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PocketAmp® Guitar Amp and Effects App FAQs for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch



1) What are the hardware and software and requirements for best performance?
- iOS 4.3 or later
- iPad 1/2/3/4, iPhone 4/4S/5, iPod touch 4th/5th generation*
- iRiffPort or other high quality iOS guitar interface

*Note: For iPad 4, iPhone 5, and iPod touch 5th generation, iRiffPort works with the Apple genuine Lightning to 30-pin Adapter.



2) Do I need to import songs into the PocketAmp?
No. PocketAmp plays music directly from the iTunes music library on the device.

3) How do I use the Feedback Control switch?
For iRiffPort, this control is not needed. For headphone adaptor interfaces, set the feedback control to ON when using headphones.

4) How do I mix iTunes music with my guitar volume?

Select your album art to activate the Song Trainer. Use the Mix control to mix in the background music volume.



5) Is PocketAmp low-latency?

Yes. You will not hear or feel delay.

6) How many simultaneous effects does PocketAmp provide?


PocketAmp runs 6 simultaneous effects; noise gate, amp modeling (Gain and EQ),  echo, reverb, stereo modulation, and speaker cabinet simulation .

7) The volume seems low. How can I get more?

PocketAmp always starts with a reduced volume. Everytime you start PocketAmp, you should increase the Volume control to your desired practice level.



8) Sometimes the Volume control can not be increased. Why?

This only happens when using a headphone adaptor interface to prevent feedback. With iRiffPort, you don't need to worry about this.

9) Can you provide some tips for tuning my sound?


PocketAmp makes it easy to configure great sounds, but here are some things you might not have tried.
- The full range of the Gain control is useful for all Amp settings. The Clean amp sounds great with a high gain setting, and the Rock amp has a great blues sound with bite when the Gain set to zero.
- In general, low Gain sounds better with high Depth and Width modulation, whereas high Gain sounds better with low Depth and Width modulation.
- The Blues amp or Rock amp (with low Gain setting) sounds really nice with the Rotary effect.
- When using headphones, try reducing the Treble control.
- You can use the 1, 2, 3 quick presets for A/B comparisons when fine tuning your sound.

10) How does the Noise Gate control work?

The Noise Gate control configures the gate signal level. The noise gate is deactivated by setting this control to zero.



11) How does the Attack control work?

The Attack control configures the speed for noise gate transitions between clamp and release.



12) How do the three Quick Presets work?


There are three quick presets available at all times while you are playing. You can tune any combination of tone and effects for each quick preset. You can copy between quick presets by holding down the preset number you want to copy to for one second.

13) How do the Named Presets work?


The Presets button takes you to the named presets table for unlimited saving, deleting, and recalling quick preset combinations; using names assigned by you. If you recall a named preset and your current named preset has changed, a warning displays; asking if you want to continue without saving the current named preset.
If you remove PocketAmp from your iOS device, the named presets are deleted.

14) I am not familiar with presets. Why are they useful?


You can think of PocketAmp as a three channel amp with an effects loop for each channel. You can configure the three channels any way you want. You can save, recall, and delete an unlimited number of three channel amp combinations using names assigned by you.
For example, suppose you are composing an album masterpiece with ten songs. Each song requires three distinct guitar sounds. You could save a named preset for each song.

15) I am having trouble using PocketAmp. What should I do?


Contact us so we can help you! Let us know what you would like improved.

16) What are the known issues?


There are a few issues we are investigating. In most cases, these issues should not affect you.
A) The new multi-tasking capabilities in iOS4 sometimes produce funny audio behaviour. Occasionally, we have seen a blinking red banner, which is a voice recording warning. We have also seen some confusion, where the music player plays the wrong track.
B) In iOS4, sometimes the hardware device volume seems to stop working. A reboot always fixes it.
C) We disable PocketAmp audio when you press the On/Off/Sleep/Wake or Home button, because of performance issues on older iOS devices. We are monitoring this issue as iOS patches become available.

Let us know about any problems you have. In the meantime, it is safe to force quit an app, or restart your device.
To force quit (iOS4 devices with multitasking):
- double click the Home button
- press on hold one of the apps until they wobble
- select the red minus to force quit
To restart:
- hold down the On/Off/Sleep/Wake button, then slide to power off
- hold down the On/Off/Sleep/Wake button again to power on
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