet that he hasn't. It's just not on their radar. Business as usual.

There's already an infinite rotary encoder right under the main display though...

I took a quick look and Bourns makes rotary encoders without detents that seem like they would be perfect for this, and they are cheap.

Similarly the code needed to detect the changes is not difficult, though if you want them to feel nice (rather than require a lot of turns) you may want to apply some acceleration curve to them which is a bit more math.

 

[Foxmeister]

The trick this has to do is convince people it's better than grabbing a Katana head.

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!

 

[Whizzinby]

I’m not a fan of the BluPrint addons ($) but this sort of DLC is not going away in this space unfortunately.

I am curious to see how comprehensive the amp and effect list is for this thing. With all the dev delays it needs to come out of the gate fully realized.

 

[came the rain]