Hotone Ampero One

[madshadows]

That's a damn shame, you going to go for something else ?

 

John 😎 

[Munurmunuh]

3 minutes ago, madshadows said:

That's a damn shame, you going to go for something else ?

 

John 😎 

I'm having a little think. First of all I wanted to get myself detached from gear4music (I didn't like how you can't phone up the nice shop staff when you've got a problem)

My options are another Ampero One from somewhere else, a used Ampero (the slightly bigger version with another pedal) or a used Headrush Gigboard. Or a new Headrush Gigboard!

[Munurmunuh]

On 14/07/2021 at 16:26, madshadows said:

you going to go for something else ?

I've decided to go for the Ampero – the Ampero One's bigger brother, as GAK are selling it for only £17 more.

Another pedal ... a few more knobs ... but most of all: a proper on/off switch on the back!

Seriously, that's really what I paid the extra for 😆 It arrives Monday.

I did have a good look at the Headrush Gigboard, but decided the extra level of functionality it offers would feel like it was mocking me and my very modest ambitions. 

 

[uk_lefty]

I didn't realise but for the last few rehearsals one of my guitarists has been using a Hotone (is it "Hot 1" or "Hoe tone"?) Ampero One with a Head rush 1x8 speaker and sounding excellent. He is one of these who really spends time with learning his equipment and getting it to mimic whatever exact sound he's after. He's had loads of separate pedals and loads of different multi set ups, I was surprised to see him using something from the cheaper end of the market but it really did sound excellent in his capable hands. 

[Munurmunuh]

I found a good video of a guitarist showing how easy it is to build a sound with this user interface. 

Skip to 2'25"

 

[Munurmunuh]

Firstly, it's arrived

 

Secondly, it works

 

Thirdly, the user interface is generally as pleasant as it seemed from demos

 

Fourthly, I managed to make one patch that I'm pretty happy with, immediately

 

 

Edit: and a while later, I've made three more patches that, while in need of fine tuning, are already making me happy.

 

Although this larger Ampero has 4 foot buttons, only one of them is for turning an effect (or two) on/off – the other three buttons are just for going between a set of three patches. Hmm.

Edited July 22, 2021 by Ricky Rioli

[madshadows]

3 hours ago, Ricky Rioli said:

Firstly, it's arrived

Secondly, it works

Thirdly, the user interface is generally as pleasant as it seemed from demos

Fourthly, I managed to make one patch that I'm pretty happy with, immediately

Edit: and a while later, I've made three more patches that, while in need of fine tuning, are already making me happy.

Although this larger Ampero has 4 foot buttons, only one of them is for turning an effect (or two) on/off – the other three buttons are just for going between a set of three patches. Hmm.

 

Excellent that you are liking it, have fun  

John 😎 

[Munurmunuh]

16 hours ago, madshadows said:

Excellent that you are liking it, have fun  

Because I've so little knowledge of the equipment that the Ampero is emulating, it's taking me a while to learn how to understand the names for the effects, for example....

 

Those three plus Ampeg SVT and 8×10 sims should get me to the right place for a kind of mid-80s Craig Adams sound, right? Right.

Edited July 20, 2021 by Ricky Rioli

[Munurmunuh]

I really am very pleased with the Ampero

 

(A) ....but there is one really annoying thing about it - what the foot buttons do.

 

The 4th one is wonderful: it can be assigned to be turning on and off one or more of the elements of the patch. So on one patch it turns the compressor on/off, on another the distortion, etc. Having two buttons doing programmable like that would be fantastic. However.

 

On the smaller Ampero One there are only two other pedals, and with it you can go up and down through the patches.

 

On the bigger Ampero, though, pedals Nos. 1-3 go between the three patches of one "bank". To move up from one bank of patches to the next, you have to press foot buttons 2+3 at exactly the same time. This is rubbish. What a waste of space.

 

(B) The three little knobs under the screen on the bigger Ampero are very useful when tweaking the settings on patches – it's much easier to be precise with them than by changing levels on the touchscreen.* To someone who would prefer to program the patches on their computer, these will be unnecessary.

 

(C) I'm so glad to have the bigger Ampero's on/off switch. Don't know why it makes such a difference to me, but it does

 

*I presume on the smaller Ampero One which doesn't have the three little knobs, precise adjustment can be made by touching on the parameter, and then carefully turning the larger knob to the right of the screen.

Edited July 24, 2021 by Ricky Rioli

[Munurmunuh]

On 24/07/2021 at 08:39, Ricky Rioli said:

(A) ....but there is one really annoying thing about it - what the foot buttons do.

 

On the bigger Ampero, though, pedals Nos. 1-3 go between the three patches of one "bank". To move up from one bank of patches to the next, you have to press foot buttons 2+3 at exactly the same time.

 

I screwed up my courage and went searching in the unit's settings and found that – YES! – I can reassign the foot switches' functions. 

 

I've turned off clicking two buttons together, and have turned off holding a button down.

 

Now I've just three simple buttons: two to go up / down through the patches, one to go to the tuner.

 

Blissssss. 

[Munurmunuh]

I've been trying out some of the other amps — putting a P through a Fender Bassman seemed an obvious thing to try, and it sounds lovely, in a gentle way.

 

My P with a Dimarzio sounds really *excellent* through the Fender Twin Reverb: clear and firm without being raw, lets the bass's throatiness shine out.

 

The unit calls it "Black Twin" – Amp no.3, Cab no.19. I've got a bit of my usual taste in EQ and NR, but no effects.

 

Amp: Gain 90, Bass 25, Mids 75, Treble 25, Bright off.

 

Cab: default mic settings

[Munurmunuh]

This sounds really good when playing my P with a pick – the Vox AC-100 with a ENGL 4×12 cab and a distortion unit the manual say is "based on an legendary 3-knob Blues overdrive pedal providing full-range overdriven sound, great for both guitars and basses"

 

Anyone want to tell me which real pedal this will be? (My guess: Boss BD-2 Blues Driver but can something released mid 90s be "legendary"? There's also one they call "Screamood" which could be the Ibanez Tube Screamer?)

 

At any rate, this combination has a punchy, gritty character that gives a slow simple line real rough-hewn presence across the range.

 

FX2 06 "Dr Blues" (Gain 90, Tone 50)

AMP 62 "Voxy Bass" (Vol 50, Bass 65, Treble 75)

CAB 39 "Engle" (Dyn57, Vol 40, X 35, Y 80, Z 60)

plus some compression, NR, reverb, and mids-heavy bass-light EQ

 

Edited July 30, 2021 by Ricky Rioli

[ped]

59 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

This sounds really good when playing my P with a pick – the Vox AC-100 with a ENGL 4×12 cab and a distortion unit the manual say is "based on an legendary 3-knob Blues overdrive pedal providing full-range overdriven sound, great for both guitars and basses"

 

Anyone want to tell me which real pedal this will be? (My guess: Boss BD-2 Blues Driver but can something released mid 90s be "legendary"? There's also one they call "Screamood" which could be the Ibanez Tube Screamer?)

 

At any rate, this combination has a punchy, gritty character that gives a slow simple line real rough-hewn presence across the range.

 

FX2 06 "Dr Blues" (Gain 90, Tone 50)

AMP 62 "Voxy Bass" (Vol 50, Bass 65, Treble 75)

CAB 39 "Engle" (Dyn57, Vol 40, X 35, Y 80, Z 60)

plus some compression, NR, reverb, and mids-heavy bass-light EQ

 

Yea that’s the blues driver. My VB99 has that built in and it does sound really nice on bass.

 

I went down some real rabbit holes with various amp and cab sim variations but eventually ended up with the clean amp and cab setting for everything, with slightly different mic and EQ settings, some with another amp or direct mix blended in. Then the Roland limiter adjusted for each bass to taste, and some reverb. Aural heaven through my cans!
 

It’s great fun though isn’t it - I really enjoy the fiddling and trying different things. And of course once you’re done, it’s a simple plug ‘n’ play job. 
 

Glad the pedal’s working out! 

[Munurmunuh]

1 minute ago, ped said:

...eventually ended up with the clean amp and cab setting for everything....
 

It’s great fun though isn’t it - I really enjoy the fiddling and trying different things. And of course once you’re done, it’s a simple plug ‘n’ play job. 

 

Yeah, in the long run I'm sure the bulk of my playing will be through a nice clean SVT patch I made that simply allows the character of my BB to shine out. 

 

My newly-arrived P is capable of sounds that I've not had before, and I'm enjoying finding a handful of patches that couple up with them, in the hope that they will encourage me to stretch myself musically. The tweaking does take forever though... 

 

And I was very pleased when I found a good impersonation of this particular sound

 

 

[ribbetingfrog]

I got my ampero a few days ago.

Already love it!

 

The stock patches are ok for bass but making my own is superb.

Really clean and crisp sound, huge array of options.

This thing is outstandingly good.

 

It’s going to be my main rig going in to the bands PA.