“Since releasing the MG-300, people have been blown away by the sound and playability, not to mention the ease-of-use tone tweaking and intuitive interface,” says Guitar World Tech Editor Paul Riario. “And now, the MG-400 builds upon the MG-300 features, becoming arguably the best value modeler for your money.”
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00:00What's up? Paul here from Guitar World and today we're going to be checking out a powerhouse
00:22modeling guitar and bass processor that will knock your socks off, not just for its sound,
00:28but how incredibly affordable it is. The NUX MG400. Let's check it out.
00:39The NUX MG400 is the next step up from the popular MG300, or as NUX puts it,
00:47the MG300 little brother, MG400 big brother, with their flagship modeler still being the MG30.
00:58The MG400's sonic engine houses two powerful DSP chips for NUX's high-definition white box
01:07amp modeling algorithm, or TSAC-HD, which stands for True Simulation of an Analog Circuit,
01:15and Core Image Post Effects, which basically translates to you're going to feel the difference
01:21and playability and experience realistic amp and cab sounds from the MG400.
01:33Since releasing the MG300, and if you've ever played it and own it like me,
01:37I was completely floored by the sound and playability, let alone how easy it is to tweak its tone.
01:42The MG400 builds upon the MG300's intuitive interface and features,
01:50and is poised to become one of the best modelers for its price.
01:58The MG400 comes loaded with 25 amps, one bass amp and one acoustic amp, and of course,
02:04a multitude of effects. What's great is NUX's proprietary white box amp modeling algorithm
02:09replicates the sound, feel, and playability of these amps, and NUX is consistent in firmware updates,
02:16so you can pretty much bank on NUX amp and cab sims at some point. Just keep an eye on NUX's
02:22online page and Facebook page and groups. The MG400 includes an impulse response library of 512 samples
02:29each, and you can also load third-party IR files using NUX's QuickTone edit software.
02:35What's included is 25 guitar cabinet IRs that combine four different classic microphones with
02:41three positions of mic placement. Also included are eight bass cabinet IRs and three acoustic guitar
02:47IRs. Looking at the eye-catching 2.8-inch color LCD screen, you can see you have 10 independent and
02:54flexible FX and signal blocks that you can move freely on the MG400 and or on the QuickTone editing
03:01software if you use your computer. Over to the left is the color LCD screen where you see your patch,
03:07and you can begin to edit from there. On top, of course, is the location of your patch. You can see
03:12up on top here where your expression pedal is set at. If I hit the pedal button, you'll notice I can assign
03:20the expression pedal for different functions. Right now it's a wah, but watch. I can use it for effects,
03:29amp, mod, delay, reverb. Next to it you'll see how the control one and control foot switches are set up.
03:40One is tap, and the other allows you to scroll sequentially through the preset scenes. To the right,
03:46you'll see which scene you're on, and you'll see hitting the control one, which is the tap button,
03:52changes the BPM reflected by the icon there.
04:01On the bottom are the 10 signal blocks that comprise of amp, effects, and EQ, and you'll see your signal
04:08chain flows from left to right. To edit, simply hit the edit exit button, brings up another screen,
04:16and wherever the arrow cursor is, is what you're editing, and in this case it's the amp. Use the
04:22control button to edit pages of that parameter. You'll see on this one it has two from the underscore lines.
04:31Now use the one, two, and three knobs to change settings, and or use the rotary select knob to scroll
04:41through the amp models. Be careful when you're editing just say on the amp. When you're using
04:47just these controls, you're tempted to go to the left and right arrow buttons, and if you do that,
04:52it'll just move the cursor to the next signal block, and then you're onto a different editing screen.
04:58What's cool is if you wish to add a block that's not in the patch, simply move the arrow, then hit
05:03select control to turn it on and make it active. So in this case, I've activated a CE1 course,
05:11but if I don't want that and say I want a phaser, I can simply just turn the rotary knob until I get
05:19a phaser. In this case I have the phase 90 over here. Now if I wish to move it in my signal block,
05:26all I gotta do is long press the select knob till it turns red, then use the left and right arrows to
05:32move it where I want it in the chain, and hit select again till it turns green.
05:38And then of course if I long press it and move it back to where it was behind the amp, it sounds so much
06:07different. But I like the way it sounds when I move it over there, right there.
06:29Over here is the mode button that sets up how you wish to configure the MG400 output. Also pressing the
06:36edit, exit, and save simultaneously will bring up the system menu. There's also a built-in tuner on the
06:42MG400, but you'll see I'm also using the Cherub flow tune clip tuner that features a compensated
06:48tuning mode. But let's get on with the MG400. You'll notice the presets were made by well-known
06:55influencers and musicians from around the world. What's so great is just how nuanced all the sounds are.
07:01So even when you fire this up and you have this preset here, this is sort of like that Bogner,
07:07Bogner high gain sound. It's so different when I go to the next preset, which is more of a British
07:12sound. Take a quick listen.
07:42Even some of the cleans are really nice. In this case, this is a very affected sound.
07:56Here's a great heavier sounding preset and, of course, the NU-X noise gate block is just
08:12incredible.
08:16Here's a great heavier sounding preset and, of course, the NU-X noise gate block is just incredible.
08:26incredible. Take a listen.
08:40Less buttons, controls, and switches means you'll need to know how they are assigned to edit your
08:58settings. But don't worry, it's super easy. First up, you'll see the up and down foot switches that
09:03take you through the presets. I love the bigger covered orange knob that NU-X included so your
09:08foot doesn't hit knobs as you're reaching over with your foot to bank up. You'll see the overall
09:15master volume knob, which you'll want to set up for a comfortable volume. Keep in mind a lot of the
09:20presets vary in volume as you scroll through. One of the features I love is its scene functionality,
09:27where you can use scenes to engage disengage blocks with either control foot switch. Here you can assign
09:33control one or control two to activate the scene functionality or use one control to engage each
09:39scene sequentially and use the other control as a tap switch. There are many versatile possibilities.
09:46Here's a great example of how to use the scenes. This one is set up for the control one,
09:52it's set up to turn the delay signal block on and off. Right now it's just with a heavy reverb,
09:58and then if I go to the second scene, indicated by the color, this is more of a modulated, but with
10:04this one also has a delay on the control one that you can turn on and off. Take a listen.
10:22a quick as a metal clip.
10:23a little bit.
10:30a little bit.
10:32a little bit.
10:37a little bit.
10:42a little bit.
10:50Each preset has three scenes which are snapshots within a preset and it's an
11:04important function for live gigs where you can tap into a rhythm or lead tones
11:08or affected tones. You'll notice each scene can engage disengage signal blocks
11:14freely and it retains the delay reverb trails when you disengage them. If that's
11:18not enough, the MG-400 includes a jam button for drum accompaniment and a looper.
11:32The MG-400 has NUX phrase loop synchronization with rhythm, so you can play a rhythm, record
11:39your phrase loop, and the MG-400 will beat match the phrase to fit the current rhythm BPM.
11:48You can choose either stereo mono looping, stereo is 30 seconds, mono is 60 seconds, and there
12:02are two recording modes. Normal recording works as a typical looper, and then there's auto
12:07recording which will stand by until you press the control loop foot switch, and once you hit
12:12the strings it will start to record your phrase loop. Once you download the QuickTone editor
12:19from the MG-400 product page, you'll find it to be a helpful and easy to use interface for tweaking
12:25parameters, dragging block order, set up scenes, saving patches, loading patches, exporting patches,
12:31load IR, setting up USB routing, and control settings. And I can't forget that its USB audio capabilities allow you to record tracks,
12:39re-amp, and even do live streaming. The NUX MG-400 is a powerful guitar and bass modeler that offers
12:47so much functionality and stellar tones at a price that fits working musicians and casual players' budgets.
12:54Plus, its compact design allows you to take it anywhere from the studio to the stage. You'll find, like me,
13:01its model sounds are seriously on par with many renowned modeling processors. I totally dig this. Definitely. Check it out.
13:31you