NUX Optima Air: Make a Crappy Acoustic Guitar Pickup Sound Good!

[@jazzlehazzle]

BILL!! 🤩🥰 You're the first player I've ever seen who plays like me. Loving it!! Thank you so much.

[@edmazur2084]

best demo for this product i have seen. Really lets us hear what it sounds like... thanks.

[@mark1781]

A sterling review! Just the right combination of depth and experimentation. Lovely playing as always!

[@ignatiusreilly2038]

I'd rather see a comparison where you set the IR at max and then as you play just randomly turn it on and off. The 25% changes at a time make it difficult to compare.

[@Phobosmusic]

That’s because the IR waves are phasing with the guitar’s natural tone…most people including myself find they have to pull back the IR to get a natural tone. For me it almost defeats the purpose of the pedal.

[@ckrug32]

Differences are still fairly subtle. Here's timestamps: Martin -- 5:54 (none) vs 6:31 (max) Gibson -- 6:57 (none) vs 7:31 (max) vs 7:55 (max w/ bass + mids adjusted)

[@SimonJohnOwen]

NuX do some great pedals, I love the Tape Core and the Atlantic

[@ramspencer5492]

This could do interesting things, but it doesn't help you get anything at all very close to a real acoustic guitar tone, IMO.... I like passive under bridgeplate transducers with an acoustic amp.... You can use just a simple IR pedal in the chain... I heard about a trick where you clip a lapel mic to your sound hole and keep it set at a really low level (to avoid feedback) and pipe in just a little of your acoustic's natural sound.... I want to try it.... Might help in a loud live setting if your amp (or you have a pedal that does it) has an anti feedback circuit.... Let me look for a link to the kind of love guitar tone you can get with the right setup.... Hold on....

[@blufordbirdsong1834]

Very Nick Drake sounding. Great demo thank you.

[@Phobosmusic]

I own this pedal and to my ears I hear a heavy phasing issue both in this demo and when I use the pedal myself. I find myself turning back the IR and ultimately setting it to zero to get my acoustics (Martin and Yamaha) to sound listenable. Am I the only one who hears this phase issue?

[@CraigAllenMusic]

Great demo! This looks really interesting. I have the Fishman Aura Spectrum which models characteristics of specific acoustic guitars, but I still prefer recording with a good mic over going through the pedal. These are great for live use though!

[@drloqutis2492]

I really like the way you demo products.

[@stephenbedford1395]

The Fishman Aura Spectrum acoustic pre-amp & modeller does a great job too.

[@jemyfahrudinsyah]

But Nux cheaper than fishman

[@Pharesm]

Sounds fishy, yet you will starve, because fish don't accept metal boxes hanging from an electric cable as bait...

[@JaredSchumaier]

How does the Nux compare to the Fishman?

[@davidderose1242]

@@jemyfahrudinsyah Yes, but the Aura Spectrum offers 16 preset images EACH for 7 different guitar body types (dreadnought, orchestra, concert, etc.). In addition, 16 user-defined images can be loaded and accessed for various wood types and microphones, so the Fishman gives you 8 times as many images as the Nux for twice the price.

[@grahamkelly8299]

@@davidderose1242 but your best bet is to use your own ir using your own guitar? Otherwise it’s not you guitar you are hearing right?

[@Phobosmusic]

First let me say I am a big fan of chords of Orion and generally find the info and reviews excellent. My only issue is I wish it would be made clear (sorry if it was and I missed it) if you were given the pedal to review. This review like almost all the Nux Optima Air reviews on KZbin have been given to the reviewer for free which of course makes it at least psychologically difficult to be unbiased.

[@pebberbrown]

Bill Vencil is the most intense ambient guitarist in the entire galaxy including ALL UFOs.

[@riffmaster5805]

including belladonna by ufo? 🤘😁

[@TheLostHarmony]

Lots of options! Very cool pedal!

[@DonaldMerrit]

Why didn't you audition the Piezo pickup

[@revelation12ministries51]

Bill...great review. You should get ahold of the Hotone Omni AC Acoustic IR pedal and demo that as well. It sounds good from what I've been able to check out.

[@MrBlurpBlurp-hg3dj]

I use a Fishman Sonitone on my Yamaha accoustic , works great.

[@dreamprescription8852]

There it is!!!

[@leodileodileo]

I really need to know what’s the point of using acoustic IR with and acoustic guitar , is not just better insalling a good pick up ? I mean if you have a crap guitar with a bad piezo I can understand but if you gown a guitar that you like is not worth it to install a good pick up system like Lr baggs anthem , or if you like sound hole pickup I find the saynoir Duncan mag mic pretty useful , than just use a di or an equaliser pedal and you’re ready to go. My pedalboard is -Boss line selector (used as boost or to plug in different instruments) -boss oc 3 -zoom ms 70cdr -Mxr 6 band eq -ditto mini looper. That’s for live use. In case you need to stream , probably you can drop 70 $ and get a nux mg 300 and using the ir without spending a ton of money.

[@peacesound1101]

He's turned me into a devotee fan by his radio-velvet voice, hey could I borrow your voice for my next gig, please?

[@rogermcbride1165]

Nice Pedal and Demo

[@stateofblitz]

You might find piezo pickups work better with this particular pedal.

[@Phobosmusic]

I have both types of pickups in my acoustics and the only reason piezos sound better with it is because piezos are pretty awful sounding to begin with.

[@johnmorrell]

very interesting and informative, thank you. With the right eq and blend amount, you would have an amazing range of options depending on your guitar. if you want a cab IR unit look at a Mooers Radar pedal - it’s tiny, would fit right beside the nux -.

[@vince8081]

Receive mine today, it's great BUT, the EQ has TOOOO MUCH range and it's difficult to find the perfect tweak. And some IR are a bit white noisy, a noise gate would be useful. Otherwise the pedal keeps his promesses, you can have great different tones on your one guitar and you can get a lot of great ir on the web.

[@thesaj1110]

My Eq pedal gets me there pretty much!

[@jelnet]

Would be interesting to hear this A/B'd with just the guitar and a mic. My bet is the one mic/guitar sound would beat every pickup/fangled box sound ☺.

[@Hamachingo]

TL/DR: IR will only give you mono and the high frequency attack when the pick hits the strings is lost a bit (I assume piezo pickups aren't fast enough to capture that well) but it's actually easy to confuse the mic and IR signal when made with the same guitar. I might make a video. Long version: I did some experimenting with the free Cuki IR generator and recorded the raw microphone signals that were used to generate the IRs. The results were surprisingly good, especially if you make the IR using a mic on the 12th fret (a hand length away), a mic on the sound hole (to add just a bit of "oomph" and a room mic a bit further away (don't bother with AB, MS or XY stereo mic-ing, I tried, it's only getting you out of phase IRs, not stereo). Blend it together until it sounds like the unplugged guitar, maybe multiple versions with and without room and one with the dominant (feedback-prone) frequency notched out on the mics and you got yourself some damn nice IRs. You can even run a noise gate and a limiter to cut down on idle noise and limit the plug/unplug noise. My Taylor can sound very much like my Takamine and vice versa even though the piezo pickups are very different in design. The IR variant just miss out on the glassy treble of the pick attack but dealing in some of the original piezo signal (with a low cut around 13kHz) does wonders.

[@Phobosmusic]

That is a fact the point of the pedal is for when miking is not an option. With that said I find the results of IR pedals to be unusable because of phasing issue

[@guitarpoetone1]

i can hear mic bleed i love this pedal but the vocal mic is coming threw lil to much for me

[@aelspecto]

Nux pedals are amazing, u should review their time core. That pedal has everything!

[@RobCmusic]

I have a cheap Telecaster copy with an undersaddle piezo pickup. It sounds superb through this pedal. What I'd like to know is if I'd be better off amplifying it with an FRFR cab or an acoustic amp. I guess I have some experimenting left to do.

[@jackbandel]

I didn’t like the sound when you brought in the IR. Made it sound far away and also very clangy. Maybe you need to find the right IR.

[@stateofblitz]

I think it's more the magnetic soundhole pickup he's using. Piezo pickups work better with this pedal

[@Acoustribute]

So far the only pedal that I’ve seen a demo of that does IR’s that I’ve been impressed by is the Tonedexter.

[@podfuk]

Agree, original pickup sounded best

[@GaveMeGrace1]

Thank you

[@howardanderson3061]

Wow this is amazing, great review. This will be so helpful for home recording, I have both a steel string and a Nylon guitar. I have some even better guitars that don't have pick ups but to record with them. I would have to go to studio. This is a game changer, I'm blown away! Oh and BTW....excellent playing. I can really tell that you've put some time into it. Very impressive. Thanks, I love your channel

[@that_again]

I wish you'd demonstrated it with piezo pick up so we can hear the percussive tone out of it. How do you compare it with NUX Stageman Floor?

[@dominiquelauvergnat1496]

good man , thank

[@garethholloway4607]

You've got to play a Cole clark guitar! the pickup system sounds amazing

[@stephenbedford1395]

So true, the Cole Clark Angel is an awesome model and their special pickup system is among the best in the world. But then being an Aussie, I am biased.

[@blakesauner3949]

It’s been fun hearing how different demos seem to exacerbate the differences in their recording setups. I -hate- most non-mic acoustic guitar sounds. But this at least makes a good run for it. I think the fact you can make your own IRs too with it seems worthwhile. And it can work as a preamp, and the FX loop to use with my acoustic? without a mic? I’m hoping this is available soon.

[@blakesauner3949]

non-mic acoustic pickups, I mean. There’s that $300 fishman I think uses both mics and that soundhole unit to blend two spots that sound a great but this could also rock with my piezo ESP.

[@JKCover]

Sounds beautiful, I ordered one to use for my Yamaha silent guitar. I'm expecting those could be a great combination!

[@45zapatero]

I have aldo a silent guitar (steelstring, older model piezo only). Did you buy the pedal and are you happy with the results (also with strumming)?

[@JKCover]

@@45zapatero I used effecter, and I sold silent guitar and effecter separately. I was not quite satisfied.

[@Phobosmusic]

Really? You don’t hear the IR waves phasing in and out with the natural sound coming from the pickups?

[@metabrisa5789]

Not bad. Surprisingly good series from Nux. Anyway, would love to see you demonstrating the Zoom MS70CDR since it's so popular (yeah, I know you made a video about it but I'd still love to see your take)

[@SwormCycles]

I can hear all the 25% changes and I like all the IR tones. Hard to even choose what to use. I think I am going to buy one of these soon. I also have never seen your particular capo set up. Looks like a normal capo on the 2nd fret and then another just to cover the bottom 3-4 strings on the 4th fret? Very wild. Can you tell I'm no professional guitar guru??

[@robertorosario8704]

Hello I love the NUX Optima Air. However there is a slight ground noise .It goes away when I touch the NUX Optima Air pedal. I did a lot of test with power supply ,and other pedals and different guitars and it does not do any grounds noise but with NUX Optima Air pedal it make a ground noise that goes away only when you touch the pedal . Is that Normal ?

[@nigel900]

I’ve been looking for something to enhance my Roland AC-60’s tone and output. Not very happy with the LR Baggs M1 magnetic pickup in my guitar Takamine guitar.

[@theliberation9061]

This looks really interesting. The main question that immediately popped in my head: is it possible to use it to get a passable acoustic simulation on an electric guitar (with magnetic pickups)? Piezo-equipped electrics are... *expensive* and that would be amazing for a live setting.

[@grega1207]

Taylor T5z :-)

[@SOAMLE]

I found the optima air pretty cool in terms of shifting tone dramatically away from my piezo, but it was almost harsh in a way. It’s hard to describe. I ultimately felt like it was an interesting pedal but not useable for me.

[@ckrug32]

Comparison timestamps: Martin -- 5:54 (none) vs 6:31 (max) Gibson -- 6:57 (none) vs 7:31 (max) vs 7:55 (max w/ bass + mids adjusted)

[@digitalramyun]

I’d be interested in one of these, for DI-ing acoustic instruments with piezo pickups (mainly guitar and mandolin) in live situations. I’d probably try capturing IRs of the instruments themselves, in the hope of restoring their acoustic tone through a PA. I also have a piezo-equipped solid electric ukulele (a Risa Solid “stick”)... wonder how it would go if I captured an IR of a nice acoustic uke and applied that to the Risa?

[@corysly4463]

I also play ukulele and I'm interested in this exact scenario. Did you have any success in doing that?

[@digitalramyun]

@@corysly4463 I ended up buying the Optima Air - I bought a couple of acoustic instrument IRs from 3sigma, including a Martin tenor (?) ukulele one. Works pretty nicely, though I haven’t played much with my acoustic instruments for a bit (nothing the fault of the Optima!)

[@dobrocop]

Love it, i have ordered one, can you do the mic into IR to use your acoustic sound thru your Magnetic pickup?..

[@cugir321]

The D45 IR does not sound good with your Martin...figure that. Did you use the specific magnetic IR's....I've heard it's a must.

[@aficionadolurecompany700]

Bill, have you tried the TONEWOOD AMP?

[@lastdaysguitar]

This appears to be a divice somewhat like the Fishman Aura, Bill have you tried the Fishman Aura? And if so, do you have a preference between these two? Thanks!

[@scottmoreau5630]

The big difference is that you make your own IR with this device. You could send your guitar to Fishman for a custom image but not many people do that. The Aura is probably the easiest pedal to use though. These new units take a bit more work and tweaking.

[@davidlloyd9598]

How does it compare to the Yamaha Magicstomp? I think the Magicstomp has some fantastic ambient patches.

[@jeremycharlerie7523]

Cool pedal. Will it work on nylon acoustic guitars?

[@michaelgarrett9492]

I can't do the whole wire thing hanging out the sound hole.

[@001mladen]

I like better my analog preamp like Red Eye... no IR, no digital stuff in it... just simple and pure acoustic tone and big headroom, great for live gigs. But Nux is also good i belive. Cheers!

[@cletoarceo7706]

Hi, I have a Dean 12 string acoustic. Will this work with this pedal?

[@matteomidas638]

Hey man great video as usual. I received this pedal today and I am a bit disappointed. The preamp section sounds great. The Ir section is the "problem". Even with the Ir level knob all the way down you can feel the ir presence. I though that the Ir level was a real mix/blend knob so at zero you should have only the direct sound of your guitar but in reality it's nothing like that. I like to have (in a live contest) 80% of my sound coming from the piezo and 20 to 25% coming from the Ir in order to give more depth to the overall sound.But as soon as you engage the Ir section even with the ir knob level at zero you can say bye bye to your initial sound. I like my piezo sound but I wanted to gave it just a touch of depth using an ir. With this pedal the ir is always on and the ir knob acts as a volume not as a blender. I'm gonna send it back even if both the reverb and the preamp section sound really great. 👍

[@timzitzelsberger3200]

I agree I was just going to purchase this pedal but changed my mind for this reason I like to do the same thing you do

[@georgefenning4844]

what are the alternatives to the optima air? some advertisers say that this is for electric guitars. IM assuming it is for acoustic as you suggest in this video?

[@Ioan21]

zoom a1x four

[@lancenunez8252]

Have you ever tried to work a digitech Trio pedal into your ambient stuff?

[@_left_eye]

The trick IR technology plays on me is: in the one to one comparison with any raw pick up (piezo or magnetic), they sound like a breath of fresh air, but after 10 minutes playing, I’m still unhappy with their glassy transients that barely makes me feel like playing an acoustic guitar. I tweak, I compare, basically I press switches and twist knobs instead of playing music. I go back the to raw pick up sound and, yes IRS sound better. So the process goes on and on, I mean: The trick IR technology plays on me is: in the one to one comparison with any raw pick up (piezo or magnetic), they soun Ok, you get the idea😂

[@brianrenenielsen923]

Really good review.. but seems to me as an overengineered gimmick.. there is more simple alternatives doing as well, also with modeling.. more Playing less fiddling 😊

[@thehartlinetriogreghartlin9807]

I'm a nylon string player. Would this be of any use for me (given that I'm either playing a Godin Multiac Nylon or a Takemine with a piezo)? I'd love to get a fatter sound.

[@JinderSongs]

I would say the best course of action would be to audition one in person. I don’t know if this pedal would give you a fatter sound per se, if anything, I would describe an IR as slightly thinning out the acoustic pickup sound and adding more air, a bit like an onboard mic blend. That’s with a steel string instrument at least...it would be VERY interesting to record a nylon string wavemap and see how it jives with your guitars.

[@CelestialTidePools]

Have you tried it with a piezo-equipped solid body electric? Just wondering how it compares to the Fishman Aura 16 for getting a better acoustic sound from a piezo-electric

[@digitalramyun]

I own a Risa Solid electric ukulele (the “stick” model with a piezo pickup, rather than the “mini electric guitar” steel-string ones Risa makes), and I’ve been trying it with my Optima Air (just got one). I bought a couple of 3sigma Audio’s acoustic instrument IRs, and I use their Martin TK ukulele one with the Risa. It’s not bad - it doesn’t sound exactly like a miked acoustic Martin uke, but it’s surprisingly close. Experimentation is the key, I think?

[@ElectroMac74]

wonder its effect on yamaha silent Guitar, which have kind of mic simulation!

[@thristanvasquez4882]

I tried and it is not good

[@rinaldobergamelli7451]

Buongiorno sa dove posso trovare le istruzioni per usare i software? Come connettere Nux al PC ecc? Grazie

[@chordsoforion]

Here's the page on the company web site: www.nuxefx.com/optima-air.html

[@waagner]

Will an electric guitar sound like an acoustic?

[@SjaakShirly6559]

Excellent video! Can you use it for an electric guitar too (Fender Strat for example)? Or is it just for acoustic guitar?

[@chordsoforion]

Yes, there are impulse responses that are optimized for use with electric guitar. I personally have not tried it, as I was interested in seeing what the optima did with my acoustic guitar pickup.

[@SjaakShirly6559]

@@chordsoforion I am impressed when using an acoustic guitar with piezo. It would be really convenient to use it with an electric guitar. Some send/return effect and no amp needed anymore in a repetition session or something like that.

[@SjaakShirly6559]

@@chordsoforion to make it clear. I was talking about IR's of different CABS I own. I hope you were talking about the same type of IR's?

[@Bflatest]

I need a nice pedal for Classical guitar/nylon

[@EarthSecretAgent]

Heya great video! Does anyone know if I would still need a DI box for acoustic guitar if I had this pedal? My guitar also runs into 2 or 3 effect pedals. Thanks so much

[@michaelallenmusic]

This has an XLR DI out as well as an effects loop

[@yummyjackalmeat]

Nice! What tuning is this?

[@periurban]

Nope. The bare guitar sounds fine, even though it's a straightforward magnetic pickup. The IRs sound different, but it would be hard to make the case for using them in preference.

[@scottmoreau5630]

Just to be clear, I don’t believe the IR level control is a blend knob. I believe it’s simply a level control.

[@chordsoforion]

Well, when I use it, it seems to function like a blend knob. All the way to the left is no IR/all original guitar tone and all the way to the right is all IR/no original guitar tone. In the middle is a balance between the two.

[@MrAnt-tt5qc]

What kind of a review was that?

[@DailyNihilism]

out the date in the title sce youtube doesn't show it now

[@HL-OOI]

What amp are you using on this demo?

[@chordsoforion]

I am not using an amp. Am plugging everything directly into my audio interface.

[@huynhngocnamgiang]

buy a K&K pure mini tho LOL very nice video nevertheless!

[@thekramer1097]

Wait... is Nu X? I've always thought it was Nux

[@chordsoforion]

Yep. That's the way they pronounce the name at the beginning of their videos: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqfYe6B7pKhpjLM

[@armandom28]

so why didn't you try it on electric? very disappointing

[@TMoody]

I liked it better when no lights were on.

[@TheDjinnFizz]

Not much point in the demo if you don't do more A/B comparison between pedal on and pedal off. Generally - I like NUX stuff, their acoustic pre-amps only sound good to a generation that grew up playing piezo equipped acoustics. The NUX pedals just add or subtract bass and treble to a flappy piezo-guitar sound and try to dress it up with reverb or chorus..

[@riffmaster5805]

🤔hmm... good

[@cfibanez]

A clone of James May’s famous Tone Dexter? May be patent war looming ?

[@Monkcustom]

You can check the patent on Google Patent. Fishman , LR Baggs , and NUX all use IR technology in different ways. By the way, who is James May?

[@bryantwalley]

Very strange. I could have sworn I watched this a few days back and even commented on it. Now it is showing as just uploaded and my original comment is gone. Either way, not sure where you have to live to get this, but I have never seen it and still do not see if for sale anywhere. Not sure of the point in promoting something so difficult to find.

[@thekramer1097]

Dude this is most likely publicity pre-launch to get people hyped for the product. Happens all the time

[@davidmckelvey2601]

SAME! I watched the video and then I couldn't find it I was like "Did I enter an alternate dimension?"

[@bryantwalley]

@@thekramer1097 The way it is presented here is that they contacted him and asked him to check it out. It may very well be a preview but most of the time previews are presented as previews, not as if it is something available for purchase. Either way, you can't buy it.

[@bryantwalley]

@The Tired Horizon - probably so. I thought that toward the end was messed up. I wasn't sure if it was just me.

[@chordsoforion]

Yes - this is a re-upload with some minor edits - there was an issue with the video last week.

[@matranc]

sound 80's to me

[@joemanganese]

i d like to know if this is a sponsored and paid review.

[@chordsoforion]

Watch the video again and pay close attention to the "includes paid promotion" popup and my comment about Nux contacting me and you shall have your answer.

[@davida7120]

That pedal can’t do anything for your base tone and pickup. It sounded horrible.

[@iup02236401]

Until it heats up and makes an awful distorted sound.

[@joemanganese]

the 4000$ martin sounds better without the nux. much better.

[@chordsoforion]

I only paid $2400 for it, however I agree. No guitar with a magnetic pickup ever sounds better than the actual acoustic tone of the guitar, Nux Optima or no.

[@jerryhubbard4461]

this pedal is not impressing me at all.

[@2505674809]

Sounds horrible.. not one sound close to useble.

[@motophile]

Interesting pedal. Capos ought to be illegal.

[@davesguitarbar3736]

Thank you, convinced me not to get this pedal. The IR did not have the effect I was hoping for. .

[@nomandad2000]

Not a fan of this one. Has an annoying overtone to it, rather boxy sounding

[@RobertJones-et7gh]

Does this pedal work for nylon string guitars? It seems to have no IRs for nylon. Only steel string. Does anyone have a good suggestion. Any other products out there that work on nylon string guitars?

[@mattgilbert7347]

I know absolutely nothing about amplifying acoustics (except to never play them through an electric guitar amp) but if I needed to play my acoustic live, this sounds like it might make my cheap acoustic sound less cheap :)

[@coreypearson4]

Can you say... Magnetic? * tyra banks scene trigger *

[@alfianbanjaransari4096]

Using the IRs, can it change a 3/4 sized (or traveler type) guitar into a full blown dreadnought?

[@roneilken6668]

Good question?

[@jamestsquid]

Hi, nice video :) could this make an electric guitar sound like an acoustic?

[@chordsoforion]

No, definitely not.

[@podfuk]

try HOTONE OMNI AC It would never sound like an acoustic guitar in the room, but it is pretty close to piezo or pickup acoustic sound