Ampless Rig on a Budget - Nux Cerberus + Joyo / Harley Benton American Sound

Timestamps:
0:40 - Intro
2:33 - Set-up
5:30 - Demo Track
7:04 - Review
Thomann Affiliate Links:
Nux Cerberus: Unfortunately discontinued
Harley Benton / Joyo American TrueTone: thmn.to/thoprod/256819?offid=...
All my gear (affiliate links):
The Bedroom Guitars: redir.love/thocf/zp7mu7izbe
The Bedroom Amps: redir.love/thocf/g83kr5y7g6
The Bedroom Pedals: redir.love/thocf/uznvi9agbc
The Bedroom Studio: redir.love/thocf/q55sup25b4
#TheBedroomRocker​ #HarleyBenton​ #Nux

[@legrompf]

Thank you for sharing the idea, it happens that I own those two pedals, so I will try this for sure. I will also check a compressor routing as you mentionned. great job

[@newtonnetty5761]

Best explanation so far fr this nux pedal 👌🏽

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Hey man, thanks for the nice comment! Glad it was useful

[@paullaughton6016]

Great demo, thanks for sharing.

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks for the nice comment

[@DMSProduktions]

Sounded GOOD Bert! \m/

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks!

[@ashcreekstudios]

Thanks a lot for your Video. Well done!

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Glad you liked it! Thank you

[@Clicephas]

Thank you so much, great video!

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Glad it was helpful!

[@sunmoonstarkiwi]

A very good explanation how apply the Cerb

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Glad you think so! Thanks

[@3ngineer427]

I like mix more than anything. Nice mix (y)

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks a lot 👍🏼

[@ENSOTAVES]

very good review, nice rig.

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks! 👍

[@mkrj2576]

I’d really like to try the Nux, as I already dig the AMS Joyo direct to my PA. And would be great to have reverb and delays all in one unit. But I’m sort of hooked on my current favorite drives…. Blues Driver and an SD-1/TS. Wish the Nux included those standards in its drives. Thanks again for the great review.

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Yes, the blues driver and tube screamer are a staple. The drives on the Cerberus are good, but you only get two of them so not the best if you want a lot of different sounds

[@carlosanthony_JCA]

i like this set up great video i use to have the same pedals except i had the AC tone

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Very cool! Thanks for the comment. I also use the AC Tone. I've made some videos on it and also comparing it with the American and British Sound pedals.

[@matthewpuziss5347]

I really liked the video! You’re very good at explaining things and the playing was really good too! I did not notice a difference between the clean sound with just the American sound on and then when you put on the cab Sim. Would it work to run the Cerberus directly into the American sound as if you were running into an amp…if I’m satisfied with just that AS cab sim?

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks for the nice comment! Yes, you can run the output of the Cerberus into the AS. Even better would be to run the AS in the effects loop of the Cerberus using a so called 4-cable method. In this approach, the overdrive and distortion goes in front of the AS and the rest of the FX go after, which normally gives more clarity and definition for modulation effects, delays and reverbs.

[@johnphillips752]

Very nice!

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks for the visit

[@patrickcassidy2179]

Brilliant video! Can more pedals be added to the FX loop with the American Sound? For example a Boss DD7 Delay, compression and/or crybaby?

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Sure, you could add more effects there! I'll likely try the compressor before the American sound and the Delay after it. The crybaby is usually best placed as the first pedal in the chain and not in the FX loop. The full chain would be something like: guitar -> cry baby -> cerberus in -> FX send -> compressor -> american sound -> delay -> FX return -> cerberus modulation / reverb / delays -> cabinet simulation -> output

[@rodrigosanjuan2697]

gracias me resolviste una gran duda, ahora solo tengo que entender bien mi cadena de pedales

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Gracias por el comentario

[@riadyjo]

Thanks for making this video! Just wondering how do you record the sound?

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks for the comment! I've recorded this video by plugging the Cerberu's output into a Behringer UMC204HD audio interface. I hope this answers your question?

[@burakbilecen9841]

That's a really helpful video. But can you make a video about uploading a cab to the cerberus?

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks for the nice comment! I'll try to check that out and make a video about that in the future. Thank you for the recommendation

[@raffaelesix1819]

Hi! I really like those pedals from Harley Benton and I have a Cerberus too. I was thinking to do the same thing that you do! But I want to add the "British" and the "Actone" too in the send and return line and use the amplifier simulation that I need every time. Do you think that is a good idea to put 3 of these pedals in the send and return line? Or it's better to add just one, like you did? Are they true bypass?

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks for the comment! These pedals are not true bypass, but you can try it out if you already own them. I don't see why it should not work. It may affect your "clean" tone but the idea of having an amp simulation pedal is that one of the three is always gonna be turned on anyway, right? This will give you three different flavors and core tones to play with!

[@tonyharley5230]

Ive used a Zoom G1 direct to PA for years. Now I want to make use of a Zoom GFX1 but the clean (Fender) drive in it is poor. So I've acquired a Joyo AS. Some brief sound testing of the 2 through a clean 35w SS combo revealed that the AS sounded better before the Zoom multi fx and that leaving the Fender clean drive and cab modules on within the Zoom patches sound better than with them turned off. This seems to go against convention, what are your thoughts?

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

I think the cab sim in the AS is rather poor, so having another more proper cab sim after it helps a lot. I guess the GFX1 has some sort of impulse response based cab sim? This really helps to round the sound of the AS. Ultimately, whatever sounds right is right hahah there are no conventions

[@RobCmusic]

Another good, affordable preamp pedal to try is the Flamma FS-6 preamp. I have both the Flamma and this American Sound, but I still prefer my Cerberus into my pedalboard amp (currently Hotone Britwind, soon also to be a Quilter Superblock). I also loaded an IR of an 8x10 bass cab and put a limiter in the Cerberus loop for a handy bass rig (output one goes to a bass amp and output two with the IR goes DI to PA)

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks for the comment and tips! That's a cool application for the Cerberus. Do you also use any of the Cerberus effects with bass? Maybe some chorus would be cool?

[@RobCmusic]

@@TheBedroomRocker1 The overdrive works well at low drive and the chorus sometimes too.

[@vincesmith2081]

I use the Cerberus into the Flamma Preamp Pedal, then into the PA mixer for an ampless live rig. It sounds really good and easy to carry🙂

[@RobCmusic]

@@vincesmith2081 I've recently been using the Cerberus/Flamma combo at rehearsal/recording sessions at a friend's home studio, direct into his audio interface. It sounds really good (Plexi model). I like that Flamma cab sim better than any other IR or speaker emulated output I've tried.

[@mattgilbert7347]

I got the Flamma FS07 Stereo IR loader and it's great. Would like to try the FS06 Preamp as well.

[@swmorgan515]

Thanks for the vid! I was wondering how the Cerberus would work with the American Sound.

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks for the comment! I'm glad the video was useful

[@mattgilbert7347]

That's exactly how I did it. American or British in the loop. I sold the Cerberus but that setup was pretty good! I'd buy a used Cerberus if it came up for cheap.

[@avadak4851]

Why did you sell the cerberus? Ans whiat did you replace it with?

[@mattgilbert7347]

Didn't like the drives. Didn't like not being able to run phaser or univibe before drives. Replaced it with the NUX Solid Studio and Atlantic Delay + Reverb. I liked the IR, Delay, and Reverb features (chorus is actually great, but i have a chorus pedal for that) so those two pedals - Solid Studio and Atlantic - they are the 50% of the Cerberus i liked. I'd still consider using one again. Maybe with an EQ pedal and my Hotone AMP pedal it would sound better. I'm looking at the new NUX MG-300 these days. Cheap modeler, sounds good.

[@mattgilbert7347]

I also didn't like the MIDI. It's kind of a disaster. Not full MIDI implementation as advertised.

[@mattgilbert7347]

A used Cerberus came up for cheap locally ;)

[@faben70]

Currently I own 2 American Sounds, with one set on a clean sound and the other on a crunch. I love both the sounds but switching from a clean to a crunch requires me to stomp on 2 pedals. So, I was wondering how the Cerberus OD and DIST could sound like in front of the American Sound and this should be the final answer - you even use the same settings I use for the VOICE and DRIVE knobs! I was just wondering: where did you get that the pedals the analog circuits are based on JHS?

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks for the nice comment! I think NUX's website mention that information. Also, if you use the software from the Cerberus they display the stomp-boxes in the screen (in the style of amp modeling plug-ins). The overdrive looks just like the JHS Morning Glory and the distortion just like the Angry Charlie. It's a clear reference to those pedals

[@sseltrek1a2b]

@@TheBedroomRocker1 the Angry Charlie is a great pedal to use in the Cerberus for Distortion...

[@SujeetGT]

If I'm not wrong, when using the Joyo American sound or even the California the cab sim is already on in them which we cannot turn off and then you are using one more IR on top of it. Weirdly it sounds decent at the end.

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Yes, that is correct. I also didn't expect it to sound this good but with some EQ on the pedal is easy to make it work. There are some mods to remove the cab sim or add a bypass switch, which makes sense in my opinion, but my pedal is stock

[@7171jay]

The Joyo's built in cab sim isn't really bad but more accurately I would say that there just isn't much of it so adding another cab sim along with is the way to go if you want to get the best out of it. For clean sounds even just a bit of reverb along with the Joyo might do the trick but for overdrive and higher gain sounds an additional cab or speaker sim is recommended.

[@prajwalkhadgi]

This is exactly what I was thinking, thanks. In place of the Harley Benton, can I use a Sansamp just the same way?

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Yes, sure! This Harley Benton seems to be a copy of the Sansamp Tech21 Blonde v1. Basically any pre-amp style of pedal could be used like that.

[@swmorgan515]

Yeah the Harley Benton is actually a clone of the Sansamp / Tech 21 "Blonde" pedal so it's very much the same kind of thing.

[@mattiascarlsson3912]

Hi, and thanks for a great demo! I'm a bit confused about one thing that I asked at another demo clip on YT but got a response that doesn't match what I see in your video. So I'll check with you as well 🙂, here goes: The way you hook up in this video you make use of the amp in the AS pedal as part of the signal chain, and the color/sound of the AS is noticed in the overall output from Output 2. Now, if you were to hook everything up by the 4 cable method using a physical amp, and going out of Output 1 to your amp, plus also using the Output 2 (with cab sim activated) going direct to a mixer/PA (so 5 cables in total), does the signal chain in Output 2 include your amp's preamp? Or does it somehow skip it if you are also using Output 1 at the same time?

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

That is a pretty good question. That depends on how you connect it. The outputs 1 and 2 both take the FX Return (modulation section input) of the Cerberus. It depends whether you place your amp in the FX loop or after Output 1. If you want your amp/pre-amp's color to be present in both outputs, then connect: guitar -> Cerberus drive section in -> drive section out -> main amp input -> amp send -> Cerberus modulation section input. Then Output 1 goes to the amp return and Output 2 (with cab sim) goes to the mixer. You can also add external effects before Cerberus drive section, before amp's input and before Cerberus modulation input. If you look at the manual, the picture of the "4-Wire method" is showing exactly this set-up. If you do NOT want your amp/pre-amp's color, then: guitar -> Cerberus drive section in -> drive section out -> external effects -> Cerberus modulation section input. Then Output 1 goes to the main input of your amp and Output 2 (with cab sim) goes to the mixer without any preamp color. I hope that clarifies and do not make things more complicated hahahah let me know if you still have any questions and best luck getting a killer guitar sound!

[@mattiascarlsson3912]

@@TheBedroomRocker1 Ah, see that makes more sense to me, and that's just how I would like the setup to be. Many thanks for taking the time to clarify this, much appreciated! (In fact, I'm ordering a unit today for testing, we'll see how it goes 🙂). Best regards.

[@mattiascarlsson3912]

@@TheBedroomRocker1 Hey again, I just thought of another thing - have you seen any instructions or tutorials on how to use the MIDI control on the device? Specifically how to control another MIDI unit from the Cerberus (the user manual and their website gives nothing). Well, if not, then consider me your first viewer if you should decide to do one on your channel 🙂

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

@@mattiascarlsson3912 Thanks for the question, but I'm afraid I'm a bit too analog to help you out here. I never really worked with MIDI. You may try to reach out to NUX directly on that, but in my experience their customer service is not very responsive

[@mattiascarlsson3912]

@@TheBedroomRocker1 That was a fast response 👍 Cheers mate, will continue to look.

[@lowrencemayfield4271]

Hi man very nice video, do you where the Cab. Sim of the Cerberus is placed ? at the end after delay and reverb or before ? Thanks a lot.

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

The cab Sim in the cerebrus is the last thing, after delay and reverb.

[@lowrencemayfield4271]

@@TheBedroomRocker1 Thanks a lot man...

[@floseul]

Bonjour Comment avez vous brancher le pedalier nux cerberus sur votre ampli ?

[@legrompf]

Salut, il n'a pas branché dans un ampli, mais dans une carte son en utilisant la simulation de HP

[@MrRafaztar]

This is a great idea that I had wondered about. What power supply would this require and how much does it all cost? Pedals, pedalboard, power supply and cables? Is it better value than a Nux mg30? Thanks for the video.

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks for the comment Rafael! The Cerberus requires 500 mA at 9V, while the Harley Benton TrueTone pedals are all analog so they consume very little current also at 9V. If you are using a single power supply for both units, it should be isolated to avoid any hum. This is specially important because we're combining digital and analog pedals here. I used the Harley Benton PowerPlant ISO-2 Pro (69 EUR) that I already had, but you could use a smaller one like the Harley Benton PowerPlant ISO-2 Pro (49 EUR). You could also just use a regular single power supply for the Cerberus and run the American Sound on batteries. The Pedalboard is a Harley Benton Spaceship 50C (35 EUR) that fits both pedals nicely. I use EBS Flexible Flat Patch cables (6,50 EUR), which are awesome, but I should have got the longer version... that's why in set-up part of the video I had the American Sound outside of the board In this page you can find all my pedals and pedalboard gear: www.thomann.de/intl/thlpg_uznvi9agbc.html Sorry, but I haven't tried the Nux MG30 yet, so I cannot comment much. However, the MG30 is a full on digital modeling and multi-FX unit. It has waaaay more features, but it's all based on pre-sets, LCD screen, etc... it is not for everyone

[@MrRafaztar]

@@TheBedroomRocker1 thank you for the detailed breakdown. Very insightful

[@grafite7002]

Hey man cool video but I need to ask. isn't the American sound has a built in cabsim? if so, do u just run it through with the nux's IR? if it's like that, ur running two "cabsim? "

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks for the comment. Yes, that's absolutely correct, but somehow it still sounds quite decent with two cab sims. It would be probably better to turn off the cab sim on the American Sound, but that requires a mod that I don't know how to do

[@grafite7002]

@@TheBedroomRocker1 Thank you for the reply man, cheers!

[@Chyappology]

I don't understand how you connect the joyo sorry :) and another question. If i want use the joyo and a Cab pedal togheter how can connect both ?

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

My path is like guitar -> Cerberus in -> Cerberus Drive and Distortion -> Cerberus FX send -> Joyo / Harley Benton American Sound -> Cerberus FX return -> Cerberus Modulation/Reverb/Delay -> Cerberus cabinet simulation -> output straight into audio interface. I hope that helps. What is a Cab pedal in this sense? Any cabinet simulation pedal should, in general, go at the end of your signal chain

[@jean-yves9667]

Great sound Dude. ! congrats ! Im going to try my cerbus with my Jan Ray Vemuram 😍

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks 😊

[@gregadam2046]

How can I play through thos without headphones? Like if I wanted to play through a backing track on my computer

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

The best way would be to use an audio interface and studio monitors.

[@rickhopkinson]

Hello, please can I ask you what the name of the pedal base is that you have the Cererbus on top of?

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Thanks for the comment. That's the Harley Benton Spaceship 50C. Harley Benton is a house brand from Thomann (Germany) and they make really affordable pedal boards in many different sizes. Here's my affiliate link: www.thomann.de/intl/harley_benton_spaceship_50c.htm?partner_id=60170

[@rickhopkinson]

@@TheBedroomRocker1 that’s great thank you for your reply and information 🙏🏻👍

[@ketarap]

Which one is better? Boss Me80 or this one?

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Hi thanks for the comment! Unfortunately I haven't tried the Boss ME80, but it's a very different product. The Boss ME80 is a more traditional digital guitar multi-effects unit. It does waaaay more than the Cerberus in terms of guitar effects. The Cerberus, on the other hand, has got analog overdrive and distortion and only the modulation, delay, reverb, and cabinet simulation are digital. The American sound is also purely analog. Many players prefer analog over digital, but many players don't care or don't see the difference. Another point is that the Boss ME-80 does not have cabinet simulation via impulse responses, so this is a big disadvantage, if you want record or play directly without using an amplifier, which was the main objective of my video. For this specific purpose, I would pick the Cerberus. Note that there are many other more modern multi-effect units (probably even from Boss) that have the impulse response cabinet simulation feature. In 2023, I would not buy any product that does not include this as it is such a life saver when it comes to recording and playing without an amplifier, but then ofc, if you always play with an amplifier than this should not matter to you. I hops this helps! Let me know if you still have any questions

[@Seadogstudio]

I am the 999th subscriber.

[@TheBedroomRocker1]

Yes hahah I've just recently reached 1k 😁 Thanks for the sub!