JamUp Pro & JamPlug Review

So wouldn’t it figure, the day before my JamPlug arrived, the headphone jack on my iPhone crapped out.I considered repairing it myself, as the part can be had for only about $10. But looking at the instructions, you had to pretty much completely disassemble your phone, involving a half dozen or so tinny ribbon cable connectors, and way too many microscopic screws. Just didn’t look like fun. And what better excuse to upgrade the old 3Gs!

So after picking up a new 4Gs, and having a brief conversation with Siri, I reached for the JamPlug box. I was immediately impressed as the packaging was not the expected blister-pack, but a stylish box, very Mac-like in its design. The JamPlug itself was nestled in a dense foam block. This looked more like packaging for an expensive high-end device, not one that costs around $20.

The JamPlug itself is very light, encased in white plastic, about the thickness of the iPhone, but not quite as wide. Both the 1/8″ headphone, and the 1/4″ instrument jacks had a nice solid click to them. However, being used to the heavy-duty, metal jacks that are used on guitars and pedals, this small plastic jack looks like the most likely potential point of failure. But then again, when in use, it is attached to your expensive iPhone or iPad, so most people will probably be a bit more gentle with it. The device would also need to be substantially bigger and heavier to contain such a plug, so I think compromises are allowed here. It also looks like a Lego on one side. No idea why.

After plugging everything in, I started the JamUp Pro app. I think the interface design is very good. Everything works very logically. To adjust an amps settings, just tap it once and you get a zoomed in view of the controls, same with the pedals. You can drag pedals to put them in or out of the chain, and you can put them in any order you’d like. Up to 7 devices can currently be chained together. To change the pedal or amp, just tap it twice. You are then taken to a screen with all the pedals or amps. There is also a metronome and an input volume slider available on the main screen.

The sound I got initially from the default setup had me a bit concerned. It was very quiet and murky sounding. And many of the presets seemed to be lacking on the treble side. I found adding the EQ pedal at the end of the chain was an easy fix to adjust things to my taste. And with a little fiddling with the amp and pedal settings, I was able to dial in some really great sounds. And there are 16 slots for saving the setups to once you got them dialed in perfectly.

I use Amplitube 3 extensively when recording in Logic Pro, so I’ve spent a lot of time listening to emulated amp models, with Amplitube 3s being the best I’ve heard. The JamUp tones easily held there own against these, yet they were coming from a phone, impressive! There is a bit more noise in the JamUp samples, and from what I have read, this is due to the more limited fidelity available using the analog headphone jack of the iPhone/iPad. There are guitar adapters that plug directly into the iOS docking port that are supposed to offer a cleaner signal but they cost substantially more.

I found this video which does a good job of running through the range of tones available.

Speaking of Amplitube, I loaded up the free iOS app version to compare to JamUp, and for me JamUp won easily. Though to be fair, the free Amplitube app only came with one amp and pedal I felt JamUps tone and responsiveness was more realistic. I also tried out the free version of Ampkit, which I found was also better sounding then Amplitube. Though I still preferred JamUp over it as well. There is also a free version of JamUp , so I suggest downloading all three and comparing them yourself.

Additionally, JamUp Pro also comes with a tuner, which seemed at least as accurate as my Snark. There is a “Jam” section which allows you to use any song in iTunes as a backing track. You even have the ability to slow down or change the pitch of the track. For me, this is the most useful thing about being able to plug your guitar into your iPhone/iPad, using it as a headphone amp. I’ve already made a playlist of all the backing tracks I currently use for practicing improvisation, and I’m sure this list will get very long.

The one other feature is the “Sampler”, which allows you to record and overdub . It’s a nice feature for making a quick backing track to jam too , or sketching basic song ideas. But with each overdub, you most recent recording is combined with your previous recordings. So if you mess up a take, there is no way to erase it without erasing everything else.

I did originally have an issue where I was getting an intermittent clicky-static type noise. On a hunch, I put my phone in airplane mode, thereby turning off the WiFi, and the problem disappeared.

Over all, I think both the JamPlug and the JamUp Pro app, are a great value for the money. Though the audio isn’t quite audiophile grade, it’s more then adequate as a practice tool. And in certain situations I think it could be used on final recordings. Positive Grid has also announced there is an update coming with a lot more amps and FX. If anyone has any other questions, there’s a lot more info at the Positive Grid website. You can also post questions here or on the Guitarify Facebook page and I’ll do my best to answer them.