Hotone Ampero II Stomp - Review

[laxu]

Totally. I can't imagine what is keeping them from dropping the update that is so vastly different, as to delay it so long

I think they are trying to figure out a solution for how to handle captures on the Stomp. Running captures is easy, making captures is not because the Stomp does not have a mic preamp like the Stage and "Ampero II" have. That might put more limitations on it.

Out of interest: Are the Ampero II Stomp and vanilla Ampero II on the same level (minus the 3 encoders)?

Ampero II has a newer firmware on par with the Stage.

Otherwise all of them seem to be the same DSP platform but with a different amount of controls/footswitches/inputs/outputs.

I still don't understand the decision to throw away the physical encoders on the "Ampero II" to cut costs. They can't cost that much more.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I still don't understand the decision to throw away the physical encoders on the "Ampero II" to cut costs.

Yeah, pretty weird decision.
Would actually be a pretty perfect form factor thing for some gigs I seem to be playing in the future, but I guess I'll rather grab the GT-1000 instead. Wouldn't mind something not related to my main pedalboard, though.

 

[cjl5000]

I think they are trying to figure out a solution for how to handle captures on the Stomp. Running captures is easy, making captures is not because the Stomp does not have a mic preamp like the Stage and "Ampero II" have.

I thought they already said it was only going to be able to "play" captures. Which would totally fit my use case TBH. I suppose though you are right, no point in nerfing the functionality across the platform if they can make it work.

....if I have to see one more low effort AI post on their FB....

 

[laxu]

I thought they already said it was only going to be able to "play" captures. Which would totally fit my use case TBH. I suppose though you are right, no point in nerfing the functionality across the platform if they can make it work.

Ampero II Stomp will receive an update to include some level of Tone Catch functionality.

That's the only relevant info really. You can interpret "include some level of Tone Catch" as "only play captures", but it could also be something like offering a computer software to actually make the captures using any audio interface, while the pedal can just play them.

It would be cool if they just added NAM support as a workaround and called it something like "Tone Catch HD". But that might be a bit too wishful thinking.

 

[laxu]

Been playing with the fx this evening through my BluGuitar Amp 1 ME + 4x10 Greenback cab at band volumes.

Some notes:

• Fuzz pedals sound good, but don't react to guitar volume knob correctly.
• Some overdrives and distortions have the same issue, where they don't seem to really clean up well. This is weird because other drives do this fine, similar to the real pedals. Has Hotone mixed old and new models to pad the list?
• Pitch fx continue to impress for the price. The analog octaver models are fun.
• Reverbs are likewise good. The spring reverbs are not that good as spring simulations but sound good if you ignore that aspect. The more ambient reverbs are fun.
• Delays are a mixed bag. Some seem to require stereo, and some aren't that adjustable. Analog, BBD, tape delays sound good even if they are not maybe super authentic or anything. 2290 is good, and the specialty delays are fun.
• Choruses are mostly nice. Flangers are alright, phasers again good.
• Rotary is pretty fun. I can't say how authentic it is but it is adjustable enough and sounds good.
• A lot of the filters seem to be intended for keyboards, which makes sense.

It works well in 4CM and allows enough pre and post fx. Latency doesn't seem bad to me. With everything bypassed it seems maybe a little bit darker compared to plugging in directly. Turned up treble on the amp a bit to compensate and it's fine.

To match the Amp1 volume with and without fx loop I had to lower the A2 output level by 6 dB. The BluGuitar is set for line level fx loop.

 

[GTR37]

Been playing with the fx this evening through my BluGuitar Amp 1 ME + 4x10 Greenback cab at band volumes.

I'll try to build a list of favorites tomorrow, but some notes:

• Fuzz pedals sound good, but don't react to guitar volume knob correctly.
• Some overdrives and distortions have the same issue, where they don't seem to really clean up well. This is weird because other drives do this fine, similar to the real pedals. Has Hotone mixed old and new models to pad the list?
• Pitch fx continue to impress for the price. The analog octaver models are fun.
• Reverbs are likewise good. The spring reverbs are not that good as spring simulations but sound good if you ignore that aspect. The more ambient reverbs are fun.
• Delays are a mixed bag. Some seem to require stereo, and some aren't that adjustable. Analog, BBD, tape delays sound good even if they are not maybe super authentic or anything. 2290 is good, and the specialty delays are fun.
• Choruses are mostly nice. Flangers are alright, phasers again good.
• Rotary is pretty fun. I can't say how authentic it is but it is adjustable enough and sounds good.

It works well in 4CM and allows enough pre and post fx. Latency doesn't seem bad to me. With everything bypassed it seems maybe a little bit darker compared to plugging in directly. Turned up treble on the amp a bit to compensate and it's fine.

To match the Amp1 volume with and without fx loop I had to lower the A2 output level by 6 dB. The BluGuitar is set for line level fx loop.

What would be the standout amps
I know your mostly using for FX but are there a few that stood out to you as being Helix NDSP level ?

 

[KingsXJJ]

Stage firmware FTW. Like. Fractal and the AxeFXIII I suppose. Flagship get the focus. Certainly sound great.

 

[laxu]

What would be the standout amps
I know your mostly using for FX but are there a few that stood out to you as being Helix NDSP level ?

I think none of the amps are quite as good as Helix or NDSP. They all tend to be darker, there's clearly poweramp sim behavior missing from some master volume amps.

Good tones are in there, authentic reproduction of the real gear, not so much. It's more like "in the right ballpark but still things missing" level modeling. Which, and I can't overstate this, does not mean you can't get tones that you enjoy out of it.

I haven't found Marshalls I truly love in this thing, just ones that are alright. I've had fun with the Mesa Lonestar, Mesa JP2C, Soldano SLO, and Dumble ODS models. I honestly haven't even tried every model on this thing, there's so many.

 

[JCW308]

I think none of the amps are quite as good as Helix or NDSP. They all tend to be darker, there's clearly poweramp sim behavior missing from some master volume amps.

Good tones are in there, authentic reproduction of the real gear, not so much. It's more like "in the right ballpark but still things missing" level modeling. Which, and I can't overstate this, does not mean you can't get tones that you enjoy out of it.

I haven't found Marshalls I truly love in this thing, just ones that are alright. I've had fun with the Mesa Lonestar, Mesa JP2C, Soldano SLO, and Dumble ODS models. I honestly haven't even tried every model on this thing, there's so many.

I agree. The quality of the amp models varies widely. Some are old-school POD quality bad, some are just below Helix quality. One or two are decent and MIGHT on a good day be Helix quality. None are Fractal good, that is for sure.

 

[cjl5000]

I agree. The quality of the amp models varies widely. Some are old-school POD quality bad, some are just below Helix quality. One or two are decent and MIGHT on a good day be Helix quality. None are Fractal good, that is for sure.

I'm surprised with the varying experiences to be honest. I've come from a POD Express and Strymon Iridium and neither captured my attention quite as much as the A2S. I think you are getting a lot of quality for your money but you have to put the work in to understanding how the pedal performs to get the best out of it. Global EQ helps greatly. I'm having great fun with the AC30WTB amp at the moment using some Celestion IRs, Vintage Rack delay and 140 Plate HQ Reverb, okay I am cheating a bit by boosting it into breakup with a HX One Timmy (the drives are pants IMO) but absolutely competes with Helix for the tones and versatility. Yep some amps are better than others but the majority are great.

 

[GTR37]

I agree. The quality of the amp models varies widely. Some are old-school POD quality bad, some are just below Helix quality. One or two are decent and MIGHT on a good day be Helix quality. None are Fractal good, that is for sure.

That’s why I would love to see them just do like a nano cortex
The captures I have heard from Hotone are killer
That with the touchscreen UI and their fx would be a great
Product IMO

 

[laxu]

That’s why I would love to see them just do like a nano cortex
The captures I have heard from Hotone are killer
That with the touchscreen UI and their fx would be a great
Product IMO

I mean all they need is to add capture support to the Stomp, which they've said is coming. Could be at NAMM, could be before that. Even if the captures are heavy, I guess you could get roughly Nano Cortex performance out of it without stupid mobile apps.

 

[cjl5000]

If I'm honest, the capture tech is why I'm sticking with the A2S for now. It's helping with the gas for other pedals a lot

 

[JCW308]

I mean all they need is to add capture support to the Stomp, which they've said is coming. Could be at NAMM, could be before that. Even if the captures are heavy, I guess you could get roughly Nano Cortex performance out of it without stupid mobile apps.

I wish captures used less DSP though.

 

[GTR37]

I wish captures used less DSP though.

They should be able to figure that out NDSP captures use way less than models
But even at that as Laxu said
If you can get a wah / drive / catch / delay / reverb , eq
What else do you really need
That would make the Stomp more than capable to compete w the Nano Cortex

 

[laxu]

Played a bit more with the amp, preamp models, and drives through my BluGuitar rig.

• The Nobels ODR-1 and Marshall Bluesbreaker models can sound and behave very close to my DIY Browne Protein. The Browne clone is two separate pedals so I can easily compare to the models.
• Otherwise I like Klon and TS models just fine. But I'm not really big on overdrives, I could make any of them work well enough for my uses.
• I like the Soloist 100 HQ (Soldano SLO) and Petrus HQ (Mesa JP2C) amp models quite a bit, I think they sound good both running as preamp only or as full amp models into the BluGuitar poweramp.
• The "Marshell SLP" amp model I was disparaging earlier actually worked really well into the poweramp and real cab.

The Modern channel on the BluGuitar is basically a SLO lead channel, so comparing the SLO models to that gave me a good idea about how well the A2 Stomp performs as I could switch back and forth by swapping the input cable and unplugging the Amp 1 fx return (to avoid the A2 influencing the sound).

Running the amps or preamps like this, I felt that using the Global EQ to add some highs really helped.

The overall impression is that the models sound good, but are not quite as dynamic as the BluGuitar, and don't react to the volume knob and picking dynamics quite as well. But it's difficult to find exact matching settings when the BluGuitar low/high shelf + mid filter EQ is so different from anything else. The Ampero 2 models are basically a bit more muted, a bit more "polite" overall and lack the rawness that the BluGuitar can do so well.

If you turned up with this A2 Stomp + BluGuitar rig to a gig and used only the A2 stomp models or preamps all night long, nobody would be complaining about the tones, even the player. Fractal, Helix, NDSP, or captures will be better, but this is not bad at all.

I forgot to mention in my previous post, but the Acoustic Sim is surprisingly good! It easily transformed my Flaxwood Rautia on the middle pickup selector position (both humbuckers in parallel) into an acoustic sound that would work very well. Might be IR-based since it has mostly several different "guitars" to choose from, including piezo sounds.

 

[GTR37]

Played a bit more with the amp, preamp models, and drives through my BluGuitar rig.

• The Nobels ODR-1 and Marshall Bluesbreaker models can sound and behave very close to my DIY Browne Protein. The Browne clone is two separate pedals so I can easily compare to the models.
• Otherwise I like Klon and TS models just fine. But I'm not really big on overdrives, I could make any of them work well enough for my uses.
• I like the Soloist 100 HQ (Soldano SLO) and Petrus HQ (Mesa JP2C) amp models quite a bit, I think they sound good both running as preamp only or as full amp models into the BluGuitar poweramp.
• The "Marshell SLP" amp model I was disparaging earlier actually worked really well into the poweramp and real cab.

The Modern channel on the BluGuitar is basically a SLO lead channel, so comparing the SLO models to that gave me a good idea about how well the A2 Stomp performs as I could switch back and forth by swapping the input cable and unplugging the Amp 1 fx return (to avoid the A2 influencing the sound).

Running the amps or preamps like this, I felt that using the Global EQ to add some highs really helped.

The overall impression is that the models sound good, but are not quite as dynamic as the BluGuitar, and don't react to the volume knob and picking dynamics quite as well. But it's difficult to find exact matching settings when the BluGuitar low/high shelf + mid filter EQ is so different from anything else. The Ampero 2 models are basically a bit more muted, a bit more "polite" overall and lack the rawness that the BluGuitar can do so well.

If you turned up with this A2 Stomp + BluGuitar rig to a gig and used only the A2 stomp models or preamps all night long, nobody would be complaining about the tones, even the player. Fractal, Helix, NDSP, or captures will be better, but this is not bad at all.

I forgot to mention in my previous post, but the Acoustic Sim is surprisingly good! It easily transformed my Flaxwood Rautia on the middle pickup selector position (both humbuckers in parallel) into an acoustic sound that would work very well. Might be IR-based since it has mostly several different "guitars" to choose from, including piezo sounds.

I know It probably not your thing but how is the Freidman HBE or the XTC red

I have have been working w the NDSP plug in and have to say it although unrelated here lol
But to me they have a few models , while obviously not at tweakable but core sounds
The Gojira 5153 , SLO and HBE can easily go toe to toe w Fractal
It been an interesting experience I have unplugged the fractal and just running plug ins to me NDSP is far better sounding and feeling than Helix native

 

[laxu]

I know It probably not your thing but how is the Freidman HBE or the XTC red

Honestly, not impressed by the Friedman model. I like the real Friedman just fine, but prefer its BE channel. I like the Helix Placater Dirty a lot, but the A2 Friedman model just never quite gets me going. Haven't tried it with the BluGuitar though to see how I like it with a real cab at louder volume.

The XTC seems to be better but I don't really know how to work with that yet besides the usual "turn the treble pretty high" trick that seems to work with Bogner. I need to compare it to the Helix model.

 

[JCW308]

They should be able to figure that out NDSP captures use way less than models
But even at that as Laxu said
If you can get a wah / drive / catch / delay / reverb , eq
What else do you really need
That would make the Stomp more than capable to compete w the Nano Cortex

Yeah not even close to my signal chain.

 

[GTR37]

Yeah not even close to my signal chain.

Are you saying you need a lot more FX ?
Or that you can’t get a wah drive delay verb w a catch ?