Head to head
The best of the bunch of board amp solutions
There’s quite a range of prices... it’s the case that you get what you pay for
The Mooer preamps can be used to DI into a recording interface, but the results when used with a cab are markedly better. Meanwhile, the PowerStage 170 needs to be used with a speaker cab and can’t be used for direct recording. On the flip side, the Two Notes preamps and CAB can be used for direct recording or run into a mixer and PA for live use, but can’t directly drive a speaker cab. The BluGuitar sits neatly between these two camps as it can be used for direct recording or used line out to a PA, but can also drive a traditional speaker cab if required.
There’s quite a range of prices between these products, though not quite as great as you might initially think. For instance, the combination of a Mooer micro preamp and the Baby Bomb 30 power amp come to nearly as much as one of the Two Notes Le Preamp pedals, although the CAB adds substantially more to the bill if you want dedicated cab modelling. One of the Two Notes preamps with the addition of the CAB is in the same ballpark as the BluGuitar.
In terms of sound, it’s the case that you get what you pay for. The BluGuitar and the Two Notes offer the best sound quality, with the BluGuitar being the best all-rounder for both recording and live use. The combination of the Two Notes preamp and CAB sound consistently the most convincing and is also the easiest to get a good sound out of – but not being able to run a standard cab is potentially a drawback, if you’re anything more than just a bedroom player. Out of the less expensive units, the PowerStage offers a full-range clean slate to run pedals into, and the combination of Mooer preamp and Baby Bomb 30 is somewhat more characterful by comparison, even if it has a lot less headroom, with just 30 watts to the PowerStage’s 170 watts.