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Review of the Avid Eleven Rack and the Atomic 112 18w active guitar cabinet

September 14, 2010 by auriplane
Posted in gear,Reviews

This article is written by Moogiefish.

Here is my Small contribution to a great resource...

The Eleven Rack (the orange box)

The eleven rack is a product that came out last year from Digidesign now Avid. What it is, is a usb ProTools interface (plus it can be used for other DAWs at the sacrifice of some features)/reamping system and a rack preamp and effects processor. As an interface it has a mic preamp with pad and phantom power, midi in and out, a line in and out, and an unbalanced guitar input with their true Z input circut.

Where it really shines thought is as a guitar effects processor. It all starts with the true Z input which is built to simulate the input impedance of a real amp then it hits the effects and amp chain. the chain can have six effects at one time with a wah and volume pedal along with whatever effects you have in the effects loop an amp and a cabinet with a mic that is either on axis or off axis...oh and it has a tuner. So it has 16 amp models, 7 cabinet models, 7 mic models, 2 wahs, a fuzz, a distortion, a overdrive, 5 modulation effects, 2 reverbs, 2 delays, a graphic eq, a compressor, a volume pedal, and a noise gate which is a part of all of the amp models.

Navigating all of it is really simple. The amp can be accessed through two or three button pushes, and the effects can be accessed by pushing their respective button on the front panel. They really went out of their way to make everything simple to do...except programming a midi foot controller which is an evil affair.

Sound-wise it is great, the cab and mics are Impulse response models. The reverb is lush and on the spring reverb you can get that wet surf verb. Amps are very dynamic responding to your touch and the volume knob. You can control the amp and effects through the six knobs under the display.

To hear it you can plug it into an amp,pa,power amp into a cab, or a powered speaker using either the xlr or unbalanced 1/4" outs. Plus for silent enjoyment it has a headphone out on the front panel.

Now I know a while ago a did a post on the axe fx raving how great it is...and my stance on it has not changed. As a stand alone effects processor/preamp it is the stick by all others are measured in features and sound quality. The reasons why I think the eleven rack is great too and why I bought it instead of an axefx is that, one it is a lot cheaper about 1000 dollars cheaper, two it is an interface, three it comes with pro tools le, four even at its price it still has a lot of really good and usable sounds. It is like comparing apples and oranges they are different but in the end are both fruit so you just got to choose.

sound clips are to come...

Atomic Powered guitar cab (the short review)

The atomic amp/cab is a tube powered active cabinet made specifically for digital modeling systems. this particular model is their discontinued 1x12 18 watt cab, and even thought it is 18 watts it is loud.

Sound-wise it is very clean with very high head room so even at high volumes the sound of the modeler shows through. It has no volume knob on it, all volume is controlled from the digital unit so you want to turn on you preamp first check your levels then turn on the cab, which is usual tube amp, preamp/poweramp practice.

Some problems I have with it though are:
-Heavy
-Vinyl rips easy

but other than that it is a great amp.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

- Moogiefish

Review: Savarez 520R Strings.

September 20, 2009 by Vic9mm
Posted in Classical Guitar,Nylon Strings,Reviews,Savarez

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My review of the Savarez 520R Strings.

Over the year I've been using many different sets of strings and hadn't really settled on a certain string. Well finally after many, many months of searching I finally found the one that suits me and those strings are the Savarez 520R strings. I would like to take a moment and tell you a little about the Savarez history.

The history of string making behind the Savarez name dates back over two centuries, to 1770, when Savaresse first embarked upon the manufacture of natural gut strings in Lyon, France. From the 1880s the company began to produce silk and steel as well as bronze and brass strings. Today, Savarez has become a world leader in musical string innovation with superior research and development.

That said I would like to take some time tell you why I like these strings so much compared to the others I have tried.

I would like start to by saying all Classical Guitars are not made equal, and my results doesn't necessarily mean you will achieve the same results I have had with these strings.

When my guitar first arrive to me it had Daddrio strings on it which at the time were OK but the trebles were lacking something like they had no life in them and I started to wonder maybe the strings were bad so I decided to change them out for some more of the same strings and to my surprise they sounded the same, still lacking something but I didn't know what because I was still new to guitar at this period in time. So my search went on and one day I stumbled upon an ad about Savarez strings so I went to my local shop in Dallas called "Zoo Music" and asked for some Savarez strings and he handed me some Savarez 520Rs and said those are very popular because of the string material that they use which is "Rectified Nylon" which other string manufactures do use by the way. So I went home and installed them on my guitar tuned it up and started playing and was AMAZED at the difference in volume and sound they were producing I honestly couldn't believe the zest the trebles had. Even the basses came to life, even though I'm not a big bass fan it was a huge improvement on the overall sound. The basses were rich and deep but not over powering and the trebles were loud and clear but not too bright sounding which is what I was looking for in a string.

Overall I have to give Savaerz 520Rs a solid 9.5 as a rating there great strings with a great sound and haven't found another string that matches them.

Packaging: They come in a gold ziploc type package with six strings individually packaged and numbered according to the string. Each string is also tagged with an ID number.

Strings: The trebles are "Rectified Nylon" non-polished but smooth and are light-whitish looking. The basses are silverplated copper on nylon core

Price: Varies depending on the place I can get 2 packs for 21 dollars. Guitar Center sells them for 13 or 15 dollars. So look for deals when ever you can.

Info about the strings. http://www.savarez.fr/anglais/carterougejb.html#

Final Fantasy 7: Voices of the Lifestream

October 13, 2007 by archard
Posted in Reviews

If you're a fan of OC ReMix, then you probably know all about this album. If not, then you should probably check out their site. OC ReMix is a community of video game music fans who arrange, interpret, record and mix their favorite video game music in MP3 format. They have almost 1,500 remixes, from a very wide spectrum of games and platforms.

Last month, they released Final Fantasy 7: Voices of the Lifestream, an entire album devoted to the legendary game, which has some of the most memorable video game music ever. As with everything that comes from OC ReMix, the album is completely free. It contains 45 arrangements arranged by over 40 different artists. It covers all genres of music, including rock, jazz, classical, techno and much more. Some tracks even include recorded vocals!

This thing is a masterpiece. It represents the spirit of the game music community, and how far it has come in the past few years in terms of the passion, creativity, devotion and popularity. When I first began listening to this album, I could not get rid of the chills. The nostalgia factor in this album is high, be warned.