Our Guide to the Apogee Jam X Guitar & Bass Interface for Mac, iOS and Windows

Apogee electronics have recently introduced the Jam X – the latest iteration of their Jam guitar interface series. The first Apogee Jam was released in 2010. Back then it was a huge step forward in mobile recording for guitar, and since then it has evolved with higher quality components and new features. 

In this first look blog, we take a closer look at the Jam X and what it has to offer for the modern guitarist, bassist and even keyboard players too!

Jam X is a truly pocket sized powerful interface. All the electronics are contained within a small, rugged chassis made from aluminium. The soft touch base provides a nice feel when held and it also gives the interface a bit of grip when you've put it on a surface.

Jam X's forte is electric guitar, but it can handle acoustic guitar (with pickup), bass, synths and keyboards. It has a ¼” jack input, capable of accepting all of these sources. Jam X converts the signal, which is output digitally through the Micro USB-B. The 1/8” output also provides direct output for headphones and active speakers.

The dial on Jam X controls gain, allowing you to boost the level of your instrument for recording. The built in soft limiter allows you to push your recording level to the limit without causing any digital distortion. 

This is in addition to the biggest new feature on Jam X - the analogue compressor. The compressor settings can be cycled by pressing the gain dial, but more on this in a bit.

The button above the gain dial allows you to mix between the direct signal and the audio back from your device.

Sound Quality & Conversion

Jam X converts your analogue signal to digital using Apogee’s PureDIGITAL technology. Whether you’re recording to your computer or a mobile device, Jam X can capture and encode your performances in high-quality digital audio - up to 24bit / 96kHz.

Analogue Compressor

The Jam X has onboard dynamic processing, in the form of an analogue compressor. Similar to the compressor built into the Apogee HypeMiC, this compressor has been fine tuned to add some high-quality compression to your signal with DI recording in mind. 

Compressors can be a little tricky to get your head round, but Jam X keeps it simple by cycling between presets using the push function of the gain dial. There are 4 compression modes to choose from:

• Bypass – No compression is applied to the signal
• Smooth Leveller – Light Compression
• Purple Squeeze – Medium Compression
• Vintage Blue Stomp – Aggressive Compression

Recording with Jam X – Included software

Jam X is compatible with Mac OS, Windows, and iOS (with a Micro-USB to Lighting cable). It can be used with numerous apps and recording software to capture your playing and add effects.  

Speaking of which - Jam X comes with an extended 60-day trial of Archetype: Tim Henson by Neural DSP to get you started. It's packed full of amp models, effects and cab simulations to get you started, all selected by Tim Henson from the band Polyphia. 

If you don’t have any recording software, it also comes with a Ableton Live Lite to get you up and running. It's a digital audio workstation based around a traditional timeline workflow, as well as a looping section - handy for writing sonds and building up ideas.

When recording, you can use the analogue compressor as a front end to your software effects. This can really buff up your sound in a way that makes you feel closer to playing through hardware than through a direct input. And don't forget, if your signal gets too loud, the soft limiter will kick in to avoid digitally distorting your signal

Monitoring as you record is a breeze, using the headphone out to listen to your direct signal as you're recording. This helps to eliminate latency issues as you play, whilst also allowing you to hear your backing track or metronome mixed in to your headphones or speakers.

Jam X is an awesome way to record guitar, bass or keyboard with a high quality input and analog compressor. For something that fits in a bag or a pocket, it’s really quite impressive. But it also makes the process really simple. Of course, you don’t have to take our word for it – hear it in action with Tim Henson of Polyphia.