It's not a modeler. It's the best pedalboard amp, in some respects better than a tube amp. And its AMP1 not Amped1. Balckstar ripped him off. Thomas' products are very personal in his designs. Thank god he has great taste! This thing will outlive all those rip offs and modelers you're comparing it with. Still, I'm still glad you made content for this product. It's a gem. I know you enjoyed it. You couldn't stop playing it. This is the longest random playing I've seen you include in your videos. Personally, I think you love it. And what's keeping you from making it you go to rig is the assumption that it's a modeler or that it's trying to model something. Everyone went through that stage of disbelief...even Thoms Blug himself. What you have there are 4 real amps in 1 box, albiet designed differently than the traditional amp. Four exceptional recreations of four famous amps circuits in 1 box.
“I was absolutely just playing guitar and thinking this is fun.” this is exactly why I love my BluGuitar Amp1 so much. It's the difference between playing guitar and ‘Hell yeah, I'm making music!’. It showed in your improvisations on this video too. 👍
The "crack" on the note is that Marshall thing, that zing that you get on the beginning of the note, that high end crack, that you get when Marshall is overdriving or near to overdrive, so it is not crystal clean anymore, and that thing Amp1 does really well, which is not surprise because it is Fender (clean), Marshall JTM45 (Vintage) Plexi/JCM 800 (Classic) Soldano etc (Modern), and they have that crack too. I have used few years it live and it is really great, and light 😀
Great video as always. Love your playing! The Bluguitar Amp 1 a great wee amp. I paired it with the Line 6 HXFX and gigged it for years. It replaced my Rivera M60 which weighed as much as dark matter (the Amp1 weighs about as much as a pint). You'll hear it on nearly all my recordings on youtube. I used it on my last album, 'Hyperreal'. I'd nearly finnished the album, but wasn't completely happy with the guitar tones. It wasn't the fault of the Bluguitar, but my terrible engineering skills. I still can't mic up a cab properly! I had a long chat with Thomas and he told me about the Blubox IR thing. At the time that was a gamechanger for me. I liked it so much, I went back and re recorded all the guitars on the album. This also makes it extremely versatile!! Over the years the wee pots down the side broke, but they were a very easy repair. Otherwise it's built like a tank! The reasons why I like Bluguitar are, it sounds great, it's loud enough to gig with (if you have a noisey drummer), it still has a valve amp feel, with the Blubox cab sim it is a great recording amp, its light, great for fly dates, takes FX well and (one of the most important things) the support is probably the best from any company I've worked with. And as a bonus Thomas is a top bloke!
It’s a great product, but I think a lot of people stopped buying them because we’ve been waiting for his new device he announced more than 3-4 years ago now, and there is still no release date yet. That device will be epic if it ever actually comes out.
I have the Mercury edition as my main amp. Great sounding 4 channel 100W head you can put on your pedalboard, which helps keep signal paths short for 4 cable method. Has useful MIDI functionality, incuding ability to adjust the gain structure on the fly. I have mine teamed up with a Boss MS3 so use the MIDI quite a lot. Eq controls are much more sensitive than on traditional tube amp, so treble control can add presence. Micro pots on the side also help volce the channels. Its not a digital modelling amp, it uses solid state analogue components in the preamp section. The nanotube in the power amp provides power tube saturation characteristics if you crank the master volume. It doesn't need a load, so you can use it for silent stage and still have these cranked power amp tones. Its been totally reliable in the last few years I've had mine.
I bought the BluGuitar Amped1 Mercury Edition last week. I have decided to move away from Tube amps. I don't like the weight of them and all the hassle with the tube amp maintenance. With tubes you also have that the sound is not being consistant and having to wait till the tubes to warm up at the rehearsel room before it gives good tone and the tubes are cooled down before I am able to transport the amp. I have decided to go for a dry wet setup with a Quilter Mach 3 combo with Celestion Redback and a BluGuitar Amped1 with EV EVM12 in a Thiele Cabinet.
Putting that amp in "low gain" mode deals with the high end that can be troubling for some. Also IMO makes it sound much nicer. Putting amp in half-power and low-gain mode makes this amp sound sweeter. low-gain - hold boost switch (2-3sec) when turning on AMp1 half-power mode - hold first switch (2-3 sec) when turning on Amp1. To reset to factory settings , hold all 3 switches and turn on the amp1, it will blink leds to indicate the reset.
I have it used it mostly at home and as a backup of my main amp goes down. It never sounded as good as you make it sound. It’s obvious the player can make anything sound beautiful. Thank you for your melodic inspiration
I think it comes down to Blug not being able to react and respond to how quickly the market got crowded and competitive. In a pretty short amount of time, there was the stealing by Blackstar, Friedman's IR-X, major updates to the Helix (v3.5, the "Cab Update"), IK's ToneX platform, and dozens of rig rundowns that feature Kemper and the Quad Cortex. It also doesn't help that there are so few widely recognized artists endorsing or using the Amp1.
Most of the things you mentioned are not actually amps. Blue needs to better market itself as a premium product and not a backup amp to beat out Blackstar. The fact that this question even came up shows that they aren't seen as a premium product.
I have the Irridium edition and as soon as X comes out I will buy that. It is an amazing unit! I could listen to only you and Pete Thorn exclusively on youtube and be 100 percent satisfied.
Chase chase chase…we all do it. It’s fun, frustrating, rewarding, confusing, and expensive. Nothing beats playing well and understanding signal flow. This will always produce the best tone but takes far more work than online shopping. For me, the menus and complexity of digital gear are their Achilles heel. The limitations of a single or dual channel amp with a few pedals is actually the best part of going old school. Sound actually has nothing to do with it because modern digital gear sounds amazing. Ask yourself: do I want to be a chameleon who nails the exact tone for every cover band gig I do OR do I want to develop my own voice on the guitar? Mind, hands, neck, pickups, volume knob, amp, fx…in that order of importance. That said, I’m awaiting my Quad Cortex delivery today 😂 I think this is finally gonna be the one!
I am using the Amp1 since it came out. Meanwhile I use the newer “Mercury Edition” together with a HX FX controlling the Amp1 via MIDI from the HX. I used a Kemper with FRFR for a while but returned to the Amp1 since the feeling during playing is much more authentic with the Amp1. Now I am experimenting with a Helix using a Fender FR10 and have to say that modeling is currently at a very high level. Love the Plexi model of the Helix…The only thing the Amp1 does way better than any digital device is using controlled feedbacks. I have not decided yet how I am going to continue. It does very much depend on the pricing of the AmpX…the market is now full of very interesting alternatives. So, time to market and pricing are extremely important for AmpX now.
If you look closer, BS didn't rip them off. The circuits are completely different. The concept is the same, but Blug wasn't the first to do that even. Where BS comes under scrutiny, is the name, and similar design concpts. There is no " nano-valve " in the BS, and they don't claim to use one.
Those of us who use them do just that. My Mercury is now hooked up permanently as a 4 cable with my LT. It is quite simply the best rig I have owned… big stage, small stage, recording… bedroom….. you name it, it just works. I have let kit go I never thought I would as this just nails it all.
I always get lured into wanting the Fractal stuff but in reality these units make more sense to me. I find so many of the 100's of amps to be redundant with almost imperceptible differences and I end up using only a handful anyway.
I mean, you can only play one at a time, right? Ok, I guess you can have a split signal going to more than one, but you can’t practically use them altogether. My point is at any single time no one is using all the amps in a fractal.
I've used several units - Boss, Line 6, Headrush, Valeton, Atomic, ISP and probably a couple I'm forgetting. You're right. Most of us use a clean, a mid gain and a higher gain amp, especially live. All the ones that say this is a Plexi? They're realy only the Plexi they modeled. There were so many variations between all the models of Plexi, some ear piercing, some smooth, some mid rangey. Same with most of the others as well, though maybe not as wide of variance.
11:02 you need to adjust the tone mini knob on the left side to adjust to your guitar and cab. The price is different since it has 4 channels and it’s a 100W amp, there’s nothing currently in the market to compare it with. The uniqueness of its architecture is one of its pros and main cons, not serviceable unless under warranty, but the idea is that it will not require constant service as a tube amp, no bias adjustment, etc
@@lanceholland yes - Blackstar's Amped 1 is the rip off... that's what my comment meant - sorry if I've been unclear - I've had the BluGuitar Amp1 since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 ;)
I recently bought a Mercury one and I think it is just awesome. Pairs super well with an HX Stomp. Super light and easy to get great sounds from. Should get more credit than it does.
The Bluguitar Amp1 Mercury Edition has need my main amp for #majikband for years. Both live and recording. I run it 4CM with an HX effects, lots of other pedals in front including a crazy tube circuits tube overdrive to add some tube breakup to the preamp stage. I just played two outdoor shows this weekend where I could turn up to 5-6 and it just sings at the higher volumes. It’s the best amp I have had and pushes out high end amps in the studio for our albums regularly.
There are some videos from the last NAMM show with demos of the next generation of the Blu. It sounded incredible. Never tried one, but each new generation (from a number of companies) shows this technology has really come a long way.
I considered a BluGuitar, then heard about their upcoming Amp X which has been delayed a few times. Instead I purchased a used, mint condition, ISP Theta Pro DSP Michael Sweet, and an ISP Theta Pro Stealth Amp which work great. My current set-up is the ISP Theta Pro DSP stage outs into my Engl E850/100 dual 100W rack power amp with each side going into an Engl PRO E212VHB cab; with the cab sim off; sounds amazing...the Theta Pro DSP is like a rack preamp with effects on the floor; I can also run the main / direct outs of the ISP Theta Pro to my PA with the cab sims; I can use either output or both together. For a smaller rig, I use the ISP Stealth Pro power amp into a Mesa Compact 2x12, and can send the main/direct outs to FOH if needed..
Thank for this video John! I bought the mercury 6 months ago and just got the iridium. I love the way these feel. Have not been able to get my Helix to give me the kind of interplay and musicality. Going to combine these with an HX effects rig via midi. Powerful combination.
If you go for a HXFX make sure you get a new one or one that has been chipped. The original ones are noisey in an FX loop and hiss terribly if you go for the 4 cable method. AMP 1 and HXFX is a better deal than a Quad Cortex as you get waaaaaaay more fx, but the payoff is less amp sounds and you can't do captures, so you don't get to listen to any weird alien noises! You'd have to meet actual weird aliens for that!
I've been using the Amp1 Iridium for a few years now and I love it. Highly recommend. The only suggestion I have is to disable the built-in speaker cabinet simulator and use your own IR. There is also an additional cable that you can purchase from their site to allow you to use MIDI functions. 🤘🎸
Great Amp. Been using it for years, I have the first version and the second Mercury Edition. It's a 100W+ amp with a tube in the power stage. Love this thing.
They are super cool units. Very sensitive to speaker choice. I do not recommend V30s for this amp. Something warmer like a Creamback or Redback will make it a lot more pleasant in the high end.
Quite agree. I use CL80's and (recently) Creamback H75. Sounds amazing. The V30's (chinese ones) were awful for anything exept thrash metal. Which is great, except I play mainly jazz!
Exactly that👍 gave up on V30s, I don’t get the hype on these speakers, and yes I know Slash uses them! Now using the cheaper 70/80s which seem to get a bad rep because they are cheap but boy they sound immense with the Amp1
@@davegale9116Here is a track from my #majikband with amp1 ME and a Chinese V30 cab. Sounds good to me. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Qg6ogJ6wsxw.htmlsi=2lxPFWmaWWIoGNkW
@@davegale9116 I think V30s sound great at home because you get lots of clarity and it feels nice to play. Turned up to gig volume they become far too harsh for what I do at least.
I think the only downside to these are the inability to load IRs unless you get the Bluebox to go with it, I believe Thomas Blug is addressing this on the new one out soon.
I use the Amp 1 Iridium with a Helix LT in 4 Cable method using a Two Notes Cab M+ for speaker emulation/DI so I can go without a cab if required. I’ve never been happier with the sound. Works well with all of my guitars (single coils or humbuckers). Always get compliments about my sound when playing out. I’m controlling the Amp 1 using the Helix’s midi commander to leverage snapshots to allow me to access different amp channels, gain settings and the second master volume for boost. Haven’t needed to use the Helix as a pre-amp yet as I’m quite satisfied with the amp sounds from the Amp 1. I don’t find any high end chirping in my tones. You may want to try the low gain mode.
I had 2 of them go down in a puff of smoke. When they did work often times they would start flashing and just shut off. I could never trust using them again.
I have an original Amp1, which is great. I use it as a backup for my valve (or tube) amps. Easy to shove in the car and have it sitting there for back up.
It's a product that doesn't have enough tubes for the tube snobs and not enough flexibility for the modeler crowd, add the fact that it isn't a shinny new thing and no wonder it dropped off the radar.
By the his BluBox is an exceptionally good DI. Pairs great with the Amp1 as it lets you dial in an even greater variety of tones..... but also perfect for any amp instead of using a mic.
The number of Amp1 users is growing! And more and more „names“ learn, how great this gear is. Ask Jennifer Batten, for instance 😊. I still use my Silver Edition (the insider name of the first run before the Mercury ) on a daily basis for practicing, recording, on rehearsals and gigs. I never had an issue, except the blue lit Logo sometimes flickers 😊. I’m on the waiting list for the AmpX. When it’s in my hands, my Friedman Small Box will get sold.
I’ve been watching johns channel develop now for a few years , his playing and feel are amazing , my only criticism and I don’t know if it’s the speakers I listen to his stuff is the reason but honestly nearly all his demos tone wise sound very similar to each other. This doesn’t take away from the music and quality of nite choice, to be fair other you tubers such such as Pete thorn fall into the same box , peace and love ❤
I think so often it's note choice as much as the tone itself. That's why so many famous guitarist still sound like themselves when playing through someone else's rig
Im curious why nobody talks about the Victory V4 amp pedals when talking about this subject? Is it price compared to the rest of the competition, or something else?
I recently watched a video of Thomas comparing sounds between a real Plexi, his Amp1, and a PRS HRDX20. The Amp1 did such a good emulation that I went and googled for a price… Cripes. My guess is that’s why it may not be talked about much anymore. Besides reliability and portability, most people expect solid state options to be less expensive than tube amps. Although the Amp1 in his demo sounded exceptionally good, it didn’t sound better than the HDRX but it was just as expensive. So given that, I would just choose the tube amp instead.
Have you tried the twonotes ReVolt ? I still like being able to turn a physical knob to tweak eq rather than having to adjust presets . Something like that with a HXFX or the Amp1 would give you 3 channels of direct sounds without a ton of presets . Just have you core sounds and whatever fx you need separately
I've got one of these and it's both flawed and indispensable .. flaws first: Why does it have a reverb button?!! Would be SO much more useful if that was a level boost!! Only the Iridium version allows you to defeat the speaker sim on the rec out. That should be there on all and you should have user IR slots. The trim controls on the side should have more range. Benefits: It just sounds and feels so good. Fantastic EQ. MIDI! It really is loud! What I don't get (and here I think Blackstar were right), why has TB gone after the Amp-X without doing some simple derivatives?! He could sell that power amp stand-alone as a back end for a modeller, he could have done a deluxe version with more tone controls, he could have integrated some simple FX in to make a full stand-alone travel amp (add a delay and a modulation and you'd be laughing). They'd have been simple to add to the Amp-1, and would have bought time for him to do the Amp-X .. Ah well ..
You can switch the Amp1 to "preset" switching mode and have reverb button to switch to another preset channel (with boost on, or changed volume level on side pots). At the time speaker sim on recout was not thought out in full (simple filter). They changed it later on iridium. Time works that way. I've never use recout (well once to test it and that was it), used speaker out or direct to bluebox and so on. Try setting side pots first to your desired sound/feel, then use main EQ section to fine tune the tone. Range of the amp eq seems quite sufficient to me.
@@TheMemagNeman I hear what you say and I've worked round it as well .. I can't think of a piece of gear I own that I haven't had to do a work round in some way shape or form. Ultimately I've kept it and nothing has come close to displacing it so the flaws can't be that bad!!! As you say, time does that .. and it's a shame that TB has focussed on the Amp-X so much and not done further updates .. c'est la vie I have this Amp-1 and an HX Stomp .. if I needed a small rig that might be silent and definitely needs to go to FOH, I'd take the Amp-1 before the HX Stomp .. in sound terms, it's so good that I've swapped my Friedman head out for it (when a tube's gone) and carried on with the gig without anyone in the band noticing .. never mind the audience .. and with me thinking at the end "can I be arsed with that valve thing?!"
Exactly. Blackstar stole the idea and circuitry from Blu Amp1? I think the guy is trying to find a way to get paid for his intellectual property. But Blackstar is a huge company, and they can steal from whoever they want. They are exempt from the rules of society, as most big companies are.
I still have mine and a nanocab. It’s still a great setup. But we’ve moved to silent stage/IEMs so it never gets used. What happened? Thomas Blug is struggling to get the Amp-X out the door and at $2K- it’s a doomed product.
@@John-xd6ns I think it is still fairly unique, or at least a unique approach. I still keep coming back to the amp 1 after trying other gear as it just works and it's hard to beat it's combination of sounds quality and flexibility
The difference between the real amp and the Amp1 was immediately evident. To each their own, but the Amp1 sounds harsh by comparison to my ear. Question: why doesn't anyone ever demo that kinds of units through a cab in the room? As soon as you start running through IRs and whatnot, you're not really hearing the unit anymore. Also: how does it sound LOUD? That where every digital modeller ever falls down. They're great for the bedroom but they turn to mush at gig volumes.
My amp 1 sounds great loud. Played two outdoor shows this weekend and it sounds fantastic at 5-6 master volume. Any higher would be too loud for almost any stage.
Well...I don't know what channel John was on but it was certainly running more gain and there was more break up going on. I thought it sounded good - but not the same as the fender
I'm curious to hear the final version of AmpX, the Amp1 is interesting but I was definitely turned off by the harsh high end when I tried it. Like every class D instrument power amp, it felt very compressed even at its cleanest settings too.
I still have the first version of the BlueAmp1 and I just use it as power amp for an Helix Stomp. I was never so much blown away from its sound and I think all the actual digital gear is much more flexible - and sound better in the end. I find the other versions of the BluAmps too over priced. The Amp-X story has become a bad joke in the mean time and I wonder who will buy this one for a price of an Axe-FX if it will ever released.
Amp 1 sounds awesome, but, needs a Computer Wiz kid to simply integrate the OS into the digital domain where it can be tweaked with automation filters and still function as it does, just more integrated into the DAW driven workd of at home musicians. As a oedal amp its terrific, but, as a recording device it needs an better interface. Some kid will come along and bring that old rocker into the 21st century and his product will sell like hotcakes. ~ Inertia
This amp should have been more successful in it's 10yr run (and still a current production model). Mine has replaced my 2203 Marshall JMP, as I can dial in the same sound, and the Amp-1 fits in a travel bag. On the occasions that I've taken the JMP head as a backup, other guitarists have assumed they were hearing the Marshall and complimented me on the tone! It's a box that almost seems too good to be true and I think it needed a big player to get behind it. You can pick up an original 'Silver' model used, for about £300, which is a STEAL. The Amp-X should be exciting, but I think it will struggle in the current market. Let's not forget that the USP of the Amp-1 is that it's Analogue, not a modeller.
@@TheMemagNeman I use the Classic channel, settings vary on the room but I put the overdrive master on full and control the gig volume with the global master volume. Tend to run gain around 4, and use a Digitech Bad Monkey as a mild drive on top to just add some sustain. Works really well. The Digitech isn’t really necessary, it just changes the feel a bit, makes some things a bit less work!
I have seen a video where he claims that Blackstar stole his tech. What I heard of the Marshall model he demoed sounded very good. I just think there is far too much competition in the current market. Good for the buyer, but companies will fold. Some of them seem more like toy makers…
Not really. There's apparently some of the same components in the power section that are, or thought were proprietary. But otherwise they're quite different units
Who says it dropped of the radar? It is still selling, some accessories and especially the discontinued remote are almost impossible to find, almost nobody got more NAM coverage than Blug. And for a product that does not do everything (but a few things very well) while being not dirt cheap and, without any disrespect, having a few flaws (some important settings only accessible via the non-existing remote, urgently required Midi adapter almost always sold out, no uncomplicated way to get a DI signal out for use with own IRs, to name the ones I experienced), there is nothing to complain about. Yes, obviously Blackstar tried to rip this off, but whoever played their Amped 1 thru 3 devices, will have to admit that they are a) vastly different, and b) apart from the clean tones (which are pretty usable as a pedal platform), sound like shit and have awful amounts of latency. All we see is a dated product, and since it is a analog device - there are no fancy updates with tons of new features, selling less since the successor has been announced for years. This is not a complaint, and I prefer a working product myself. But the timing of this was Thomas' decision. No need to blame anybody else.
In this demo or when you've tried it? The controls are very powerful and I do find that sometimes the bass needs to be set fairly low to stop it flubbing. John did have the amp working really hard here, plugged in to a normal cab that would have been loud gigging volume so that could cause a bit of looseness too
Different products though. This really is an amp head in a compact floor unit. Plug it straight into a cabinet and off you go. ToneX is your capture through IR through PA approach
This caught my eye a few weeks ago from Blug talking about the Amped 1 stuff. That was on my radar as I saw a comparison of poweramps for a modeller and the blackstar sounded great just using the power amp but now knowing the Blackstar seems to be a copy of the Bluguitar it has definitely been on my radar. Would you be able to do a video of using a modeller going into just its power amp/effects return to hear how it sounds?
The HX Stomp is over $200 USD cheaper, and is a true modeler. This is just a 100W class D solid state guitar amp in a floor pedal format, with a gimmicky low voltage tube in the preamp section. Or am I missing something?
@tonystartup3817 I never said it was a modeler, but others were comparing it to one. And the "nano tube" cannot be part of the power stage since we know that's a 100W class D transistor output stage. Without a schematic I can't comment further, but this tube probably isn't doing anything useful other than adding lots of "dirt".
@@joeltunnahthe nanotube is in the power amp section. Thomas discusses and compares with class D and tube power amps from about 7 mins onwards in this video ru-vid.comiZ--XLUjOrw I understand its like a first stage of the poweramp section before the class D section to give you power tube response characteristics when driven hard by the preamp section.
@spharr a sub-miniature tube cannot and will not act in any way like an octal power tube driving an output transformer. That's why I'm calling it what it is, a gimmick that gives people the warm fuzzies because of the word "tube".
@@joeltunnah due to its design it has no power transformers, you could check their Channel and post your questions, they may not tell you every single detail, but they’re quite responsive.
You didn't use the little knobs on the side. They control things like how forward or present it sounds like. Read the freaking manual dude. The only thing digital is the reverb.