BOSS WAZA Tube Amp Expander Core (Reactive Load)

[James Freeman]

I'd like to see some impedance curves compared to a standard 4x12 cab, it was a big selling point of the original Suhr RL.

 

[laxu]

@2112's demo:



Seems pretty decent, might be a tad annoying if you have to adjust things. If you do it set and forget with the rigs it should be pretty easy.

How the built-in 30W poweramp performs with this is of course a whole another bag of worms.

It's like 1/3 the weight of a Fryette Power Station and overall a more portable form factor (narrower but taller).

 

[metropolis_4]

Didn't the original TAE get soured by having reports of it or amps failing due to the load reactiveness options? I wonder if that was due to no NFB amps too.

Vox AC30s would also have no negative feedback, but I guess those are low power enough that there's no risk.

I'd like to understand what exactly about no-NFB amps is a problem for this, considering it's not an issue for most loadboxes out there.

There are so many amps out there with no negative feedback.

If that was the case I’d be surprised if they phrased it by just calling out one specific amp instead of specifically saying amps with no NFB

 

[metropolis_4]

That comment about Dual and Triple Rec not being supported was an asterisk to this point:

• Supports most tube amps rated up to 100 watts*

Must be something about the wattage. I would guess the Dual Rec in 50w mode would be just fine

 

[Axe]

I have one inbound. This may be exactly what I need to run after my Kahayan 8x4

 

[paisleywookiee]

I have one inbound. This may be exactly what I need to run after my Kahayan 8x4

Cool, interested to hear what you think of it. I wish they’d have at least stuffed the Katana 50w power amp.

 

[Axe]

Cool, interested to hear what you think of it. I wish they’d have at least stuffed the Katana 50w power amp.

I've had a couple days to clown around with this and I have to say I'm impressed. This appears to be the solution I've been searching for to no avail for too many years.
My lil home studio is split into two sides. The right side of my desk is my digital side with my amp sims (Fractal, Quad Cortex, TMP, Helix rack etc blah blah blah) and I DO appreciate them.. I do

But I'm old so there has to be a left side with tube amps .. And for late night recording/playing I needed an amp switcher and an attenuator/cab sim.. My Kahayan 8x4 and my Two Notes Torpedo Live fit the bill with one exception... Effects... I don't care for plug in effects.. So the limited Boss effects within the WAZA TAE core fit the bill precisely for my needs.. The solution I've looked for forever. The only weak spots I will mention are two. Well maybe three

1) You need the editor to control effects/ The windows editor does not work. Multiple missing dll messages in multiple installation attempts on 4 different Windows machines.
The editor loaded on my iPhone and works flawlessly. Color me shocked

2) And this is subjective I suppose, There are only a couple preloaded cab IRs that I liked. There is room to import your own but space is limited.

Oh, and 3) Be prepared to have to update the unit straight away if you want to use the editor. And the process is not particularly user friendly imo but my old ass still got it done..

Anyone interested in a Two Notes Torpedo Live?

 

[Deadpan]

Curious if this has the same load as the full TAE?

 

[paisleywookiee]

Curious if this has the same load as the full TAE?

Not sure, but it definitely doesn’t have the broad adjustment the regular one does (which might be a good thing).

 

[Elf]

You can buy a used original for about the same price, tough call?

 

[Axe]

The TAE core has become the best studio purchase I've made in a long long time. I'm more than pleased with it..

 

[Desertdweller]

The TAE core has become the best studio purchase I've made in a long long time. I'm more than pleased with it..

Happy to hear! But please...

 

[Axe]

Happy to hear! But please...

It's all subjective of course but in a nutshell, sound and feel. It allows me to use my tube amps with speakers or IRs with Boss quality delays and verbs.. It allows me to use my modelers with the 30 watt power amp. It's become my freakin studio Swiss army knife.. I love Helix rack, my Axe Fx, myQC as well as my Marshall, Peavey Invective , SYN20ir etc etc.. They all work very very well with the Boss TAE core

 

[squeegy]

It's all subjective of course but in a nutshell, sound and feel. It allows me to use my tube amps with speakers or IRs with Boss quality delays and verbs.. It allows me to use my modelers with the 30 watt power amp. It's become my freakin studio Swiss army knife.. I love Helix rack, my Axe Fx, myQC as well as my Marshall, Peavey Invective , SYN20ir etc etc.. They all work very very well with the Boss TAE core

How do you use it with your modelers? The return of the effects loop?

 

[Alathea_Squared]

Curious if this has the same load as the full TAE?

Yes. 100w load, 30 watt revamp poweramp

 

[Alathea_Squared]

Can this be used with an amp that has no selectable output impedance? I have a 16 ohm amp (vox) with no selector for the output. Ive read the manual, several forum posts, and looked through BOSS's knowledge bank but I can't find a definitive answer, or at least a solid one. I know that 'generally' a mismatch is ok upward, but preferably not downward but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything with the TAE. It seems to be a major miss from BOSS if its only compatible with 4-8 ohm output amps.

 

[bluetide73]

It's all subjective of course but in a nutshell, sound and feel. It allows me to use my tube amps with speakers or IRs with Boss quality delays and verbs.. It allows me to use my modelers with the 30 watt power amp. It's become my freakin studio Swiss army knife.. I love Helix rack, my Axe Fx, myQC as well as my Marshall, Peavey Invective , SYN20ir etc etc.. They all work very very well with the Boss TAE core

Hi, got one today and first thing I tried was actually effecting & amplifing a modeler (connected in mono to fx loop return). Worked great - but I would also have expected to be muting the signal flow/output when switching off the fx loop in the editor... which is not happening instead, regardless of the fx loop itself being configured for series or parallel.... a faulty unit maybe? Did you experience anything similar?

 

[Frankencat]

Very interested in this.

 

[Frankencat]

I've had a couple days to clown around with this and I have to say I'm impressed. This appears to be the solution I've been searching for to no avail for too many years.
My lil home studio is split into two sides. The right side of my desk is my digital side with my amp sims (Fractal, Quad Cortex, TMP, Helix rack etc blah blah blah) and I DO appreciate them.. I do

But I'm old so there has to be a left side with tube amps .. And for late night recording/playing I needed an amp switcher and an attenuator/cab sim.. My Kahayan 8x4 and my Two Notes Torpedo Live fit the bill with one exception... Effects... I don't care for plug in effects.. So the limited Boss effects within the WAZA TAE core fit the bill precisely for my needs.. The solution I've looked for forever. The only weak spots I will mention are two. Well maybe three

1) You need the editor to control effects/ The windows editor does not work. Multiple missing dll messages in multiple installation attempts on 4 different Windows machines.
The editor loaded on my iPhone and works flawlessly. Color me shocked

2) And this is subjective I suppose, There are only a couple preloaded cab IRs that I liked. There is room to import your own but space is limited.

Oh, and 3) Be prepared to have to update the unit straight away if you want to use the editor. And the process is not particularly user friendly imo but my old ass still got it done..

Anyone interested in a Two Notes Torpedo Live?

I'm pretty used the sucky Boss software but can you expound a little on you experience with the Windows editor? I haven't heard this from anyone else. My bud has one but he is on a Mac.

 

[Axe]

Apparently they've updated the editor. Mine now works fine on Win 11 and my Mac..