Hotone Ampero

I've had the ampero for 6 months and it completely changed the way I go about making music. I've sold my amps and now this is my whole rig, for live performance and recording. That's how good it is. I don't want to bore you with a full blown love letter to this little black box, so here goes:

PROS:
- all in one. Amp, effects, recording rig, audio interface, looper, drum machine, tuner. This can literally be all your rig, I'm recording an album this week with my band and I can't tell you enough how satisfactory it is to come to recording sessions with only a guitar, this, and a cable;
- Decent sound. So, the way I like to explain sound quality on these modellers is like a movie. A real valve amp is like 4k, the stock IRs that come with this are 720p-1080p, But if you load one in you get up to 1440p which is plenty for me, and you can find them easily for free online (tip: ampero facebook group). Not that the pre installed IRs are bad, some of them are plenty good, like the marshalls and some of the fenders, it all comes to your personal taste. 4 stars but I think this is the one that gets you closer to the real deal sound-wise in this price range;
- Very customizable. It comes with 4 buttons and you can program what every one of those does, gives you a lot to play with on stage or while recording
- the touch screen is an awesome idea, makes everything much easyer, although you won't be using it much if at all in a live situation.
- Build quality is just ridiculous, this thing is built like a safe, the screen could be a weakness though

Cons:
- It's a little noisy on the higher gain/ crunchy stuff when you have the amp modulation on. Fair enough the real amp would do that too, but It gets a bit annoying on long sessions, especially if you're using low impedance headphones. You can however mitigate this with a noise gate, and it's a non-issue on recordings and live playing;
- If you plan on using the expression pedal a lot, this is not for you. It's cool for controling volume or fx parameters or even a little wah every now and then, but it's very basic and a bit stiff for effortless wah playing;
- the looper is very very basic, very limited controls, Good for practicing or coming up with ideas, but nothing else;
- Some of the fx, as well as some of the amp modulations are not quite up to scratch compared to the rest. But don't worry, all of the important stuff is good. Let's just say that out of the 244 fx, about 40 are really weird and a bit trash, they're really funny to play with though.

Check out Plywood Society on youtube if you want to hear this puppy in a song

Hotone Ampero is a great high-middle class guitar processor. For its size and price, it is excellent buy and can be compared with many more expensive devices.

The quality of the production is excellent. Complete metal casing and quality foot switches leave an impression of premium quality. There are a lot of connection ports on the back and you can see that the device is made for professional use. The expression pedal is top quality, it has a good movement and the use is pleasant. Foot switches have nice led lighting. What can be improved by upgrading software is that the inactive foot switches also be illuminated but dimmed so the visibility would be even better in the conditions of the low light (in the dark stages).

The screen is large, sharp, and touch sensitive. It's a real pleasure to use it. All options can be accessed quickly and easily. Everything is intuitive and can be used without reading the instruction manual. My recommendation is to install software for computer and set options there. However, the device is so rich with options that it is not a quite good thing. This is generally the problem with most guitar processors, because manufacturers put hundreds of amps, cabinets, microphones, microphones placement settings, effects and distortions that it is quite difficult to opt for a specific sound. I've spent hours and hours to tweak sounds instead of playing. My proposal is that generally manufacturers can be oriented to a smaller number of quality sounds rather than so many, because lot of peoples are not experienced in sound engineering and will not know how to set a good sound and will be dissatisfied with the device.

There are 9 slots for effects: FX1, FX2, AMP, NR, CAB, EQ, FX3, DLY and RVB.

For Wah, compressor, and OD/Dist. can only be used FX1 and FX2, while FX3 for modulation effects (Flanger, Chorus...). And that's a little problem, if you want to have Wah, Compressor and Distortion in same preset, you won't be able to. You must give up one of them. For example, you can put in FX1 – Wah, in FX2 – Compressor and use Hi-Gain Amp for distortion. So, it is possible to manage, but it would be ideal if there was at least one more slot or if FX3 could carry one of those effects. Changing the order of effects is possible. Just drag’n’drop them anywhere you want.

Ampero have 3 foot switches (FS) to change the preset and one CTRL that may control a feature of your choice. It doesn’t support stomp (manual) mode but what is good is that you can program foot switch combinations. For example, if you press FS1+FS2 at the same time - activate the effect that you want (for example, Chorus) and there is a possibility to program hold function of any foot switches, for example, if you hold FS2 for one second then it activates Delay. You can program CTRL foot switch for a solo boost or anything you want also. In other words, a device can be programmed in many combinations. If that is not enough, you can attach a MIDI foot controller and program it to do anything you want.

Sound quality is excellent and is a high-middle class. I would position this device as slightly better than Mooer GE200 and slightly weaker than Line 6 POD Go. The Amp and Cab modeling is very realistic and can be used without problems for direct recording and live performances also direct to mixer or PA. Just plug the device into anything and it will sound great. When a USB cable is connected to the computer, it works as a 24-bit sound interface, and device also supports custom Impulse Response/IR files.

Rhythm machine with 100 rhythms and looper with 120 seconds are excellent and will give you great pleasure for jamming. The looper can be set to be before all effects or can be after. For example, if is set to work in PRE-mode, then you can record a sequence and while loop play change effects, distortions, amplifiers, mics... to find the ideal sound. You don't have to play after each changed parameter, just change parameters in real time and listen sound from the looper. Very useful feature. The only complaint is that the looper cannot be controlled through software on the computer. The rhythm machine can but the looper cannot... It would be nice if Hotone add this in future software updates. When I'm in front of the computer, I want to do everything on the computer.

All in all, a device worth the attention. A well-rounded product where in a small package and affordable price you get everything you will ever need for the hi quality direct recording and live performance.

Beware of this unit if you want to get all-around-multi-tool for guitar etc instruments. I say this because to me this unit was not what I expected. For instance it was way too little for my use and I found out that the EXP pedal in this unit works only volume or other parameter controller BUT NOT as a WAH! pedal even you try to push it down many times and there is even light for assuming that it is dual purpose EXP footswitch but it is not!!! The only way you would get wah working in each patch you´ll have to assign a momentary button for the wah and after that you would change the wah effect with the EXP. This is very annoying feature and it is totally worthless and not what I thought it would be... To me volume AND wah must be in the same EXP.
Display is little hard to see so you have to use it on the desk/table etc. Touch screen is +++ I didn´t get so good sounds with this in my Fender LT25 practice amp or in Koch Multitone II tube amp. I think this unit could be best as a sound interface and DAW straight forward recording, maybe not with different kinds of amps.

I went from Line6 Helix, which was ok but never gave me the right live sound, to Hughes & Kettner 200 watt floorboard, which was much too screamish to This board. In the beginning i really liked the sounds which were more realistic in my opinion that the two other boards and only for a fraction og the price.
However the output level was extremely low and i had problems delivering enough output to FOH without increasing the overall noise level.
I didnt consider it a problem in the beginning as i knew i could increase output levels on almost all effects, amps, cabinets, for each patch and in Global settings.
But but…… maybe my specific unit had a defect but even the slightest increase in volume resulted in an extremely unpleasent and unwanted digital distortion. It didnt matter on which parameter i increased the level, the result was the same : harsh digital distortion and still low output levels.

I spent some days trying to tweak the unit as i really liked some of the amp sounds but in the end i had to surrender and return it.

This will end my journey in modelling boards once and for all.
I am now returning to traditional tube amplifiers expecting my Grandmeister amp from Thomann today or tomorrow.

The first impression when I opened the box was.... WOW, this is small.
The second was, very good build quality.

I mostly play at home and I wanted something to plug and play, instead of using my tube preamp-poweramp-cab setup.
The pc editor is what I use all the time, it's quicker / easier to create sounds, on my desk, plugged into my interface with studio monitors.
The cleans and crunches are very very good in no time / efford.

For the hi gain sounds it took me a while to find the right sound for my liking and the most important for me was the cab choise / ir and definately a generous hi cut in the global or preset eq.
This is my first modeler (since digitech rp6!!!) and I am quite impressed for the sounds you can achieve for such a low price.
Definately recommended.

P.S. After using it for a while, I'm thinking to go for something even better/pricier/more controls/choices and stop using my all tube HEAVY setup....

In my set up, I use the Ampero as an effect processor for my Aria MX1 mixer in a hardware synth set up.
If I plug an analog synth directly in the Ampero input and bypass all the effects, you can hear how the overall sound of the synth changes very slightly from warm to a cold sound. When using it with my guitar I found no problems in sound quality, all the presets are straight forward clones of the real amplifiers and effect pedals, being able to change in between them; the build quality features are sturdy and work properly, no sensation of cheap materials, except for the expression pedal which has some latency when using it.
For the pro ideas I would say that if you love to have different feelings from one effect to the other, you can create exactly what you want considering the high number of amps, effects or combination of its features, so no more changing amps in the middle of a concert; as a con, the expression pedal is the only setback, I don't use it, being able to manipulate my effects via a MIDI cable.
If you are looking for a device that gives you the exact sounds of legendary amps or effects, with a really user-friendly and straight forward design (I didn't need the manual), having a wonderful touchscreen interface which is mostly self-explanatory, this is the best deal.
For the moment I even use it as a sound interface, which works great with the balanced outputs making the sound really stand out considering the low bit rate and sound frequency it uses, resulting in extremely low latency near 0 ms when recording using a DAW.
So for the money you pay, you get a whole universe of proper sound effects.

The Hotone Ampero is an outstanding processor that impresses with its sound quality and the extensive range of built-in effects. This compact device packs a lot of equipment, delivering sounds that rival those of real amplifiers and pedals.

The touchscreen is a major plus. It’s user-friendly and intuitive, making it easy to adjust settings and switch between presets. The only improvement I’d suggest is a slightly larger screen diagonal. This would add extra convenience when fine-tuning.

The device’s compact size makes it a great choice for musicians who frequently perform or travel. Despite its small size, the Ampero offers functionality comparable to larger models.

Overall, the Hotone Ampero is a powerful and versatile tool that is well worth the investment. Highly recommended for all guitarists!

It is versatile, good sounding and easy enough to use.
The touchscreen is great addition, but i think that connected to the PC and using editor is even easier to make a good sound preset.
I tried it through PA speakers, i plugged it in return of an valve amp head, directly into SS combo amp, and now i am playing it at home through 7 inch studio speakers in stereo.
Really good sound for a digital modeler.
It takes time to get to know the features. It has numerous effect's. I haven't tried most of them yet.
IMHO it is the best multi effect/guitar processor unit within 320€.
My friend has Hotone Ampero II and it is even better unit than this one ,but it is 200€ more...
After 2 month's of use all i can say that i am just starting to discover it's quirks and features.
In the past i've payed for two effect's pedals the same money than i did for Hotone Ampero, so i recommend you try it out.