AMT Pangaea CP100FX

The AMT Pangaea CP-100FX is an impulse response convolution player and effects processor from AMT Electronics, introduced in 2016 and still listed as available¹². AMT describes it as more than a cabinet simulator: it combines an IR cab sim with a preamp simulator, a power amp simulator and a chain of effects, all in a floor unit³. It processes at 48kHz in 24 bit, with 24 bit A/D and D/A converters³².

The maker's stated aim for the unit was control: AMT says it set a challenge "to give you as much freedom and control over all the settings as possible", so nearly every parameter can be tweaked³.

What it does: IR player, preamp and effects

The signal chain is built from 14 effect blocks³:

The Preamp Simulator block simulates a clean channel of an amplifier, with Gain, Volume and a Low, Mid, High tone stack, "just like a real amp"³. The Delay block runs two delay lines at the same time plus a modulation effect, with times from 0.01s to 2.73s³. The Phaser offers 4, 6 or 8 stages, with a center frequency range of 80 Hz to 12 kHz³. The Flanger's LFO can be set to Triangle or Sinus, with delay up to 21 ms, where longer delay produces more notches³. The Compressor's attack runs from 5 ms to 30 ms, with knee adjustable from hard to soft³. The Noise Gate is a global setting⁴.

The IR block can load up to two Impulse Responses simultaneously, with control over the stereo image³. In dual cabinet mode, a 1 R mode disables the CabSim in the left channel for live plus front-of-house setups³.

The controls: knob, buttons, LEDs and footswitches

The front panel is built around a Navigation/Confirm knob: turn it to select presets and press to recall the selected one; on the edit screen it selects an effect block, turns it on or off, and navigates, edits or confirms parameter values³. An Edit button edits the preset or effect block and also taps delay time and tremolo rate³.

Three footswitches, labeled UP, DOWN and CONFIRM, can each be assigned as Default (scrolling and recalling presets), Controller, Tuner or Preset Map³. Preset Map lets you predefine up to 4 presets and scroll through them by repeatedly pressing the footswitch³. Footswitches can also work in Fast mode, which generates a single event as soon as the switch is pressed³. Each preset may be assigned up to 16 controllers, linking sources such as footswitches, an expression pedal or MIDI CC messages to parameters³.

The LEDs tell you the unit's state at a glance³:

• IN CLIP: green when signal is present, orange when the input clips
• FX: lights when the effects are activated
• Out Clip: orange when clipping is detected at the output
• Tap: shows the time and speed of delay and modulation effects

Front panel buttons include 1/ATT IN, which adjusts attenuator settings on the home screen and resets the preset to factory defaults on the preset screen, and 5/TUNER, which activates the tuner on the home screen and copies the selected effect block to another preset on the preset screen⁵. The tuner is a standard chromatic tuner with a reference frequency of 440Hz, and enabling it mutes the audio output³.

Power and connections

The unit runs on 12V DC from the included power adapter³; AMT's AC adapter takes 100-265VAC mains at 50-60 Hz and outputs 12VDC, center negative¹.

Connections on board³²:

• Input: instrument jack, or your amplifier's output
• AUX IN: 1/8'' (3.5mm) TRS for an external audio device
• EXP: standard expression pedal input, such as the AMT EX-50
• MIDI In and MIDI Out: for sending and receiving MIDI messages, with a mapping function so incoming program changes can recall any preset
• Thru/Bypass Out: passes the input signal on
• Balanced Out: XLR at +4 dBu, fully protected against phantom power (+48V)
• Main Out: -10 dBV stereo line level
• Phones Out: headphone output
• S/PDIF Out: 24-bit digital version of Main Out at 48kHz
• Ground Lift switch: eliminates hum and buzz from ground loops

The balanced outputs being phantom-power protected means a mixer's +48V button will not damage the unit³.

Loading impulse responses

Pangaea accepts IR files in 24-bit mono 48 kHz .wav format³. Files live on a microSD card, and cards up to 32GB using the FAT32 filesystem are supported³. Once you select an IR it is stored into the unit's internal memory, and the manual reminds you to save the preset so the IR selection sticks³.

Two loading modes are offered¹:

• Mode 1: one IR for both L/R channels per preset
• Mode 2: separate loading of two mono IRs with the same parameters as Mode 1, adjustable for volume and pan, with total signal delay of 1.8 ms

The manual gives latency as 1.5 ms in single cabinet mode³; the two figures describe the two modes rather than conflicting.

Firmware updates and USB

A USB port connects the unit to a computer, where it is identified as a general purpose flash storage drive, giving access to internal storage for backup and restore as well as firmware updating³. Firmware can be updated under Windows⁶ and under Mac OS⁷. The Rev A user's guide is written for firmware V1.5.7³, while the quick start references V1.5.6⁵; the two manuals were written against different firmware revisions. Technical support is reachable at support@amtelectronics.com³.

In the box you get the unit, a power supply, a microSD memory card, a microSD to SD adapter, a USB microSD card reader, a USB cable and a warranty card³.

Versions: CP-100FX and the stereo CP-100FX-S

Alongside the original CP-100FX, AMT offers the Pangaea CP-100FX-S, a stereo version introduced in 2017 and also listed as available⁸⁹. The CP-100FX-S is a pedal preamp with effects and IR cabsim and stereo output¹⁰, where the base CP-100FX is described as a mono input / stereo output version¹⁰⁹. The CP-100FX-S carries the same feature set plus other features beyond those listed¹⁰.

The CP-100FX is closely related to the AMT Pangaea CP-100, a standalone IR player and guitar speaker cabinet simulator that shares the same IR format and the way the computer identifies the device as a flash drive¹¹¹. The CP-100FX adds the preamp and effects processing on top of that cab-sim foundation.

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