11 Great Ways to Leave Your Amp at Home

You’re
not likely to find a building with as many unswerving amp apologists as
Sweetwater. If we’re not playing ’em or recording ’em, then we’re telling
stories about the one that got away. The ozone aroma of those tubes firing up.
The flight deck’s assortment of knobs, lights, and switches. The distressed
sound of that original speaker blowing its voice out and begging for more.
There’s just something about these relics of the Atomic Age that draws us in
like moths to a flame.

But,
as much as we love our vintage combos and stacks, some of us who are further
along in the tooth (and back) certainly long for amp-less technology to catch
up with the times. Hauling a heavy, fragile stage amp to practice just doesn’t
seem worth the effort some nights. And the wear and tear on our ears and equipment
on the weekends tends to send those gig earnings straight back into the bills
box.

So, if you, like us, are searching for some serviceable ways to gig lighter and leave the amp behind for a night or two, here is a “banker’s dozen” or so of solutions straight from Sweetwater guitar players for building the pedalboard amp rig of your dreams.

Bassists — we
haven’t forgotten about you! Several of the options on this list either have a
bass alternative (such as the Simplifier Bass Station) or can be used just fine
with bass-register instruments.

DSM & Humboldt Electronics
Simplifier

“Zero-watt” stereo guitar amplifier with
analog cab sim

The Simplifier is a popular option among weekenders and worship players who want a fully analog amp-less solution for gigs and Sunday mornings. You won’t find a stitch of digital spookery within the Simplifier’s pedalboard-sized frame. From its three versatile clean and dirty amp voicings to its powerful power-amp simulation with variable tube response right down to its stereo analog cab sim, this “zero-watt” amplifier is a light-traveling amp lover’s dream. If you’re the type of player who’s convinced you can feel the sub-5ms latency introduced by common digital modeling devices, then you’re going to love the Simplifier’s gratifyingly immediate response and polished tone.

JHS Colour Box V2 Preamp Pedal

Bringing the iconic console-direct sound to a
pedal

When you hear David Williams’s “Billie Jean” scratch solo or Thom Yorke’s explosive “Bodysnatchers” intro, you’re hearing the sound. Guitar players have been plugging their axes straight into studio consoles and bypassing their amps for years. The Colour Box V2 brings this effect to the stage in a friendly pedal format. While it’s not a traditional amp replacement, the ‘Box’s studio-quality coloration make it a great option for guitar and bass players who want to gig with just an armful of gear. “I wanted this pedal to transform my guitar rig into the tonal equivalent of a Neve studio console,” says creator Josh Scott. Key ingredients in re-creating the studio sauce ended up being front and back Lundahl transformers, dual gain stages with +39dB of gain on tap (for getting nice and crunchy), and a powerful semi-parametric 3-band EQ to add sparkle, body, grind, and grit to input sources. There’s even an XLR output for running straight into a PA.

Two Notes Torpedo C.A.B. M+

Wall of Sound cab simulation and power-amp emulation for your live rig

With the Torpedo C.A.B. M+, you’ve got all the tools you need to augment your amp setup or to shelve it altogether. This beak-shaped wonder box is a customer favorite for creating a silent stage. It’s powered by Two Notes’ acclaimed Wall of Sound app controller. Load it up with your favorite virtual amp cabs and tube-emulated power-amp sims, and you’ve got a premium amp-less option for simulating the sound of your pedals into a tube amp. This “+” version of the C.A.B. M features a high-headroom preamp based on a ’74 Silver-panel American that’s perfect for accepting drive and fuzz pedals or for just sending a clean tone straight out to your mixer. Other tools in the Wall of Sound software include an intelligent noise gate, a 5-band EQ, stereo hall and room reverbs, and an Enhancer, all of which you can bake into presets and save onto the pedal. A headphone out makes monitoring from the stage a breeze.

Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI

The original direct-feed bass preamp pedal —
now better than ever

Tech 21’s SansAmp bass DIs have grown into a mighty fleet of amp-abandoning direct pedals. But, to many players, nothing tops the original: the Bass Driver DI (BDDI). This is one direct box that does direct tone right. Its simple controls, powerful 3-band EQ, and smooth tube-emulated direct have been allowing bass players to ditch their amps for decades. Parallel outputs even allow you to feed a stage cab uncolored for those gigs when you need more output than wedges and in-ears can provide.

BluGuitar BluBOX IR Speaker Emulator

Analog cab emulation dispenses great tone in 60 seconds or less

Thomas Blug of BluGuitar is on a personal mission to rid travel boards of fake-sounding digitals and poorly built portables, one pedal at a time. The BluBOX analog cab simulator eliminates the need for a laundry list of IRs and a couple hours logged at the computer to dial in your cab tone. Just throw it on your board, select the cab of your choice, and sweeten to taste. In 60 seconds or less, you’ve got a serviceable direct tone that eliminates the need for a stage amp and cab. Sixteen virtual cab types and a variable edge-to-center Mic Position control give you a broad palette of tones to paint with.

Radial JDX Direct-Drive

Adaptive direct tone — sized for a guitar case

Either as the tail end of your pedalboard or as a self-contained guitar solution unto itself, the JDX Direct-Drive packs sophisticated amp and cab emulation into a deceptively simple box. The JDX is voiced to be a clean amp with a high-headroom input that really lets you pack on the flavor with the addition of pedals. But, even if you’re not a pedal user, this box alone is all a player needs for gigging out; its cab-emulated XLR output can be sent directly to a soundboard, even hundreds of feet away, without signal loss. Dedicated Tuner and Thru outputs make the JDX a viable part of just about any guitar setup.

Strymon Iridium

Groundbreaking amp and cab sim with Strymon
digital ‘verb and long-form stereo IR support

If there’s one pedal whose name is synonymous with the pedalboard-only setup, it’s the Iridium. Run it on Sunday morning as your daily driver or leave it on your travel board as a backup amp, and the Iridium will not disappoint. Powerful SHARC-based DSP combined with an elegantly stripped-down interface makes the Iridium a fan favorite for direct rigs. Pristine cleans and juicy British gains, enhanced with stereo room reverb and onboard cab IRs by industry heavyweights OwnHammer and Celestion Digital, make this amp alternative a joy to gig and record with. You can even load your own IRs onto it.

Tech 21 QStrip Preamp Pedal

This console-mimicking preamp wields
prodigious tone-sculpting prowess

With so many great standalone amp and cab emulators on the market, a common question that arises is how to enhance that pedalboard tone you already love. That’s where the QStrip comes in. From adding thump to a bass or bite to a crunchy guitar to radically overhauling a guitar/bass voicing altogether, the QStrip is one pedal whose reach does not exceed its grasp. At Sweetwater, we’ve used this pedal to great effect for emulating speaker-cab response curves after preamp pedals totally in the analog domain. It’s also a favorite for sweetening lackluster acoustic instruments and driving bass guitars into oblivion. It features a powerful 4-band EQ inspired by vintage consoles with extremely musical filters and two sweepable mid shifts to help tame frequencies in problem areas. Whether it’s shaping an overdrive or adding faux-cab tones to an amp in a box, the QStrip offers endless utility for the amped or amp-less musician.

Walrus Audio Mako Series ACS1

Lush, modeled amp and cab tones to go

Like the Iridium, the Walrus Audio ACS1 is another power-laden digital modeling solution masquerading as a traditional pedal. What might take you a weekend to accomplish at the computer using an amp, EQ, and cab plug-ins comes together in an extremely attractive stage design in the ACS1. Its feature set is remarkably similar to the Iridium’s. Whether this pedal is a better option for you is, frankly, a matter of whether you’re into Strymon’s or Walrus’s amp and dirt tones. An additional feature we like in the ACS1 is the dedicated Boost switch, which is great in a live setting for adding heat to crunch tones and volume to solo breaks.

Audient Sono Guitar Interface

It’s an audio interface! It’s an amp sim! It’s... both?

Cue the “Hey, you got amp modeling in my audio interface!” commercials. The Sono is a 2-in-1 solution from Audient for tracking/performing without traditional amps and cabs. At home, its 12AX7 tube circuitry and Two Notes modeling make this audio interface an ideal solution for studio guitarists. But pull the cords and toss it in a bag, and the Sono becomes a powerful gigging solution. This box brings EQ, power-amp simulation, cab emulation, and its drivable JJ preamp tube straight to your pedalboard. Not only do three customizable hardware presets make it fast to find inspiration when tracking at home, but it also makes these options available in standalone mode.

Quilter Labs SuperBlock UK

This pedalboard-sized guitar head can really
push some air!

With the MicroBlock and InterBlock, Quilter Labs has helped pioneer the pedalboard amplifier as we know it. The best and brightest of Pat Quilter’s Block designs might just be 2021’s SuperBlock UK. Its triad of British voicings include some stunning analog approximations of the AC30 and the 50-watt JMP. You can send those tones directly to FOH using the three-way analog cab-simulation switch. Or push some air onstage using the SuperBlock’s dynamic, responsive 25-watt tube-equivalent internal amplifier. A lush digital reverb supplies all the ambience you need for all but the most ambient styles of playing. And, around back, an effects loop feeds additional delay and color boxes after the preamp stage for added versatility. There’s even a 1/4-inch headphone output so you can live monitor yourself without an additional in-ear setup.

Today’s a Great Day to Go Amp-less!

Interested in leaving your amp and cab at home for a night? Every amp-less option on this page comes tested and approved by working musicians at Sweetwater. Searching for more ways to gig lighter? Give your Sales Engineer a call at (800) 222-4700 or reach out to us by email or on social channels.
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