The Best Desktop Amp/Cab Box? The DSM & Humboldt Simplifier X

There are now a substantial number of guitarists and bassists who no longer have big powerful amps. They have determined that they may be too big and too loud for home, and that for the variety of tones desired, the player may need more than one amp. If that player gigs, the joy lugging large and heavy kit around leaves town on an express, and more often than not, they are told not to be too loud, or to send all their signals to the house PA anyway.

Consequently we have seen a jump in the number of excellent profilers such as the Quad Cortex and the Kemper, superb modellers like the Line 6 Helix or the Fender Tone Master Pro and what have been called “amp in a box” from Victory, Blackstar, Universal Audio and many others. What the musician gets in a smaller package is a variety of tones, easily accessible and every one can fit in a backpack. No one in the audience other than other musicians who sit frowning with their arms crossed care about the guitar, the effects or the amps. If you sound good, they are happy. If you record a song, whether at home or in studio, the listener only cares if they like the song. The gear is completely irrelevant.

Many musicians and all amp makers hate this reality but it is a what’s so. Ultimately your preferred tone is up to you, and that’s what I want to talk about here.

DSM & Humboldt Simplifier X

The company has been producing these tiny little desktop devices for some years. I bought the first of each of the guitar Simplifier and the Bass Simplifier and found them very usable. They gave me the tones of multiple amps and a choice of speakers/cabinets for each amp and sounded good. No app was needed and everything was accessible via knobs. Analog purists loved them because there was no AD/DA conversion happening.

Products evolve and the company recently released the Simplifier X. I preordered mine from Charles at Electric Mojo Guitars. Charles’ business is an online shop that specializes in higher end and boutique pedals, as well as really high end amplifiers. He’s also typically first to market with new products from new makers. For example, he was selling the superb CIOKS power supplies for at least a year before anyone else. If you have never been to the online store, you should click the link above and have a look.

Looking at the image of the product at the top of this article tells you a lot about what this device does. I do not consider it a pedal, there are no onboard footswitches, although it comes with one that I will talk to in a bit. What you see are two identical sides, that you can consider as two different channels. The A and the B sides are the same in layout, but each side offers different amp/cab sims so in effect you can have two different amps and cabinets active in the same little box. With the included foot switch you can switch between them, or by use of a micro switch on the side, set the unit to send one amp to one side of a stereo out and the other amp to the other side of a stereo feed. You can also set the device to run both sides in parallel like a physical stereo amplifier.

You will need a bit of study to remember which amps and cabs are available where, and I encourage reading the excellent manual to understand what the various knobs do. Someone said that there are too many knobs for them to learn, and that’s fair but that person is also not going to use a modeller or profiler either.

Each side has its own preamp section, its own power amp section, its own cab sim section, its own reverb and its own master output. It seriously is two separate amps in a single small box.

There is also a full stereo send return loop that can be used as an individual send return for A and B independently or with effects that are stereo output. This is how I use mine.

There are two inputs so you could run two different guitars into it, or if you have a guitar with stereo output, you can run your stereo outs, into the two inputs separately. I’ve done this with Rick o Sound instruments and my old stereo Lucille.

There is also an AUX in if you want to jack in an audio device to play along with, as well as a headphone out with a dedicated volume control. All the inputs and send/return jacks are on the front.

The rear panel has three output sections. Thru is a TRS jack with A on the tip and B on the ring. It bypasses all the device controls. The Unbalanced line outs can be used to send the signal to any TS input and if desired the cab sim can be defeated on these outputs. The Balanced DI outputs are XLR connector and deliver everything the device is doing. You can run long balance lines to a PA or to a recording interface. These XLR outputs DO NOT require Phantom Power, but if it is turned on by accident, you won’t blow the device.

The included foot switch has two buttons. The Channel switch controls channel select and the Reverb foot switch turns the Reverb on and off for whichever channel is active. The box is very small and that means that the TRS connection is ⅛ th inch and not the more robust ¼ “ connector. A short cable is included, but you can use a longer ⅛ to ⅛ TRS cable that you purchase separately if you wish. This side also has the switches to select the how the two channels are configured.

Usage Options

I use my Simplifer X in two ways. In my first use case, I take the balanced XLR outputs and run each one to a left and right side JBL FRFR speaker system. I use this for practicing because I can get the wide variety of tones while keeping the overall volume level down. My second use case is that I use the balanced XLR outputs with each going to a separate input on my Clarett+ 8 Pre interface for recording. By using two channels, I can really leverage the device and have the same guitar delivering two tracks, each with its own amplifier and cabinet treatment. I find this massively convenient.

I have tried and own, a number of these type of devices. All do a pretty darn good Fender Deluxe Reverb tone, and most do a pretty decent Marshall Plexi tone. However most fail badly when trying to deliver a VOX AC-30 tone. The Simplifier X comes very close with only the UA Ruby, which does the one thing only and costs more being most like an AC-30. The Simplifier X by having a power amp section really beats out all the other amp sims from a tonal quality perspective. Two Notes has a power amp section in their plugin, and I think that they have done a good job with it. The convenience of the Simplifier X is that it is all in the box, you need no app and it is all analog.

When I got mine, I replaced my much loved Strymon Iridium with it. The Iridium is a fantastic device and is a pedal as much as a desktop amp. Its VOX sound was not quite right in my opinion and it got noisy pretty quickly. I get a lot more functionality out of the Simplifier X in about the same space.

Audio Examples

I said earlier that the Simplifier X, in my perspective is an ideal desktop amp for recording purposes when you need to be able to provide the sounds of a number of different amps very quickly. For this demonstration, I used the ideas shown at the back of the manual. Specifically I used US Spanky Clean for the first three examples, turning on a Strymon Sunset for the third example to give you an idea of what an excellent 2 gain stage overdrive will do, into the same clean settings. The fourth example uses the AC Jangle set up from the manual to simulate the sound of an AC30 in Normal Mode. I think that it sounds pretty close to the AC30 C2 Top Boost sitting about 10 feet away. The fifth example uses the manual option called Warm Plexi, and while I agree with the settings, I did roll the bass off a bit from the recommended settings, because the pickups on the DGT are quite warm already.

I used only one guitar for all the examples as I felt that changing up could be misleading. The guitar is a PRS DGT Core. For the first example, it is both humbuckers with volumes and tone at 10. The second example is the bridge pickup only, coil split, volume and tone at 10. The third example is the neck pickup in humbucker mode with the volume at 10 and the tone at 5. The fourth example is both pickups coil split with volumes and tone at 10. The fifth example is the bridge pickup in humbucker mode with the volume and tone at 10.

Certainly not all the potential options are demoed here. What I hope is that you get a sense of the versatility and the quality in a box that retails just over $500 her in Canada. I have tried many other devices and this one has replaced the excellent Strymon Iridium, and I have no more need for the good but not awesome BOSS IR-200 any longer. For a device that tries to be multiple amps and cabinets in an all analog mode, the Simplifier X is incredible.

Wrapping Up

With more of us seeing the value in a desktop type amp/cab solution that doesn’t need to be on the floor, that is simple to use and is all analog, I say that the Simplifier X is a win. Certainly I can mic up a real amp, or use one of the excellent options in one of my profilers or modellers, but nothing is as simple and as fast to get on with than the Simplifier X. I highly recommend it.

If you decide to get one, please consider getting yours from Electric Mojo Guitars as Charles helps to support the channel and please support the channel yourself by becoming a member on Patreon. Send in questions or post comments, I read and respond to all. Thanks as always. I’m Ross Chevalier and we will speak again soon.