Positive Grid JamUp Plug and
JamUp Pro App
JamUp Plug is compatible with:
• iPhone 4S, 4, 3GS, and 3
• iPod Touch 4th gen.
• iPad and iPad2
JamUp Pro works on iOS 4. 3 or later
The amp and effects models on offer in
JamUp Pro’s smartly laid-out interface are
well voiced, with surprisingly full dynamic
ranges, consistent output levels across a
range of gain levels, and a playability that
you have to experience to appreciate.
Even just dialing through the presets—
“Awesome Clean,” “UK 30 Sparkle,” “800
Lead,” and others—I found plenty of useful, musical tones. And the smart-gate settings mean these sounds are much quieter
than virtually any other amp app. Kudos
are also due for the excellent reverb sounds,
from digital ’verbs to a very convincing vintage spring—it’s hard enough to find great
spring reverbs on a full-blown rig, but a
tiny iPhone? That’s remarkable.
To edit presets, you touch back to the
Amp/FX menu, and the controls for each
given amp and effect appear across the
bottom of the screen. JamUp Pro displays
horizontally, so you tilt the phone sideways,
which I’d argue means a broader, easier page
for edit adjustments, though some may pre-
fer the vertical layout. A quick double-tap
on anything in your signal chain—amps,
effects, etc.—produces a menu of options
for each. There are six amps and quite a few
pedals in the app when you first download
it, but I’d recommend stocking up on the
many effects and amps Positive Grid offers
as in-app purchases. From lively, spongy
takes on Bogner, Orange, Hiwatt, Fender,
Boogie, and Vox, there’s a surplus of amp
riches here. Effects? You get rich, thick
modulations, believable tape-echo with
adjustable heads, spacious digital reverbs—
and they’re all very easy to edit. The Noise
Gate pedal really cleans things up beauti-
fully when you’ve gone a little crazy on the
distortions.
Kudos are also due for
[JamUp Pro’s] excellent
reverb sounds ... it’s
hard enough to find
great spring reverbs
on a full-blown rig,
but a tiny iPhone?
That’s remarkable.
Although it’s certainly a reasonably priced
interface, it’s a bit too flimsy to do justice
to the JamUp Pro app, and that’s too bad.
Because it connects to your iOS device’s
headphone jack instead of the 30-pin connector, it just can’t squeeze through as many
dynamics. And despite its line-level output,
the sounds clearly suffer from crosstalk and
bad conversion. You’re far better off trying
JamUp Pro through an interface with better
input capabilities and third-party app compatibility. Such a combination will make
JamUp Pro—possibly the deepest and finest
amp/effects app on the market—sound as
good as it’s capable of sounding.
Apogee Jam and Apple
GarageBand App
Apogee Jam is compatible with:
• iPhone 4S and 4
• iPad and iPad2
Apple GarageBand works on iOS 4. 3 or later
RATINGS
Positive Grid, JamUp Plug ($19.99 street) and JamUp Pro app ($19.99), positivegrid.com
Pros: Great tones. Brilliant interface. Massive
amps and effects library.
Tones
cons: JamUp Plug has noise, fidelity, and
construction-quality issues.
Ease of Use
Materials
Value
The Apogee name carries a lot of weight
in pro-engineering circles, so when Apogee
jumped into the consumer game with the
ultra-lightweight Jam, it definitely got
some attention. Still, given the success of
the Apogee Duet2 interface—an acclaimed
project-studio-oriented, 2-channel I/O optimized for Macs—perhaps it wasn’t a great
stretch to address the growing portable
music market, too.
