NMD/NPD: ACS1

the swede

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During the summer i felt it was time to get back to the guitar after my 1 year pause. Summer was spent thinking a lot… a lot. Initially i was going for the most simple as possible. Simplifier mk2, but gave up on that because i know id be frustrated not being able change amp/cab in an elegant way. Then it was TC Deluxe with the price and simple features that would give me money over for other pedals. But in the end a sweet deal on the ACS1 was to tempting. The few but useful features of the ACS1 won over the TC pedals charm. That I’ve heard much praise of the version 2.0 also helped.

After an update it was time to look for the guitar.
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So now you want to hear all joy and overly enthusiastic praise? Nope, you’re dealing with me here.
You know, it’s really awkward to pick up a guitar after over a year… it’s like everything is uncomfortable, weird, and just yucky. Guitar is heavy as fuck… neck feels wrong, strings hurt, fingers doesn’t do what brain wants.

I had to complain a little.

Nice build quality and features. The three amp models sounds good, but Vox is not my thing. The Fender model is what i like. The Marshall is very charming and feels unique in some way. It’s a new sound to me.

It has a very nice gain range, and i understand why people like the update. It’s a bit “fake”, at the extreme end, like they’ve baked in a real overdrive/distortion model. But before that it sounds and feels amp-like. And the boost takes things up another notch for sure.
The IRs seem good. Nice with a few options, don’t think I need to go down the rabbit hole on that.
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The built it room is decent and offers a nice touch with headphones, but surprisingly not as refined and exquisitely surrounding like the Strymon Iridium. Surprisingly because walrus could do better with that. High/Low pass settings was also nice and it made dialing in the lows easy.

I tried some pedals into it and it seems to work well. An OD-3 was just as nice as i remember it to be, my beloved Carcosa with its nasty temperament works good into the ACS1, especially the Marshall set to drive a little.

I like it, sounds good. And most importantly, I’m playing guitar again!
 
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Bumping just to say that loading in the York Deluxe, M65 and Vox Blue made the ACS1 shine. Just wow. I kinda knew it as I used them with the Stomp. But I avoided it because of my fears of rabbit holes. But it’s all ok. I feel good. No need to dig or compare or listen. Just loaded in mix 1 of those cabs and it was done. Huge difference. And it removed a little of my uncertainty about the ACS1. The amp models are fine. The Tone Factor IRs are not. Passable… but meh.
 
Guess ACS1 owners can feel lucky for a while longer as they haven’t completely abandoned the mk1. We got a new update 2.1 that added some more tweaks to the models and also added a compression adjustment. Each update has so far added noticeable stuff wich is great.

For curiosity I reverted back to the og firmware and played with it for a few hours and wow, how boring it sounded compared to the latest. Very stiff, no “feeling”, to much clean headroom and boring gain. The deluxe doesn’t do the cranked deluxe and the Marshall sounds nowhere near what you’d expect a BB to sound like. The Vox was ok but to little of everything there to.

So back to this latest and it has new life, cranking the deluxe sounds just as crazy as it should (it’s a matter of taste if one likes that sounds of course), the Blues Breaker is actually useful now as a higher gain sound, and with a drive it sounds very good.
They definitely added some sparkle/compression tweak on this latest update as it sounds more dynamic to the touch and they start to react or “give in” when gain is passed halfway and one puts pressure on the strings. A kind of “sag” is my guess.

This “old” pedal is still a very good and simple way to use modeling as a solution.

Headphone output is kinda lame though and I need to get a new audio interface so I can hook it up that way to amplify the pedal better… or that’s what I imagine would be better because the level on the AcS1 need to be higher for my my HD600’s and it isn’t optimal noise wise.
 
Guess ACS1 owners can feel lucky for a while longer as they haven’t completely abandoned the mk1. We got a new update 2.1 that added some more tweaks to the models and also added a compression adjustment. Each update has so far added noticeable stuff wich is great.

For curiosity I reverted back to the og firmware and played with it for a few hours and wow, how boring it sounded compared to the latest. Very stiff, no “feeling”, to much clean headroom and boring gain. The deluxe doesn’t do the cranked deluxe and the Marshall sounds nowhere near what you’d expect a BB to sound like. The Vox was ok but to little of everything there to.

So back to this latest and it has new life, cranking the deluxe sounds just as crazy as it should (it’s a matter of taste if one likes that sounds of course), the Blues Breaker is actually useful now as a higher gain sound, and with a drive it sounds very good.
They definitely added some sparkle/compression tweak on this latest update as it sounds more dynamic to the touch and they start to react or “give in” when gain is passed halfway and one puts pressure on the strings. A kind of “sag” is my guess.

This “old” pedal is still a very good and simple way to use modeling as a solution.

Headphone output is kinda lame though and I need to get a new audio interface so I can hook it up that way to amplify the pedal better… or that’s what I imagine would be better because the level on the AcS1 need to be higher for my my HD600’s and it isn’t optimal noise wise.
How about a small headphone amp? I’ve been considering getting one for my open back headphones when playing through the HX Stomp.
 
How about a small headphone amp? I’ve been considering getting one for my open back headphones when playing through the HX Stomp.
Nah, i dont really need another device. Im stationary at home so in my case having the pedalboard going to an audio interface that has a good headphone amplification feels like the most logical solution. I am imagining that a nice audio interface might amplify the ACS1 better than its own HP out.

Ive had the Stomp, wich worked great with my HD600 headphones. I just had a +5 db on the output block in every preset.
 
Nah, i dont really need another device. Im stationary at home so in my case having the pedalboard going to an audio interface that has a good headphone amplification feels like the most logical solution. I am imagining that a nice audio interface might amplify the ACS1 better than its own HP out.

Ive had the Stomp, wich worked great with my HD600 headphones. I just had a +5 db on the output block in every preset.
Makes sense for being stationary with an interface then.

And nice to hear that the Mk1’s still gets updates as well, kudos to Walrus Audio for that!

(And hello fellow Swede, being awake and all at this time of day. 👋)
 
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