TONE3000 launches A2 amp modeling that runs on a $3 chip and tops blind tests

TONE3000 has released NAM Architecture 2, or A2, the next generation of its free, open-source amp modeling technology. The company says it sounds better than any modeler before it, runs on hardware as small as a $3 chip, and stays fully open source.

A2 was built with Steve Atkinson, creator of Neural Amp Modeler (NAM), the open standard that already runs across a wide range of software and pedals. It lets anyone make hyper-accurate captures of analog amps, pedals, outboard gear and full signal chains.

What A2 actually does

A2 captures the behavior of real gear, then lets you play through those models in a DAW or on hardware. TONE3000 frames the launch as three shifts at once: more accurate sound, the ability to run anywhere, and a fully open-source design any maker can build on.

The pitch is sensory, not technical. “The bloom of a tube amp pushed into breakup, the sag of a fuzz pedal under a heavy chord, the snap of a transient through an analog compressor: A2 captures it all,” the company said. The goal was to capture tone so faithfully you could not tell the model from the original.

The numbers behind the claims

TONE3000 ran two tests and published both. The first is a MUSHRA blind listening test where over 1,000 people compared recordings of real gear against anonymized digital models. A2-Full scored 100, level with the real recorded sound, while Neural DSP V2 landed at 94, IK Multimedia ToneX at 90.5 and Line 6 Proxy at 77.

The second is an accuracy test that measured error against the real signal across 39 tones, scored as a Bayesian Elo rating. A2-Full topped that chart at 2039, well ahead of every competing system.

TONE3000’s own blind listening and accuracy test results for A2.

These are the company’s own numbers, so a third party should run the same tests before anyone calls it settled. The direction, though, is hard to miss.

It runs on a $3 pedal chip

The bigger story is where A2 runs. A2-Lite is built for embedded hardware and runs at 50% CPU on a $3 ARM Cortex-M7 600MHz chip, the kind already inside budget multi-effects pedals. TONE3000 says it sounds better than Neural DSP’s Quad Cortex while doing it.

A2-Full handles studio and pro use with higher accuracy. Together they put high-end amp tone on everything from a laptop to a cheap pedal.

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A $5,000 vintage amp that was once locked away in a studio can now be in everyone's hands. A2 accelerates that mission by democratising tone.

Hardware makers are already on board

Because A2 is open source, any company can add it for free, and several already have. TONE3000 says Blackstar, Lava Music, Darkglass, HeadRush, Chaos Audio and Dimehead are supporting A2, with dozens more expected this year.

HeadRush plans native NAM support on its Prime, Core and Flex Prime pedals this summer, with onboard access to TONE3000’s capture library. NAM launched as an open-source project in 2019 and became the most accurate amp modeling around; A2 is the version built to live on the hardware most players actually own.