Boss Waza Tube Amp Expander Core

The Boss WAZA Tube Amp Expander Core is a powerful loadbox & cab sim designed as an all-in-one professional tube amp recording solution. Retain your amp's natural feel with exceptional quality, dial in premium cabinet emulations, and carve out high-impact & mix-ready valve amp sounds in no time. For extra responsiveness and 'energy', Boss have included creative features like the Mix Assist tool, an Air Feel feature for that 'amp-in-room' feel, and an integrated 30W reactive drive power amp for sweet-spot amp tones at home-friendly levels.

Key Features

• BOSS Tube Logic Design - Authentic tube amp recording and flawless attenuation driven by BOSS Tube Logic design philosophy.
• Selectable Reactive Load - Selectable reactive load retains natural amp characteristics.
• Up To 100W! - Supports tube amps rated up to 100 watts.
• 30W Reactive Drive Power - Built-in 30-watt reactive drive power amplifier with continuous attenuation.
• Mix Assist - Mix Assist function optimizes sound for recording, mixing, and mastering.
• Air Feel - Air Feel function creates natural-sounding ambience and dimension.
• 32 Cabinet Emulations - 32 cabinet emulations, including Celestion® Digital mic'd IRs.
• 64 Mono & Stereo User IR Slots - 64 user IR slots supporting mono and stereo WAV files (up to 32-bit/96 kHz).
• 5 Mic Types - Five selectable mic types with the ability to mix up to two selections.
• Premium Built-In Stereo Effects - Customizable premium stereo effects, including compression, delay, reverb, and EQ.
• 10 Saveable Rig Settings - Ten recallable rig settings for storing favorite setups.
• Effects Loop - External effect loop with selectable series/parallel operation.
• XLR Outputs - Balanced XLR line outputs (L/R stereo) for connecting recording devices.
• USB Connectivity - USB connectivity for direct audio recording and software editor.
• Connect Your Headphones - Headphones output for quiet practice with cranked-up amp tones and immersive ambience.
• Connect External Cabinets - Onboard speaker output for connecting cabinets.
• Dedicated BOSS Software - Dedicated software for sound editing and IR loading (macOS/Windows).
• Optional Bluetooth Connectivity - Optional Bluetooth® Audio MIDI Dual Adaptor (BT-DUAL) for wireless sound editing via mobile apps and audio streaming.

*Mesa Boogie Dual/Triple Rectifier amps are not supported.

Tube Amp Freedom

The Waza Tube Amp Expander Core unlocks the full potential of tube amps, offering exceptional tone and flexibility in a sleek, portable package. Its selectable Reactive Load circuitry (Combo and Stack) naturally reflects the amp’s inherent characteristics, ensuring an authentic sound and response whether using Line Out or Speaker connections. For recording, the Core delivers studio-grade performance with unmatched ease, featuring immersive Air Feel, cabinet IR, and Mix Assist. Powered by BOSS’s Tube Logic philosophy, the reactive drive power amp enables guitarists to experience rich, dynamic tonal complexity, even at low volume.

Supreme Tube Tones at Any Volume

A tube-based guitar amp sounds and feels its best when the volume is cranked and its power section is really working. Unfortunately, the levels produced are usually unmanageable for anyone without an isolation booth or very forgiving neighbors.

The WAZA Tube Amp Expander Core solves this issue, capturing your amp’s speaker output with a reactive load and selectable options that accurately emulate combo and stack-style speaker behaviors. The sound goes directly to the internal 30-watt reactive drive power amp, ready to connect to an external cab for low-volume practice. The same signal is also sent through the unit’s speaker cab emulations and effects processing, giving you a polished feed for direct recording applications.

Premium Speaker Sounds

The companion editor software provides a studio playground for shaping the raw amp sound within the WAZA Tube Amp Expander Core. Choose from 22 BOSS cabinet emulations and five classic mic types (two available simultaneously) and dial in the ideal blend with position, distance, and level controls. Alternatively, it’s possible to use up to two speaker cab IRs at once, either from the included Celestion Digital IRs or selections from your personal IR library. With the time alignment function, you can precisely line up IR combinations for the smoothest tone. 

Professional Recording Tools

The WAZA Tube Amp Expander Core contains powerful tools to help you achieve world-class recorded tones—with no engineering experience required. Developed with top guitarists and studio engineers, the Mix Assist function lets you apply one of three sound contour curves with variable transient control. This makes it easy to record parts that blend perfectly within mixes, drastically improving your production quality. There’s also an immersive Air Feel feature that uses BOSS spatial technology to recreate the inspiring “amp-in-room” tone that guitarists love. The two Air Feel studio variations deliver realistic richness, depth, and dimension, providing more natural results than the room mics typically used to add space to guitar recordings.

Effects and Rigs

Effect processing plays a vital role in crafting great studio guitar tones. The WAZA Tube Amp Expander Core features a series/parallel loop for inserting your preferred mod and ambience effects, positioned after the amp’s distortion for the clearest sound. There’s also an array of high-quality internal processing, allowing you to apply compression, EQ, delay, and reverb within the unit. You can organize custom setups within the editor—including cab choices and effects—and assign 10 favorites for instant access with the Rig knob on the front panel.

Versatile Connections

The WAZA Tube Amp Expander Core enables you to use your custom rigs in many ways at once. Record directly to music production software over USB or patch into a mixer or audio interface with the stereo XLR jacks. Hook up an external speaker cabinet (4/8/16 ohms) for daily practice. Or monitor through headphones via the front input, complete with Air Feel for an inspiring spatial experience.

Expansion Options

Using the WAZA Tube Amp Expander Core Editor, you can load 64 of your favorite third-party speaker WAV IRs in addition to the 10 included Celestion Digital IRs. Mono or stereo files are compatible, with support for 500 ms length and 32-bit floating point/96 kHz resolution for the finest audio quality. The optional Bluetooth® Audio MIDI Dual Adaptor adds wireless capabilities, allowing you to jam with music streamed from a smartphone and use the mobile version of the editor to tweak rigs and load IRs.

In the Box

• Waza Tube Amp Expander Core
• Owner's Manual
• AC Adaptor
• Power Cord

Recommended Accessories

• Bluetooth Audio MIDI Dual Adaptor: BT-DUAL
• Wireless MIDI Expression Pedal: EV-1-WL
• Wireless Foot Switch: FS-1-WL
• Instrument Cables: BIC-Series
• Carrying Bag: CB-VE22

Specifications

• Maximum Input Power From Tube Amp: 100 W

• Safety Load (Power Off) From Tube Amp: 330 ohms

• Rated Power Output To Speaker: 30 W (8 ohms)

• Load Impedance To Speaker: 4-16 ohms

• Input Impedance: From Tube Amp: 8 ohms, FX Loop Return: 1 M ohm

• Output Impedance: Line Out L/R: 600 ohms, FX Loop Send: 1 k ohm

• Nominal Output Level Line Out L/R: +4 dBu

• FX Loop Nominal Input/Output Level: -10/+4 dBu (selectable)

• Maximum Output Level: Line Out L/R: +13 dBu

• FX Loop Send: +6 dBu (-10) / +20 dBu (+4)

• Controls

  • POWER switch
  • SPEAKER OUT knob
  • LINE OUT knob
  • PHONES knob
  • REACTIVE LOAD knob
  • RIG knob
  • AIR FEEL LEVEL knob
  • WRITE button
  • INPUT LEVEL switch
  • FX LOOP LEVEL switch
  • GND LIFT switch

• Indicators: POWER, WRITE & INPUT SIG/PEAK

• Connectors

  • From Tube Amp jack: 1/4-inch phone type
  • To Speaker jack: 1/4-inch phone type
  • Line Out L/R connectors: XLR type
  • Phones jack: Stereo 1/4-inch phone type
  • FX Loop Send jack: 1/4-inch phone type
  • FX Loop Return jack: 1/4-inch phone type
  • USB port: USB Type-C®
  • MIDI IN connector
  • Bluetooth® adaptor connector: Dedicated connector
  • DC IN jack

• Power Supply: AC adaptor

• Current Draw: 470 mA

• Dimensions (including foots): 200 (W) x 202 (D) x 99 (H) mm, 7-7/8 (W) x 8 (D) x 3-15/16 (H) inches

• Weight: 2.2 kg (4 lbs 14 oz)

• Accessories: Owner's manual, AC adaptor, Power cord

*0 dBu = 0.775 Vrms