NAM A2 Just Beat Neural DSP and ToneX in Blind Tests (And It's Free)

What Is NAM A2?

If you've been paying attention to the amp modeling world (and if you're reading this, you probably have), you already know that Neural Amp Modeler has been quietly eating everyone's lunch. Open source, free to use, and scary accurate. Well, the team at TONE3000 just kicked it up about ten notches.

Architecture 2 (or A2, because everything needs a cool abbreviation) launched on June 2nd, built by TONE3000 in partnership with NAM's original creator Steve Atkinson. And look, we don't throw around words like "game changer" lightly around here. But this one actually is.

A2 is a completely rebuilt neural network architecture that captures amps, pedals, outboard gear, and full signal chains with accuracy that borders on witchcraft. It's open source. It's free. And it just beat every major competitor in blind listening tests. Yeah. We need to talk about this.

It Beat Neural DSP, ToneX, and Helix. In Blind Tests.

TONE3000 didn't just claim A2 sounds better. They proved it. They ran a massive blind listening test using the MUSHRA methodology (that's the same framework the BBC uses to evaluate audio quality, so it's not exactly some dude in his basement with a pair of earbuds). Over 1,000 participants submitted more than 100,000 ratings across 39 different tones, covering everything from sparkling Fender cleans to dimed Mesa Dual Rectifiers to vintage Neve 1073 preamps.

Participants heard the real gear first, then rated anonymized digital models on how close they sounded to the original. A2 came out on top. Not by a hair. By a wide margin. It beat Neural DSP's Neural Capture V2, IK Multimedia's ToneX, and Line 6's Proxy in both the blind listening tests and the quantitative measurements.

Let that sink in for a second. A free, open-source technology just outperformed platforms that cost hundreds (or thousands) of dollars. If you're already rocking NAM captures in your rig, you picked the right horse.

It Runs on a $3 Chip (No, Seriously)

Here's where things get really wild. A2 comes in two flavors: A2-Full and A2-Lite. The Full version is built for pro audio in your DAW, delivering better quality than the previous architecture while using 30-40% less CPU. That means you can run three A2-Full models for the same processing power that two old A1 models needed. On a MacBook with an M-series chip, you could theoretically run 64 A2-Full models at once. That's absurd.

But A2-Lite is the real headline. It's designed for embedded hardware, and it runs at 50% CPU on a $3 ARM Cortex-M7 chip. Three dollars. The chip in your pedal could cost less than a set of picks, and it can run NAM captures that sound better than units costing hundreds of dollars. This is what makes NAM on affordable hardware actually viable. No more choosing between "sounds incredible" and "fits in my budget."

HeadRush Is Getting Native NAM Support This Summer

This is the part where things get very interesting for HeadRush users. Walter Skorupski, HeadRush's Senior Product Manager, confirmed that Prime, Core, and Flex Prime users will be able to load NAM captures directly to their rigs this summer. No lossy conversion. No workarounds. Direct, native NAM support.

HeadRush is also integrating with the TONE3000 library through their touchscreen and onboard Wi-Fi, so you'll be able to browse and download captures right from your pedalboard. Think about that. You're at a gig, you want a different amp tone, and you just pull one up from a library of hundreds of thousands of free captures. Without touching a computer.

If you've been stacking up HeadRush clones from Six String Lab, get ready. Your options are about to explode. And for anyone sitting on a library of NAM captures, your collection just became compatible with even more hardware.

The Hardware Ecosystem Is Blowing Up

HeadRush isn't the only one jumping on the A2 train. Blackstar, Darkglass, Lava Music, Chaos Audio, and Dimehead are all confirmed supporters, with dozens more companies announcing support later this year. Blackstar already has the Beam Mini available right now with native NAM support and access to the TONE3000 library.

This is what happens when you make something open source and genuinely better than the proprietary alternatives. Hardware makers don't have to build their own modeling engines anymore. They can just plug into NAM and give their users access to an ever-growing library of community-created tones. That's good for manufacturers, good for players, and frankly, it's going to put a lot of pressure on the walled-garden approach that companies like Neural DSP and Line 6 have been running.

If you're a Kemper user, a Tonex player, or running NeuralDSP captures, none of this makes your gear obsolete. Those platforms still sound incredible. But it does mean that NAM is no longer just "that cool free thing." It's becoming the standard that everyone else has to measure up to.

What This Means for Your Tone

Here's the practical stuff. If you want to try A2 right now, here's what you do:

Download the latest NAM plugin called "Gateway" from neuralampmodeler.com. Browse and download A2 captures from TONE3000. Load them up. That's it. You're playing through the most accurate amp modeling technology ever created, and it didn't cost you a dime.

TONE3000 has also retrained their entire library of existing NAM captures to support A2, so hundreds of thousands of tones are available in the new architecture from day one. Both A1 and A2 versions are still available, so nothing breaks in your current setup.

For the studio nerds: A2-Full uses 30-40% less CPU than the old A1 standard. That means more instances in your DAW, less bouncing, and fewer compromises when you're building dense mixes. If you've been reamping with NAM captures (and you should be), A2 just made that workflow even smoother.

Why We're Fired Up About This

Look, we've been making NAM captures at Six String Lab since the beginning because we believed in the technology. A2 is validation of that bet. The platform we've been building on didn't just keep up with the competition. It lapped them.

Every NAM capture in our catalog works with A2. Every free pack we offer is compatible. And as more hardware adopts native NAM support, the captures you buy today become more versatile tomorrow. That's not something you get from a locked-down ecosystem.

We also make Kemper profiles, Tonex captures, HeadRush clones, and NeuralDSP captures because we believe in meeting players where they are. But if you've been curious about NAM and haven't pulled the trigger yet? There has literally never been a better time.

The Bottom Line

NAM A2 is the real deal. It sounds better than every major competitor in blind tests, it runs on hardware that costs less than your morning coffee, it's completely free and open source, and the hardware ecosystem is growing fast. HeadRush users are getting native support this summer. Blackstar already has it. More are coming.

If you want to hear what all the hype is about, grab one of our free NAM packs and load it into the new Gateway plugin. Or dive into our full NAM captures collection and find the amp tone you've been chasing. Either way, the future of amp modeling just got a whole lot more exciting, and it didn't cost anyone a penny to get there.

Go plug in and make some noise.