Great points throughout. I agree that it would be better if we could assign any of the amps to any channel. As for the scenes defaulting to blue, it seems like you'd have to just pick channel A or B for a song, and use the 3 scenes for your clean / hair / lead tones.
Hey. Thx for the comment. Yeah it’s over engineered in my opinion. I love the look and sound of it. Just don’t like the functionality. I’m sticking with the Boss IR200. It’s extremely well thought out and sounds as good though it does require more tweaking
@@TheGuitarEffect I think it's just a matter of perspective. You would like 3 times 2 scenes and instead you get 2 times 3 scenes. I hope it makes sense. You could set it for only 2 scenes so you have 2 cleans on the A channel and 2 leads on the B channel. I agree that it would be better to be able to choose any amp. I have no need for the dirty amps at all so I only use the A channel. That being said, with the midi functionnality, you can just do whatever pleases you. And regarding the scene problem when you switch from one channel to an other, the pedal can either remember the last scene you used or always start on the first scene, it depends how you set it up.
You can make the A/B banks hold their scenes. If you go in under the settings and look under scene setup you can set it to S3 Sticky and it will hold the bank scenes when you A/B the banks.
I’ve had none of the software problems saving presets etc. I do think having complete choice over where to put amps would be a great idea. As mentioned by someone else, latest update included a Vox emulation. Regarding scenes, I change it to two instead of 3 for rhythm and lead - works best for me
Thx for the comment. I recently got the NUX trident I’m assuming it’s the same amp modelling software as the amp academy. It’s extremely easy to use, sounds great and works great. They make GREAT stuff.
I email NUX and they said you can hold the scene setting when you use the A/B switch. Go into settings and look under scene setup. There is a toggle for S3 Sticky. Choose that and the scenes will hold when you A/B the channels.
Great review! I totally get what you mean about the things that don't work for you. I have the Boss IR-200, and I like it, but I have had difficulties to find and tweak sounds that I like. How does the Amp Academy sound compare to the sound of the IR-200? I ask that knowing that sound is subjective.
Hey. Thx for the comment. To be honest I think that the amp academy sounded better straight out of the box but the IR200 sounds pretty good with some tweaking and as a gigging guitar player the functionality of yhe IR200 can’t be beaten.
@@TheGuitarEffect Thanks for the swift reply! I've struggled for over a year to be completely satisfied with the IR-200. I need something that needs less tweaking, and as I'm not gigging (when I start gigging with my band, it'll be with an amp, because here in Sweden the ampless craze hasn't hit as much yet haha), so I could try the Amp Academy and see how it works for me. I just need simple and great sounds for my recording, something that works great with pedals, especially overdrive, distortion and fuzz, which I don't use much, though. I'll try it and then decide which of the pedals I'll keep. I'll also watch your IR-200 review, I might learn something. And now I'll go and subscribe.
Go check my recent video in the two notes revolt. It can be very simple with the onboard XLR compensated out or very complicated for recording with the software included. It’s very very good.
Hey. Thx to both of you for the comment. I have had a lot both agreement and disagreement about my thoughts on this pedal. So I’m sure it’s largely a feature of how I play guitar and how I specifically need technology to help me do that. It’s not the case for everyone
I don’t understand your complaint about a and b. If you want to go from a clean rhythm sound to clean with a pedal on it that’s why you use. the scene switch.
So, about the critique that you can't get the same Amp model in A and B? You can do your classic Rhythm/Solo setting of one Amp in the Scene setting. Disengage then the 3rd scene and Voilá: You have your two channel set up on the right footswitch.
Hey. Thx for the comment. Yeah I get that I can use scene selections for amp switching but to be honest it makes much more sense to me to have two fenders on the blue scene, two voxes on the purple scene and two marshalls on the red scene. At least that’s how I would like to run it.
I love mine but I just stay on the Super Reverb setting and run my pedals through it. Also, use “Sticky Scenes” to sort out your issue when you select between a&b and it doesn’t remember your scene. Do you have the latest firmware?
It would be great if a future firmware version would allow the assignment of any amp to any channel location. That is the one true design flaw of the pedal. Outside of that, this is an excellent ampless solution & modeler.
Hey. Thx for the comment. So I really do wholeheartedly agree with you. I just can’t understand the 6 amps per side thing at all. But I also agree that other than that it’s a great unit.
Thanks for the review, it was very helpful. The pedal sounds great and your description and the comments have convinced me that it'll be ok for me. I'm going to get one. I could really feel your pain though. This was definitely not the pedal for you 😁
Did you update the firmware? I own 2 of them and have no issues saving nor recalling presets, both via PC as Mac. They also go to the preset I set as the default preset, think that and some other added features came with a a firmware update. Boost on via the preset button which you can limit to two instead of 3 btw. Although, at the moment I only use a single preset and the guitars volume knob to go from cleanish to crunch to lead. The weakest parts of the AA are it’s reverbs and the noise gate when used for high gain leads, so those I replaced with external versions for my lead guitar setup. Don’t know what you expected, but on it’s own I could use it like a 3 channel amp, like clean, clean with boost, crunch and lead, a midi controller probably adds more options, but didn’t try that so far. If one needs a lot of different amp sounds on stage this isn’t the right unit to use, this is more a 2 amps with boosts at max. kinda pedal, but again, midi might open up for more. The best thing compared to some other units is the separate volume slider and high/low cut for the DI, makes it really easy to go to front of house with a sound that the engineer doesn’t need to tweak a lot on, requires ofc. to find a good IR. The units EQ used post is also nice to separate the tone between 2 guitarists, so that both can be heard clearly.
Hey Joe. Apologies. I missed this comment. Yeah I checked the Firmware right away and it was up to date. So that’s wasn’t the problem. Incidentally I played a gig last night with the wedding band I play with using the IR200 with the HX Effects and it was absolutely fantastic. The best direct Sound I’ve ever had by far and the midi switching was fantastic
@@TheGuitarEffect BOSS always had propper midi support as long as I remember. Nice to hear that the IR200 sounds as good as I suspected it did after hearing it in a few reviews. BOSS received a lot of hate for their COSM engine back in time, regardless if it didn’t sound like the real thing one could still get good sounds of a GT100 and earlier multi fx units that would fit well in a mix. The tricky part was to find a propper order pre and post amp sim plus balancing stereo or turn one side off when using a mono output. There where also a few minor digital artifacts to filter out. The NUX AA has some with the S/R placed after IR btw.
Guess I'm weird but the design choices make sense to me. If I'm on channel B with a high gain tone and I have my second scene as a boost for a lead tone and then I want to switch back to clean for channel A then of course I would want my scene to default back at the same time. I wouldn't want it to stay the same when switching from channel a and b to go from high gain leads back to a clean.
Hey. Thx for the comment. Just so I understand what you are saying, you are saying that no matter what scene you are on when you switch channel you would want it to go back to channel A on the first (blue) scene?
@The Guitar Effect you bet! Yes that is how I would use it. It obviously isn't for everyone but I would prefer for my scene to default back when switching channels. I would have the default scene as clean as I would like and then build off of that for each channel.
Ah hang on. So if I understand you, you are saying whenever you switch scene you would want it to load the clean of that particular scene. That f so I agree, right now though it always returns to the same scene channel A. No matter which scene you are on.
@The Guitar Effect I THINK that's how it supposed to work anyway. But yeah you've got what I'm saying. I dont have one though. I've had my eye on this for a while. If I ever decide to have an ampless solution I'm debating between this and an IR-200. I have a lot of overdrive and modulation pedals and trying to see what would fit best with that. Always enjoy your content BTW!
Cheers for your thoughts, I`ve ordered one to try out anyway as it`s just for my studio and I wanted a 2nd option. I generally play Metal on a guitar and I`ve used Marshall amps, cabs over the years with a tube screamer and maybe a tube preamp pedal too in the front for that full on Metal sound. I have used quite a few tube pre amps pedals over the years now going into a rack mounted Marshall poweramp in my studio and currently I`ve swopped out my Torpedo C.A.B pedal for a rack mounted Torpedo Live which will emulate cabinets and attenuate the load from the power amp so that I don`t have to go to my real cabs ( I live in a terraced house best to keep the vols down ). The Torpedo Live also simulates 2 mics in front of a Cab unlike the smaller C.A.B model and that`s great cos that`s what I did as an engineer. Now then finally my point and it`s about modeling of the high gain amps : I have always found that the modelled versions usually sound like there is something good going on somewhere but someone went and threw a duvet over the speaker cabinet 1st ! ...... and so just like in real life I always stick with emulated Marshall cabinets instead ( 1960A, 1960AV etc )
Hey man. The way you are doing things for metal now. With the actual heads and the cab M is from what I understand metal tones to be (I do t play metal at all) I think is definitely the right way to do it. I think the amp academy would be good for giving you extra flavors when double tracking for example but I don’t think it could replace an amp. I’m a bit older though and I think that means I have a way of doing of things in my head that I feel most comfortable with. I’m always happiest with a pedalboard and an amp.
@@TheGuitarEffect Yeah that`s always cool of course just like me in the old days although I`m pretty old myself maybe even older than you ! Once upon a time I ran a recording studio but these days I needed to find a way to get some good guitar tones in my home studio (which is actually full of SYnths too ! ) without getting into conflict with neighbours. Currently my fave way to get a great Metal sound without plugging into the real cabs is by tapping into the send/return loop of an Orange Micro Dark which has a nice tube preamp section (but a cheap little solid state poweramp) and an fx loop is always situated between the pre amp and power amp section and this new unit has that too so I can still do that if I want. I then send that on to the rack Marshall Power amp and then onto the rack Torpedo Live just for it`s IR Marshall cabs and that all sounds great to me compared to my real Marshall DSL 100 plus 1960A or AV cabs ... oh and I always use real pedals in front of all that too like an Ibanez Tubescreamer and a Seymour Duncan Twintube Valve overdrive. I now just received the new pedal that you featured here tonight and I plan to experiment with it. I`m actually kinda more interested in the cleaner tone amps in it than the Metal ones cos the valve section of the Micro Dark is only really good for Metal and the harder side of Hard Rock and I don`t really plan to use any of the internal pedals in the new unit just a whole basic amp patch or just it`s preamp part ( via the FX loop ) and so I`m gonna experiment with it via different methods of use, we all have different needs eh and it`s horses for courses methinks .....
I appreciate the honest review here. For me, I don’t know if I could live without a Vox option. Their website says there are additional amps somewhere that could be loaded to the pedal, but I can’t figure out what they would be. I would also be using this in musical theater, where you need to make quick changes, so any bugs in the interface are enough to remove it from consideration. You probably just saved me a huge headache, so thanks!
Hey. Thx for the comment. So I would say a lot of people have criticized me for my review saying the user interface is totally fit for purpose. For me it just isn’t fit at all but we’re all different. So maybe text it and see what you think. For me the best amp modeling pedal out there in terms of functionality is the BOSS IR200. Just wins against any others I’ve tried hands down.
Your conplaint about the scene always resetting when you switch between A and B can be remedied by enabling "sticky scenes" in the pedal amp's software.
So this would maybe alright as an amp sim at the end of a board where the majority of the tones are coming from the pedals. It then gives you the option to switch out an amp sound at some point in the gig too. It sounded alright tbf 👍
Nice review, thanks. Also great to have Irish content creators. Subbed. I think your main source of issue is the confusion over A and B and scenes. If you think of it as 2 amps with each having 3 scenes, that's what it seems like the designers intended. Idiosyncratic... absolutely, but once you adapt to that way of thinking it works fine. That being said... I use it at home. I don't think it would ever work for me in a live context... far too much room for hitting the wrong button and ending up very confused. Totally agree with your points though, and to be honest, just use the software to configure it. I feel that there is a disconnect between the software and pedal that makes it hard to use as a pedal alone.
Thx for the comment Gerry. Always lovely to have other Irish folk comment. Yeah to me it just felt over Engineered to be honest. I stuck with the IR200 instead.
The layout is definitely unintuitive, but I could see adapting to it if I think of A and B as an amp switch and the scene button as a channel switch for each amp.
@@TheGuitarEffect he means what I said. The left button switches you between 2 amps and the right button switches you between three scenes for each amp. Choose the amp at the beginning of the song and then step through the scenes to add your pedals, delay, etc..
And yes, with the firmware update you can set the scenes to stay where they are when you switch from A to B and back again. But if you’re only using one amp per song, it’s not that important.
Under the following circumstances would you say this is a great option: You're using pedals before it, so you just need one amp you like dialed in as a pedal platform. You want to use it for nighttime practice with the headphone out and also, use it as an audio interface for recording. I think so? Also, what's the riff at 13.25 it's driving me mad?!
Hey. Thx for the comment. To answer your question yes this pedal can fulfill those roles perfectly. That song is long train running by The Doobie Bros.
I own the Cerberus and the AA, but unfortunately, they can't work together using MIDI. The Cerberus sends fixed MIDI PC for each preset and the AA expect a fixed MIDI PC for each amp simulation. I emailed NUX but they won't update the Cerberus anymore, and the AA won't obviously get an update about MIDI management.
Hey thx for the comment. I’ve seen someone get a MIDI to usb converter and get it to work that way but really, unless you can prescribe a specific PC value per patch it’s not much use anyway. I just got the trident. I was hoping it would have programmable MIDI out but so far no joy. I’m hoping they might add it in an update.
@TheGuitarEffect I also did some research about a device to translate PC to PC MIDI signals, maybe an Arduino, but it doesn't worth the time and money. You can find some awesome devices like the Valeton GP200 for about 300 bucks.
Hey. Thx again for the comment. To be honest nothing can really get close to the HX effects as a multi FX on the market right now. It’s not completely perfect but it is outstanding. It’s a bit pricey, but the sound and functionality are the best I’ve experienced. This is the main board I currently use for gigging unless I’ve to fly. It can do absolutely anything but it’s a bit pricey. ruclips.net/video/movDPi03mMo/видео.htmlsi=RlsHgqWQUeSOc0UO
@TheGuitarEffect I was thinking about the Boss IR200 and its MIDI features, as a replacement for the AA, and use it with the Cerberus. However, the IR200 is somewhat more expensive than the AA.
Im not sure why the sticky scenes didnt work for you i hope you got it fixed it would seem like it would address a lot of the problems you were facing. I have one and think its great. Agree it should let you put whatever amp you want on either channel but i just generally setup the A side with my base sounds with scenes then just one sound in B for lead. So A would be fender twin scene 1 clean scene 2 activate one of the reverbs scene 3 activate one of the boosts. B would be high gain lead sound.
Hey. Thx for the comment. So I spent a lot of time trying to get the sticky scenes thing to work but I just couldn’t. Bizarrely, the part of the software that dealt with the stick scenes had different co trips to what was illustrated in the stuff I could find about sticky scenes online. I ended up selling it and sticking with the Boss IR200
@@TheGuitarEffect that's a shame. Glad you found what you were looking for in the boss ir200. Nu-x has been doing updates for the AA and number 1 request is amps being freely assignable but last update was March 2023 I don't think it's coming. Trident looks interesting though! Like a Cerberus and AA in one
Also, the OUT VOL slider in the app does absolutely nothing. And this issue is like a unicorn, it's like I'm the only one with it. On paper this pedal rules, but it sucks in practice, it is very inconsistent and I'm tearing my hair out while trying to use it in my applications. I spend more time tweaking the sounds than playing the pedal!
Hey. Thx for the comment. Yeah I’ve had a lot of very mixed feedback about this video some people agree and some don’t. But I can t use either personally
In spite of its drawbacks I think I could make this work for me. The function I can't find anything about is a bypass. I need something that can live on my pedal board and be bypassed when I'm using a proper amp then flicked in when I need to use headphones late at night. Can this do that?
Hey Shane. I actually tried to make a video about pairing it with the Cerberus and I actually just gave up! That’s never happened before. It’s such a badly designed and glitchy pedal.
Hi Moon Walker. No. Not it’s not that. I did read the manual. And I’m expecting the functionality they are including to do what it’s supposed to do. And it doesn’t. I do t think it’s too much to ask for a MIDI in on this pedal when it’s on they’re tape delay which is in the same enclosure. Did you actually watch the video?
So, about the critique that you can't get the same Amp model in A and B? You can do your classic Rhythm/Solo setting of one Amp in the Scene setting. Disengage then the 3rd scene and Voilá: You have your two channel set up on the right footswitch.
Do u even own one? Everything he said was correct. I’ve had two and both were dysfunctional and I READ THE MANUAL, watch several videos of ppl having identical problems
The main problem i have with this pedal and it has STOPPED Me buying it is I dont need any high gain amps so its just a 1 channel amp as far as Im aware! It just doesnt make sense.
I bought one. It worked fine for one week. Then it began to act like the noise reduction automatically turned and started cutting every ore off. I read the manual thoroughly. I checked every cable, played different guitar. All led to same problem. I took to the store I purchased it from. The owner gave another brand ne pedal. I brought it home and apparently the effects loop was dysfunctional. I took it back to him and we both did every we could. The guy video was rt. It sounds incredible but, is designed poorly
Hey. Thx for the comment. It’s actually very rare that I say anything majorly negative in a review. So this was an anomaly in that respect. I think that’s because I’m still that small as a RUclipsr that I still buy everything rather than get given stuff by brands. There are 2 or 3 brands that send me stuff but the majority is stuff I buy so I generally research stuff a lot before I buy and thus am rarely dissatisfied. This is a great sounding pedal just some bad design choices.
Let me start by thanking you for doing this video and sharing your thoughts and insights with us. I find your content really valuable. I believe the unit is really well thought of, just like the Cerberus (love your videos on the unit, btw), in the sense that A and B are not meant to be used as channels, but as amp style options, and the scene switch is in fact the channel switch for that amp option. It is like having the possibility of carrying two very different amps to a gig, each of them with three channels. That's why the scene goes back to blue every time you change amp from A to B and to A again. Because you are changing amps and it assumes the cleanest option first. I believe there is a workaround this setting with the new firmware. As well as having the option of having only two channels (scenes) to run through instead of three for each amp A or B, which might be a hassle for some situations. Hope you get to take a new look at the unit from the perspective of having two amps to carry with you in a very small but extremely powerful and brilliant sounding box. Thanks again for your time. Keep up the great work!
Hey Joao. Thx for the comment. It’s sounds a little like you are speaking on behalf of NUX in your comment are you part of the NUX team. Apologies if I’ve misinterpreted that.
@@TheGuitarEffect Hey Rob. Thank you so much for replying. :) I have no affiliation with NuX whatsoever. In fact, I own none of their pedals yet. I've been an acoustic player for most of my life, and I'm now slowly getting to explore the electric world of guitars, and ever a practical gear searcher. And in that area of my research, some of your videos have become extremely valuable to me. Thank you so much for that! I'm hoping to get the Cerberus with the Amp Academy as my rig, as the baseline setup, allowing me to add other gain pedals before the gain stage of the Cerberus (thinking wah pedal -> DOD Carcosa -> Joyo Tauren -> Joyo Taichi -> Cerberus here), sending it to the Amp Academy, and some other modulation and/or time based pedals within the FX loop of the Amp Academy, before and after the mod/delay/reverb of the Cerberus. On top of that, I'm hoping to use the DI out on the Amp Academy to record or send to FOH and the IR off main out to a Harley Benton Thunder 99 powering a G112 Celestion V30 as my stage backline. All this to say that I'm not part of the NuX team. :) I'm just a fan of some of their products, much like I'm a fan of most of your videos. :)
Hey Joao. I try to reply to every comment. I think if people are interested in my videos enough to comment it’s my pleasure to reply. As a person who has been playing electric guitar in bands for over 20 years my recommendation would be get the Cerberus and the amp academy first and take the time to explore the tones and features available with just those sounds / effects first. And leave the extra gain pedals for a few weeks. The reason I say this is that in my opinion having more limited options makes you far more creative with what you have. Plus there are so many sounds available from the amp academy I think you’ll have to spend a long time exploring what options are available with just the two units. Music is all about being creative and original. Whatever enables that is priority no. 1 for me. Just a thought. Really glad my videos are helpful mate. And thx again for commenting
@@TheGuitarEffect Thank you for the tip! I'll be sure to do as you recommend, and hopefully I'll be drawing the very best I can from the two units and becoming a better and competent musician in the process. Looking forward for future videos and tips from you. All the best!
have this pedal and its great straight out of the box and even better when you tweak it sound great feels great functions as it should the ap is easy to dial , and the scene function is for changing Chanel of the same amp , please do not listen to this guy
no intention to offend nobody mate , but seriasly ן can tell you its easy to use so by doing such a video you are misleading the viewers and loosing the credebility of the viewers who already used it @@TheGuitarEffect
So to be fair like, that’s your experience. My experience was that it was an amazing sounding pedal that was really badly over engineered from a user interface and user experience standpoint. The scene selection / sticky scenes thing just doesn’t help at all. Trying to turn off sticky scenes in the interface seemed basically impossible. It’s just way more complicated than it needs to be. And I’m not digitally illiterate with guitar effects. I have a very good grasp of the HX effects. Which is way more complicated and complex than this. Sure people who feel somehow loyal to this pedal may think I’m wrong and that’s absolutely fine. But there are an equal proportion of comments agreeing and disagreeing. It’s entirely subjective.
I agree with all the benefits you just listed. It’s compact, sounds great, is reasonably priced. But the user interface is just badly thought out. Unusably bad for my needs
@@TheGuitarEffect I don't have problems 1,4 and 5 as you list them. And 2 and 3... not certain what you mean. But there again I bought a new unit from a reputable dealer and am running the latest (4.02, Feb 2024) firmware.
Hey Patrick. Hx for the comment. To be fair this is at least €100 less than the IR200 and I’m all honesty it sounds every bit as good. But the functionality of the two just isn’t comparable. The IR200 has much more intuitive controls to start with. Then it also has the capacity to add an external footswitch for the boost. Most importantly for me it has MIDI in and out. Which just means it’s hands down wins out. But it’s significantly more expensive
AA is a good cheaper alternative to IR200. I was only looking for Amp and IR loader as a base platform for ampless setup. But my dirt sounds will still come from my individual boss pedals (mt2, bd2, ds2, sd1). IR200 would be overkill for such purpose.
Paddy, it would seem that this more aimed at the the bedroom player/home recorder rather than the gigging musician hence the seeming limitations in that area.
USA. My paternal great grandparents immigrated from Ireland. My paternal grandmother's last name was Dolan. My father was raised in the Irish-American section of Boston.
Hey Frank. I’m sure you are completely unaware of this and it had no malice n your part but we don’t like being called Paddy’s at all. At least we don’t like it here in Ireland at least. It’s basically seen as a “dumb Irishman’ slur. The Brits in particular like to use it in that way. Which really irks us. Just a heads up mate.
Thanks for this post. I kind of have the same issues. Many were solved after watching this video: ruclips.net/user/livee3cZESQvbmc?si=eMRdVsqfjKaI68hQ . However, the pedal hums quite annoyingly on my board, so I decided to send it back and go with the Joyo British Sound that I have on there right now. I don't really need a sh*tload of amps to choose from anyway. In the studio I use plugins and on my board I'll use whatever is there.
Hey. Thx for the comment. So I did actually watch that video before. The guy is great. But I found that the screen where I could deal with activating or deactivating sticky scene’s actually looked different from his and I couldn’t make sense of it. I moved it on and went for the boss IR200 in the end. Was just easier to use. I don’t remember a buzzing problem but it may have been there. You can’t go wrong with the Joyo pedals they’re excellent
@@TheGuitarEffect Yeah, took me some time to work the difference out too but it wasn't too complicated in the end. However I just want sh*t to work and not have to study for it. How is the headroom of the BOSS?
Hey. I’m totally with you. I don’t mind if something has limited functionality as long as it works. The IR200 Is great loads of headroom. Especially on the clean amps.
Oh dear, this is disappointing. I have a few Nu-x pedals which both sound fab and have solid functionality - for example the Tape Core (Space Echo) and the Roctary (Leslie). I should say, I haven't plugged any of them into a computer
Hey Paul. Thx for your comment. Yeah I’m pretty gutted alright. The only other thing I own by them is the Cerberus but it’s pretty flawless. I was surprised by this.
@@TheGuitarEffect - I just had a thought about how you might be able to use it. (Sorry if this is long and convoluted though!) Instead of using it by having the scenes with an A and B variation - which doesn't work for you because A is always a cleanish amp and B is always a dirty amp (you can't have two variations of the same amp) set it up as using the scenes as your variation of the same amp For example, you have Scene One A as a clean Deluxe Reverb type and Scene Two A as a Deluxe Reverb that's a bit gritty and Scene Three A a Deluxe that's fully gained out. That way you can just switch between the Scenes all on A. Then you do the same with the Plexi model using B on all the scenes I'm assuming that if you are on Scene One A and press the Scene footswitch you go to Scene Two A. Would that work? (By the way, I'm just watching a few more of your videos. I bought a Line 6 M5 a few weeks ago - in part because of your vid, it's a powerful wee pedal isn't it?)
Hey Paul. First off thx for watching my vids. Really appreciate it. Unfortunately I’m nearly sure if you are are in red b and you switch scene it goes to blue a. So that won’t work. Also you can’t actually rely on it changing scenes correctly. The M5 is an absolute beast of a thing. Now there is a pedal with great sound, great functionality and great value.
@@TheGuitarEffect funny that's exactly how I found the channel. I was looking for a cheap but great sounding way to get some effects I don't use that much and came across the M5 video. Easily the best demo of that demo on RUclips.
@@TheGuitarEffect So, about the critique that you can't get the same Amp model in A and B? You can do your classic Rhythm/Solo setting of one Amp in the Scene setting. Disengage then the 3rd scene and Voilá: You have your two channel set up on the right footswitch.
Hey David. Thx for the comment. This is gonna sound sarcastic but I don’t mean it to at all. How do you really use it? I can’t figure out how this pedal is realistically useable when you can’t cycle through presets. Like is there a video you can point me to where this is demonstrated? I really would like to know what I’m doing wrong. Cause it sounds bloody great.
I couldn’t agree more .. I don’t want to go from a super reverb to a jcm 800 .. I’d much prefer to go from the super reverb to the vibro king on side B…. It’s functionality is very limiting…I’m glad to see I’m not the only one with this grievance
@@TheGuitarEffect yes when I could get the software to work… honestly I still have mine only cause I don’t want to burden anyone else with my frustrations… The firmware/software just needs a huge overhaul top to bottom
Right. The reason I ask is cause then there’s definitely nothing wrong with my one. It’s so disappointing. I hope they solve a lot of these issues. Am I right thinking there’s no way to turn the drive pedal on on the unit too yeah?
@@TheGuitarEffect I tried everything.. the only way I could get it to work for me is to program by scene … which still defeats the purpose cause the scenes are glitchy as all… I’m honestly hoping it’s something they addressed in the trident
To be honest. Without the analog drive and distortion section I’d probably sooner use this and the Cerberus than the trident but to be fair I haven’t tried it. They need to fix these bugs.
Use the scene to switch from clean to overdrive for example Channel A: Fender amp scene 1: Your Clean sound scene 2: Your Overdriven/lead sound scene 3: and more effects what you're doing is switching between channel to go from clean to overdrive sound youre not using the scene to do it
Hey Jonathan. Thx for your comment. That’s actually not what I want to do. And not what I think makes sense. What I want to do is have a clean, breakup, and dirty sounds on the three scenes and choose between them per song. So I have my base tone depending on the song. Then I have the same lead sound on all b channels. That’s the best way to use the fact that there are three two channel amps available as far as I’m concerned. And also it’s why they t makes sense to me that when I change Chanels it stays on the current scene.
Great points throughout. I agree that it would be better if we could assign any of the amps to any channel. As for the scenes defaulting to blue, it seems like you'd have to just pick channel A or B for a song, and use the 3 scenes for your clean / hair / lead tones.
Hey. Thx for the comment. Yeah it’s over engineered in my opinion. I love the look and sound of it. Just don’t like the functionality.
I’m sticking with the Boss IR200. It’s extremely well thought out and sounds as good though it does require more tweaking
@@TheGuitarEffect I think it's just a matter of perspective. You would like 3 times 2 scenes and instead you get 2 times 3 scenes. I hope it makes sense. You could set it for only 2 scenes so you have 2 cleans on the A channel and 2 leads on the B channel.
I agree that it would be better to be able to choose any amp. I have no need for the dirty amps at all so I only use the A channel. That being said, with the midi functionnality, you can just do whatever pleases you.
And regarding the scene problem when you switch from one channel to an other, the pedal can either remember the last scene you used or always start on the first scene, it depends how you set it up.
You can make the A/B banks hold their scenes. If you go in under the settings and look under scene setup you can set it to S3 Sticky and it will hold the bank scenes when you A/B the banks.
OMG thanks dude it is perfect now!!!!
@@iansmith5973
@@iansmith5973 Great! I have just bought it second hand and thought it's broken, but you saved me from frustration! :)))
I’ve had none of the software problems saving presets etc. I do think having complete choice over where to put amps would be a great idea. As mentioned by someone else, latest update included a Vox emulation. Regarding scenes, I change it to two instead of 3 for rhythm and lead - works best for me
Thx for the comment. I recently got the NUX trident I’m assuming it’s the same amp modelling software as the amp academy. It’s extremely easy to use, sounds great and works great. They make GREAT stuff.
I email NUX and they said you can hold the scene setting when you use the A/B switch. Go into settings and look under scene setup. There is a toggle for S3 Sticky. Choose that and the scenes will hold when you A/B the channels.
Hey Ian. First off thx for emailing them. Really sound. I actually tried applying sticky scenes but no joy so to be honest I moved it on.
Great review! I totally get what you mean about the things that don't work for you. I have the Boss IR-200, and I like it, but I have had difficulties to find and tweak sounds that I like. How does the Amp Academy sound compare to the sound of the IR-200? I ask that knowing that sound is subjective.
Hey. Thx for the comment. To be honest I think that the amp academy sounded better straight out of the box but the IR200 sounds pretty good with some tweaking and as a gigging guitar player the functionality of yhe IR200 can’t be beaten.
@@TheGuitarEffect Thanks for the swift reply! I've struggled for over a year to be completely satisfied with the IR-200. I need something that needs less tweaking, and as I'm not gigging (when I start gigging with my band, it'll be with an amp, because here in Sweden the ampless craze hasn't hit as much yet haha), so I could try the Amp Academy and see how it works for me. I just need simple and great sounds for my recording, something that works great with pedals, especially overdrive, distortion and fuzz, which I don't use much, though.
I'll try it and then decide which of the pedals I'll keep. I'll also watch your IR-200 review, I might learn something.
And now I'll go and subscribe.
Go check my recent video in the two notes revolt. It can be very simple with the onboard XLR compensated out or very complicated for recording with the software included. It’s very very good.
And thx for the subscription! Been to a Stockholm once before in ‘14 to see Pearl Jam. Lovely city. Great people.
@@TheGuitarEffect Will do! I've already watched the IR-200 video, but I'll have to rewatch it. But first the Two Notes video.
Cheers!
I own this pedal and its phenomenal, i think the design is fantastic and have used it live on many occasions
I’m glad it worked for u.
Hey. Thx to both of you for the comment. I have had a lot both agreement and disagreement about my thoughts on this pedal. So I’m sure it’s largely a feature of how I play guitar and how I specifically need technology to help me do that. It’s not the case for everyone
I don’t understand your complaint about a and b. If you want to go from a clean rhythm sound to clean with a pedal on it that’s why you use. the scene switch.
Yeah. You’re totally right.
So, about the critique that you can't get the same Amp model in A and B? You can do your classic Rhythm/Solo setting of one Amp in the Scene setting. Disengage then the 3rd scene and Voilá: You have your two channel set up on the right footswitch.
Hey. Thx for the comment. Yeah I get that I can use scene selections for amp switching but to be honest it makes much more sense to me to have two fenders on the blue scene, two voxes on the purple scene and two marshalls on the red scene. At least that’s how I would like to run it.
hey so to fix the problem at 10:57 . You have to use sticky scenes. heres a link to do that ruclips.net/user/shortsGH4zwUf6HEI?feature=share
Nux goes over how to fix it.
Hey. Thx for that. It helps a lot. I had no idea I had turned that on!
I love mine but I just stay on the Super Reverb setting and run my pedals through it. Also, use “Sticky Scenes” to sort out your issue when you select between a&b and it doesn’t remember your scene. Do you have the latest firmware?
It would be great if a future firmware version would allow the assignment of any amp to any channel location. That is the one true design flaw of the pedal. Outside of that, this is an excellent ampless solution & modeler.
Hey. Thx for the comment. So I really do wholeheartedly agree with you. I just can’t understand the 6 amps per side thing at all. But I also agree that other than that it’s a great unit.
Thanks for the review, it was very helpful. The pedal sounds great and your description and the comments have convinced me that it'll be ok for me. I'm going to get one. I could really feel your pain though. This was definitely not the pedal for you 😁
Hey. Thx for the comment. It really does sound great. You’re right though. Very much not for me. Enjoy
Did you update the firmware?
I own 2 of them and have no issues saving nor recalling presets, both via PC as Mac.
They also go to the preset I set as the default preset, think that and some other added features came with a a firmware update.
Boost on via the preset button which you can limit to two instead of 3 btw.
Although, at the moment I only use a single preset and the guitars volume knob to go from cleanish to crunch to lead.
The weakest parts of the AA are it’s reverbs and the noise gate when used for high gain leads, so those I replaced with external versions for my lead guitar setup.
Don’t know what you expected, but on it’s own I could use it like a 3 channel amp, like clean, clean with boost, crunch and lead, a midi controller probably adds more options, but didn’t try that so far.
If one needs a lot of different amp sounds on stage this isn’t the right unit to use, this is more a 2 amps with boosts at max. kinda pedal, but again, midi might open up for more.
The best thing compared to some other units is the separate volume slider and high/low cut for the DI, makes it really easy to go to front of house with a sound that the engineer doesn’t need to tweak a lot on, requires ofc. to find a good IR.
The units EQ used post is also nice to separate the tone between 2 guitarists, so that both can be heard clearly.
Hey Joe. Apologies. I missed this comment. Yeah I checked the Firmware right away and it was up to date. So that’s wasn’t the problem. Incidentally I played a gig last night with the wedding band I play with using the IR200 with the HX Effects and it was absolutely fantastic. The best direct Sound I’ve ever had by far and the midi switching was fantastic
@@TheGuitarEffect BOSS always had propper midi support as long as I remember.
Nice to hear that the IR200 sounds as good as I suspected it did after hearing it in a few reviews.
BOSS received a lot of hate for their COSM engine back in time, regardless if it didn’t sound like the real thing one could still get good sounds of a GT100 and earlier multi fx units that would fit well in a mix.
The tricky part was to find a propper order pre and post amp sim plus balancing stereo or turn one side off when using a mono output.
There where also a few minor digital artifacts to filter out.
The NUX AA has some with the S/R placed after IR btw.
Guess I'm weird but the design choices make sense to me. If I'm on channel B with a high gain tone and I have my second scene as a boost for a lead tone and then I want to switch back to clean for channel A then of course I would want my scene to default back at the same time. I wouldn't want it to stay the same when switching from channel a and b to go from high gain leads back to a clean.
Hey. Thx for the comment. Just so I understand what you are saying, you are saying that no matter what scene you are on when you switch channel you would want it to go back to channel A on the first (blue) scene?
@The Guitar Effect you bet! Yes that is how I would use it. It obviously isn't for everyone but I would prefer for my scene to default back when switching channels. I would have the default scene as clean as I would like and then build off of that for each channel.
Ah hang on. So if I understand you, you are saying whenever you switch scene you would want it to load the clean of that particular scene. That f so I agree, right now though it always returns to the same scene channel A. No matter which scene you are on.
@The Guitar Effect I THINK that's how it supposed to work anyway. But yeah you've got what I'm saying. I dont have one though. I've had my eye on this for a while. If I ever decide to have an ampless solution I'm debating between this and an IR-200. I have a lot of overdrive and modulation pedals and trying to see what would fit best with that. Always enjoy your content BTW!
Hey. The IR200 is an exceptional piece of kit. It isn’t as immediate as this unit but with a bit of time it’s way better.
Cheers for your thoughts, I`ve ordered one to try out anyway as it`s just for my studio and I wanted a 2nd option. I generally play Metal on a guitar and I`ve used Marshall amps, cabs over the years with a tube screamer and maybe a tube preamp pedal too in the front for that full on Metal sound. I have used quite a few tube pre amps pedals over the years now going into a rack mounted Marshall poweramp in my studio and currently I`ve swopped out my Torpedo C.A.B pedal for a rack mounted Torpedo Live which will emulate cabinets and attenuate the load from the power amp so that I don`t have to go to my real cabs ( I live in a terraced house best to keep the vols down ). The Torpedo Live also simulates 2 mics in front of a Cab unlike the smaller C.A.B model and that`s great cos that`s what I did as an engineer. Now then finally my point and it`s about modeling of the high gain amps : I have always found that the modelled versions usually sound like there is something good going on somewhere but someone went and threw a duvet over the speaker cabinet 1st ! ...... and so just like in real life I always stick with emulated Marshall cabinets instead ( 1960A, 1960AV etc )
Hey man. The way you are doing things for metal now. With the actual heads and the cab M is from what I understand metal tones to be (I do t play metal at all) I think is definitely the right way to do it. I think the amp academy would be good for giving you extra flavors when double tracking for example but I don’t think it could replace an amp. I’m a bit older though and I think that means I have a way of doing of things in my head that I feel most comfortable with. I’m always happiest with a pedalboard and an amp.
@@TheGuitarEffect Yeah that`s always cool of course just like me in the old days although I`m pretty old myself maybe even older than you ! Once upon a time I ran a recording studio but these days I needed to find a way to get some good guitar tones in my home studio (which is actually full of SYnths too ! ) without getting into conflict with neighbours. Currently my fave way to get a great Metal sound without plugging into the real cabs is by tapping into the send/return loop of an Orange Micro Dark which has a nice tube preamp section (but a cheap little solid state poweramp) and an fx loop is always situated between the pre amp and power amp section and this new unit has that too so I can still do that if I want. I then send that on to the rack Marshall Power amp and then onto the rack Torpedo Live just for it`s IR Marshall cabs and that all sounds great to me compared to my real Marshall DSL 100 plus 1960A or AV cabs ... oh and I always use real pedals in front of all that too like an Ibanez Tubescreamer and a Seymour Duncan Twintube Valve overdrive.
I now just received the new pedal that you featured here tonight and I plan to experiment with it. I`m actually kinda more interested in the cleaner tone amps in it than the Metal ones cos the valve section of the Micro Dark is only really good for Metal and the harder side of Hard Rock and I don`t really plan to use any of the internal pedals in the new unit just a whole basic amp patch or just it`s preamp part ( via the FX loop ) and so I`m gonna experiment with it via different methods of use, we all have different needs eh and it`s horses for courses methinks .....
The clean amps on the amp factory are great so you should get some decent results.
I appreciate the honest review here. For me, I don’t know if I could live without a Vox option. Their website says there are additional amps somewhere that could be loaded to the pedal, but I can’t figure out what they would be. I would also be using this in musical theater, where you need to make quick changes, so any bugs in the interface are enough to remove it from consideration. You probably just saved me a huge headache, so thanks!
Hey. Thx for the comment. So I would say a lot of people have criticized me for my review saying the user interface is totally fit for purpose. For me it just isn’t fit at all but we’re all different. So maybe text it and see what you think. For me the best amp modeling pedal out there in terms of functionality is the BOSS IR200. Just wins against any others I’ve tried hands down.
The latest firmware update comes with an AC30 simulation ! ;)
Your conplaint about the scene always resetting when you switch between A and B can be remedied by enabling "sticky scenes" in the pedal amp's software.
I actually did update the software and try to use sticky scenes but still no joy.
@@TheGuitarEffect you have to update the Firmware also, just updating the S/W wont make any difference.
So this would maybe alright as an amp sim at the end of a board where the majority of the tones are coming from the pedals. It then gives you the option to switch out an amp sound at some point in the gig too. It sounded alright tbf 👍
Hey man. Yeah absolutely. Would be perfect for that. Which is how intend to use it incidentally with the Cerberus for that demo.
Nice review, thanks. Also great to have Irish content creators. Subbed.
I think your main source of issue is the confusion over A and B and scenes. If you think of it as 2 amps with each having 3 scenes, that's what it seems like the designers intended. Idiosyncratic... absolutely, but once you adapt to that way of thinking it works fine. That being said... I use it at home. I don't think it would ever work for me in a live context... far too much room for hitting the wrong button and ending up very confused.
Totally agree with your points though, and to be honest, just use the software to configure it. I feel that there is a disconnect between the software and pedal that makes it hard to use as a pedal alone.
Thx for the comment Gerry. Always lovely to have other Irish folk comment.
Yeah to me it just felt over Engineered to be honest. I stuck with the IR200 instead.
The layout is definitely unintuitive, but I could see adapting to it if I think of A and B as an amp switch and the scene button as a channel switch for each amp.
Hey. Thx for the comment. What do you mean when you say an amp switch?
@@TheGuitarEffect he means what I said. The left button switches you between 2 amps and the right button switches you between three scenes for each amp. Choose the amp at the beginning of the song and then step through the scenes to add your pedals, delay, etc..
And yes, with the firmware update you can set the scenes to stay where they are when you switch from A to B and back again. But if you’re only using one amp per song, it’s not that important.
Under the following circumstances would you say this is a great option:
You're using pedals before it, so you just need one amp you like dialed in as a pedal platform.
You want to use it for nighttime practice with the headphone out and also, use it as an audio interface for recording.
I think so?
Also, what's the riff at 13.25 it's driving me mad?!
Hey. Thx for the comment. To answer your question yes this pedal can fulfill those roles perfectly.
That song is long train running by The Doobie Bros.
I own the Cerberus and the AA, but unfortunately, they can't work together using MIDI.
The Cerberus sends fixed MIDI PC for each preset and the AA expect a fixed MIDI PC for each amp simulation.
I emailed NUX but they won't update the Cerberus anymore, and the AA won't obviously get an update about MIDI management.
Hey thx for the comment. I’ve seen someone get a MIDI to usb converter and get it to work that way but really, unless you can prescribe a specific PC value per patch it’s not much use anyway.
I just got the trident. I was hoping it would have programmable MIDI out but so far no joy. I’m hoping they might add it in an update.
@TheGuitarEffect I also did some research about a device to translate PC to PC MIDI signals, maybe an Arduino, but it doesn't worth the time and money. You can find some awesome devices like the Valeton GP200 for about 300 bucks.
Hey. Thx again for the comment. To be honest nothing can really get close to the HX effects as a multi FX on the market right now. It’s not completely perfect but it is outstanding. It’s a bit pricey, but the sound and functionality are the best I’ve experienced.
This is the main board I currently use for gigging unless I’ve to fly. It can do absolutely anything but it’s a bit pricey.
ruclips.net/video/movDPi03mMo/видео.htmlsi=RlsHgqWQUeSOc0UO
@TheGuitarEffect I was thinking about the Boss IR200 and its MIDI features, as a replacement for the AA, and use it with the Cerberus.
However, the IR200 is somewhat more expensive than the AA.
Yeah it’s quite different. I don’t think it necessarily sounds better but it does have better functionality
Im not sure why the sticky scenes didnt work for you i hope you got it fixed it would seem like it would address a lot of the problems you were facing. I have one and think its great. Agree it should let you put whatever amp you want on either channel but i just generally setup the A side with my base sounds with scenes then just one sound in B for lead.
So A would be fender twin scene 1 clean scene 2 activate one of the reverbs scene 3 activate one of the boosts. B would be high gain lead sound.
Hey. Thx for the comment. So I spent a lot of time trying to get the sticky scenes thing to work but I just couldn’t. Bizarrely, the part of the software that dealt with the stick scenes had different co trips to what was illustrated in the stuff I could find about sticky scenes online. I ended up selling it and sticking with the Boss IR200
@@TheGuitarEffect that's a shame. Glad you found what you were looking for in the boss ir200. Nu-x has been doing updates for the AA and number 1 request is amps being freely assignable but last update was March 2023 I don't think it's coming. Trident looks interesting though! Like a Cerberus and AA in one
Yeah I’m interested to try the trident. Looks good.
This one or the Mooer Preamp Live 4 switches you mentioned?? Thanks!!
Hey. Kinda depends really. If you want to save space this. If you want a more straightforward user experience the mooer.
Also, the OUT VOL slider in the app does absolutely nothing. And this issue is like a unicorn, it's like I'm the only one with it. On paper this pedal rules, but it sucks in practice, it is very inconsistent and I'm tearing my hair out while trying to use it in my applications. I spend more time tweaking the sounds than playing the pedal!
Hey. I’m thx for the comment. I agree that it has some great features and sounds on paper but the user experience in reality is a bit baffling!
I borrowed one of these from a friend to try and am having the exact same problems you did. It's not something I could use live.
Hey. Thx for the comment. Yeah I’ve had a lot of very mixed feedback about this video some people agree and some don’t. But I can t use either personally
In spite of its drawbacks I think I could make this work for me.
The function I can't find anything about is a bypass. I need something that can live on my pedal board and be bypassed when I'm using a proper amp then flicked in when I need to use headphones late at night. Can this do that?
Hey. Thx for commenting. I don’t have this pedal anymore but I’m almost certain you can bypass it by just hitting both footswitches.
Great review!
Thx for the comment. Glad you enjoyed it. Cheers.
Hey I paired it with the cerberus and I am having same issues.
Hey Shane. I actually tried to make a video about pairing it with the Cerberus and I actually just gave up! That’s never happened before. It’s such a badly designed and glitchy pedal.
this is when someone does not read the manual, and expects functionality of an expensive modeler into a cheap one.
Hi Moon Walker. No. Not it’s not that. I did read the manual. And I’m expecting the functionality they are including to do what it’s supposed to do. And it doesn’t. I do t think it’s too much to ask for a MIDI in on this pedal when it’s on they’re tape delay which is in the same enclosure.
Did you actually watch the video?
So, about the critique that you can't get the same Amp model in A and B? You can do your classic Rhythm/Solo setting of one Amp in the Scene setting. Disengage then the 3rd scene and Voilá: You have your two channel set up on the right footswitch.
Do u even own one? Everything he said was correct. I’ve had two and both were dysfunctional and I READ THE MANUAL, watch several videos of ppl having identical problems
@@jeffriley9807 yes i do own one ofc.
I’ve updated the firmware and it fixed the resetting scene issue.
The main problem i have with this pedal and it has STOPPED Me buying it is I dont need any high gain amps so its just a 1 channel amp as far as Im aware! It just doesnt make sense.
Hey. I must admit I did think it was an oddly prescriptive choice not to put all amp models available on both sides. Would have made it more versatile
I bought one. It worked fine for one week. Then it began to act like the noise reduction automatically turned and started cutting every ore off. I read the manual thoroughly. I checked every cable, played different guitar. All led to same problem. I took to the store I purchased it from. The owner gave another brand ne pedal. I brought it home and apparently the effects loop was dysfunctional. I took it back to him and we both did every we could. The guy video was rt. It sounds incredible but, is designed poorly
Yeah. Totally agree. Actually more complicated than it needs to be in my opinion. Shame.
Excellent, balanced review my friend. No doubt the modelling is there, perhaps the execution isnt though.
Hey. Thx for the comment. It’s actually very rare that I say anything majorly negative in a review. So this was an anomaly in that respect. I think that’s because I’m still that small as a RUclipsr that I still buy everything rather than get given stuff by brands. There are 2 or 3 brands that send me stuff but the majority is stuff I buy so I generally research stuff a lot before I buy and thus am rarely dissatisfied. This is a great sounding pedal just some bad design choices.
Let me start by thanking you for doing this video and sharing your thoughts and insights with us. I find your content really valuable.
I believe the unit is really well thought of, just like the Cerberus (love your videos on the unit, btw), in the sense that A and B are not meant to be used as channels, but as amp style options, and the scene switch is in fact the channel switch for that amp option. It is like having the possibility of carrying two very different amps to a gig, each of them with three channels. That's why the scene goes back to blue every time you change amp from A to B and to A again. Because you are changing amps and it assumes the cleanest option first. I believe there is a workaround this setting with the new firmware. As well as having the option of having only two channels (scenes) to run through instead of three for each amp A or B, which might be a hassle for some situations.
Hope you get to take a new look at the unit from the perspective of having two amps to carry with you in a very small but extremely powerful and brilliant sounding box.
Thanks again for your time.
Keep up the great work!
Hey Joao. Thx for the comment. It’s sounds a little like you are speaking on behalf of NUX in your comment are you part of the NUX team. Apologies if I’ve misinterpreted that.
@@TheGuitarEffect
Hey Rob. Thank you so much for replying. :)
I have no affiliation with NuX whatsoever. In fact, I own none of their pedals yet. I've been an acoustic player for most of my life, and I'm now slowly getting to explore the electric world of guitars, and ever a practical gear searcher. And in that area of my research, some of your videos have become extremely valuable to me. Thank you so much for that!
I'm hoping to get the Cerberus with the Amp Academy as my rig, as the baseline setup, allowing me to add other gain pedals before the gain stage of the Cerberus (thinking wah pedal -> DOD Carcosa -> Joyo Tauren -> Joyo Taichi -> Cerberus here), sending it to the Amp Academy, and some other modulation and/or time based pedals within the FX loop of the Amp Academy, before and after the mod/delay/reverb of the Cerberus. On top of that, I'm hoping to use the DI out on the Amp Academy to record or send to FOH and the IR off main out to a Harley Benton Thunder 99 powering a G112 Celestion V30 as my stage backline.
All this to say that I'm not part of the NuX team. :) I'm just a fan of some of their products, much like I'm a fan of most of your videos. :)
Hey Joao. I try to reply to every comment. I think if people are interested in my videos enough to comment it’s my pleasure to reply.
As a person who has been playing electric guitar in bands for over 20 years my recommendation would be get the Cerberus and the amp academy first and take the time to explore the tones and features available with just those sounds / effects first. And leave the extra gain pedals for a few weeks.
The reason I say this is that in my opinion having more limited options makes you far more creative with what you have. Plus there are so many sounds available from the amp academy I think you’ll have to spend a long time exploring what options are available with just the two units.
Music is all about being creative and original. Whatever enables that is priority no. 1 for me.
Just a thought.
Really glad my videos are helpful mate. And thx again for commenting
@@TheGuitarEffect
Thank you for the tip! I'll be sure to do as you recommend, and hopefully I'll be drawing the very best I can from the two units and becoming a better and competent musician in the process.
Looking forward for future videos and tips from you.
All the best!
I just gave a similar comment, completely agreed!
have this pedal and its great straight out of the box and even better when you tweak it sound great feels great functions as it should the ap is easy to dial , and the scene function is for changing Chanel of the same amp , please do not listen to this guy
Thx for your comment. I’ll be sure not to listen to myself.
no intention to offend nobody mate , but seriasly ן can tell you its easy to use so by doing such a video you are misleading the viewers and loosing the credebility of the viewers who already used it @@TheGuitarEffect
So to be fair like, that’s your experience. My experience was that it was an amazing sounding pedal that was really badly over engineered from a user interface and user experience standpoint.
The scene selection / sticky scenes thing just doesn’t help at all. Trying to turn off sticky scenes in the interface seemed basically impossible. It’s just way more complicated than it needs to be. And I’m not digitally illiterate with guitar effects. I have a very good grasp of the HX effects. Which is way more complicated and complex than this.
Sure people who feel somehow loyal to this pedal may think I’m wrong and that’s absolutely fine. But there are an equal proportion of comments agreeing and disagreeing.
It’s entirely subjective.
This is a small-format high sonic quality multi-functional pedal for £160.
Disappointing ? Oh no.
I agree with all the benefits you just listed. It’s compact, sounds great, is reasonably priced. But the user interface is just badly thought out. Unusably bad for my needs
@@TheGuitarEffect I don't have problems 1,4 and 5 as you list them. And 2 and 3... not certain what you mean.
But there again I bought a new unit from a reputable dealer and am running the latest (4.02, Feb 2024) firmware.
Oh maybe they improved the UX with the software update. I don’t have mine anymore.
How does this compare to IR 200?
Hey Patrick. Hx for the comment. To be fair this is at least €100 less than the IR200 and I’m all honesty it sounds every bit as good. But the functionality of the two just isn’t comparable. The IR200 has much more intuitive controls to start with. Then it also has the capacity to add an external footswitch for the boost. Most importantly for me it has MIDI in and out. Which just means it’s hands down wins out. But it’s significantly more expensive
AA is a good cheaper alternative to IR200. I was only looking for Amp and IR loader as a base platform for ampless setup. But my dirt sounds will still come from my individual boss pedals (mt2, bd2, ds2, sd1). IR200 would be overkill for such purpose.
Paddy, it would seem that this more aimed at the the bedroom player/home recorder rather than the gigging musician hence the seeming limitations in that area.
Hi Frank. Why are you calling me Paddy?
@@TheGuitarEffect You're not Irish?
I am and where are you from.
USA. My paternal great grandparents immigrated from Ireland. My paternal grandmother's last name was Dolan. My father was raised in the Irish-American section of Boston.
Hey Frank. I’m sure you are completely unaware of this and it had no malice n your part but we don’t like being called Paddy’s at all. At least we don’t like it here in Ireland at least. It’s basically seen as a “dumb Irishman’ slur. The Brits in particular like to use it in that way. Which really irks us. Just a heads up mate.
Thanks for this post. I kind of have the same issues. Many were solved after watching this video: ruclips.net/user/livee3cZESQvbmc?si=eMRdVsqfjKaI68hQ . However, the pedal hums quite annoyingly on my board, so I decided to send it back and go with the Joyo British Sound that I have on there right now. I don't really need a sh*tload of amps to choose from anyway. In the studio I use plugins and on my board I'll use whatever is there.
Hey. Thx for the comment. So I did actually watch that video before. The guy is great. But I found that the screen where I could deal with activating or deactivating sticky scene’s actually looked different from his and I couldn’t make sense of it. I moved it on and went for the boss IR200 in the end. Was just easier to use. I don’t remember a buzzing problem but it may have been there.
You can’t go wrong with the Joyo pedals they’re excellent
@@TheGuitarEffect Yeah, took me some time to work the difference out too but it wasn't too complicated in the end. However I just want sh*t to work and not have to study for it. How is the headroom of the BOSS?
Hey. I’m totally with you. I don’t mind if something has limited functionality as long as it works. The IR200 Is great loads of headroom. Especially on the clean amps.
Oh dear, this is disappointing.
I have a few Nu-x pedals which both sound fab and have solid functionality - for example the Tape Core (Space Echo) and the Roctary (Leslie).
I should say, I haven't plugged any of them into a computer
Hey Paul. Thx for your comment. Yeah I’m pretty gutted alright. The only other thing I own by them is the Cerberus but it’s pretty flawless. I was surprised by this.
@@TheGuitarEffect - I just had a thought about how you might be able to use it. (Sorry if this is long and convoluted though!)
Instead of using it by having the scenes with an A and B variation - which doesn't work for you because A is always a cleanish amp and B is always a dirty amp (you can't have two variations of the same amp) set it up as using the scenes as your variation of the same amp
For example, you have Scene One A as a clean Deluxe Reverb type and Scene Two A as a Deluxe Reverb that's a bit gritty and Scene Three A a Deluxe that's fully gained out.
That way you can just switch between the Scenes all on A.
Then you do the same with the Plexi model using B on all the scenes
I'm assuming that if you are on Scene One A and press the Scene footswitch you go to Scene Two A.
Would that work?
(By the way, I'm just watching a few more of your videos. I bought a Line 6 M5 a few weeks ago - in part because of your vid, it's a powerful wee pedal isn't it?)
Hey Paul. First off thx for watching my vids. Really appreciate it. Unfortunately I’m nearly sure if you are are in red b and you switch scene it goes to blue a. So that won’t work. Also you can’t actually rely on it changing scenes correctly.
The M5 is an absolute beast of a thing. Now there is a pedal with great sound, great functionality and great value.
@@TheGuitarEffect funny that's exactly how I found the channel. I was looking for a cheap but great sounding way to get some effects I don't use that much and came across the M5 video. Easily the best demo of that demo on RUclips.
@@TheGuitarEffect So, about the critique that you can't get the same Amp model in A and B? You can do your classic Rhythm/Solo setting of one Amp in the Scene setting. Disengage then the 3rd scene and Voilá: You have your two channel set up on the right footswitch.
really great pedal if you know how to reallty use it
Hey David. Thx for the comment. This is gonna sound sarcastic but I don’t mean it to at all. How do you really use it? I can’t figure out how this pedal is realistically useable when you can’t cycle through presets. Like is there a video you can point me to where this is demonstrated? I really would like to know what I’m doing wrong. Cause it sounds bloody great.
I couldn’t agree more .. I don’t want to go from a super reverb to a jcm 800 .. I’d much prefer to go from the super reverb to the vibro king on side B….
It’s functionality is very limiting…I’m glad to see I’m not the only one with this grievance
Hey. Thx for the comment. Did you also experience the problem with the random scene recall? That’s driving me mad.
@@TheGuitarEffect yes when I could get the software to work… honestly I still have mine only cause I don’t want to burden anyone else with my frustrations…
The firmware/software just needs a huge overhaul top to bottom
Right. The reason I ask is cause then there’s definitely nothing wrong with my one.
It’s so disappointing. I hope they solve a lot of these issues. Am I right thinking there’s no way to turn the drive pedal on on the unit too yeah?
@@TheGuitarEffect I tried everything.. the only way I could get it to work for me is to program by scene … which still defeats the purpose cause the scenes are glitchy as all…
I’m honestly hoping it’s something they addressed in the trident
To be honest. Without the analog drive and distortion section I’d probably sooner use this and the Cerberus than the trident but to be fair I haven’t tried it. They need to fix these bugs.
Use the scene to switch from clean to overdrive for example
Channel A: Fender amp
scene 1: Your Clean sound
scene 2: Your Overdriven/lead sound
scene 3: and more effects
what you're doing is switching between channel to go from clean to overdrive sound youre not using the scene to do it
And then ofcourse when you switch channels it will go back to scene 1 😅
Hey Jonathan. Thx for your comment. That’s actually not what I want to do. And not what I think makes sense.
What I want to do is have a clean, breakup, and dirty sounds on the three scenes and choose between them per song.
So I have my base tone depending on the song. Then I have the same lead sound on all b channels.
That’s the best way to use the fact that there are three two channel amps available as far as I’m concerned. And also it’s why they t makes sense to me that when I change Chanels it stays on the current scene.
I think you can achieve that using sticky scenes
Interestingly I tried to activate/ deactivate sticky scenes but I just couldn’t make sense of it in the software. Again really badly laid out.
it has bugs
That it certainly does!
too much talking
I’m so very sorry
I’m 11 minutes into this, and it’s obvious he has no idea how this pedal works.
Thx for the comment. I appreciate your feedback and will try harder.