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Boss Waza Tube Amp Expander Core

100W Amplifier Attenuator and Cabinet Emulator with Reactive Load, Air Feel, Mix Assist, IR Loader, Stereo FX, and USB Output
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Item ID: TAECore
Boss Waza Tube Amp Expander Core
Boss Waza Tube Amp Expander Core
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Waza Tube Amp Expander Core with Bluetooth Adapter
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Boss Waza Tube Amp Expander Core
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Harness Your Amp’s Full Capacity — at Any Volume

There’s only so much you can do with your tube amplifier in a low-volume environment — unless you have a BOSS Waza Tube Amp Expander Core. The Core leverages BOSS Tube Logic-driven attenuation and cutting-edge cabinet emulation to give you no-holds-barred access to your tube amp’s full sonic potential. Furthermore, a selectable Reactive Load control ensures natural amp-like performance with combos and full-blown stacks alike. The Core houses 32 cabinet emulations, including Celestion Digital impulse responses, along with 64 user IR slots, five selectable mic types, and a well-stocked arsenal of premium stereo effects. Moreover, you get 10 recallable Rig settings for storing your favorite patches. Mix Assist and Air Feel functions are on hand to help you dial in your overall sound, which you can then output over USB or stereo Line Out jacks for recording. Integrating your pedals and outboard gear is no problem for the Core, thanks to its flexible external effects loop, and you can use the To Speaker output to incorporate real-world cabinets into your setup. You also get a Phones output for silent practice sessions. Complete with intuitive software editing and IR loading, the Waza Tube Amp Expander Core enables players to unlock the full might of their amplifiers with zero worries about noise compliance.

Note: The BOSS Waza Tube Amp Expander Core does not support Mesa/Boogie Dual or Triple Rectifier amplifiers. Please call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer if you have questions.

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Robust attenuation and flawless cab emulation

Even if you love it loud, the Waza Tube Amp Expander Core ensures that your family, roommates, or neighbors don’t have to pay the price for your penchant for cranked-up tones. Rated for tube amplifiers up to 100 watts, the Core delivers efficient power attenuation driven by BOSS Tube Logic. It includes a selectable Reactive Mode knob with Combo and Stack settings to retain your amp’s natural characteristics — no speaker required. The Core houses 32 true-to-life cabinet emulations, including Celestion Digital miked impulse responses. Moreover, 64 user IR slots are available, with support for both mono and stereo WAV files up to 32-bit float/96kHz. You get five selectable mic types, plus the ability to mix up to two mic signals, allowing you to craft your ideal studio-quality tone, as well as an ear-grabbing cache of premium stereo effects, including compression, EQ, delay, and reverb. Finally, 10 recallable rig settings make storing and recalling your favorite setups easy.

Houses all the right connections

Here at Sweetwater, we quickly noted the extensive connectivity of the BOSS Waza Tube Amp Expander Core. For starters, you get balanced L and R Line Out jacks, enabling you to pipe a clean line-level analog signal to your console or audio interface — in stereo. Furthermore, a USB port allows you to skip the audio interface altogether and output your processed signal directly to your computer for recording, patch editing, and IR loading. The Tube Amp Expander Core’s flexible FX Loop jacks allow you to select between both series or parallel operation and a -10dBV or +4dBu analog signal level. Beyond that, you get a Phones output for quiet practice with cranked-up sound and immersive ambience, as well as a To Speaker jack for connecting to a physical speaker cabinet.

BOSS Waza Tube Amp Expander Core Features:

  • Leverages BOSS Tube Logic-driven attenuation and cutting-edge cabinet emulation to access to your tube amp’s full potential
  • Rated for tube amplifiers up to 100W
  • Reactive Mode knob with Combo and Stack settings retain your amp’s natural characteristics without a speaker cab
  • 32 true-to-life cabinet emulations with Celestion Digital miked impulse responses
  • 64 user IR slots with support for mono/stereo WAV files up to 32-bit float/96kHz
  • 5 selectable mic types with the ability to mix up to 2 mic signals
  • Premium stereo FX with compression, EQ, delay, and reverb
  • 10 recallable Rig settings for storing your favorite patches
  • Mix Assist function helps optimize your sound for recording and mixing
  • Air Feel function provides natural-sounding room ambience
  • Balanced L and R Line Out jacks route a clean stereo line-level analog signal to your console or audio interface
  • USB port outputs your processed signal directly to a computer for recording, patch editing, and IR loading
  • Flexible FX Loop jacks support series/parallel operation and -10dBV/+4dBu analog signal levels
  • Phones output facilitates quiet practice with cranked-up sound and immersive ambience
  • To Speaker jack enables connection to a physical speaker cabinet
  • Optional Bluetooth Audio MIDI Dual Adapter enables wireless editing via smartphone (BT-DUAL adapter sold separately)

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Tech Specs

  • Type: Reactive Load, Attenuator
  • Power Handling: 100W
  • Impedance: 8 ohms
  • Attenuation: Variable
  • Ground Lift: Yes
  • Inputs: 1 x 1/4" (8 ohm, 100W input),
  • Outputs: 1 x 1/4" (min 4 ohm output), 2 x XLR (L, R Line out)
  • Headphones: 1 x 1/4"
  • Other I/O: 2 x 1/4" (FX Loop), 1 x 5-pin DIN (Midi In), 1 x USB-C
  • Height: 3.89"
  • Width: 7.87"
  • Depth: 7.95"
  • Weight: 4.85 lbs.
  • Manufacturer Part Number: W-TAE CORE

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Reviews

4.6

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Easily could’ve been five stars.

The unit is not as bulky as other load boxes I have seen and used. It works well so far.


I do not like that using the headphone jack defeats the signal to the speaker entirely, I would rather that they can run at the same time and you just turn down the volume knob to the speaker if you don't want speaker volume. This is particularly sketchy considering the whole point of this box is so that you can crank your tube amp and if you happen to snag your leg on your headphone cable and pull it out, your speaker volume will be absolutely tremendously loud if the volume is up. So always remember to turn your speaker level way down or off before unplugging your headphones. I had a solo performer in the studio who wanted to use his ear monitors to set his ideal listening volume while we had his amp cranked and cab mic'd up. He wanted to hear the impulse response rather than the mic and so instead of being able to just plug-in and give him what he wanted I had to create a headphone mix using the line outputs, which brings me to a feature that I really do like..


I configure rig preset number 10 to be no impulse response on both left and right output, that way I can apply whatever impulse response I want using my archetype Neural Dsp plug-in.


I configure preset number nine to have custom impulse responses on both left and right output.


I configure preset number eight to have left output with no impulse response and right output with a single custom impulse response.


This configure-ability is fantastic.


Another thing I do not like is that I could not connect to this unit easily.


You have to purchase a $50 Bluetooth adapter in order to control the unit with your iPad.

Maybe I'm mistaken but I was not able to connect directly to the WAZA core using a USB-C cable from my iPad to the load box.



My laptop is a 2015 MacBook Pro that was absolutely maxed out and cost $3600 and still works great except it was not compatible with the control software because it can't use the latest operating systems from Apple. I ended up having to use boot camp and install Windows 10 on my MacBook Pro (note they do not support using parallels or other virtual windows environments) I found it to be faster and cheaper to just install Windows 10 over going out and buying a whole new Windows laptop and I didn't wanna wait the three days for the Bluetooth adapter to arrive. Once I had Windows 10 installed, the driver did not automatically install upon plugging in the unit, like it's supposed to so I went to the website and downloaded the 1.01 Driver and manually installed it and everything has been fine.


Just include the Bluetooth adapter!?


This thing is almost $ and it took me 3 1/2 hours to figure out how to connect! I guess the majority of other people either have dedicated windows laptops or very new MacBooks? Or they were keen enough to order the ad on adapter from the get-go.


The ideal impedance load seems a tad ambiguous, but it would appear as though an eight ohm load is favorable. The reason it seems a bit ambiguous is that the speaker level input says 100watt 8ohms max And the speaker output says 4ohm minimum. Which to me means that the unit is somewhat flexible with impedances. My combo amp has a 16 ohm internal speaker, so I think I should be OK.

by Jaymo from Santa Fe, NM on
Boss Waza Tube Amp Expander Core for small settings
Exactly what I was looking for in a small setting hooked up directly to my Fender Deluxe Reverb. Being able to get the tubes to work in their sweet spot without it being extremely loud is what I was shooting for. I have a Universal Audio OX as well and the Boss Waza gives you a little more dial in to find that sweet spot. Thanks to Sweeetwater Curtis Snow for helping assist with the search of what it was I was looking for!
by Tim on
Game Changer
The pc of gear has been an absolute game changer for me in my moderate home studio.. Possibly the best pc of equipment I've purchased for my studio in quite some time I built my own 72" wide workstation 60 rack space desk with all my modelers (Helix rack, Quad core, Tone Master pro, Axe Fx etc) on the right side and all my tube amps (Marshall, PRS MT15,Peavey Invective, Synergy SYN 20ir, etc) left side thru a Kahayan amp and cab switcher into this TAE for direct out or to miced cab.. The options with this unit are almost endless.. Thank you Chris Kress
by Sweetwater Customer on
So much more than I thought it would be.
So I bought this purely to use as an attenuator but it has become so much more to me. I don't use it to record to can't speak to that but if you are looking to use this to attenuate and/or to add effects options to your live rig read on. If you don't want to read on just know this: I genuinely think Boss could charge more for this once you start to realize this products live capabilities and what it can do for your rig.

I have one amp, a Mesa Boogie Cali Tweed 20 watt, that I use at home and small bar gigs. My amp has both a master volume and 1 and 10 watt options but anyone who has used a tube amp knows even 1 watt cranked can get near 100dB which is too loud for my home situation and often too loud for the stages I play. Master volume tweed amps sound best when you can crank the master so I wanted an attenuator to use my amp to it's potential. I've previously had a Tone King Ironman II mini which I thought was kinda meh and sucked out too much top end so I figured I would give this a try as I have extensively used Roland's Blues Cube solid state amps with tube logic tech and loved them. The TAE Core allows me to crank both the pre and power amps and play at bedroom levels with no discernable difference in feel or tone unless I attenuate to whisper level. It's really impressive. I love that the attenuation is controlled by a simple volume knob instead of pre-set notches or dB increments. I wish I had more to say about the attenuation but it's simply incredible. Maintains tone, maintains feel. Nothing more to say.

What I love THE MOST and what is really quite an incredible feature is the rig options and how you can control them- you can save various rigs with various effects and those sounds come through your amp in real time. Other products only have these options available for post production. I have gone into the editor and created various rigs for various sounds and can access and manipulate them in real time with a midi device or a boss footswitch. If I need a more ambient washy reverb I have a rig set for that. Another rig for a nice small room slapback with compression. Another for a Pink Floyd like digital delay. Another for a beautiful plate reverb shimmer. Another for a swampy blues sound. AND i can control some paramaters like tap tempo delay with a footswitch. Oh and there is an EQ for each of the rigs to tweak to your exact desires AND you can set one of the EQs to be a boost which you can also control with the footswitch!! AND you can manipulate all of these parameters with your phone (if you buy the bluetooth adapter) if needing to make last minute tweaks based on venue. These features have removed my Source Audio Collider pedal (delay and reverb) and my boost pedal from my board and ended up selling them for nearly half of what I paid for the TAE. This set of features, and primarily the ability to use those features live as opposed to strictly for post production, is what sets this product apart. It's kind of a game changer for me to be honest. This product allows you to drive your real tube amp at appropriate volumes but also adds on some of the almost Helix like effects options and control of those effects for live usage. It allows you to bring old school into the modern world. Not sure if that makes sense but that's how I see it.

What's crazy is I haven't even mentioned the fact there's an effects loop built in in case your amp doesn't have one or that you can turn a small watt amp (say a 5 watt champ) into a 30 watt higher volume and higher headroom amp. Or that you can run a signal to your amp and front of house simultaneously. Or that you can plug headphones into it.

Some issues or gripes: There initially was some hiss like noise when using but this went away once I purchased a high quality speaker cable so clearly not a TAE problem. Needing to purchase the bluetooth adapter seperate is kinda annoying. Just charge me more from the start. In typical Boss fashion the computer UI is meh but it gets the job done and is pretty intuitive.

I'm really really impressed.
by MW from minnesota on
Great for apartment/room studio, have all the features you ever need.
My first loadbox, great as expected!
I never had a loadbox before. I connected the speaker cables to my Archon 50 combo, and there was no sound coming out from my speaker...turned out because I left the headphone jack connected to the expander core, so you can only choose one output at the time: speaker out or phones (I didn't know that), I haven't tried the line out yet.

Pro:
-Great sounding
-medium size, not too big/small
-come with Boss app to edit effects/cab/mic/IR
-added FX loop to your amp if you don't have one (Fixed Archon 50 FX loop, which is super noisy/unusable from my experience)
-all the features you need for a loadbox...quiet at night and recording.

Con:
-100watt limited
-8ohm only
-speaker cables + thunderbolt cable cost
-To update the Core firmware is not easy at all.
You have to go to Boss website, follow the steps on the instructions precisely
download file > press the button/turn in sequence > an icon will show up > drop the file > unplug the thunderbolt > turn off and on. (feel like I'm working at the computer store around the corner already)
by Sweetwater Customer from CA on
See also: Attenuators, Boss, Boss Amp Attenuators