I have been on a quest for tone pretty much since day one of picking up a guitar. Honestly, I have not been all that successful. I’ve used some solid state amps and yes, some tube amps, I could just never get a decent sound with my guitar’s and pedals. Until about 3 years ago. That’s when a musician friend on Facebook said I should check out the Quilter line of amps, in particular, the 101 Mini Head. So I did and I am here to tell you my tone changed over night!
Since then, I have been buying a variety of pedals continuing for that elusive “perfect tone” (FYI, I have learned it does not exist – but perfecting it to my tastes is attainable). I’ve come pretty close to being happy with my current setup which is used to play blues, rock and jazz:
- Quilter 101 Mini 50w head
- Randall Diavlo 1×12 with a Celestion Vintage 30
- Pedalboard with VSN LT-901 mini tuner, Cry Baby Jr, Keeley Compressor Plus, Donner Dumbal Drive, Electro-Harmonix OD Glove Overdrive, JHS Bonsai Overdrive, Electro-Harmonix Soul Food (used as a boost), Flamma MOD pedal (multi-modulation pedal)
As the search continued I began to seriously research the modern digital, combination amp modeler and effect units and FRFR (Full Range, Full Response) speakers.
So a buddy of mine uses a Helix system and he gets some incredible tones from his setup. Yes, I know a lot of that is his playing skill and guitars, but there is no denying that having a multitude of EXPENSIVE amp and cabinet models along with an almost unending choice of effects just makes things that much more incredible.
The problem is I just cannot justify spending the amount of money that a quality Helix costs. So, I began researching affordable alternatives, and trust me, there quite a few of them out there. I finally narrowed things down to the MOOER GE300, the Flamma FX200, the Donner Arena 2000 and the Hotone Ampero. After even more research into each of those, feature-wise, usability, reviews and yes price narrowed things down to the Flamma FX200 and the Hotone Ampero. They were neck and neck but the Hotone seemed to have better options and usability and was cheaper. So, I went ahead and took the plunge and bought the Hotone.
As of this blog I have had the device for a whole two days, not a lot of time to really put it through its paces. BUT….I gotta tell you, the few patches I have created sound REALLY nice (I am running it through a Harbinger VARI V2212 600w 12″ powered speaker at the moment, but will be purchasing a more standard FRFR speaker in the future) and the changes in amp and cab models is noticeable.
I have two presets that probably can use more tweaking, but both are pretty amazing. They are setup to take advantage of my 2003 Fender Stratocaster and my style of blues playing. The first patch is a clean patch using a Fender 65 Twin Reverb amp and the Engl 4×12 cabinet (which has my favorite Celestion Vintage 30’s in it). To boost it for a lead I have the Xotic RC Booster (called “Pristine Boost” in the system and is a clean boost). The unit has four foot-switches and the CTRL switch is assigned to the RC Booster. Simple setup and sings the blues like you would not believe.
The second patch is my dirty patch using a Dr Z Maz 38 and the same Engl 4×12 cabinet. It has the same RC Boost assigned to the CTRL switch and is using the Hermida Zendrive to push the already slightly overdriven Dr. Z amp. Again, wow. I think with more time tweaking it, the wow factor will increase triple-fold.
That is two presets. I can setup up hundreds if I wanted (obviously I don’t need that many). So that really has me thinking – Do I need my traditional amp/pedalboard setup any longer? Weighing the pros and cons the pros for using the Ampero exclusively outweigh the cons.
I also play in a jazz group. I can setup a patch or two design solely around that style of music and my ES-335 I would be using. The unit has a Roland Jazz Chorus, which is the standard for playing jazz and sounds incredible. For my three piece classic rock group the options are endless (lots of Marshall, Messa/Boogie, Vox, Fender, Orange, Bogner and more, more, more amp models along with a plethora of cabinet and microphone configurations). For recording – the same. I could literally create patches down to the song level (although I doubt I would do that very much, but might do a few).
Then there is the lightweight setup. This unit is small – will fit on a pedalboard easily. It also has all the features to interface directly with the FOH system. I can run it in stereo if I wanted, or a wet/dry configuration. All I would need is my guitar, the Ampero and some cables. That is it , although I will be using a FRFR monitor – probably the Headrush – along with interfacing with the FOH system, so there is that piece as well. The ONLY thing that might get added is either an external expression pedal and possibly my Cry Baby Jr in the FX loop of the device. All of this would fit well on my Pedaltrain Metro 24 board.
So… the real test will be to actually use it in a live situation and see how it performs and how it sounds to everyone else. And that, is for a future blog post. But as I end here I gotta tell you that unless something big fails on the device, or it becomes a hassle to use I can very much see it replacing my current traditional amp/effect board setup.