Given that NAM is being widely tipped as the future of guitar tones, it’s no surprise to see big-name brands embracing the technology. Zoom is the latest to do so with the Neurig – an affordable touchscreen-equipped modeler that is packed with impressive features.
A compact but by no means stunted amp modeler, Zoom believes the Neurig is “a next-generation guitar pedal that will redefine everything.” Chief among its stacked spec sheet is the fact it natively supports NAM A2 Lite from TONE3000.
An open-source amp modeling architecture, NAM hype has been sweeping through the guitar industry in recent times and could change the way we interact with digital guitar tones.
Blackstar was the first to implement it into its own offerings via the Beam Mini, and it feels like something of an arms race for others to follow suit.
Zoom, then, is ahead of the curve, and what is being labelled the “most accurate and best sounding amp modeling technology in history” serves as the brains behind the Neurig.
The tech, it says, “reproduces the amplifier itself, not just the tone,” therefore bottling “the behavior of every knob and parameter of legendary amplifiers and effects pedals,” which are all stored within the unit.
In all, there are 32 amp heads built in, ranging from a Marshall JTM 45 and 1965 Fender Twin Reverb to the more gnarly sounds of a Diezel Herbert and a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier.
Notably, there are six original amplifier sounds, from the Redloom, which is a ‘60s-styled small tube amp, Muddy, a blues-rock-leaning vintage crunch amp, and the Pollex, which is specifically engineered to handle drop tunings, djent, and slap bass.
But the Neurig isn’t limited to just what’s built in, as NAM integration means users can freely load amps, pedals and cabinets into the mix, and even capture full signal chains of their other gear picks.
Users can import over 700,000 NAM capture and IR libraries into the Neurig for free.
Unsurprisingly, the Neurig packs an insane amount of effects into its chrome-encased guts. A rich array of reverbs, delays, and modulations are augmented by more leftfield options including a bit crusher, rotary speaker sim, ring modulator, and pitch shifter.
On top of that, 17 effects have been tailored for use in conjunction with an expression pedal (you’ll need to bring your own) with volume and a breadth of wah sounds joined by reverbs, resonance effects, and more.
As for connectivity, it features a send and return for pedalboard integration, MIDI in/out, stereo and mono outputs, and the signal path can also be split in two.
Other notable mentions include Bluetooth connectivity, the ability to run series, parallel, and split routing, and run up to 14 effects simultaneously. Plus there’s a looper, and a battery that can last 4.5 hours.
It also has four footswitches and two rotary controls for dialing in signal chains.
Leaning further into the futuristic side of the Neurig, it even features an AI-driven tone generation and even AI stem separation functionality for removing guitar parts from tracks. These are accessible via the SessionZ Pedal cloud service.
All this totals to the sum of ¥47,800, which is approximately $300. Of course, that is a rough conversion while we wait for an official US price, but if it is anywhere near that ballpark, the Neurig could be one to watch. That’s a slither of the cost of a Quad Cortex or Tone Master Pro.
See Zoom for more.
