BluGuitar upgrades its popular AMP1 pedal

The new AMP1 Mercury Edition isn’t your typical stompbox. This pedal—an upgrade from its predecessor—is essentially a nanotube-driven amplifier head that churns out a blistering 100 watts. Which means, yes, you can plug the pedal directly into a speaker cabinet.

The AMP1 Mercury has four channels: Clean, Vintage, Classic, and Modern, all of which replicate the tones of iconic amps. The Classic channel, which reproduces the sound of vintage Plexis, has more punch and bite than the earlier version. The high-gain Modern channel boasts a wider dynamic range for more expressive leads and riffs. And BluGuitar made the Clean channel, which invokes a Blackface-era Fender, warmer. You can tweak the level and gain settings for each channel.

A “Boost” footswitch takes you into overdrive no matter the channel you’re on, while a three-band equalizer lets you further shape your tone. The reverb algorithm has also been rewritten to sound lusher.

For more information, check out bluguitar.com.