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WAZA AIR – THE PERFECT HOME PRACTICE TOOL FOR GUITAR

WAZA-AIR is a revolutionary new concept in personal amplification that will completely change the way you experience playing guitar with headphones. It was an absolute runaway hit at the 2020 Winter NAMM Show with queues out the door to try them, and even winning the coveted Best In Show award!

Contributed by Ed Lim for Roland Corporation Australia

It brings together our amp, effects and wireless technology in a slick, premium pair of headphones – but the most exciting and important feature is the new spatial technology which delivers inspiring “amp in the room” tone and feel.

Whether you have volume constraints because you live in an apartment or have young children, or you’re on the road a lot touring or travelling for business, or even just stuck at home, Waza Air is the perfect practice companion.

WHAT’S SO SPATIAL ABOUT IT?

Playing guitar on headphones is usually done out of necessity (who doesn’t prefer to play loud on a gloriously cranked amp?) and as such, it’s usually a less than ideal experience. It generally sounds very direct and dry and lacks the feel of playing a real amp in the room next to you.

The amazing new spatial technology developed for WAZA-AIR aims to restore the ambience and amp in the room feel by placing the amp sound in a “virtual room” so that when it hits your ears, it’s complete with the reverberation and reflection sounds that your brain expects from a real amp in a physical room. This results in a realistic and inspiring playing experience previously unattainable on headphones.

There are three spatial modes – SURROUND, STATIC, AND STAGE.

SURROUND places the amp right in front of you no matter what the position of your head is.

STATIC places the amp in a specific location, and as you move your head, it uses gyro sensors built into the headphones to shift the stereo image around just like in real life! When you turn your head to the right, you’ll start to hear it more on your left side, and vice versa.

STAGE places the amp sound directly behind you as if you were playing live. If you play along to backing tracks, they will also come from behind you, just like playing with the band! Turn your head to the right to hear your guitar (and the rest of the “band”) rocking out over your right shoulder.

WHAT’S UNDER THE HOOD?

The amp and effects onboard are based on the acclaimed Katana engine.

You get the 5 classic Katana amp channels as well as a huge suite of effects with everything from boosts to modulations and delays, with the ability to run three effects simultaneously.

You can dial in the spatial sound mode (STATIC, SURROUND or STAGE), switch between a stage or studio environment as well as tweak the level of “room feel” from these ambience settings.

Everything is controlled and edited through the WAZA-AIR app, and you can save 6 presets to the headphones. The interface will look very familiar if you’ve used Katana Air in the past.

It’s important to note that WAZA-AIR isn’t just for electric guitar. The flat response channel allows it to be used for pretty much any instrument that has a ¼” output – whether it’s acoustic guitar, bass, ukulele and so on. You wouldn’t believe some of the crazy instruments people tried with WAZA-AIR at NAMM!

TRULY WIRELESS

At this point, the only thing that could ruin your immersive playing experience is a tangle of wires hanging off your headphones. WAZA-AIR circumvents all that – no need for an aux cable from your phone for backing tracks, USB cable to your computer for editing, or instrument cable to your guitar!

You can stream music directly from your phone via Bluetooth, and the app editor operates over Bluetooth as well.

Your virtual guitar cable comes courtesy of our WL-series wireless technology with class-leading low latency of 2.3 milliseconds (basically imperceptible to the human ear).

YOU’RE WORTH IT

If you’re looking to get the very best quiet practice/headphone amp experience out there, you owe it to your ears to try WAZA-AIR today!

Think about how much time, expense, and hassle it would be to assemble a practice rig consisting of a premium pair of Bluetooth headphones, guitar wireless, guitar amp, effects pedals, aux cables, instrument cables and more – and now, picture your world with WAZA-AIR.

WAZA-AIR – an all-in-one solution built for blissful, inspiring practice.