Hotone has shaken up the AI-powered smart amp arms race, going up against the likes of Positive Grid and JBL with the Pulze Jr.
The practice amp market has been increasingly exposed to artificial intelligence advancements in recent years. Positive Grid pioneered AI tone generation. JBL turned heads at NAMM with its AI stem separation tech. Blackstar recently partnered with Moises to offer the same with its Beam Mini.
Now, Hotone has sought to offer the best of both worlds and put that all together in a pocket-sized amp that is gunning for the ‘best in class’ title.
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But the competition is steep. So, to go up against the industry’s big guns, Hotone clearly hopes to stand apart by packing both AI Tone Creation and AI Track Separation into the Pulze Jr.
Both function as you’d expect. One takes a prompt via text or voice, and uses artificial intelligence to build the tone. It can then be refined or tweaked.
The other, meanwhile, is a bit more novel and rare among pint-sized practice amps, though it’s certainly becoming a more valued feature. On paper, it can separate parts from an imported song to create practice tracks, study or mute guitar parts, or help with transcription.
In the past, it has been said this feature could change the way guitarists practice. Add that to the AI tone generation, and this is one practice powerhouse.
Then there’s a third element in the mix, as Hotone has gone a step further to offer full Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) compatibility. That means it stays in keeping with one of the digital amp market’s most prominent trends, and can support open-source NAM files, opening up an enormous library of third-party tones.
All of which means Hotone is the first to nail the trifecta of smart practice amp must-haves – stem separation, NAM compatibility and tone generation – all in one box.
Elsewhere on the smart feature front, Hotone is rolling out Intelligent Backing Tracks, which is its version of the tech popularized by Positive Grid – creating accompaniments on demand that are responsive to a player’s style and tempo prompts.
Then there’s the generous 200 preset locations, a companion app that can control the customizable signal chain, eight-hour battery life, and the 20W stereo output. There are 52 amp models, 48 cab models, and loads of effects.
The amp itself – somewhere between the Beam Mini and Spark on the size scale – is also nicely proportioned, and looks sleek. It has ambient lighting, a multi-function encoder, a 240-second looper, and MIDI functionality.
The market is evolving quickly, but right now, the ball appears to be in Hotone’s court.
The Pulze Jr. is available now for $299, which makes it fairly and competitively priced against the $299 Spark, $229 12W Beam Mini and $249 BandBox Solo.
Visit Hotone for more.
