St. Rock AMPERIUM LIVE

eggpl@nt said:
I'm in Mass, USA. I ordered on 10/21. I haven't received anything but the payment confirmation--no order confirmation, shipping info, etc.

So yeah, not the best ordering experience, but since I don't even know if it's shipped, I don't know if I should have expected a shipment notification yet.
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I think they may have an issue with the shipment email being sent. I contacted them via their website and they said I should have received an email and then included my tracking number. Sounds like we should get ours at the same time!
 
Sascha Franck said:
Gotta give huge props to them that they're taking care of all that stuff right now at all. […]
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Agreed 100%. Developing and producing a Modeler in the middle of a terrible war is admirable. And they are really responsive to feedback. It took them 2 days to code a completely new noise gate and send me the beta after I reached out to them complaining about the current one. I have nothing but good things to say about them.
 
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Mine arrived this afternoon. It’s smaller than I expected. (That’s what she said.)

I’ll need to connect it to my personal computer after work to update the FW. I can’t use the Bluetooth editor to poke around until I’ve updated.
 
eggpl@nt said:
Mine arrived this afternoon. It’s smaller than I expected. (That’s what she said.)

I’ll need to connect it to my personal computer after work to update the FW. I can’t use the Bluetooth editor to poke around until I’ve updated.
Click to expand...
Mine should be here today. Any idea of how to update the firmware? I'm assuming the website?
 
eggpl@nt said:
Mine arrived this afternoon. It’s smaller than I expected. (That’s what she said.)

I’ll need to connect it to my personal computer after work to update the FW. I can’t use the Bluetooth editor to poke around until I’ve updated.
Click to expand...
You‘re in for a treat, it‘s an awesome little box. Have fun!
 
Curiosity got the better of me. First impressions are stellar. There are only two drive models, which is highly unfortunate, but I played with the 5153 and 5150 through one of the stock OH IRs, and it sounded great.

I still need to update and try out the Bluetooth editor. Working on the device isn’t impossible—I’d actually argue it’s pretty decent for bad the UI looks at first glance—but it’s not necessarily fun that way.
 
Day 1 Thoughts:
  • I love the look of this thing. It‘s the floor-based, less sexy cousin of the original Axe-Fx. It’s hideous and charming at the same time.
  • It feels robust despite its small size.
  • Connectors feel good. Love that there’s a power switch. (Looking at you Tonex.)
  • I wish it had 1/4” outputs, but there really isn’t room in the current form factor. Granted, it could stand to be a tad larger. The foot switches seem a bit closer together.
  • The foot switches are silent/smooth and not really clicky.
  • I wish the foot switches could control fx within a preset vs being limited to just changing presets.
  • The UI is spartan af but surprisingly usable. You just rely on twisting and pushing the Control knob a lot.
  • I couldn’t figure out how to use the main control knob to control the volume, which would have been nice because…
  • The output is all over the place between amp models and I do not understand the reset logic with respect to which level controls are reset and which are not when changing amp models. There are three volume controls in an amp block—preamp output, master volume, and power amp output—and I have no idea what any of them are gonna do when I change amp model. Will they go to a mid point? Max out? Retain the setting? Who knows?
  • Amp models are of varying quality but the good ones are very good. The Friedman models feel and sound good, as do the 5153s, and JVMs. I didn’t love the Mesa tones, or the JTM, the SLO, or the Nightmare. I still have many models to explore.
  • Overdrives are bad. Even as boosts, they almost muddy the sound more than they tighten the tone. Using my Axe Fx’s Drive block as a boost worked significantly better. I’ll have to try analog overdrive pedals too.
    • Amendment: I'm getting along better with the Overdrives by reducing the output, as suggested below.
  • I didn’t love the Delays or Reverbs I tried either.
    • Amendment: I think, for the most part, the Delays and Reverbs are wetter than I expect. I have to turn the Mix down really low to get the more subtle effects I like.
  • I could not get my main IR to load. I could get others to load, but my go-to IR would not for some unknown reason. I just routed the Amperium into my Axe Fx’s Cab block.
  • Editing wirelessly on the computer or iPad is awesome. It’s not the most elegant UI/UX, but it’s hella convenient. My unit was whining at 2.8kHz when connected to my computer through USB. I didn’t even spend time debugging a potential cable issue. I just unplugged and kept editing.
  • The only impedance curve I like is the one modeled after their React:IR.
And honestly I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface.
 
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eggpl@nt said:
[…]
  • Overdrives are bad. Even as boosts, they almost muddy the sound more than they tighten the tone. Using my Axe Fx’s Drive block as a boost worked significantly better. I’ll have to try analog overdrive pedals too. […]
  • The only impedance curve I like is the one modeled after their React:IR. […]
Click to expand...
I don‘t think the Overdrives are bad. I put pink noise through my Maxon OD808 and the Screamer of the Amperium Live, and the frequency response was nearly identical. But the Amperium‘s Overdrives are much louder than the real pedals (tested with Maxon OD808 and a Boss SD-1). You have to set the volume of the OD lower than on the real pedals to get similar results. For example: to match the output volume of my Maxon OD808 at 2 o’clock I have to set the Amperium Screamer at noon. Same with the SD-1.

I kinda agree about the impedance curves. The problem is that - except the React:IR curve - they are modeled after Eminence speakers, and they are quite different than Celestions.
 
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TheTrueZoltan! said:
I don‘t think the Overdrives are bad. I put pink noise through my Maxon OD808 and the Screamer of the Amperium Live, and the frequency response was nearly identical. But the Amperium‘s Overdrives are much louder than the real pedals (tested with Maxon OD808 and a Boss SD-1). You have to set the volume of the OD lower than on the real pedals to get similar results. For example: to match the output volume of my Maxon OD808 at 2 o’clock I have to set the Amperium Screamer at noon. Same with the SD-1.

I kinda agree about the impedance curves. The problem is that - except the React:IR curve - they are modeled after Eminence speakers, and they are quite different than Celestions.
Click to expand...
I’ll have to try to OD’s again. Thanks for the recommendation.

My go-to IR is a Celestion, but my physical 2x12 cabinets are stocked with Eminence speakers. I expected to gel with the impedance curves better, but I’m fine having one solid curve I like.
 
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