Apogee Jam

If you're using an iPad or iPhone, this is the way to get your instrument and audio signals into them to record, etc.! Built in A/D conversion and superior sound through the dock connector. No feedback from poor separation in the circuitry like iRig. Yeah, it's more expensive, but not as expensive as buying an adapter, then throwing it away and buying this anyway.


The Apogee Jam is a nice piece of equipment, simple, elegant and gets enough juice into Garage band to use their effects. My guitar, which is the same cheap one I got to learn guitar, sounded very clear and nice. I cannot imagine how well it will sound when I upgrade to a better guitar. Low Latency as well.

Very easy to get started. Plug and Play.

Overall, After reading hundreds of reviews (good & bad) of the iRig & Peavey Amp Kit interfaces for iPad, I was concerned with reported problems and decided to wait for the Apogee JAM to arrive. Just bought one and glad I did!
Out of the box simple! Plug one end into the iPad dock port and your guitar in the JAM input and off you go. Has a handy input level control with colored LED's to let you know if output signal gets too hot.
Plugged in my Tele and was recording a song in Garage Band in minutes. Sound quality was excellent - tried all GB amp models and effects and had no problems with noise, signal loss or latency. Granted, it's still no substitute for live sound (no modeling set-up really is) but for recording guitar ideas with Garage Band it's near perfect! Although like the others, it's still made of plastic (for $99 a metal casing would have been better) but JAM seems very well made. No input jack issues (like Amp Kit), no level problems (like iRig). Get one!

The Apogee Jam is designed to allow you to record your guitar or bass into an iPad, iPhone or other Mac OS. It's about the size of a very small cell phone (even smaller) and does one thing and does it very well.

I'm using it with an iPad and iPhone to record electric guitar.

Zero latency! Those 2 words are the wishes of most recording professionals when using computers or idevices to record, and the Jam provides that or very close to that! Another HUGE plus is the inclusion of a gain control knob on the side of the Jam. Signal too hot? Easy, adjust the gain. The Jam will tell you how your signal is by the light...green is good, orange is getting hotter and red is too hot.

Using the Jam is as simple as:

1) Plug the included cable into the Jam
2) Plug the other end of the included cable into the dock of the iPad/iPhone (or included USB cable into your Mac)
3) Watch the blue light come on
4) Once the light turns green, you are good to go.

No drivers or software necessary to download or install...it's that easy!

After trying the iRig and Peavey Ampkit Link to record with my iPad and receiving less than stellar results, the Apogee Jam was a breath of fresh air. The sound is excellent, ease of use is perfect and overall, the unit delivers what it is supposed to: allowing you to get YOUR guitar tone into a recording using your iPad, iphone or Mac OS.No feedback, just pure guitar tone. The sound you achieve is clear and the results will make you want to record more.

I use my iMac with an M-Audio Fast Track II which is a great little audio interface.
It happens that I have from time to time when I'm at my other half use an iPad and so I equipped with a Apogee Jam
I started by talking about my Fast Track because Jam is the same price, or if the Fast Track has two entrances, one of which has phantom power, the Jam has a single entrance.
Fast Track uses a standard USB cable to power on the Mac, the Jam uses proprietary cables, it comes with a cable to connect to USB on a Mac or a 30-pin flat plug for iPad (I just read a version with ligthening cord would also be available).
If you lose the USB cord from the FastTrack you'll spin a few kopecks for a Chinese standard cord, if you lose the cords Jam it will cost for a eye is the owner and therefore it must pass through Apogee.

Since they are the same price, the Jam is expensive given to its rather limited benefits.

Jam plugs by taking 30-pin iPad, concretely this means that the digital signal is sent, the Jam, which digitizes the analog out of the guitar signal (unlike systems using the audio input of the iPad entrusting this conversion to iPad). As precisely Apogee is pretty good side A / D converters, the sound is nickel, no perceptible breath.

So much for the great marketing bagpipes. In real life the Jam converted only in one direction, there is no audio output.
The basic principle is that a guitar provided an analog signal, a speaker is provided for receiving an analog signal same for an amp.
When using a computing device (in a Mac or iPad case) the analog signal to be digitized for computer use and then converted into an analog signal to continue towards speakers or an amplifier.

With fastTrack: the signal (analog) guitar is converted to digital by the interface, and then stranded on my Mac by various soft.
To remove the resulting noise (digital) to external HP or an analog amp, I can ask the FastTrack convert the signal (digital) out of the Mac into an analog signal. I then connected the HP (or amplifier) ​​to the RCA FastTrack.
If I do not want to convert the digital signal into analog by the FastTrack and I prefer to let the Mac do the job, I just connect my speakers to the audio output of the Mac.

With the Jam signal (analog) guitar is converted to digital by the Jam and then treated in the iPad. If I want to highlight what signal to send it to HP or an external amp, I can not go through the Jam, which is one-way, I have no other choice but to use the audio output from the iPad in this case this is not the iPad Jam that will provide digital / analog conversion.

Basically it is not a problem for personal use at home (which is still the main destination of the Jam) but if fuller use whether to output the sound from the iPad, I'm not that everything goes like clockwork. More specifically, to save as a file is recovered (digital) there is no problem, but live they are forced to use the audio output of the iPad (or specify the Ipad is criticized for its conversions averages, which are the difference between Jam and eg Irig)

For the rest it is a perfect little gadget, the sound is good it's total plug and play, with both the Mac with an iPad (iPad 2 in my case). Garageband recognizes the right (but also other apps on the iPad I use GarageBand).
it is small cables (so owners) are good, all held without any problems in a pocket of the cover of the guitar. Simple hand operation it is hard, there is a single command, a gain knob and an LED has three colors indicating connected (blue) in (green) too high (red).

In short, the Jam is a great thing, but too expensive, but great. Basically it's just a natural extension musician iPad.
I put it 8/10 because of the price. At almost 100 euros with proprietary cables overpriced frieze on the crime, if we disregard the price, it is a 10/10 it deserves.