The Acme Guitar Works ToneShaper gives you every possible switching option you need and want!

Acme Guitar Works, Inc. started as a hobby shop back in 1993 for George Ellison and his friends to work on their guitars. This “hobby” turned into a full time career as George took on all the repair work for Veneman’s, a major music chain in the Washington, DC area. George eventually moved away from repairs to pursue optimized pre-wired pickguards and innovative solutions like the ToneShaper.

THE GOODS

I’ve been restoring a ’76 Telecaster and initially contacted Acme for complete replacement hardware: knobs, switches, tuners, ferrules… the works (I guess that’s why they’re called Acme Guitar “Works”). Noticing the ToneShaper on their site, I inquired about it and found the concept fascinating enough to install their 4-switch version for review.

The ToneShaper is a network of electronic connections built into a compact circuit board that resides in the control cavity of your guitar and interacts with existing pots and switches. After assembling the components, including connecting your pickups to a custom terminal block (no soldering required!), you’re ready to roll.

Tone shaping is as simple as flipping DIP switches which are contained within three switch blocks. The first two blocks are used to configure the ToneShaper based on your pickup switch (3-way, 4-way, or 5-way). One of the blocks includes an option to turn the volume kit on or off. This addresses the issue of treble loss when turning down the volume on your guitar by incorporating a resistor/capacitor set. It also includes a “Billy Mod” which solves the same problem but in a different way by sending the signal from the volume’s output to the tone pot. The third wiring block toggles four tone capacitors on or off and can be set in any combination. Finally, the 4-way switch activates the neck pickup, bridge, and neck/bridge in series or parallel.

TONE SHAPING

I started my shaping with the tone capacitors which are available in .015, .022, .033, and .047 microfarad measurements. Each flick of a DIP switch engages a corresponding capacitor which results in a heavier, muted sound. This effect is more noticeable as tone is dialed down. I tried numerous combinations from all off (tone control disabled = tone pot fully open) to all four on (murky and muffled) and found my happy place with the .033 microfarad capacitor by itself. Next, I experimented with turning the volume kit on and off. Treble roll-off is something that may or may not catch your attention, but it’s a significant issue that plagues a lot of players. As expected, with the volume kit off, treble frequencies faded away the more I turned down the volume. With the volume kit on, tone maintained consistency throughout volume adjustments. I approached this issue with the Billy Mod as well. It was difficult to discern a difference as the two options effectively solve the same issue, but for those who prefer this method, it’s available.

The 4-way switch is great in that it opens up another possibility for fueling your tone quest by outputting combined pickups in series or parallel. This alone makes the ToneShaper worth considering as I found both voicings very useful for different situations.

THE FINAL WRAP

The ToneShaper is an affordable solution allowing you to easily solve the issue of treble roll-off as well as dial in capacitor values to taste. If you go with a 4-way switch (3-way also available for Telecasters), you can take full advantage of pickup configuration possibilities. No soldering is required which makes using the ToneShaper practically hassle-free and is a tremendous aid in doing A/B comparisons.

PROS: Simple installation. No soldering. Easy manipulation of features. 4-way switch allows an additional configuration for your pickups.

CONS: None

MSRP: $109.99

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Dan Coplan is senior staff writer at SMG. Dan is a Los Angeles based cinematographer and self-admitting guitar junkie. Email: dancoplan@sharemyguitar.com

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Photos by Dan Coplan.

A little over seven years ago, guitarist Jeff Shepherd faced a dilemma common to many of us. No matter how many guitars he tried, he just couldn’t find that elusive “TONE”! This need to solve a problem resulted in the founding of Sheptone, a boutique pickup company based in Port Orchard, WA. Through extensive research and analysis, Jeff built his company on the principle of “reasonably priced substitutes for over-priced vintage pickups.” His product line includes a variety of humbuckers, soapbar and dogeared P-90′s, Stratocaster and Telecaster sets, and 4- and 5-string P- and J-bass pickups*. I’ve been working on restoring a ’76 Tele, so Jeff sent over a compatible set for review.

THE PICKUPS

Sheptone’s pickups are vintage-style construction. The bridge pickup for the standard Tele set is potted to reduce feedback and has staggered pole pieces reminiscent of the mid 50′s (flat pole Blackguard style also available). The neck pickup, also potted, came with a protective chrome cover (nickel is also an option). These pickups are potted upside down with the cover on to eliminate squeal by filling air gaps with wax. Both pickups use #42 enamel wire and Alnico 5 magnets. As a matched set, Jeff winds the neck pickup reverse wound/reverse polarity (RW/RP) to eliminate noise when the pickups are used in combination. Included with the pickups was a stamped certificate noting details including materials used, measured resistance, and “Guitar Tested” affirmation.

THE SOUND

I’ve never been a huge fan of the Tele sound. The bridge pickups tend to be too thin and bright for me and while I like the sound coming from the neck, it’s always felt a bit mild. This was the perfect test for running Sheptone’s pickups through the wringer.

Plugging my newly restored Tele into an Egnater Tweaker, I challenged the bridge pickup to restore my confidence in its usefulness. Thin, fragile tone be banished! Not only did the sound coming forth sound rich and full of harmonic content, I can honestly say I never thought my guitar could sound this good! The twang was still there, but rather than the bright, limited frequencies I’m used to, this twang had depth and life and a punchiness that hinted at Strat-like characteristics. Dynamics play a major role as softer attacks result in a smoother sound while harder picking brings out the clucking in your chicken pickin’ or the snap in your funky rhythms. Next stop: the neck pickup.

Give me some Mr. Bubble. I bathed in the warm, round, lushness provided by these windings. The sound was so big and full, I couldn’t believe I was playing a Tele. Lower register notes and chords vibrated in sympathy with my body as I literally felt the music. High registers rang out like finely tuned chimes. The two together…let’s just say I’m ordering food delivery for the next week because I ain’t leaving the house!

THE FINAL WRAP

It’s not often I gush about gear, even when I’m excited about it. Sheptone’s pickups, however, have to be the most significant contribution to quality tone that I’ve come across, possibly ever. Granted, when shopping for pickups it’s difficult to know how they’re going to sound without prior experience, but trust me, you owe it to yourself to check out a set (if not two, or three, or more) of Sheptone’s vintage-style pickups for your favorite axe.

PROS: Phenomenal sounding pickups. Your social life will blossom as fans will be mesmerized by your tone.

CONS: Your social life will vanish as you find it impossible to tear yourself away from jamming.

* Sheptone is currently working on updating and improving their website. There are more pickups available than what is presented on their site currently. You’re encouraged to contact Sheptone directly regarding their full product line and custom orders.

Retail – $169

Sheptone’s website: http://www.sheptone.com

Follow Sheptone on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sheptone

Sheptone on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/sheptone

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Dan Coplan is senior staff writer at SMG. Dan is a Los Angeles based cinematographer and self-admitting guitar junkie. Email: dancoplan@sharemyguitar.com

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The AmpliTube iRig from IK Multimedia lets you jam to a host of amps and cabs anywhere, anytime!

IK Multimedia Production formed in 1996 by capitalizing on the explosive growth of personal computers to better enable the needs of the music industry, including consumers and professionals. Since then, the company has grown to international status with a wide range of computer based products including audio interfaces, emulators, virtual instruments, remixing tools, effects processors… the list goes on. Their latest innovation takes advantage of iPhone/iPod/iPad technology with a hardware interface and amp/FX emulator for guitar: the AmpliTube iRig.

THE SETUP

The AmpliTube iRig comes in two parts: the hardware (iRig) which allows you to connect your guitar to your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad (hereafter referred to as simply “iPod“), and the software app (AmpliTube).

The iRig is literally the size of a lipstick case with a 5″ cable extension that plugs into your iPod. A 1/8″ jack on the cable end provides headphone/amp/powered speaker output and the opposite end provides a 1/4″ instrument jack. The whole thing weighs about as much as a pack of gum.

The layout of the AmpliTube app is very cool with a richly designed graphical interface representative of the variety of pedals, amps, and mics available. Easy access icons at the top include Tools (tuner, metronome, audio demo), FX1, FX2, FX3, Amp, Song, and Add Amp/FX. Each of these choices affects what is shown in the main display. A small row at the bottom allows you to save presets and set up the app with preferences for latency, feedback, and auto sleep. A small question mark in the upper left corner accesses several pages of a graphically friendly and easy to understand help section.

ROCKIN’ THE iPOD

Plugging my LP-295 Goldtop Les Paul into the iRig, I booted up the app, clicked on Tools, and engaged the tuner – simple enough. An optional mute button allows you to quiet the output while tuning which is a nice touch if you’re playing through an amp or powered speaker. There is also a mini tuner display at the bottom of the main screen for quick access. I then clicked on Amp to dial in my amp, cabinet, and mic settings. I was using the LE version of the app (there is also a free version with fewer choices and a full feature version) which includes a lead amp, one cabinet, and a choice between a dynamic or large diaphragm condenser mic. These are represented by 3D-style graphic representations of the actual gear. Cycling through the choices is as simple as clicking on the image. After making my picks and dialing in my tone, I wailed away on some of my favorite riffs. I was damn impressed. I didn’t believe an amp/FX emulator working through something as compact as an iPod could sound this good. Granted, the sound isn’t as full as the real thing, but for what it is, it’s great. And I barely noticed any latency (delay between picking a note and hearing it after processing) at all, even with all three stomp pedals active. There’s a setting to reduce latency even further at the risk of clicks and pops, but I didn’t feel the need to make this adjustment. Even when I did, I heard a few initial clicks but then it all seemed to settle in just fine.

Next, I explored the effects pedals available to me: delay, distortion (available as a free bonus for registering the app), wah, chorus, and noise filter. The effects are great. Each is relatively basic in form but with thoughtful touches: The delay can sync to the metronome’s tempo. The distortion has an additional character control (this pedal sounds awesome with the lead amp, by the way!). The wah pedal is controllable by touch, auto, or by tilting the iPod – whoa! Perhaps the most important pedal, however, is the noise filter. Without it, the sound, even when not playing, is actually quite noisy. But engaged, the noise can be completely eliminated depending on how you set the threshold. At its minimum setting, higher frequencies are a bit muffled and definition is compromised so there is a trade off. This pedal is so important, however, that I feel it should be an additional control included with each amp, or simply implemented into the app behind the scenes, rather than as a separate pedal.

After literally spending hours just playing with the various combination of effects and tones, I downloaded a few songs over my network connection to play along with. This process was easy and downloading was fast. I spent even more time jamming with my favorite tracks – too much fun! Controls include play/stop, an interactive time-line so you can fast forward or rewind, volume, and a loop function. The only additions I wished for were a way to slow down song tempo without affecting pitch as well as a way to offset pitch for songs in lower tunings. But overall, the ability to play with imported files is fantastic.

Finally, I ran the output from the iRig into an Egnater Tweaker. It rocked! That’s all I have to say about that. I can’t wait to see the looks on the faces of my band mates when I rock our set through my iPod!

THE FINAL WRAP

Wow – what a cool offering from IK Multimedia! Overall, I’m truly impressed with this product. It’s version 1 which means it’s only going to get better, but I found little to criticize. The output should be boosted. Even when I had my iPod and AmpliTube controls for volume and gain cranked, the level was only comfortable. This is great for ear health, but I want to be able to “turn it up to 11” and dial back as I see fit. The default amp for the free and LE versions of the app are lead. Considering you get a free distortion pedal when registering, I feel the default should be the clean amp. Of course, you can buy the clean amp for an additional $5…  Sounds are a little synthetic, but as good as they are, especially considering the source… hardly a factor. Finally, I recommend getting an arm or waist band for your iPod if you want to jam while standing as the various parts and cabling are a bit tricky to manage otherwise.

PROS: Amazing take-anywhere setup. Thoughtful, attractive interface. Great features. Three affordable app choices including FREE! A wealth of additional effects, amps, and cabinets available for purchase.

CONS: Output level on the low side. Default lead amp means you’re likely going to drop another five bucks right off the bat to get the clean amp. Noise filter should be implemented into the app rather than taking up a stomp effect.

MSRP – iRig: $39.99, AmpliTube Free: $0.00, AmpliTube LE: $2.99, AmpliTube FULL: $19.99

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Dan Coplan is senior staff writer at SMG. Dan is a Los Angeles based cinematographer and self-admitting guitar junkie. Email: dancoplan@sharemyguitar.com

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Reverend Musical Instruments was founded by Joe Naylor: guitarist, industrial designer, and graduate of Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery. Prior to that, Joe ran a store specializing in sales and repairs of vintage and used gear. This evolved into boutique amps and vintage style speakers but was eventually sold in favor of producing uniquely styled guitars with respect for vintage design. The Sensei 290 represents just one of their many set-neck offerings.

FRESH OUTTA THE BOX

The cool thing about all of Reverend’s guitars is their unique style. The Sensei 290 is no exception. The body shape has sharp double cutaway horns offset in height. This balances aesthetically with the lower bout on the treble side which falls away in somewhat of a teardrop fashion. A batwing style pickguard is mounted under two soapbar style P90 pickups with black covers. Hardware includes a heavy duty 3-way pickup switch, knurled chrome knobs for master volume, master tone, and bass contour, Tune-O-Matic style bridge with stop tailpiece, and Reverend’s custom Pin-Lock tuners. Materials include solid Korina for the body, one piece Korina for the 22-fret neck, a rosewood fingerboard with pearloid block inlays and single-layer binding, and graphite nut. The guitar I received had a cream top glued to a black-finished body, neck, and headstock. This guitar is also available in Wine Red. Construction-wise the guitar was very nicely and professionally finished. There were a few areas of visible imperfections, but they were minor and the sealing was top notch. The back of the headstock was hand-initialed and serialized during final setup which adds a thoughtful personal touch.

LET’S TALK FEEL. LET’S TALK TONE

This guitar felt great in my hands. The bass side is contoured and fit snug to my body. It’s well balanced and solid. The neck profile, described as medium oval by Reverend, allowed for a comfortable grip. Chordal fingerings and changes felt easy to execute, and I played single note passages with confidence along the well-contoured large jumbo frets and smooth 12″ radius fingerboard.

Checking the sound, I plugged into an Egnater Tweaker. The delivery from this guitar is what I consider a cross between a clean modern sound and vintage-style tone. From the bridge to the neck to the neck/bridge combo, which is wired for hum cancellation, notes came through with purity accompanied by a touch of P90 warmth and roundness. Unique to Reverend guitars is a bass contour control which complements the tone control by rolling off bass frequencies. After using this feature I scratched my head thinking, “Why don’t all guitars have a bass contour knob?”

THE FINAL WRAP

Reverend scores with a solid and uniquely attractive offering from their set-neck series. The Sensei 290 feels great, plays great, and sounds great. Compatible with both its stylings and sound, this guitar seems most suitable for rock, surf, and blues, though it’s certainly versatile enough to appeal to a broader range of genres.

PROS: Aesthetically attractive and unique, solid construction, pure sound with warm character, additional bass frequency control.

CONS: None

MSRP – $899

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Dan Coplan is senior staff writer at SMG. Dan is a Los Angeles based cinematographer and self-admitting guitar junkie. Email: dancoplan@sharemyguitar.com

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Photo by Dan Coplan

Modes are both fascinating and totally confusing. I could go on for days about modal theory but this article is more about fun and giving you a taste of what modes sound like and how to play them. First, a basic introduction.

A scale is a series of notes, arranged by pitch, that starts at the root note (also known as the tonal center) and ascends or descends to its octave. Using A major as an example, an ascending scale looks like this:

A – B – C# – D – E – F# – G# – A

A mode is similar to a scale in that it’s a series of notes, arranged by pitch, that starts at a root and ascends or descends to its octave. Rather than the root note being the first note of a major scale, however, a different note is used as the root. If you choose the 2nd note, which is B, and ascend the scale using the exact same notes as the A major scale, you get the Dorian mode – the 2nd mode of the series of seven (one mode per note). A major is the first mode (in this particular example) and is referred to as the Ionian mode. Dorian is the second mode and in this case is called “B Dorian”:

B – C# – D – E – F# – G# – A – B

Start the scale using the 3rd note of A major which is C#. Guess what? Now you’re playing C# Phrygian:

C# – D – E – F# – G# – A – B – C#

TC Electronic’s PolyTune is the World’s First Polyphonic Guitar Tuner!

TC Electronic is a Danish company founded in 1976 by musician brothers Kim and John Rishøj. They started by seeking ways to improve the quality of guitar pedals and as the business grew, they expanded into rack-mounted effects, audio interfaces and processors, software, and computer hardware. With a focus on innovation and quality, TC Electronic is recognized as leaders in their field. They’ve attracted a lot of attention recently with their release of a guitar/bass tuner in pedal form that allows players to tune all strings at the same time!

FRESH OUTTA THE BOX

The PolyTune is cased in a rugged metal housing with standard input and output jacks on either side, a heavy duty metal footswitch, large LED display, and 9V power jack on the back. Also on the rear are two small switches to change how the pedal functions: visual feedback in ‘Needle’ or ‘Stream’ mode for both guitar and bass, dropped tunings down to 5 semitones (no setting for alternate tunings – straight dropped tunings only), and reference pitch adjustment from 435Hz to 445Hz. A power out jack allows the pedal to serve as a power supply to other pedals through a daisy chain cable. Word of warning: You can easily confuse this for the input power jack and fry the pedal. I immediately put a piece of tape over it just to be safe. A USB port offers a way to service the unit (not meant for the end user). A single almost dime-sized screw on the bottom, easily loosened by a coin, allows access to the battery. Not easily visible, but present in the lower right side of the display, is an ambient light sensor meant to adjust the brightness of the display according to the environment.

GIMMICK OR THE REAL DEAL?

The first thing I noticed was the bright display. Several small red and green LED’s combine to give visual feedback. The LED’s are dimmable which aids in more accurate feedback. Clicking through the various functions was intuitive as my changes were clearly displayed. I would prefer a little better resolution, however, as the LED’s are spaced pretty far apart (relatively speaking) which rides the fence between a cool Christmas lights display and smooth, refined legibility.

Author’s 1st attempt tuning right out of the box. Quicker results achieved with just a little practice.

The moment of truth! I strummed all six strings and an arched row of lights across six columns immediately lit up. This, too, was simple to understand as a single row of green pairs designates notes in tune. Red pairs above and below at various distances from the middle reveal degrees of sharpness and flatness for each string. Plucking individual strings immediately engages the chromatic mode and I was given more refined feedback to dial in each note perfectly. This auto-switching feature is great, the response is quick, and it works well. One additional gripe I have about the display is I would like to see some sort of bold and clear indicator for each string whether it’s in numerical form like ’6 5 4 3 2 1′ or note form like ‘E A D G B E’. With all the lights going at once in polyphonic mode it can be a bit tricky for your eyes to decipher which string is which.

THE FINAL WRAP

The PolyTune works as advertised. I found that even though I started tuning in polyphonic mode, I almost always checked each individual string for greater accuracy. If I were in a huge rush on stage to get in the ballpark between songs, this pedal would save me time. It does also help to get a badly tuned guitar in rough tuning quickly. The auto switching feature is great so you can decide for yourself. If you’re a cutting edge Poly Tuner – go for it! If you’re old school, go string by string – doesn’t matter. The PolyTune will get you there quickly and reliably one way or another.

PROS: Big bright display. Tunes polyphonically and chromatically on the fly. Additional tuning features available. True bypass.

CONS: No clear reference for each string in polyphonic mode – lots of lights can make it tricky to single out individual strings. LED resolution is a bit coarse.

MSRP – $149

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Dan Coplan is senior staff writer at SMG. Dan is a Los Angeles based cinematographer and self-admitting guitar junkie. Email: dancoplan@sharemyguitar.com

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Tech 21 was born from Andrew Barta’s personal desire to recreate the natural sound of tube amps in a pedal. As a performing musician, Andrew used his electronics background in bringing the legendary SansAmp to market. Today, Tech 21 offers a wide range of quality audio gear for guitar and bass, all hand built right here in the good ol’ US of A. The Boost D.L.A., offered as version 2 in a copper finish, is Tech 21′s analog delay emulator with clean boost.

FRESH OUTTA THE COOKIE TIN

The pedal arrived in a cool tin box that actually could be used for cookies (Note to self: hide cookies in Tech 21 tin. Girlfriend will never look there). The all metal housing, significantly more rugged than the “cookie tin” (but too packed with electronics to hold anything more than a handful of crumbs), is standard in length but roughly 1-1/2 times wider than a typical pedal. Six easily gripped knobs control mix, feedback, tone, time, flutter, and level which extends into signal boost. A large red LED indicates power, two small push switches activate trails and triplets, and two larger heavy duty footswitches toggle ON/OFF and tap tempo. The battery is easily accessed by a removable door on the back.

A DELAY, A CLEAN BOOST, AND MORE…

The time between delays (30 to 1,000 milliseconds) is controlled by both the Time dial and Tap Tempo footswitch. The controls override each other and affect any sounds being delayed at the time. If you set tempo with the footswitch and then turn the time dial, delayed sounds will kick in to the new tempo and transpose in pitch. You can also create a similar effect using just the time dial. Warning: this is too much fun and you may get lost for hours experimenting with all sorts of warbly, cartoony, chopping, sci-fi, sped-up and slowed-down wackiness. Tap Tempo can also be used to alter the interval of an existing delayed signal. In this scenario the pitch remains the same but the rhythm of the delay and attack may be affected. More experimental fun. Dig this…you can set the tap tempo while the pedal is in bypass mode. Count off with your drummer at the start of a song and kick right in with your delay in perfect sync. Too cool.

Egnater’s amazingly versatile Tweaker Head and 112X Cabinet!

Egnater Custom Amplification was founded by Bruce Egnater over 30 years ago. Frustrated with existing amps that couldn’t match the tone of his favorite artists, Bruce enrolled at the University of Detroit Engineering School to further his education in electronics design. He opened his own repair shop specializing in amp mods in 1975. Word quickly spread as individual guitarists to top companies sought his talents. That talent exhibited itself a few years ago in compact form when Egnater released the Rebel 20, which sold approximately 10,000 units worldwide. With the goal of offering the same great quality in a compact design but at a more affordable price, Egnater recently introduced the Tweaker.

FRESH OUTTA THE BOX

The Tweaker stands just shy of two feet tall. Cute and kick ass at the same time. The amp and cab are stylishly constructed with black tolex wrapped birch, wicker faces, and scripted Egnater name plates. Amp controls include two heavy duty toggle switches for power and standby mode. Five mini “tweaker” switches toggle Modern/Vintage power amp voicing, AC/British/American tone voicing, Hot/Clean gain intensity, brightness, and Tight/Deep bass punch. Durable knobs controlling master volume, gain, and three bands of EQ turn smoothly with a touch of drag. The back of the amp includes a buffered effects loop and two speaker outputs (main and extension). An impedance switch offers 4, 8, and 16 ohms. Running the show behind the scenes are three 12AX7 preamp tubes and a pair of 6V6 power tubes. The cabinet, which houses one 12″ Celestion G12H-30, has two 16 ohm input jacks on the back.

Zachary Vex is the founder of ZVEX Effects, a boutique effects pedal company. ZVEX pedals are unique both in look, with truly off the wall hand painted artistry, and function, with multitudes of controls taking guitar signals to places never before imagined. The Mastotron is a new pedal in the company’s Vextron series based on a heavy silicon fuzz design.

FRESH OUTTA THE BOX

Understated in appearance (especially for ZVEX), the dark blue pedal is slightly smaller than what one would consider standard. Also different is the layout which stretches wide, rather than tall. Controls include volume, tone, pulse width, fuzz, relax/push, and subs. A small red LED on the upper-right indicates ON and OFF. The all metal construction is solid and the electronics and 9V battery are sealed tight by four screws underneath.

DON’T FIX THAT TORN SPEAKER!

When I think fuzz, I think retro so I opted for my trusty Ibanez Jet King 1 (ok, so it’s from this decade but it’s retro in style) to take me through the journey of scratch and static. I was hanging out with my good friend Johnny DeMarco who was eager to test drive the pedal so I turned over performance responsibilities to him while I dialed in the settings. We plugged straight through the pedal into a Blackheart Little Giant Half Stack.

Audio Electric Research (AER) is a German company that has strived for excellence in acoustic amplification since 1992. This ambition led to their 4th MIPA award for ‘Best Acoustic Amp’ in 2006. Never satisfied to rest on their laurels, AER continues their pursuits with the acoustiCube 3.

WHAT’S IN THE GIG BAG?

That’s right. A padded gig bag is included which is a great bonus. It fits the amp snugly and has straps as well as an opening to easily access the carrying handle on the amp itself. Pockets all around allow for convenient storage of accessories. When I first picked it up, I almost threw my back out. I wasn’t prepared for the weight this “cute little amp” contains. Its wide array of controls on the face plate as well as the multitude of options on the back reveals why.

To call this amp “feature-rich” is an understatement: Two input channels (each with 3-band EQ and switches for mute, pad, mode, and color), 100 internal 32-bit digital effects, connections for a dedicated tuner, headphones, subwoofer, active speaker, left and right line level signals, stereo record jack, master insert for effects, auxiliary in and return with level control, presence control, DI controls, notch filter, USB interface, external effects send and return with controls, mic input, and footswitch. PHEW! What can’t you do with this thing? By all appearances, the acoustiCube 3 covers every possible situation from gigging to practicing at home to recording.