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Product Description
JAM brings the legendary sound quality of Apogee to iPadTM, iPhone® and Mac. Now guitarists can have a pocket-sized, plug in and play interface at an unprecedented price and experience ultimate tone with the guitar amps and effects in Apple's GarageBand software or other compatible applications. Pristine digital sound for ultimate guitar tone JAM is a premium digital converter featuring PureDIGITAL technology which delivers your guitar's true tone to your iPad or Mac without compromise. JAM is the first high quality interface that makes a digital connection to both iOS devices and Mac. You will notice the sonic difference between JAM and other similar products immediately.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
56 of 59 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
After reading reviews for other products that plug into the headphone jack, I decided to go midrange and buy the apogee jam. I received this today and have gathered first impressions. I will update this review as I draw more conclusions, and the rating may or may not change as a result.
First Impressions:
For 100$, I was expecting an awful lot out of this gadget. I don't have a lot of money for guitar pedal effects and a really nice amp, so the result of that is that my time spent at the amp tweaking the limited settings at my disposal is frustrating. The verdict on the Jam? Nothing! As in it took no time at all, took no difficulty, no tweaking. I plugged the 1/4" cable in and into the Ipad, loaded the free version of ampkit, and I was getting wonderful sound immediately. Those first thirty minutes with this new toy melted away in a flash as I played around with the included distortion pedal on ampkit. Some key features I noted as positives:
Pros:
1) Excellent sound, right out of the box. No batteries to put in, no complicated setup, no install. It just worked straight away!
2) No delay, at least as far as I can tell. This seems to be something people are curious about, and at least so far as I can tell there's not one iota of delay from what I do and what comes out of the speakers. I simply may not be discerning enough, but to me there's no noticeable pause.
3) Sensitivity is solid. I was able to modulate my picking style and achieve big differences in the output. For some reason I was expecting the digital out to be muddy. It may have been a silly thought, but it's definitely solid in terms of its adjustment to you.
4) On-the-fly gain adjustment works very well, and I love that it gives you a readout of the noise level on the device itself. It allows you to easily get to a good spot.
Cons:
1) Cost. Obviously this isn't that much for a good guitar input. You could easily spend a lot more for fancier gadgets; however, 100$ is nothing to sneeze at when you play as a hobby. It's definitely worth it since it's no hassle compared to what I have read about other products
That's my list of cons I know for sure so far. There are other issues that I worry about that cannot be ascertained in a first impression. I intend to update these at another time.
Potential cons:
1) Output to a larger speaker. The Jam itself has no way to route your output sound to a larger speaker, and I am not certain that a good solution is going to pop up just yet. If I want to find a backing track on youtube on my laptop and get the guitar and track to my headphones, I'm not sure I'll be able to. I expect there is a reasonable solution for this, though
2) Durability. I have read other stories about the unit failing. Mine was not DoA, but that's about all I can tell so far. It seems like it will hold up to shock. It doesn't feel cheap to me, and it has no little parts to lose (like a battery flap, for example). Time will tell if this guy goes the distance
All that said, I am elated with my purchase and give it a tentative five-star rating. I intend to play with it a lot more, and at this stage I am not quite sure which of the several guitar apps I should lay down my money on. Ampkit seems really good so far with its free effects and amp, so I may go with that.
UPDATE, 12-17-2011
After several months of use, I feel confident in updating my review a bit for those who want some more information! The device has not given me one iota of trouble so far. I can now add some more annoyances to the short list.
CONS:
1) Not being able to charge the iPad at the same time while using the Jam has caused a few situations where I had to put down the guitar after several hours of fooling around with recording and whatnot. I know! Who says I should take a break, right?! This has not been a major issue, in reality, but it is a potential one if you are away from somewhere where you can charge up.
2) The digital connection locks tightly into the port, which is good (it's not going to get ripped out of there), but it gets to feeling a little flimsy and makes me nervous about damaging the cable head itself or the port to the iPad. If you're careful, no issue should ever pop up, but there's that distant possibility.
All in all, any quibbles I have are minor and should not deter you from considering this purchase. This device along with a few key apps have rendered the Vox AC30 miniamp I bought entirely obsolete. The apps play a big role in this, for sure. I'll talk about my setup briefly, as well.
Ampkit and garage band are both awesome for their own reasons. Ampkit has such a breadth of interesting sounds and presets and customization on your output that it's a must. The problem is that you lack the smart instruments and the ability to record in an organized way. Garage band's guitar sounds and interface are a little more annoying to deal with (needing to set the instrument monitoring and the tracklength every time is annoying). Specifically, the guitar sounds feel somewhat limiting and more difficult to customize. They are nice, but I like Ampkit a lot more. The multitrack recording and smart instruments make garage band indispensable for actual generation of musical ideas! Therefore, I wish I could port my ampkit output sound into garageband. Too bad!
All in all, the apogee jam is confirmed as an excellent amp input. Never once have I had a malfunction of the device or any popping or noise that was not setting related. No issue of detection or anything. No batteries for the device, no hassle. The price is the biggest deterrent, but if all the other iPad interfaces have such nasty trouble, then it's best to save your money and grab a good one at the first shot, and the Apogee Jam is definitely a good one!
How about my Potential cons section from before? Let's see...
1) Ipad can use an aux. cable to output to a larger speaker without hassle. I can import backing tracks into iTunes no problem. It's a little more annoying than booting up youtube and flying, but it's not bad. You can also enable multitasking in the garageband app that will allow you to open up other programs while still getting guitar output, so potential con #1 was not a concern.
2) Durability. No troubles on my end. No failure at all. I have been pretty gentle with it, but it has seen its share of slogging around in by guitar bag. Solid device!
What more can I say? I'd buy another if this one broke or got lost without a second thought. There is no better alternative so far as I can tell without being exorbitantly expensive.
First Impressions:
For 100$, I was expecting an awful lot out of this gadget. I don't have a lot of money for guitar pedal effects and a really nice amp, so the result of that is that my time spent at the amp tweaking the limited settings at my disposal is frustrating. The verdict on the Jam? Nothing! As in it took no time at all, took no difficulty, no tweaking. I plugged the 1/4" cable in and into the Ipad, loaded the free version of ampkit, and I was getting wonderful sound immediately. Those first thirty minutes with this new toy melted away in a flash as I played around with the included distortion pedal on ampkit. Some key features I noted as positives:
Pros:
1) Excellent sound, right out of the box. No batteries to put in, no complicated setup, no install. It just worked straight away!
2) No delay, at least as far as I can tell. This seems to be something people are curious about, and at least so far as I can tell there's not one iota of delay from what I do and what comes out of the speakers. I simply may not be discerning enough, but to me there's no noticeable pause.
3) Sensitivity is solid. I was able to modulate my picking style and achieve big differences in the output. For some reason I was expecting the digital out to be muddy. It may have been a silly thought, but it's definitely solid in terms of its adjustment to you.
4) On-the-fly gain adjustment works very well, and I love that it gives you a readout of the noise level on the device itself. It allows you to easily get to a good spot.
Cons:
1) Cost. Obviously this isn't that much for a good guitar input. You could easily spend a lot more for fancier gadgets; however, 100$ is nothing to sneeze at when you play as a hobby. It's definitely worth it since it's no hassle compared to what I have read about other products
That's my list of cons I know for sure so far. There are other issues that I worry about that cannot be ascertained in a first impression. I intend to update these at another time.
Potential cons:
1) Output to a larger speaker. The Jam itself has no way to route your output sound to a larger speaker, and I am not certain that a good solution is going to pop up just yet. If I want to find a backing track on youtube on my laptop and get the guitar and track to my headphones, I'm not sure I'll be able to. I expect there is a reasonable solution for this, though
2) Durability. I have read other stories about the unit failing. Mine was not DoA, but that's about all I can tell so far. It seems like it will hold up to shock. It doesn't feel cheap to me, and it has no little parts to lose (like a battery flap, for example). Time will tell if this guy goes the distance
All that said, I am elated with my purchase and give it a tentative five-star rating. I intend to play with it a lot more, and at this stage I am not quite sure which of the several guitar apps I should lay down my money on. Ampkit seems really good so far with its free effects and amp, so I may go with that.
UPDATE, 12-17-2011
After several months of use, I feel confident in updating my review a bit for those who want some more information! The device has not given me one iota of trouble so far. I can now add some more annoyances to the short list.
CONS:
1) Not being able to charge the iPad at the same time while using the Jam has caused a few situations where I had to put down the guitar after several hours of fooling around with recording and whatnot. I know! Who says I should take a break, right?! This has not been a major issue, in reality, but it is a potential one if you are away from somewhere where you can charge up.
2) The digital connection locks tightly into the port, which is good (it's not going to get ripped out of there), but it gets to feeling a little flimsy and makes me nervous about damaging the cable head itself or the port to the iPad. If you're careful, no issue should ever pop up, but there's that distant possibility.
All in all, any quibbles I have are minor and should not deter you from considering this purchase. This device along with a few key apps have rendered the Vox AC30 miniamp I bought entirely obsolete. The apps play a big role in this, for sure. I'll talk about my setup briefly, as well.
Ampkit and garage band are both awesome for their own reasons. Ampkit has such a breadth of interesting sounds and presets and customization on your output that it's a must. The problem is that you lack the smart instruments and the ability to record in an organized way. Garage band's guitar sounds and interface are a little more annoying to deal with (needing to set the instrument monitoring and the tracklength every time is annoying). Specifically, the guitar sounds feel somewhat limiting and more difficult to customize. They are nice, but I like Ampkit a lot more. The multitrack recording and smart instruments make garage band indispensable for actual generation of musical ideas! Therefore, I wish I could port my ampkit output sound into garageband. Too bad!
All in all, the apogee jam is confirmed as an excellent amp input. Never once have I had a malfunction of the device or any popping or noise that was not setting related. No issue of detection or anything. No batteries for the device, no hassle. The price is the biggest deterrent, but if all the other iPad interfaces have such nasty trouble, then it's best to save your money and grab a good one at the first shot, and the Apogee Jam is definitely a good one!
How about my Potential cons section from before? Let's see...
1) Ipad can use an aux. cable to output to a larger speaker without hassle. I can import backing tracks into iTunes no problem. It's a little more annoying than booting up youtube and flying, but it's not bad. You can also enable multitasking in the garageband app that will allow you to open up other programs while still getting guitar output, so potential con #1 was not a concern.
2) Durability. No troubles on my end. No failure at all. I have been pretty gentle with it, but it has seen its share of slogging around in by guitar bag. Solid device!
What more can I say? I'd buy another if this one broke or got lost without a second thought. There is no better alternative so far as I can tell without being exorbitantly expensive.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
I recently purchased, and then returned, the iRiffport. I am very pleased that I purchased the Apogee Jam as a replacement. Here are the reasons why:
1) The connector on the iRiffport (the one that goes into the iPad) is not a strong connection at all; it feels as though it could disconnect at any time. I have a stand to put my iPad on when jamming such that the iPad is in landscape mode, so the cord feels as though it will come out of moved the wrong way. With the Apogee Jam, the connector is just like the iPad's connector, except it ALSO has the "prongs" that come out of it, securing the connector into the iPad. To remove the connector from the iPad, you need to squeeze the buttons on the connector to make the "prongs" go in so it can be removed...very, very secure. I use the "Gumdrop" case on my iPad, which has a flap that goes over the charging port when not being used. This flap feels pretty tawt when it is open while the charging port is being used. IMPORTANT: if you have such an iPad case, like me, I certainly feel that the Jam will provide a much more secure connection to your iPad over the iRiffport. In fact, the structure of the iRiffport connector was so large, that I felt that it did not fit well through my case. On the other hand, the Jam's connector is the same small size as the iPad's original connector. This is also something to consider if you intend to use your iPad in portrait mode on a stand with the connector on the bottom of the iPad.
2) Probably the largest reason I prefer the Jam over the iRiffport: you can hear sound directly from the iPad. With the iRiffport, you MUST use headphones or attach external speakers. I tried headphones with the iRiffport and playing the guiter was very awkward. Nonetheless, with the Jam, I could attach headphones or external speakers to the iPad if I chose to do so. I wanted something that could make my iPad an amplifier for easy mobility around my house, without having to purchase another amplifier or external speakers. With the Jam, I have this.
3) The Jam has a gain meter (i.e., an LED) and a gain control. The iRiffport does not. When not being used to measure the level of the incoming audio, the LED lets you know if you are connected to the iPad, but not to any software (blue light), or if you are connected to the iPad AND to a software application (green light). There are no batteries needed for the Jam or the iRiffport.
4) I personally like that I can use my own guitar cord with the Jam. If the cord breaks, I simply replace the cord, not my iPad connection device. The iRiffport uses its own cord, and the connection to my guitar did not feel as strong as my "normal" guitar cable I used with the Jam.
5) Although a fairly minor point, it is nice to know that the Jam is advertised by Apple (look at their website and their Garageband video). And, since I have Garagegand on my iPad, I was pleased to see that the advertising material on the Jam states specifically that it works with Garagageband.
So far, I'm very pleased with the Jam.
1) The connector on the iRiffport (the one that goes into the iPad) is not a strong connection at all; it feels as though it could disconnect at any time. I have a stand to put my iPad on when jamming such that the iPad is in landscape mode, so the cord feels as though it will come out of moved the wrong way. With the Apogee Jam, the connector is just like the iPad's connector, except it ALSO has the "prongs" that come out of it, securing the connector into the iPad. To remove the connector from the iPad, you need to squeeze the buttons on the connector to make the "prongs" go in so it can be removed...very, very secure. I use the "Gumdrop" case on my iPad, which has a flap that goes over the charging port when not being used. This flap feels pretty tawt when it is open while the charging port is being used. IMPORTANT: if you have such an iPad case, like me, I certainly feel that the Jam will provide a much more secure connection to your iPad over the iRiffport. In fact, the structure of the iRiffport connector was so large, that I felt that it did not fit well through my case. On the other hand, the Jam's connector is the same small size as the iPad's original connector. This is also something to consider if you intend to use your iPad in portrait mode on a stand with the connector on the bottom of the iPad.
2) Probably the largest reason I prefer the Jam over the iRiffport: you can hear sound directly from the iPad. With the iRiffport, you MUST use headphones or attach external speakers. I tried headphones with the iRiffport and playing the guiter was very awkward. Nonetheless, with the Jam, I could attach headphones or external speakers to the iPad if I chose to do so. I wanted something that could make my iPad an amplifier for easy mobility around my house, without having to purchase another amplifier or external speakers. With the Jam, I have this.
3) The Jam has a gain meter (i.e., an LED) and a gain control. The iRiffport does not. When not being used to measure the level of the incoming audio, the LED lets you know if you are connected to the iPad, but not to any software (blue light), or if you are connected to the iPad AND to a software application (green light). There are no batteries needed for the Jam or the iRiffport.
4) I personally like that I can use my own guitar cord with the Jam. If the cord breaks, I simply replace the cord, not my iPad connection device. The iRiffport uses its own cord, and the connection to my guitar did not feel as strong as my "normal" guitar cable I used with the Jam.
5) Although a fairly minor point, it is nice to know that the Jam is advertised by Apple (look at their website and their Garageband video). And, since I have Garagegand on my iPad, I was pleased to see that the advertising material on the Jam states specifically that it works with Garagageband.
So far, I'm very pleased with the Jam.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Didn't give it 5 because there' no way to power the iPad and the jam at the same time - but this thing is a gem. It's great for laying down scratch tracks, jamming and late-night sessions that won't wake your wife or your dog.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good!
So far, I used the apogee jam for one recording. It does exactly what I expected. The product is simple to use. I recorded several guitar tracks that sound great in garageband. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Wang Chung
Just as Expected!
I've been wanting to buy this accessory for the iPad for quite some time. So I finally decided to pull the trigger and was delighted to know that the Apogee JAM is everything I... Read more
Published 15 days ago by digitalcrackle
Apogee Jam does exactly what it's supposed to do!
I was looking for an interface to run into the Ipad for Garageband. I had read that some other interfaces had noise problems and I would like the songs I build to be pretty clean... Read more
Published 23 days ago by Brian L. Smith
Excellent product
I tried the iRig with Amplitude and the AmpLink with Ampkit and was not satisfied. I returned bith to the GC within days. Read more
Published 24 days ago by Phillip J. Hyun
Doesn't work with latest ipad os update
I've had this device about a year, and although there have always been some lagging issues, it has been helpful for my teaching and composing studios. Read more
Published 1 month ago by GSP
Freaking awesome
Have bought two different adapters to use with my iPad, each disappointed and bored with after a few uses.
This was totally different.
1. Read more
This was totally different.
1. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Terrence J. Gold
Great Gadget
I am really enjoying this product!! It not only works with my guitar but also my digital piano and the sound is great from both. I send it through a Mackie mixer.
Published 1 month ago by Danny
Awesome
The Jam came packaged in the original box and works as advertised. The quality is quite good and I am very happy. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Talath Witharane
This was a gift
I bought this as a gift. I do not play the guitar nor do I have an ipad, but the recipient was pleased with it. Read more
Published 2 months ago by T. Murphy
Excellent. Don't bother with the cheaper ones.
I bought a cheaper interface first, to 'try out the concept' of playing and recording with an iPad. As a guitar player and songwriter, feel free to take my word for it. Read more
Published 2 months ago by **SkipKent**
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