They have packed a whole lot of features into what is really a budget priced preamp. I’m not super sure I care a whole lot about impulse responses and such - but it’s there, as well as basic preamp and DI functionality. It’s also apparently an audio interface - and you can end up routing computer sound out through it(and to your very, very loud bass amp) unintentionally….i scared the crap out of myself, but that’s otherwise pretty cool also.

Two years down the road and this pedal has stood the test of time. It is well built, feels very sturdy and has many practical features. IMHO this is some kind of swiss army knife for bass. Good preamp, ir loader, Overdrive, múltiple output options like DI and headphone out,. It has a small footprint and is versatile and reliable. It works!

I want to start by saying that this NUX NBP-5 box is not particularly useful as the USB audio interface. So I am assuming it is not designed to be one. Basically, you can use it as an interface, but only to play something from your PC using NUX as a USB soundcard or record the bass into the PC. What you can not do is to process your bass in the PC using something like Amplitube or Guitarix and listen in realtime the affected by the computer sound. The bass sound is mixed in the headphones out before PC has anything to do with the bass sound. Granted that the NBP-5 is already does what Amplitube would be doing to some degree so this is why I will not deduct anything for the USB interface feature.The software downloadable from NUX that can access many settings of the box is awesome and you must download and poke around it. By the way for the Linux users, there is no Linux software, but the windows software is fully functional in Linux using the Wine.The interface itself is very much noise free, the quality of electronics and the design is exceptionally good.There is plethora of outputs that can be used for more connecting schemes than what is reasonable. The cab and amp simulation is very good, but I did end up to prefer something I was able to set using the software (I think it is AGL amp and AGL810 cab). The adjustments on the interface are very well designed and are quite useful. The interface can be also used as a preamp before going to a suitable guitar amplifier+speaker. For example a Dual Showman connected to a 15" bass cabinet sounds pretty thin as is, but with the NBP-5 it produces a worthy tone and can be easily used in small gigs.One other very cool use for this NBP-5 is if you get a 9V battery to barrel adapter (available from Amazon for a couple of dollars), you can power the box with a 9V battery and use it as something you can evaluate a bass that perhaps you are buying off the Craigs list in a park somewhere or at a swap-meet. All you need is a set of headphones and a guitar cable as the interface has on-board headphone jack coupled to the DI out.

This little box checks off what I needed in a preamp pedal. I love the cabinet sims too. I play active basses mostly and like the tone shaping abilities. I also use a passive P-bass with flat wound strings. When I throw on a cab sim to go very old school- the pedal delivers. If you get this, get the software and find some free cabinet impulse responses. I use a 12" sim and get a great flip top sound!

Here's a bit of background as far as my experience, tonal goals, and equipment. Skip to the next paragraph if you wish to skip straight to my thoughts on the NUX NBP-5. I've been playing bass for over 25 years. Before the current times we're in, I would play about 4-8 gigs per month. Nothing crazy. Just typical local pub and club gigs. More funk, soul, fusion oriented type stuff. I own 2 Kiesel multiscale basses, a USA Hamer Cruise, and a Brubaker Brute JJX-4. All of them are equipped with active EMG's except for my Kiesel Zeus which I've left with the stock components. For amplifiers, I've owned SWR, Hartke, Peavey and Ampeg heads with various Peavey cabs. But I'm currently using a pair of Avatar B210 Neos powered by a Bugera Veyron M which I absolutely love. It sounds as good if not better than the heavyweight stuff. I also run sound for the band I'm in. I occasionally pick up extra side work multitrack audio/video recording local bands. Either live or in my home studio. I've been practicing through headphones far more than I have been through my loud amps. Headphone practice is much more enjoyable for me when a solid impulse response is at the end of the signal chain. I never use distortion and the only effects I use are an MXR M87 Compressor and whatever flavor of preamp I decide to use. I prefer a hi-fi, clean, glassy, piano-like, fresh round wound sound. But it's nice to have the ability to warm things up. For preamps, I own the Sansamp Bass Driver Programmable DI, Behringer BDI21, DarkGlass Harmonic Booster, and now the NUX NBP-5. The Darkglass has been my favorite, although I've never sought out the typical DG sound and tend to leave the character knob off and use it for clean FOH EQ. Enter the NUX.For starters, the flexibility of the 3 different outputs is fantastic. With one of the 1/4'" outs as a parallel dry out, the other 1/4" out as a preamp out with its own switch to toggle the IR on/off, and the XLR DI out with its own IR toggle switch, and a pre-post switch. The headphone amp is adequate, but unsurprisingly has a little bit of a hard time driving headphones of higher resistance. It does sound clean and quiet with the right cans or IEM's. Fantastic connectivity. The two built-in amp models are both very unique without being over the top. They both sound quite organic. The MLD model is more modern and surgical with a narrower Q on the EQ points. The AGL model is a bit warmer and has a gentler, wider Q on the EQ points. The drive does a great job at either mild grit (not my style) or just a touch for some delightful saturation which rivals any of my favorite saturation plugins. The four included cab sims are pretty true to form, but I loaded my own and prefer those. I've dealt with many preamps. Even some of the ones that I would NOT consider budget can introduce some slight hiss or noise. This NUX is VERY quiet regardless of EQ or drive settings. The included noise gate is also of very high quality. Given the price of quality, dedicated noise gates, this alone could be worth the price. Are you after modern slap without destroying mids? This pedal can do it. Are you after warm, burpy bridge pickup staccato finger funk with a bit of saturation? This pedal absolutely NAILS that tone. I couldn't pick a winner between the NUX or my DG Harmonic Booster. So I now have both all the time. The DG for slap (which the NUX can still do great) and the NUX for the warmer, vintage stuff.In regards to the software/firmware side... this is where NUX needs to improve a bit. The features themselves function and get the job done. But their instructions for installation are pretty poor at my time of purchase. However, they're quick to respond via email and very helpful. Great marks for that. I had a driver issue on one of my Windows 10 PC's that I was able to get resolved. Basically, find a helpful internet forum for instructions before diving in to get the editor and firmware up to date. Also, a limitation of this pedal is that some on the fly changes cannot be made. The amp models and IR's can only be changed via PC. So whatever amp and cab preset you've assigned for the gig, those are the ones you're using for the night unless you brought a laptop. No "Ampeg 8x10 for this song, and Trace 4x10 for the next". That's a sacrifice I can accept given the price of admission. However, you CAN adjust the noise gate settings by holding one of the switches, then turning the corresponding knobs.As a side note for the engineers reading. With the 4 spare slots for user loaded IR's, I've added two different bass cabs that I enjoy. For the other two, I added a guitar speaker IR (Vox AC30) and an acoustic guitar IR (Taylor acoustic) just in case any potential clients need to be run through the mains where a mic isn't the best solution. Guitarist's amp dies on a gig? No problem. Piezo acoustic pickups aren't the most satisfying tones through a PA. But put a nice acoustic IR in front of it, and it almost sounds like it's mic'd by a U87. So this pedal is equally valuable in my live sound and recording gig bag as it is in my performance gig bag.