Academy Of Tone 294: AMPX Release in 2026!

Special guest: Julian Preuss

00:00 Introduction and MPX Overview 01:10 Prototype showcase and snowy journey to the studio 02:26 Musical Intro: "Lord I Miss You" 14:42 Welcome and Happy New Year 2026 – The Year of AmpX 15:20 Evolution of the AmpX prototypes and production models 15:51 Showing Serial Number 1 of the AmpX 17:11 Plans for the NAMM Show and Blue Guitar booth 5810 18:37 Behind the scenes: Meetings with manufacturers and partners 19:49 New Release: Mercury Special Edition in Blue 20:37 New Release: Iridium with see-through panel 21:41 The vision of AmpX: A complete analog amp and effect system 23:10 Consistency in analog: Why every AmpX sounds identical 24:42 Demonstration video: Self-calibration and switching between units 28:07 Testing sound consistency: Dumble overdrive and clean sounds 29:49 Quality control: Why mass production takes time 31:30 The balance between speed and reliability 33:21 Shipping strategy: Germany and Europe first 35:50 The X-USB Flash Drive for updates and sound transfers 36:27 Sneak peek: Programming bizarre noises and echo engines 38:32 Hardware details: Power boards and hot-fixes 45:00 Speaker output behavior and impedance mismatching 46:34 Tone comparison: Original 1969 Plexi vs. AmpX 54:06 The history of AmpX: From Amp 2 idea to hiring Julian in 2017 58:19 Overcoming the challenges of a massive spec sheet 1:09:50 Technical specs: Mono vs. Stereo routing and I/O 1:12:04 Naming conventions and legal challenges with amp names 1:21:29 Analog signal path and digital effects latency 1:24:37 Global Stage EQ: Adjusting to the room without changing presets 1:36:13 Accessories: The AmpX Expression Pedal and mounting plate 2:08:10 UI Update: New display layout for better readability on stage 2:21:27 Business philosophy: Why some sounds might be purchasable 2:42:47 Outro and Call to Action