NUX Optima Air Dual-Switch Acoustic Guitar Simulator with a Preamp,IR Loader, Capturing Mode，15 Built‑In Acoustic Guitar Profiles，3‑Band EQ，Gain Control, Built‑In Reverb, USB Audio

I have not experience any of the issues with noise that other reviews mention, maybe there are quality control issues with these that I haven't experienced? Turning the IR mix up too far definitely introduces some noise, more for some profiles than others, so maybe keep that in mind. I've been using this for over a year for playing mandolin live with a loud five-piece acoustic combo and have no complaints. I started by using one of the piezo pickup profiles that was built into the pedal and it immediately sounded better than any other preamp pedal I had ever used with mandolin. I previously used an LR Baggs para eq DI box and a BBE Acoustimax and both were ok because they allowed me to tweak the eq myself rather than depending on my sound guy to get it right, but they were definitely both lacking. I scheduled an hour in the studio my band records in because they have a great mic locker -- I generally record my mandolin with a really nice vintage Neumann U67 so we created a profile with that and a few other mics. We just ran the mic through the board for its preamp and back into the mic input for the pedal and then ran the pickup output into the other input (the manual explains how to do this). For run, we ran this with the U67, an AKG 414, a small diaphragm condenser (don't recall what) and, for fun, an SM57. The U67 and 414 both produced great profiles that were noticeably better than any of the built in profiles. We did some experimenting after the fact since everything was hooked into the board, so we did some simultaneous recording direct from the pickup with the model as well as with the microphone the profile was made with so we could really compare how it sounded and everyone in the studio was really impressed. I should mention that we did this with my Northfield F5 with a K&K pickup installed. I also have a Rigel and plugging that in with the profile for my Northfield was sub-optimal. So I'm pretty sure the key to really getting value out of this pedal is getting access to a few really nice mics and making your own profile. So maybe find a studio with a good collection of mics and book an hour or two to make some profiles for your instruments. One other feature that I've found useful is the ability to switch profiles with the buttons. In addition to overall challenges with reproducing the sound of mandolin accurately with pickups, the instrument also has a rather large dynamic range, especially when you compare the volume of playing chords to the volume of playing single notes. I set up my pedal with two copies of the same profile next to each other but one of the presets has the volume slightly boosted, so I can switch back and forth when I take a solo. I'm still getting used to this but I find it sounds better than the boost pedal I had been using. I don't have any experience with any of the other IR pedals, so I can't compare, but this seems to be the cheapest option in the market and I'm very happy with the results.

I had so many plans for this little gem. The sound was awesome, it did just what I wanted. That is, for about 3 or 4 Sundays at church... then it started making weird white noises. One time it sounded like a jet was slowly coming towards us then just got louder and louder and louder. Power cycling resolves the issues but you can't power cycle the pedal without it popping in the mains, kinda not what you want during church service. The problem and reason for the 1 star is I contacted NUX support which they responded asking for additional information. Then they wanted me to video the problem. Well I thought I may be able to but after a few months, I decided it was just not possible. I did give additional info such as it seemed the white noise is in the amp side of the pedal. I got no response. I recently (6 weeks or so) replied again saying they needed to decide how they would resolve this issue before my warranty ran out. Again I got no response. They have no intention replacing or fixing they problem. Their last response said they recommend I don't use the pedal for more than an hour but our church services can be 2-3 hours plus sound check and set run thru before church starts. That can be from 8am till 1230p. If you only plan to use it 30-45 mins, it does a good job. But if you're planning to gig with it, move on... its not worth the headache. God bless yall

Update (July 2022): finally got my hands on an AudioSprockets Tonedexter and this pedal can’t really compete. My advice is to save your money and buy the Tonedexter. Several people have commented that this pedal generates noise when plugged in for awhile. It may never happen to you, but it happened to me during a gig. So I got the genuine NUX power supply. And again during a rehearsal it started distorting on me. So why am I giving it four stars? Because the distortion only happens when the AMP section of the pedal is engaged. If you just need a cheap way to record an impulse response of your instrument this pedal is great. I only use it with the IR switch engaged, because the AMP switch seems unreliable. If you already have an EQ pedal, put that in the effects loop and don’t use the built-in equalizer. Or put this pedal in the effects loop of a Baggs Para DI or vice versa. Sure, the Optima Air adds a bit of hiss to the signal when it adds high frequency information to match a mic, but the LR Baggs Voiceprint DI adds nearly as much noise. I’m currently using the Optima Air on my violin with a Schertler pickup that I trained to sound like a DPA mic. I wanted an Audiosprockets ToneDexter, but there’s no ETA on when those will be back in stock. Take your time capturing profiles. If you’re close-micing, you really should eq the mic to reduce proximity effect before the signal goes into the pedal or you’re going to encounter feedback in a live environment.

Highly recommend the NUX OPTIMA AIR. If you are looking to turn an electric gtr into a convincing acoustic this is the one. Really need to use a strat (center pickup or neck) and definitely download some free acoustic guitar impulse responses. There are also super good and relatively inexpensive (but totally worth it) paid IRs from 3 sigma audio. Fantastic IRs with folders full of sample designed specifically for use with electric and some designed to make your crappy acoustic sound really good. For me, I have to do quick switches between electric and acoustic and its much easier in some cases to hit my one control which is routed to my Helix and one side to my optima air. You can try loading IRs into your Helix or whatever you have but I've tried it and the Nux just does a better job. The NUX Eq specifically targets the acoustic mid area which also makes the box really good for running an already great sounding acoustic (like my early 90s Taylor 714ce) into it to help it cut through the mix better. Anyway awesome pedal. Definitely recommend.

This is a fantastic pedal for achieving a high-quality acoustic guitar tone live. I love the ability to eq (very responsive controls.) I love the xlr out. I played through this pedal into a PA to dial in a sound I liked (and to make sure it worked) for about an hour at home. Then I brought it to its first gig. On its debut gig (in a quiet church) the Nux Optima Air performed perfectly through rehearsal and then again perfectly for the the first 45 minutes of the 1-hour service. As the we began the last song, my guitar dropped out of the monitors, reappeared sporadically, then emerged as only a crackling/sizzling. The FOH guy woke up and let me know he heard the same thing. After a little jiggling this-or-that cable, I pulled the power supply to the Nux, and put it back in, and it was back to normal. A little reading online lead me to other reviews who have experienced a similar problem. It might be rare, but it's a problem specific to this pedal. Obvious to say, but it's not a professional quality pedal if a failure like this can happen. There are no professionals who get to keep working who have a reputation for crackly, sketchy gear! In the days after my gig with the Nux, I left it on, plugged into my guitar (with a passive pickup) and connected to my DAW at home. If I left it plugged in and unattended, it would eventually fail in the way it did at my gig. Sometimes it took 3 or more hours, once it took half a day. I updated the pedal's firmware (I found a person on Youtube who showed me how...Nux's instructions on completing this operation were incomplete and (for me) impossible to follow.) The pedal failed at the same rate as before. This morning, when I woke up my computer, the Nux was making its sizzling/cracking sound. I played with each pot and listed to the sound. The treble pot on this pedal seemed to control the level and quality of the sizzle. When I turned the treble all the way down, the Nux made a little 'pop' sound. With reverb and through a PA this would likely sound like a giant "bang" sound...sort of like pulling and then replacing the power...Boom! Ugh. Not professional at all. After a few turns of the treble pot (and a few "pops") the sound returned to normal. So, Nux: Get it together. This pedal sounds great, but your quality control could have ruined my gig. I've read enough reviews to know this isn't isolated. I like the pedal so much I ordered another in hopes that I got a lemon. This time, I'll test it for hours and days before I use it live. Fingers crossed! Also, it doesn't come with a power supply. EDIT: A few weeks after first purchasing this pedal, I purchased another NUX Optima in hopes I just got a bad one the first time. No such luck! The same noise that nearly ruined my gig with the first purchase/attempt happened with the second pedal (this time it happened at home.). As with the first, I worked the treble pot when the noise first appeared (I left the pedal on and plugged in in the days after receiving this second attempt to see if the noise was going to show up.) After working the pot, the noise disappated and did not reappear. The pedal performed well at many gigs over the next couple of months. EDIT EDIT: The noise came back in the pedal at a gig just the other night...after having performed well for a couple on months! It wasn't quite so complete as the initial report in this review, and a simple unplugging/plugging in of the power supply seemed to remedy it. Glad I learned all these tricks to make this pedal work (I learned the hard way...). NUX: Maybe include the need for a break-in period for these pedals in your documentation. It would serve as fair warning for people who actually expect to count on them!

So far I had good luck and the pedal was quiet without weird noise and distortion I read about. Also the software is running well for me on Windows. The AMP switch, I thought you're EQing or have the option to EQ the IR side of signal. But they're completely different circuits. The AMP (preamp) section will engage and EQ the built-in pickup. But that's what I'm trying to move away from...so, I don't see the point. I want to be able to further EQ the IR sound if needed. No big deal because the NUX Optima preamp doesn't have a notch filter to fight the feedback which I still need majority of the time. I crank up the IR knob all the way and I'm using the Headway EDB1 premap for everything else except the IR sound. Another thing, I found out, realized, via a YT video that you can use the preamp - interface you might be using for home/studio recording to train the IR sound. This is a far better option and gives far better results than a pedal based premap. Basically the the better the preamp, the better the EQ. Of course the better microphone does the same improvement. Better yet, use the Optima Air as IR loader only, search for and use Cuki IR. It's the free code that'll spit out the IR sound once you upload your recorded file. In my case the results are much better than training it via NUX pedal. I visited a friend who has a $3K mic and a $3K premap, recorded a sample and the result with Cuki IR is incredibly good. By doing this you can buy just IR loader pedal for less money than NUX. But I'm glad I got the NUX anyway, it's a neat pedal and it seems to be run by music enthusiasts. I couldn't be happier with the sound.

EDIT: After contacting tech support they said the only way to get rid of the noise is with the NUX ACD-006A power supply. I had it running of a CIOKS and that was not good enough. Sure enough that power supply did fix the noise problem. Don't buy without the NUX power supply. 5 stars for IR capability(with an IR I found on the internet, not the built in ones). 2-3 stars for not working with isolated power supplies like ones you would use on a pedal board. I was using it live the other day and it started making alot of static noise. I have it on an isolated power supply. After a power cycle the noise goes away. I havent timed it, but after a while it starts making the noise again. Pedal is unusable. Waste of money, dont buy. I guess I never used it for very long at home. Playing live was the first extended use.

Nice sound but not for me.

i use this for recording my acoustics and find there are many useable sounds in this little pedal as a pre amp for recording it works prefectly!

Compré este pedal ya que utilizo durante los shows diferentes tipos de guitarras acústicas, creo q se logra la esencia de los sonidos e IRs, no todos son funcionales, debes buscar las características combinables de acuerdo a tu instrumento y al recinto, y posteriormente editar y guardar tus propias configuraciones, sin activar el preamp o el switch de IR el volumen es casi imperceptible, así que tienen q estar siempre encendidos para sacarle provecho... EL PROBLEMA PRINCIPAL, es el RUIDO QUE PRESENTA DESPUES DE 30 MINUTOS DE USO, intenté todo: Usar la fuente de poder de mi pedalboard, un eliminador externo, un regulador, cambié cables de parcheo, intenté todo en varias guitarras y sigue causando problemas, hoy leí una reseña similar y compré la fuente de alimentación de la marca NUX esperando que se solucione. veo que es un problema recurrente, como ultima sugerencia un BOOST sería excelente. probaré y subiré si funcionó o no, dicha solución. saludos !!!!!

Great dounds

Buen producto para los que gustan de pedales pero si quieres calidad busca otras modelos que tengan mejor definición en las frecuencias. Los potenciómetros no suben gradualmente, el cambio de frecuencias es repentino no es gradual.

I tried using this for live performance with my mandolin and acoustic guitar. While it was very easy to load IRs and use the existing ones, the unit I got had an issue with very loud noise while on stage. It resulted a few times with the sound engineer having to mute me completely. The issue I found was whenever I used to preamp. I would not recommend this product. I had such high hopes.