Nux NGS-6 Amp Academy

I find the Nux Amp Academy to be an AMAZING piece of gear for just 200€. I mainly use it as a pedal platform, running the Super Reverb amp and loading York Audio Creamback M65 or Zila H75/V30 IRs. It takes all my pedals like a champ and it's a straight plug-n-play to record via USB-C (maybe lower the input level from a few db though). On the B side, the Rectifier is very good, pair it with some York Audio Mesa V30 IRs and take it a step further ;-) It also has a DI out in case you want to go ampless at a gig.

This little box sounds full and is incredible, it sounds as good (maybe even better?) than a HX Stomp. and it is very easy to use. I rarely rate or comments on my orders, but this Amp Academy was a real surprise for me. It's got more features than an Iridium or ACS1 for half the price, and sounds has good as an HX Stomp for half the price (but it's more basic of course).

On paper this thing is the best tool there is. DI out, fully processed sound with amp modeler plus IRs and/or custom IRs, all the amps you'd ever need in a single box, fx loop, etc, etc.

BUT it sounds bad and has problems out of the box. The unit in itself is fine, but it badly needs firmware updates. They stopped updating its firmware in March 2023, v3.4. The DI out is too hot and works in a strange way. It clips differently depending on the platform you're connecting it to. It's weird and needs a LOT of tinkering, to get the best out of it.

If you have the time to learn to work with it and its quirks, you can get a pretty good sound out of it. BUT you shouldn't have to make any guess work on a product like this. Should be easier to use. It may wrongly appear that the unit is bad because it just clips really bad out of the box, and in a very bad way. It's like the clipping occurs inside the unit. You may be getting a -6 level signal in your interface and you still hear clipping, and you begin to scratch your head asking "Why?". And then you connect it to a mixing board and it sounds fine, like it has more headroom. I don't think it interprets impedances very well.

UPDATE: It gets worse. The level that comes out of the 1/4 jack out obviously behaves differently that the signal coming out the xlr DI out, but the stupid thing is you CAN'T control the output level of the 1/4 jack out! You might be making your perfect clean preset with your monitor or PA system, and then when connecting to a poweramp with a real cab it will distort horribly. It is very incoherent, you can't rely on this!