St. Rock AMPERIUM LIVE
- Thread starter MindCrime
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There has been a discussion on it https://thegearforum.com/threads/st-rock-neural-network-and-modeling-unit.2043/
It looks like an interesting unit best of both and a small footprint. The demo's I've heard sound good and I've tried the Amperium software which is good as well but not as much as a community compared to NAM.
It looks like an interesting unit best of both and a small footprint. The demo's I've heard sound good and I've tried the Amperium software which is good as well but not as much as a community compared to NAM.
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Back in my day, main outputs had volume controls 
Hey guys and gals,
I’m brand new to the forum, I just received a Amperium Live 3 days ago and wanted to give some feedback with this unit.
Yes is has a few quirks and has room for improvements but they are always doing firmware updates to address these like the recent addition of a Master Output Volume option that was mentioned In a couple of reviews. I have only had an hour or so of poking around after updating the firmware but I have high hopes that this will replace my FM9.
A little background…
I have always been a tube guy (I have had 70’s Marshalls, a Lee Jackson modded Marshall, a Mesa Mark ll C+ and still have my Mesa Mark V and the Friedman BE-100 clone I built) but in the current 80’s hair tribute band I’m in we are using modelers so I picked up what I thought would work for me. The FM9 is a beautiful piece of gear but so many options and effects that I just couldn’t get what I was hoping for out of it, it’s options overload with some of these modelers.
I saw the Michael Neilson video on this unit and the opening chord with the stock preset caught my ear and at 499 euros (after the exchange rate conversion and shipping it was about $570 to my door) I ordered one. Upon hooking it up to my Yamaha studio monitors and on the same preset Michael used I hit a powerchord ( I was hoping for the Marty Mcfly / Back to the Future moment when he hit that first chord in Doc’s lab) but was underwhelmed….here is a quirk or a tweak I would change, the Cab wasn’t defaulted to on (unless I inadvertently turned it off) so it was thin and buzzy. As soon as I turned on the associated Cab ir it came to life and a smile appeared on my face.
This unit doesn’t have all the options of the FM9 but all of the ones I think matter without getting too lost in tweakerville. I don’t know about you guys and gals out there but I took up guitar (in the 70’s) to play the guitar not to tweak and twiddle too much.
Almost forgot to mention it has Bluetooth built in with an available mobile app which works great (tried it out) especially for adjusting it at a gig, I struggled with the FM9 live because it was to involved to tweak without a laptop connected. I think Fractal makes great products ( I had the FM3 before the 9) but I don’t want to work that hard to get a great core tone and the few effects needed for my gigs.
It may not be as feature rich as other modelers but I really don’t care about all the bells and whistles just give me great tones and a few quality effects and I’m happy. With more then 100 amp models ( and probably more to come) I easily found a bunch of EL34 based amp models ( Bogners, EVH, Marshall’s and almost all Friedman amps) that I was looking for in the search of my core tone.
I didn’t intend to write a book on my very first post but as there isn’t much info on this modeler out of Ukraine ( in the middle of a war no less) I wanted to give opinion for what it‘s worth.
Rock on…
Mike
I’m brand new to the forum, I just received a Amperium Live 3 days ago and wanted to give some feedback with this unit.
Yes is has a few quirks and has room for improvements but they are always doing firmware updates to address these like the recent addition of a Master Output Volume option that was mentioned In a couple of reviews. I have only had an hour or so of poking around after updating the firmware but I have high hopes that this will replace my FM9.
A little background…
I have always been a tube guy (I have had 70’s Marshalls, a Lee Jackson modded Marshall, a Mesa Mark ll C+ and still have my Mesa Mark V and the Friedman BE-100 clone I built) but in the current 80’s hair tribute band I’m in we are using modelers so I picked up what I thought would work for me. The FM9 is a beautiful piece of gear but so many options and effects that I just couldn’t get what I was hoping for out of it, it’s options overload with some of these modelers.
I saw the Michael Neilson video on this unit and the opening chord with the stock preset caught my ear and at 499 euros (after the exchange rate conversion and shipping it was about $570 to my door) I ordered one. Upon hooking it up to my Yamaha studio monitors and on the same preset Michael used I hit a powerchord ( I was hoping for the Marty Mcfly / Back to the Future moment when he hit that first chord in Doc’s lab) but was underwhelmed….here is a quirk or a tweak I would change, the Cab wasn’t defaulted to on (unless I inadvertently turned it off) so it was thin and buzzy. As soon as I turned on the associated Cab ir it came to life and a smile appeared on my face.
This unit doesn’t have all the options of the FM9 but all of the ones I think matter without getting too lost in tweakerville. I don’t know about you guys and gals out there but I took up guitar (in the 70’s) to play the guitar not to tweak and twiddle too much.
Almost forgot to mention it has Bluetooth built in with an available mobile app which works great (tried it out) especially for adjusting it at a gig, I struggled with the FM9 live because it was to involved to tweak without a laptop connected. I think Fractal makes great products ( I had the FM3 before the 9) but I don’t want to work that hard to get a great core tone and the few effects needed for my gigs.
It may not be as feature rich as other modelers but I really don’t care about all the bells and whistles just give me great tones and a few quality effects and I’m happy. With more then 100 amp models ( and probably more to come) I easily found a bunch of EL34 based amp models ( Bogners, EVH, Marshall’s and almost all Friedman amps) that I was looking for in the search of my core tone.
I didn’t intend to write a book on my very first post but as there isn’t much info on this modeler out of Ukraine ( in the middle of a war no less) I wanted to give opinion for what it‘s worth.
Rock on…
Mike
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MirrorProfiles
Rock Star
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as far as I can tell, the quality of the modelling of this stomps all over the new Fender. Guessing the niche this is going for is the HX Stomp user who wants higher quality amp models/doesn’t mind a much worse UI?
I’d love to try one of these but the lack of a plugin is a dealbreaker for me as HW modellers just don’t fit my needs at all.
Is the fender more appealing to people because of the UI/footswitches/FX/availability?
I’d love to try one of these but the lack of a plugin is a dealbreaker for me as HW modellers just don’t fit my needs at all.
Is the fender more appealing to people because of the UI/footswitches/FX/availability?
Lysander
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Sascha Franck
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Great sounds as it seems. @GuitarJon, care to do a quick latency test, so I don't have to wait for Leo Gibson?
This is one of the handful of devices that actually peaked my interest recently, would be even more interested in it if it delivered properly low latency figures.
This is one of the handful of devices that actually peaked my interest recently, would be even more interested in it if it delivered properly low latency figures.
Bob Zaod
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MirrorProfiles
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makes you less guilty for stomping on it (or accumulating poo on the switches)
TheTrueZoltan!
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I just took a closer look at this and am absolutely impressed. The included amp models are exactly to my taste and apart from the absence of an SPDIF connection I couldn‘t find anything I would criticize. Seems to be an absolute steal for 549 EUR incl. shipping to Germany, which is less than a single Stomp buck. Seriously tempted…
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Sascha Franck
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I'm quite tempted, too.
But unfortunately, while I love the availability of a mobile editor, I don't always want to have it opened up on whatever devices. But for this thing it's a must due to the complete absence of any decent amount of knobs.
Otoh, the HX Stomp is truly horrible to edit in critical situations (as in: needs to happen quickly) as well, so this might even be better.
TheTrueZoltan!
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Fuck it, I just ordered one. 
(The actual payment is made in UAH. After currency conversion and plus the fee for international payments, I have now paid about 50 euros more than planned. C'est la vie. Still a great deal if the unit sounds as great as I hope it does.)
(The actual payment is made in UAH. After currency conversion and plus the fee for international payments, I have now paid about 50 euros more than planned. C'est la vie. Still a great deal if the unit sounds as great as I hope it does.)
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TheTrueZoltan!
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This is the video that gave me the final push. The high gain tones are just sooo good!
Sascha Franck
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But uh, the onboard UI... really, true early 90's horror.
TheTrueZoltan!
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I don‘t really care. I will just use it as a desktop device, always connected to my computer.
Sascha Franck
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In that case it's likely fine. I enjoy turning knobs over mousing around, though.
TheTrueZoltan!
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I received my Amperium Live today and so far I really like it. The amp models overall sound very, very good.
I agree with @GuitarJon that the noise gate needs some work (as he stated at TheOtherPlace), it doesn't react very well and sometimes introduces some strange digital noise. I am also having issues with the resolution of the App. On iPad and iPhone it doesn't scale well to the aspect ratio of the devices and the Mac app even only shows a little snippet of the app, which is really strange.
But again... first impression: sounds awesome!
@Mongillo19 Really curious to read your first impressions!
I agree with @GuitarJon that the noise gate needs some work (as he stated at TheOtherPlace), it doesn't react very well and sometimes introduces some strange digital noise. I am also having issues with the resolution of the App. On iPad and iPhone it doesn't scale well to the aspect ratio of the devices and the Mac app even only shows a little snippet of the app, which is really strange.
But again... first impression: sounds awesome!
@Mongillo19 Really curious to read your first impressions!
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TheTrueZoltan!
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After a couple of hours of playing with the Amperium I gotta say that I‘m really impressed with this surprisingly small device. Most amp models sound extremely good without a lot of tweaking. The JVM OD2 Orange and 5153 Red are my favorites so far, but the Friedmans are also excellent. Still have to try the Bogner and Mesa models.
I wrote a message to them regarding the app issue and they responded very quickly, including a new beta of the app. Apparently they already reworked the noise gate, too.
I wrote a message to them regarding the app issue and they responded very quickly, including a new beta of the app. Apparently they already reworked the noise gate, too.
Mongillo19
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No idea when mine will arrive but I'll certainly post here when it does!
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