NU-X MP-3 Mighty Plug Pro

[dave robinson]

After playing with this delightful device for the past couple of weeks, I can certainly recommend it to serious players who want the option of silent practicing without disturbing others.
It does offer great authentic amp sounds and the effects are a delight to be able to set up as a a comprehensive pedal board with everything a guitarist would ever need.
OK it doesn't have multi-tap 'Meazzi like' echoes but for practice purposes I can live without those (as Hank has done for the majority of a long career - just worth a mention that's all) . To get those Shadows sounds I combine the Reverb with the Delay and set the 'kick' to give the impression that the other three taps precede it. I can guarantee it works and I have played the full repertoire of Shads hits and not missed the mult-taps in any big way.
Where you lose on the lack of multi-tap echoes, you gain on the options to enhance your playing using the drums or busking track options, it really is good for exercising your licks and runs when there's no one else to play along side, I'm finding it particularly useful as I can sit alone practicing with a fabulous sound in my head from the headphones, without disturbing the household as they watch TV.
What I love about it is that the sounds are authentic and stimulating to hear. If you choose the AC30, it does sound like one, as do the Fender, Marshall and all the boutique models featured and same goes for the effects. Too often in the past I have tried similar products that don't sound as I wished and left me feeling disappointed, but the NU-X Mighty Plug Pro does the job admirably.
So there you have it folks, I said I'd let you know how I went on with it and for the money, less than £90 delivered, it's a winner for me.

[TimRyland]

I would like to echo everything Dave’s said. This is a great piece of kit, especially for guitarists who play other genres as well as Shadows stuff. It only took me a couple of minutes to dial in a superb representation of Clapton’s early Cream “Woman Tone”. Even playing my Acoustic through it resulted in some nice acoustic tones.

Only caveat is the best app runs on Android, not iPad. You can use it with an iPad, as I have, but you get so much more from Android. So much so, I have just bought a 10” Samsung Tab to use with it. Add to this the M-Wave chocolate MIDI Bluetooth pedal for around £30 and you have a really good busking/portable rig.

At the moment I’m looking forwards to many happy hours sat out in the garden this summer practising in the sushine, weather permitting.

Tim.

[Shadbarmy1]

Thanks for your comments. Much appreciated.

[dave robinson]

I'd be very interested to know what the extra benefits are on the android platform Tim, could you elaborate please before I buy one ?

[TimRyland]

Dave,

There is an app called Mightier Amp available only on Android currently. It offers the following advantages:-

1. The ability to create and store unlimited presets. These are stored in folders you create on the device. You can still only have 7 presets, but the ability to have lots to choose from is definitely an advantage.
2. You can load Jamtrack much easier, no need for iTunes. You can also create setlists containing certain tracks.
3. You can specify Delay time in mS rather than a %’age.
4. You can control pretty much everything, including playing tracks, from a Bluetooth Midi pedal much easier than the ios way of doing it. You can also add an expression pedal.
5. There’s also a global volume control.

As someone who loves the iPad way of doing things, it’s a shame this isn’t available for ios devices, however £100 for a used 10” Samsung Tablet to run it on definitely made sense for me, just for the extra functionality and Bluetooth connection.

[dave robinson]

Thanks Tim, with the tablet is there a spec I need to match for it to work ? EG does it matter about memory size etc ?
I'll have a look for a used one.

[TimRyland]

Dave,

I’m not sure. I know it all runs OK on my old Motorola MotoG4 phone. It’s only got 2gB of RAM and is running Android 7.0, so I think as long as it’s a reasonably recent tablet it should be OK. The reason I’ve gone for a tablet is purely screen size. I found a Samsung 10” TabA at my local CEX for just over £100 so have gone for that.

One point though, don’t go for a Fire tablet. It can’t connect to Google Play Store, so although they run Android and are usually cheaper, they won’t do what you want.

Tim.

[dave robinson]

Dave,

I’m not sure. I know it all runs OK on my old Motorola MotoG4 phone. It’s only got 2gB of RAM and is running Android 7.0, so I think as long as it’s a reasonably recent tablet it should be OK. The reason I’ve gone for a tablet is purely screen size. I found a Samsung 10” TabA at my local CEX for just over £100 so have gone for that.

One point though, don’t go for a Fire tablet. It can’t connect to Google Play Store, so although they run Android and are usually cheaper, they won’t do what you want.

Tim.

Thanks Tim, I'll bear all of that in mind.