So I reached out to Bluguitar a while back and asked if they would be interested in sending me one of their amps to demo on the channel and Thomas himself responded and actually was familiar with my channel and said he'd send both the Iridium and the Mercury as loaners to try out for a while and after playing a couple of shows with each of them and spending a lot of time in the studio with them, I think they're both great little amps with a lot of flexibility and hidden features that are really handy and nice for gigging musicians.
Also, the price, tiny size, big loud sound and the ability to have 3 channels plus a clean, MIDI, etc... there's a LOT here for the money.
The one thing that surprised me was how mean the Mercury could get. I was under the impression that it was just an old classic rock type amp but it gets NASTY.
Anyways, here's a review for each unit and a direct comparison vid for those who are interested.
Re: NAD's - BluGuitar Mercury and Iridium
Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2025 4:37 pm
by gibson5413
Awesome review Drew! I've been following your channel for a while and remember all of the great clips you used to post back during the HCAF days.
Re: NAD's - BluGuitar Mercury and Iridium
Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2025 5:47 pm
by Guitarbilly
Nice videos man. And I agree with your findings, I think the Amp1s are GREAT amps. Not just great for the price or great for the size. Just plain great. I could easily gig with my Mercury - and I actually have done it a few times with very good results. They really do sound and punch like a full sized tube amp.
We will do a short West Coast run later this summer and I will take the AMP1 ME and use backlined cabs, since we will be flying in for these gigs. They are perfect for situations like that. I much prefer to use them vs any modeling out there. Even the DI out is good enough for a live show (or you can turn the emulation off and use it with IRs). Blug really put a lot of thought and effort into these amps and it shows.
Re: NAD's - BluGuitar Mercury and Iridium
Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2025 6:38 pm
by fastredponycar
Guitarbilly wrote: ↑Tue Jul 15, 2025 5:47 pm
Nice videos man. And I agree with your findings, I think the Amp1s are GREAT amps. Not just great for the price or great for the size. Just plain great. I could easily gig with my Mercury - and I actually have done it a few times with very good results. They really do sound and punch like a full sized tube amp.
We will do a short West Coast run later this summer and I will take the AMP1 ME and use backlined cabs, since we will be flying in for these gigs. They are perfect for situations like that. I much prefer to use them vs any modeling out there. Even the DI out is good enough for a live show (or you can turn the emulation off and use it with IRs). Blug really put a lot of thought and effort into these amps and it shows.
Two hidden features really stood out to me with these things: Half power mode and lower gain mode.
being able to cut the power in half means that you can use it with a single v30 cab or a 2x12 with greenbacks or something like that and not risk damaging the speakers. That's really cool.
Being able to run it with less gain gives you extra flexibility if you want to use a higher gain boost or drive pedal in front to flavor it differently. I just wish you could do the per-channel gain adjustment on the amp1 itself and not need to use the big controller thing to set it.
Guitarbilly wrote: ↑Tue Jul 15, 2025 5:47 pm
Nice videos man. And I agree with your findings, I think the Amp1s are GREAT amps. Not just great for the price or great for the size. Just plain great. I could easily gig with my Mercury - and I actually have done it a few times with very good results. They really do sound and punch like a full sized tube amp.
We will do a short West Coast run later this summer and I will take the AMP1 ME and use backlined cabs, since we will be flying in for these gigs. They are perfect for situations like that. I much prefer to use them vs any modeling out there. Even the DI out is good enough for a live show (or you can turn the emulation off and use it with IRs). Blug really put a lot of thought and effort into these amps and it shows.
Two hidden features really stood out to me with these things: Half power mode and lower gain mode.
being able to cut the power in half means that you can use it with a single v30 cab or a 2x12 with greenbacks or something like that and not risk damaging the speakers. That's really cool.
Being able to run it with less gain gives you extra flexibility if you want to use a higher gain boost or drive pedal in front to flavor it differently. I just wish you could do the per-channel gain adjustment on the amp1 itself and not need to use the big controller thing to set it.
The 1control can do this, no need for the full size controller
I had both of those at one point and still have Billy's Iridium. Picked up the full size controller for cheap too. Probably should have kept the Mercury, but someone offered me more than I paid for it and the Iridium works just fine for me as is. Have had it packed up since I moved about 2 years ago so I need to break it back out.