Hotone Ampero II Stomp

[thisisswanbon]

On 03/01/2023 at 15:22, stewblack said:

Well I've given up on getting the pc editor to work. Luckily enough the pedal is simple and intuitive to adjust on the unit itself and of course by learning to do this I can easily make changes at a gig.

NYE I set up a couple of rows of effects in parallel with some always on and five switcheable. Sent this out to two amps with the always on effects going to both and others going exclusively to the 'treble' amp.

The big success story was the envelope filter. A beautiful bubbly, watery sound coming from one amp and the bottom end still solid and unaffected. Very impressed. The others need more work, I want to find the perfect phaser, the perfect chorus, and the overdrive was a bit fizzy for my taste.

However, I'm impressed with the unit, certainly happy to gig it as a simple uncluttered option.

Thread resurrection! 

 

Do you still use your Ampero 2 @stewblack?  I'm thinking of one of these instead of the HX stomp... I like the idea of the touch screen and reports of better sound quality.  Just wondering what your take is after a few months?

[stewblack]

8 minutes ago, thisisswanbon said:

Thread resurrection! 

 

Do you still use your Ampero 2 @stewblack?  I'm thinking of one of these instead of the HX stomp... I like the idea of the touch screen and reports of better sound quality.  Just wondering what your take is after a few months?

Yes I use it. It isn't without its limitations - but then all pedals have those. 

I have to say it remains the easiest pedal to set up without recourse to a computer or tablet. It has fantastic effects and a couple I feel could be better - specifically the octave up and pitch shifts can be wobbly and pitchy. 

The touch screen is great, the overdrives, fuzzes, filters, modulation, compression and amps sound great. Don't use the cab sims so can't say. 

I've finally got the software to work  on the PC and it's fine, intuitive.

I owned the Helix  and I don't know if the Ampero is definitively better, because personal taste comes into it so much.

I've gigged with it as part of a pedal board and as a standalone. It's great as a stomp with the additional 2 button footswitch.

I think it's great, but I haven't used it as much as other people might have because I'm a pedal board butterfly and keep changing up.

 

 

[thisisswanbon]

8 hours ago, stewblack said:

Yes I use it. It isn't without its limitations - but then all pedals have those. 

I have to say it remains the easiest pedal to set up without recourse to a computer or tablet. It has fantastic effects and a couple I feel could be better - specifically the octave up and pitch shifts can be wobbly and pitchy. 

The touch screen is great, the overdrives, fuzzes, filters, modulation, compression and amps sound great. Don't use the cab sims so can't say. 

I've finally got the software to work  on the PC and it's fine, intuitive.

I owned the Helix  and I don't know if the Ampero is definitively better, because personal taste comes into it so much.

I've gigged with it as part of a pedal board and as a standalone. It's great as a stomp with the additional 2 button footswitch.

I think it's great, but I haven't used it as much as other people might have because I'm a pedal board butterfly and keep changing up.

 

 

Thanks for the detailed response! 

 

I'd read some of the pitch effects were poor, luckily that's not the aim for me... I'm mostly looking for good amp/cab sims and convincing drives (as I plan to ditch the amp and go FOH and IEMs) with access to filters and modulations for future requirements. More bass amps would've been nice, but too much choice on the hx stomp always hindered me, so one nice amp sim should hopefully work a treat!

 

I plan on integrating it with my C4 and ultrawave, and analogue octaver in the effects loop. Do you use any sort of external controller with yours?

[stewblack]

36 minutes ago, thisisswanbon said:

Thanks for the detailed response! 

 

I'd read some of the pitch effects were poor, luckily that's not the aim for me... I'm mostly looking for good amp/cab sims and convincing drives (as I plan to ditch the amp and go FOH and IEMs) with access to filters and modulations for future requirements. More bass amps would've been nice, but too much choice on the hx stomp always hindered me, so one nice amp sim should hopefully work a treat!

 

I plan on integrating it with my C4 and ultrawave, and analogue octaver in the effects loop. Do you use any sort of external controller with yours?

I have the Ampero footswitch to add two switches for greater flexibility in stomp mode. Adding those three pedals will give you a killer set up!

[thisisswanbon]

On 06/04/2023 at 08:26, stewblack said:

I have the Ampero footswitch to add two switches for greater flexibility in stomp mode. Adding those three pedals will give you a killer set up!

I was tempted to get the midi switch they do, but I've set up 4 patches and I seem to have enough with the 3! I have a couple of niggles, and a couple of things I need to suss but over all it sounds fantastic through headphones! Definitely sounds more "alive" to me than the hx stomp did (YMMV).

 

Incase anyone's interested, main niggles are...

 

1) The 6 effects on path A and 6 on B isn't every well thought out when splitting.

 

2) I HATE that I can't press two footswitches at once to turn one effect off and another on at the same time! It automatically scrolls through banks with no way of changing that I can see!

 

3) As intuitive as the touch screen is; I'd have liked an effects screen layout similar to the hx stomp XL and Helix LT!

[stewblack]

I think you might be pleasantly surprised by the possibilities of external controls. This guy knows his stuff ...

https://youtu.be/uXBgFGpCyeg

[stewblack]

Also scroll to 6.36 on this one https://youtu.be/q13bgV9aPBo

 

Edited April 9, 2023 by stewblack

[thisisswanbon]

I'll check those videos out soon, appreciate you linking them! I don't like the idea of spending another hundy on a controller though as you're into hx stomp XL territory, which has a lot more bass ready amps etc 🤔

 

Gigged it last night, and made the fatal mistake of building patches via headphones and expecting them to translate to live 😬...

 

Wasn't hugely impressed with the sound, but it's not exactly a fair test really... The touchscreen was far superior to use than anything I've experienced with the hx stomp in the past so that's a plus, but with a room full of wedding guests, I didn't really have time to re-jig everything

 

There was also a bit of frantic tapdancing going between patch and stomp mode, too. That'll take some working out 🤣

[stewblack]

46 minutes ago, thisisswanbon said:

I'll check those videos out soon, appreciate you linking them! I don't like the idea of spending another hundy on a controller though as you're into hx stomp XL territory, which has a lot more bass ready amps etc 🤔

 

Gigged it last night, and made the fatal mistake of building patches via headphones and expecting them to translate to live 😬...

 

Wasn't hugely impressed with the sound, but it's not exactly a fair test really... The touchscreen was far superior to use than anything I've experienced with the hx stomp in the past so that's a plus, but with a room full of wedding guests, I didn't really have time to re-jig everything

 

There was also a bit of frantic tapdancing going between patch and stomp mode, too. That'll take some working out 🤣

A dual foot switch needn't be hugely expensive. Those videos have a lot of really useful advice.

Rehearsing with headphones is a bugger isn't it? Never translates - you have my sympathy.

 

[thisisswanbon]

On 09/04/2023 at 14:35, stewblack said:

A dual foot switch needn't be hugely expensive. Those videos have a lot of really useful advice.

Rehearsing with headphones is a bugger isn't it? Never translates - you have my sympathy.

 

Very true! I think I just need to learn to work within its limitations, a dual footswitch may be on the horizon...

 

If you could mix the customisation of the hx stomp (individual parameter assignments to footswitches, led colour changes, free reign with what goes on what path etc) and the form factor and sound quality of the hotone, it'd be the perfect unit!

[stewblack]

New update coming in the next couple of days. We get all the usual minor tweaks and fixes, but for us specifically there is to be an Aguilar Tonehammer.

Which is nice. 

[thisisswanbon]

39 minutes ago, stewblack said:

New update coming in the next couple of days. We get all the usual minor tweaks and fixes, but for us specifically there is to be an Aguilar Tonehammer.

Which is nice. 

I saw that on a Facebook group! Exciting, although I'll admit I've found great results just using the tube Poweramp on there...

 

I noticed it's listed as a drive, Id have thought it's be classed as a preamp! Hopefully they've modelled the whole thing and not just it's driven tones!

 

Intrigued by the no cab function as well... It'll be great if you can turn off the cab without having to run 2 paths to different outputs or use send blocks etc 🤞

[bnt]

I’m curious to hear more about the pitch shifting mentioned above as being not that good. If I get something like the Ampero, I hope to use it for a pseudo 8-string sound, where an upper octave is present but not full volume. If it can’t do something like that, it’s not for me. (My 8-string model tone would be something like John Paul Jones on Leafy Meadows.)

[stewblack]

33 minutes ago, bnt said:

I’m curious to hear more about the pitch shifting mentioned above as being not that good. If I get something like the Ampero, I hope to use it for a pseudo 8-string sound, where an upper octave is present but not full volume. If it can’t do something like that, it’s not for me. (My 8-string model tone would be something like John Paul Jones on Leafy Meadows.)

I'll see if I can get close and record a bit. Won't be yet though I'm on granddad duties 

[thisisswanbon]

The Aguilar tone hammer sounds good! I'm stuck between that and the tube power amp that's on there. Both sound great!

 

No cab and no IR mode are both really useful, too! You can turn the cab sim or IR off for 1 output, and leave it on for another. No doubt the helix will follow suit, but sure you had to use a send block to achieve that on the line 6 gear

[stewblack]

37 minutes ago, thisisswanbon said:

The Aguilar tone hammer sounds good! I'm stuck between that and the tube power amp that's on there. Both sound great!

 

No cab and no IR mode are both really useful, too! You can turn the cab sim or IR off for 1 output, and leave it on for another. No doubt the helix will follow suit, but sure you had to use a send block to achieve that on the line 6 gear

Had a quick play to make sure the update worked, otherwise not has the opportunity to get a good look. 

But I like the Tone Hammer clone from the little I've tried it 

[stewblack]

Gigged with the Ampero last night. Not an effectsy kind of band so used it as a preamp with some compression and tone shaping, just using the power amp section of my amplifier.

In fairness the Barefaced cabs I used make anything sound great, but it really was remarkably good. Used the Squeezer comp and Ampeg pre and every note was even, punchy and crystal clear. Well, not exactly clear, as it had a bit of rough around the edges, but I could hear it clearly.

Impressed.

 

[thisisswanbon]

3 hours ago, stewblack said:

Gigged with the Ampero last night. Not an effectsy kind of band so used it as a preamp with some compression and tone shaping, just using the power amp section of my amplifier.

In fairness the Barefaced cabs I used make anything sound great, but it really was remarkably good. Used the Squeezer comp and Ampeg pre and every note was even, punchy and crystal clear. Well, not exactly clear, as it had a bit of rough around the edges, but I could hear it clearly.

Impressed.

 

That's great to hear Stewblack! I tend to stick to either the orange head or tube Poweramp with no preamp. I may give the ampeg model a spin for the next gig! 🤔

[thisisswanbon]

So I followed suit; I duplicated my patches and exchanged the power amp for the ampeg svt model. Still through headphones, but it's an indication!

 

It's made me realise that what I'd considered to be "tubeyness" on the Hx stomp version was maybe more bloated muddiness I was hearing. This sounds full-bodied without being bloated.

 

Struggling to find a good 810 IR, and it feels wrong to use an SVT model without one, but I'm currently using the Tyler Spicer Aguilar 112 IR and it sounds great through cans. Excited to go FOH on Friday with it!

Edited April 25, 2023 by thisisswanbon

[stewblack]

Let us know how you get on @thisisswanbon

[thisisswanbon]

This was an awful space to test these settings on haha!  Hard rock cafe in Newcastle - big open room with tiles and glass, insisted we use their big speaker system which was a flying rig and too big for the room coupled with a sound limiter above the stage.  Needless to say, not a lot of attention was paid to the bass tone!

[stewblack]

41 minutes ago, thisisswanbon said:

This was an awful space to test these settings on haha!  Hard rock cafe in Newcastle - big open room with tiles and glass, insisted we use their big speaker system which was a flying rig and too big for the room coupled with a sound limiter above the stage.  Needless to say, not a lot of attention was paid to the bass tone!

Oh dear. Bad luck mate.

[jacq]

Hey. Question to those who have and use Ampero 2 Stomp.

Is there a way to enable/disable specific effects in the chain with one stomp button (potentially some extension)?

 

I just tried Zoom B1 Four and while you can do it by pressing one of the flat buttons, it isn't very convenient or accurate.

 

[thisisswanbon]

33 minutes ago, jacq said:

Hey. Question to those who have and use Ampero 2 Stomp.

Is there a way to enable/disable specific effects in the chain with one stomp button (potentially some extension)?

 

I just tried Zoom B1 Four and while you can do it by pressing one of the flat buttons, it isn't very convenient or accurate.

 

There is an option called "ctrl", which is a very basic snapshot function in that you tell the unit which blocks to turn on and off with that 1 ctrl footswitch.

 

They've said snapshots are coming with the next update though, which is a whole other level of functionality! 

[jacq]

Thanks, that would be more than enough for me at the moment.

 

Another question then:

 

Are there any usable out-of-the-box patches from the bass perspective?

There is plenty of people doing bass patches for HX stomp, are there any downloadable(free or paid) patched for Ampero 2 for bass?