NuX Cerberus Multi-Effect

Really mint, but don’t want to disappoint anyone ;-)

with box and power

Onto the on-board effects! The drive has a rather familiar feel, with enough gain on tap to push an amp. The distortion has the high-gain preamp characteristics of a certain famous California amplifier company and will cover the needs of most needing some crunch or singing leads. Both the drive and distortion have basic Gain, Tone, and Level controls, but a cool feature is being able to choose the routing using the small “DIST” and “OD” buttons above the distortion section. These tiny buttons allow you to gain stage your drive into your distortion or kick up your leads an extra notch with the drive afterwards in serial, run them in parallel for blending, or toggle mode for one or the other. Another nice routing feature is the output after the OD/distortion section, allowing you to wire up the Cerberus using 4-cable method, or send your OD/distortion into the front of your amp and the Modulation/Delay/Reverb section into your amp’s effects loop. Also in the area with the OD/distortion output is a ground/lift mini-switch and a mini-pot for boost up to 20dB. The boost itself is controlled with the CTRL switch on the bottom right of the unit, which also calls up the tuner.

Next up is the modulation section, which has six types of modulation available between two mini three-position toggle switches. The left mini-toggle has an early chorus ensemble sound in the top position, a very 80s analog chorus sound in the middle position, or a more modern voiced chorus in the bottom position. The right-side toggle has a tremolo in the top position, phaser in the middle, and uni-vibe in the bottom position. There is a master level for the two modulation sections, but each has their own rate and depths, allowing the user to blend a selection from each side if they wish, or turn off one side and only use one effect.

Next is the delay and reverb section. We have three flavors of delay here, the top position of the mini-toggle having a 70s BBD analog delay, middle a 60s tape echo, and an 80s rack-style digital delay in the bottom position. You have controls in the delay section for level, repeats, and a time/fine control. The reverb has spring, plate, or hall reverb to choose from. There is also a mini three-way toggle that allows the user to choose effects order, including parallel. As previously mentioned the modulation/delay/reverb has its own input with dual outputs, as well as a headphone jack there and a -10dB/+4dB switch. Another note while we’re on the outputs is that Output 2 has the IR-loaded cab simulation (which also has its own selectable button over the distortion section), but the headphone jack automatically activates the cab simulation. NuX has offered a USB port to be able to load any 3rd party IR for the cab sim or updating Cerberus firmware updates.

There are other flexible features included on the Cerberus. There is an expression input, which controls the volume of the Cerberus, with the point being between the modulation and delay sections. The aforementioned CTRL switch can also be used to turn on or off the reverb, modulation, or overdrive/distortion as well as the boost. The dedicated Tap switch on the top right of the unit doubles as the preset up switch, with the CTRL being the preset down swtich. There are MIDI in and out ports for integration with the rest of your MIDI-connected pedals and controllers.

The  is full of well thought out features that help make it one of the most flexible flyrig options on the market today. No matter what size the gig or what the situation of your backline or rig, the NuX Cerberus will be able to serve you well without breaking the bank nor your back!