Firmware Freedom

Guitar gear should be evaluated by hardware, not fixed firmware. The Ampero II Stage has a three-core DSP with five-times the ESP32’s processing headroom but cannot run a full-size NAM A2 profile due to firmware constraints. Low-cost ESP32-S3 and ESP32-P4 chips run multiple A2-Full models and effects at a fraction of the price of dedicated DSP platforms, showing general-purpose microcontrollers now match performance for less cost.