The Jam X USB is capable of keeping up with the most discernible ears, as recently displayed in the launch video featuring Polyphia’s Tim Henson exploring the compression modes. The Apogee products that came before the Jam series of interfaces have inspired years of riffs, songs and melodies, and the Apogee Jam X is the latest in a long line of useful, practical and well-designed interfaces. The unit plays nicely with multiple operating systems, allowing you to jump between a laptop, desktop computer or an iPad, for example, with no break in audio quality. The Jam X USB is a tool that just about every music maker needs, whether you’re equipped with a full on, home studio situation with a need for a more portable solution, or simple recording equipment that could benefit from professional-grade audio conversion and handy on-board compression. Apogee have again elevated a seemingly perfect design, reinvented in the Apogee Jam X USB Audio interface.

Keep reading on about Difference Between Preamp + Audio Interface to gain valuable insights and information on the subject. Jam 96k The Apogee Jam Plus USB input comes with three cables so that you don’t have to buy them separately. One of them is used to connect to your PC. For further information on this topic, refer to our article on 10 MAJOR Difference Between Mixer vs Audio Interface as well.

In addition to that, you won’t have to go through any hassle of configuring it. It goes without saying that configuring a device can be a time-consuming and complicated process. The LED is useful in that it has three colours: blue means that the Jam is connected but not active, green means connected and active, and red means that the signal level has overloaded the input. Usefully, the green LED also gets brighter when a higher signal level is present. Pressing it will engage the overdrive settings used to optimize the signals. On the other hand, the second knob engages a low latency mode that eliminates the delay which may result from recording.

Overall, the Jam is an excellent value for the intermediate-level guitarist who wants portability and ease of recording. The Jam exceeds my expectations, enough so that I’m selling one of my main amplifiers. I sell it because I don’t play through it enough to justify keeping it. I was getting value from my iPad before I bought the Jam. But now that I play primarily through the Jam, the iPad is a real multi-function value for me. Conclusion The company came into being in 2006 and is among the fastest-growing companies in the musical arena. Let’s take a deeper look at it and see how it differs from the Apogee Jam Plus USB input. Talking about its construction, the Apogee Jam Plus USB input has a rugged metal body. Using it couldn’t be any simpler, as it only has two knobs on the front side of its body. The round knob is to control the input level. Another problem with the Jam is the difficulty of adjusting the input level to avoid clipping. The simple LED light clearly shows when clipping occurs, but the dial that sets the input level is not marked with numbers or defined settings. As a result, each time a user connects a guitar, time must be spent adjusting the signal level. For users who typically play through the same guitar set-up, a numbered dial would make this process much more efficient. The Bottom Line: Cheap, Easy, Impressive The display is user-configurable. You can change the colour from 10 presets or make your own via Peterson Connect, and these colours are not just useful from a visibility point of view but allow players to assign different colours to different tunings.The compressor modes are really what elevate the Jam X – offering no compression at all, or three varying modes of compression, from the lowest, the Smooth Leveller, to the Purple Squeeze in the middle, and the Vintage Blue Stomp at the most extreme end, offering an ‘aggressive’ amount of compression. Compression before an amp sim can really help you shape and hone your tone, bringing new life to any existing amplifier sims you might have. The Smooth Leveller felt and sounded like a great ‘always on’ type solution, providing reasonably transparent compression, while preventing any peaks from poking through and clipping an otherwise great take. Monitoring with latency is an instant mood ruiner, making it almost impossible to record, and because of this, the Jam X USB includes a low latency mode that allows you to monitor direct from the unit, rather than after a round trip through your DAW and computer.