Once upon a time a practice amp was a solid-stage combo with an 8” speaker, a 3-band EQ, and reverb if you were lucky. Now? Well, just look at the latest desktop amplifier from Mooer audio, the Intelligent Amp F15i Li.
This is a take-anywhere, play-anything digital guitar amp that comes packing 55 amp sims, 69 different effects, a built in drum machine and metronome to drill your timekeeping, a guitar tuner, a looper, and 15-watts of full stereo electric guitar sounds thanks to its pair of 2” FRFR speakers.
What else could you need? Maybe a footswitch. That is sold separately as an optional extra.
But of course there is more from Mooer. Bluetooth 5.0 compatibility means you can stream backing tracks – or just use the amp as a stereo. We could see this getting a lot of action sitting on the kitchen table, or under the desk at work – yes, there’s a 3.5mm output for hooking up a set of guitar amp headphones and practising silently.
There are also two 1/4” line out jacks for when you need to send the signal from your F15i Li to something with a bit more firepower. And there is a USB-C port for easy recording on-the-go.
While you can make deep edits via the accompanying iAMP mobile app, saving down presets, designing complex signal paths that might hitherto give you and all that kind of thing, at the heart of the F15i’s control panel is a 1.28” circular touchscreen for hands-on edits. It’s all very 21st-century.
The DSP architecture builds upon previous Mooer Audio releases, with amp sims engineered using the Chinese gear brand’s MNRS nonlinear modelling technology. The processing power allows Mooer to expand the functionality of these amplifiers.
Take the drum machine; this is not just four variations on a single beat. Here you have 60 different drum grooves. And for those who just want the beat, straight-up, there are 10 different metronomes. The looper has a max recording time of 60 seconds.
And all of this you can take anywhere. The “Li” in the amp’s designation stands for the lithium-ion battery that frees you up from the mains outlet. With a full charge and the volume dial set at noon, you should get six hours of playing time. It will take about four-and-a-half hours to charge it fully.
There’s a carry strap. Take it to the beach. It weighs just under 1.5kg. Expect to pay around £139/$157 street. See Mooer Audio for more details.
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