HOTONE AMPERO MINI - Should You Consider This £200 Guitar Multi FX?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 มิ.ย. 2024
- Today Paul from The Studio Rats is joined by Lee Abraham to look at his new guitar multi fx purchase, the HOTONE AMPERO MINI.
This tiny guitar multi effects has all you need to get guitar tones, but is it any good?
Here is what HOTONE say about the Ampero MINI.
Ampero Mini is the smallest guy in our Ampero family so far, offering you uncompromised Ampero sound in an ultra compact aluminum case. It has the essentials of stunning Ampero effects armory with 3rd party IR support. Onboard essential I/O jacks are more than enough for daily use, the touch screen and intuitive UI ensures smooth, straight-forward experience on a minimalized chassis. Ampero Mini will offer you excellent performance on the money, especially for players who want to experience Ampero tone, rookies on a budget, session musicians who need both ultra-compact size and pro tone, even experienced amp modeler players.
The Studio Rats are core band members Paul Drew on guitar/production/mixing, drummer James Ivey and Dan Hawkins on bass. They collaborate with singers and musicians to produce radio-ready songs. - เพลง
I had just opened my Ampero- Mini an hour or so before seeing your review and truly enjoyed both the sounds and the Absolutely Brilliant editing / operating implementation of the fabulous touch screen and the Amazing Form Factor! Paul ... I love 98% of everything you do, your reviews , impeccable guitar tone and technique and your generally even and solid attitude! I was quite surprised how hastily you judged various aspects of the unit without digging in to the editing capabilities! Seems you had a less than even temperment goig on during the review. Yes the presets tend to be bright with too much presence and over use of effects. Adding you own IRs Greatly Improves Everything. I owned an original Ampero... loved it! I currently use either a Tonex Pedal and board , a Boss GX-100 and now the Ampero - Mini thru a Blackstar Amped 1 for live use ... depending on the venue , stage size, audience size etc. and the audience is clueless as to which unit is being used! A great performances can be done with either of the 3!!! As always thanks for your review but it would be nice to see you dig deeper into the unit in another review. My secret weapon with the Mini is the light use of the tape effect / "Satifaction" to slighty soften the digital presence of the unit! Cheers!
Hi Billy.
When it comes to reviews I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t. If I do a positive review people say I’m being paid to give a good review and if I give a bad review I have people who have bought the unit saying I don’t know what I’m talking about. If someone finds this unit inspiring then that’s great for them and I’m pleased. I do feel the sound of this unit is going backwards to what you can get elsewhere. I get to try a lot of gear on the channel and I hope that people who watch the channel get good unbiased advice about what they are buying.
Do you use it in front of the blackstar? Are the cab models off? Thanks
Crazy, I love this unit. You can get some very nice tones without loosing in options and possibilities. Not everything sounds good but common, for 200 Euro, great little pedal.
Thanks for the review. I was a little surprised that you (Paul) and/or Lee didn't spend more time using the available adjustments to try and craft the sound(s) more to your liking given your experience with other fx units that need tweaking.
No point. Underpowered DSP. Good as a backup unit if all you need are cleans with a little light reverb and EQ. For that it's fine...though the MG-30 is better and half the price lightly used. I had both. I also bought a FM9- amazing tone and effects but dated UI.
@DG-ti1jb You can't compare the price of one item bought new to another bought used. Have you ever heard the saying about apples to oranges?
@@castleanthrax1833 Meh- I guess. All I am saying is the Ampero is not so great for anything other than cleans. Like the interface.
@@UTAH100 "Meh"? What about the interface? What possible difference does the interface have when you are talking about the sounds that the unit produces? Apples to oranges again. The interface contributes nothing to the sound mate.
This happens when the content creator approaches the company to do a review but gets rejected. It's called payback time. 😂
"it sounds good when you play it ..." simply great. Thank you - that review was awesome .
Glad you enjoyed it
I think it could make a great compact travel/practice amp.. has built in effects, built in drum machine.. so if you just want to practice with a pair of headphones.
Sounds great. A nice pedal to fit on your pedal board or desktop.
great review. The Marshalls, especially the first one reminded my of the 90s mulit fx when the distortion was so fuzzy and digital. Also using the volume control on the guitar doesn't clean up the patch well.
It sounds like a good little practice, convenience unit and if you tweak the patches it will be good enough for home use.
Cleanup with the guitar volume might have been better if the compressor wasn't on in front of the overdrive block.
How is the sound compared to zoom ms 50g? Nice honest review by the way.
for me its like this your right, drive sounds great. I remember you made a boss me 80 sound amazing, keep up the good work.
I appreciate that!
The amp modelling is pretty good in these 1st gen Ampero but the cabs not so much.. Just get your favorite IRs in the unit and it gets way better.
Yeah. I think if a device can take third party IRs, the best way to test them is to test everything with your fave IR to see what they can actually do, and then test the built in speaker sims as a separate thing. Because few of them manage to match the best specialist speaker IRs.
I heard this unit tweaked with the stock cab/mic and orange amp and it sounded great. More tweaking is possibly needed to get the tones you want.... IRs can be loaded too so a bit more use of it's functionality would maybe change your mind Paul.
Maybe, but the thing is it should sound great out the box.
Hi where this Ampero Mini of yours is connected please ? Amp, sound card… ?
I'm wondering if it's significantly better than my current Mooer GE 150. I like the form factor, but I'm not exactly sure if it's worth to make a jump.
Thought it sounded great Paul, would love you to revisit and create a patch, work your magic with EQ etc 👍
Cheers I’ll see if Lee still has it.
it sounds amazing. great little set up. by the way, i feel a compressor with a drive pedal or driven amp will interfere with volume pot of guitar method to lower gain, and over squashes the guitar tone for driven rhythm and takes too much of the dynamics and cut in a mix away. overdrive is a form of compression by itself.
That's a fckng small but powerful modeller. It sounds really good! Personally, I would like to see this sized amp modeller instead of a multi FX. I have the Boss IR-200, but it's been over a year and I'm still struggling to find a good tone on it. I've got three amp models with a preset each that I'm happy with, but I feel like I could get a lot more out of the pedal.
What pickups are in that lovely telecaster?
same Paul I do respect your views a lot and I'm sorry you didn't like it. it would mean a lot if you could make some presets for us even though you don't like the unit. but frankly for the money , having a looper, drums and all the effects I think im going to still pull the trigger on buying one !
Andertons selling the valeton gp 200 lite for under £200 in there summer sale.
Brilliant multi effects pedal and well built.
can I go to stomp box mode on this if I connect footswitches (not midi)? tks
I play the Ampero 2 stomp. To be honest it doesn’t sound much different even with different irs. The JTM 45 in particular is farty and weird and the unit tends toward being bright.
All that being the case I still take it out more than my PRS mt15 (which is a fantastic tube head), because particularly with heavy rock stuff I find it’s really good at ‘getting out of the way’ in a mix. Even with a fair bit of distortion on I don’t seem to be fighting with the bass or the vocals. The tight bits sound tight, and the big bits sound big which is something I have always struggled with with tube heads.
I reckon it’s a good unit if you like ‘modern’ tones.. ie tight and bright. The classic tones can be a bit hit and miss.
Thanks for the message fastboy. It’s looks like you found the same thing. Also those MT15 are cracking amps.
@@TheStudioRats yeah pretty much. Great demo. I felt a bit sorry for the guy who bought it. He looked gutted!
How does this compare in terms of sound quality with the Sonicake Matribox?
Which one? Sonicake has two now? The Matribox II is superior to the original. it is slightly more money @ $229
so i would say it is about equal to the Ampero with the added bonus of a foot pedal on the Matribox.
Looks a great little affordable play box tbh 👍
Interesting.. All the amps sounded bass heavy to me with headphones on.. At least to me, and I don't know what you were playing into..
I think I'll buy either the ToneX or the new Boss ME90.. I'm looking at both to go direct and I only need a clean, a middle of the road gain channel and an all out balls to the wall with delay and reverb and some micropitch maybe.. Micropitch is one of my favorite effects, and I'll use it with the Eventide Micropitch pedal which is a lot cheaper than the rack version now thank god!
Great videos guys.. I love this channel.. Thank you for adding value to my life! I appreciate it very much.
From the heartland.. South Central Indiana. USA
Tim
Was thinking the same. Maybe they had a high cut somewhere in the signal chain and that basicly ruined the whole review.
@@mk_mlt It is Odd because on a few other reviews this unit sounded amazing and not bass heavy at all?
Did all the yellow paint peel off ?
Paul! What are the pickups on this telecaster? they are amazing.
It’s a good question I’m afraid I don’t know what’s in the bridge but there’s a Seymour Duncan vintage in the neck.
This is a high gain monster.🤘🤘🤘
Hey Paul... any updates on vol 2 of your Tonex captures?
I think it’s due 21st July
@@TheStudioRats Awesome ! Thanks
are there any budget units that sound as good as s-gear or neural plugins ?
Depends on budget, but tonex pedal is great.
Not meh, good. If it had an fx loop it would be great. Staying thrifty you can run it with the 4 switch M Wave Chocolate midi controller using their USB dongle, about $40US for both.
The truth is someone who has half an idea about what they’re doing and is prepared to invest a bit of time can get good guitar sounds out of just about any modern modeller! It’s more about the UI, features and ergonomics for me. I want to be playing fairly quickly not deep diving though multiple menus and for that it’s great, very intuitive
Paul, you should try NUX MG30
In my experience, presets aren’t that great in more affordable modeling stuff. But I think this might be a lot better with some tweaking and third party IR’s. That’s the name of the game, affordable stuff has some tweaking acquired.😅
I would use this just for it’s user interface and form factor. But I would have to spend some extra tweaking time.
True. I have a Sonicake Matribox and 90% of the presets are awful. But I tweaked some favorites and those sound really good now.
I do agree if it was $3,000 you would have dialed the shit to no end and wouldn’t have swept through 7 different amps before you even decided to change any eq and just trashed the amps and said next. I do appreciate all your vids and opinions, this is a fantastic channel. I just have to agree that you didn’t give it a fair shake at all and keep this in mind, I don’t own one and have no dog in the fight. If you’re going to take the time to edit, record and play for a video-take the time to give it a fair shake. Cheers
I disagree, if it was £3000 I would have said the same thing. The thing is these companies are trying to sell products that just aren’t good enough. If a customer walks into a guitar shop and turns on a piece of gear, the presets should be outstanding to entice the customer to purchase. As a guy who has worked in studios all my life I know how to eq and use effects to get the best out of them. Someone starting off should not have to deep dive in a substandard peice of gear to try and coax a half decent tone.
interesting, i have the Ampero II stomp and love it, sounds way better then this. I use it for gigging now and is awesome
The problem is that the companies keep changing the form factor instead of improving the algorithms
Agreed
I’ve seen amazing demos on this pedal...
You should have used some good IRs instead of the factory cab sims,i bet paul would have liked this unit better!
Possibly, but they should then ship with better ir’s.
Most buget modelers do not have good cab sims or IRs,you have to use one of your own that you know sounds good with other modeling units!If the Ampero still sounds not so good with a good IR then you would be correct on it sounding only ok!
I remember the Ampero being one of the best in terms of amp sims and gain staging, maybe this small one has less dsp
Maybe. Cheers Martin
And what are you playing it through? If it is a crappy PA it is not the Ampero's fault😳
£10k monitors,
Paul ... your response to my comments were surprisingly quick and a testament to your true professionalism ... You are absolutely my Number 1 go to guy for creditable and accurate reviews and stellar guitar tones with extremely tasteful playing. I purchased your tones for both the Tonex and the Boss GX-100. SPECTACULAR! Maybe Lee overhyped you regarding the Mini ...It is marketed as their older sounds in an amazing form factor. The editing and operation via touch-screen is second in my opinion to no one! It was never made to compete with Tonex! But tone is your mission and that's why I love your Website. My Mini is mostly for practice right next to my couch with a few useful tones, Drum machine synced to looper and plenty of effects to EXPLORE. You have a tough job and do it better than anyone. As always Cheers and Happiness ... you're an internet HERO!
Cheers Billy!
Its so refreshing to hear mixed and even negative thoughts in a review. Thanks for your honesty. I have the Ampero II Stomp, and it is pretty good, but my main rig is a ToneX and an HX Stomp. The Ampero II Stomp has very weak control features, even with MIDI. This Ampero Mini has even weaker control features and no MIDI. You can add a 2 button footswitch which would help, but then it isn't as small anymore. They got close with this one (and the A2S), but they missed in a few areas. Shame.
Cheers Steve.
Here's an alternative review of the Mini by Michael Nielson th-cam.com/video/P-4mU8rhQRw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=vfzY9j1lrRuVlPuR. I've gigged around the world with a conventional backline for over 40 years and have played many fly-in gigs using a Kemper, Boss Katana and in recent years a Quad Cortex. The Quad Cortex feels the most like a real amp to me, especially in the way I use it - usually with a 4x12 and power amp.
I think the beauty of this unit is it's size and convenience, especially as a practice amp/recording interface for a touring musician.
Interesting what you can get for an affordable price. But I’m sticking with my GX 100 and ToneX with the TSRs ToneX presets, that combination is amazing for the price
Good choice! There’s no comparison between the two. Cheers Gary.
For me weakest point of ampero is cab block. Use your IR, disable mic in ampero. And tooo much presence freqs in input.
And then they sounds better
Thanks for the tip.
Gee I wonder why all of those amp models sound bad through the same built in cab???
I would like to hear a review of this without the amp/cab sounds... i think it could be used as a poor man's eventide unit on a pedalboard. Just modulation/ delays/ reverbs etc.
Good shout
I was thinking something similar. Like maybe a companion to TONEX with the mini only doing wet effects and looping. Would love to see a review like that.
the tone x really thats your comparison , why dont you try comparing to something else in its price range , not very smart🙄
Doesn't sound any worse than your typical overly compressed, normalized and equalized album track from the last 20 years to be fair.
Oh, man, that stings. You’re not wrong 😬
Cmon let's not exaggerate
Says the nobody who probably has never recorded anything nor released music professionally.
@@DarkEtherealRhythmI wasn't aware that releasing your own music was a prerequisite for having an opinion. 😮
Leo Gibson would say it s good but u must tweak d sound in. Play with d EQ. I found the sounds trebleless
"Lee likes buying affordable gear and making the most out of it.... which is basically what everyone should be doing" sounds rich from someone with a CS Tele on his knee 😂
That’s Lee’s mantra not mine. I say go out and buy the most overpriced stuff and never play it.
I think you guys still had the compressor on with the dirty tones... And really that's a no no. I think you guys should try it again
Your description of sounding 10+ years old is spot on! This Hotone doesn't sound bad... But also doesn't sound great compared to what is out now.
The price and small compact size is cool... But doesn't do it for me.
Cheers Jeff
Oh yea? What's out now that your even talking about lol
It's not based off of 10 year old tech it just uses a simpler chip doesn't it
@@CyberWaveRadio-nn4om *you're
What are you the grammarr police of youtube. Does youtube pay you to correct people's grammar. It's just all about you isn't it. Well your the one with a problem buddy
Il faut juste prendre cela pour ce que c est ......un petit boitier a 200 euros qui peu rendre sacrement service , mais ca ne vaudra jamais des pedales , sur mon pedalboard j ai 5 pedales qui valent le prix d un line 6 LT ; et c est un choix raisonné , apres chacun vois midi a sa porte .......
Girls.... Hot One. Okay?
This happens when the content creator approaches the company to do a review but gets rejected. It's called payback time. 😂
tonex pedal sucks - no gain needs external boost /od - did you try to edit any of the settings or use Ir's - they should have used the ampero 2 modeling and processor
Man, I'm a fan of this channel, but I had to stop watching by 6:10. Reason: so damn lazy! Turns on a preset, doesn't even try to EQ or adjust gain on the thing one bit like any normal person would do to any regular pedal and judges it as "bad". Please, never again. That's not what we want from a decent review.
If I’ve got to turn a multi Fx on and start deep diving to get a decent tone I’m out. I’m guessing you have one to be that angry at the review, but as someone that has reviewed many many multi fx I can say this unit is not great. Eq should be for fine adjustments not total tone shape.
Why should eq only be for fine adjustments? That’s a weird take. With some basic eq sculpting you could’ve gotten closer to what you were after.
@@TheStudioRats What you are forgetting or maybe are unaware of is that when it comes to these Multi effect units(ALL of them!) the presets from the factory are never great! any unit i get home the very first thing i do after learning to tweak the functions is to make my own presets. its just the way it is with these.
Next time, use a humbucker in the bridge! A tele is NOT GOOD on high gain. Single coils suck ash in the bridge for higher gain. Review was not fair at all because you used the wrong guitar.
Your so tone freak!
Amp1 mercury is way better!!
Yes no doubt about it but you are comparing apples to tomatoes! Bluguitar's AMP1 is a real tube amp with no built in effects. Not to mention they sell for over $700! Great unit nonetheless
NO
I think my 65€ vox stomplab is better than this chrap.
I think you might be right.
Not the mini is d meh. Ur attitude on this, the zero interest and zero effort to tweak that sound in right was the meh
Beautifully put!
@@TheStudioRats it was not a review. Running through on it without d minimal interest and respect
@@ymelfilm I tend to find people that have bought things, don’t like to be told the item isn’t very good.
@@TheStudioRats yes, that can happen, ppl are biased. But: ur dude did not tweak in the sounds. So it was not a review. Simply attitude of looking down
@@ymelfilm A unit like this should sound great as soon as you switch it on.