STRYMON IRIDIUM amp and ir cab
 |
| $400.00 USD |
you know that a serious pro sounding modeling amp rig is now only $400.00 USD.
In fact it has the highest sampling rate on the market!
Sampling rate is like horse power in a racing car.
In short it's sounds have the potential to sound
better then the best!
Dead cheap for the kind of sound that one would expect in the $2000.00 USD range!
It does not have all the bells and whistles of the big rigs. BUT!!!
You get a convincing Fender Deluxe, Vox AC30 &
a Marshall 1959 Plexi sound including the speaker sounds associated with these amps!
Every gourmet amp in the world started with the schematic of one of these three amps. The 3 most important amps ever made!
So...
Add a simple pre, and a good budget class D 200 watt amp and a speaker cab and you have replaced your present amp with a serious sounding rig that is very small & light weight
Important too ...it can easily compete at the gig with your drummer.
How cool is that?
 |
| $205.00 USD |
Power amp
So who the f. are Monoprice
They are an American online company that sell all sorts of consumer tech made in China and stamp their goofy name on it.
Some how they missed stamping any name on the Unity 200.
They have a fairly good rep. They buy reasonably good stuff if for no other reason then they
have to support the warranty. lol
I will give them the benefit of the doubt
Being a half rack size keeps it nice and small. It does come with rack ears if you want to rack mount it. It was designed for the install market not for studio or portable PA.
It is already in numerous churches, schools and other institutions.
The amp is a 200 watt Class D amp, That is not as loud as that sounds. For years when talking watts we musicians have used tube amps as our measurement. A 20 to 50 watt tube amp is usually as loud as a 200 watt type C amp.
So the Monoprice puts out 200 watts into an 8 ohm speaker when bridge in mono.
Bridging means summing up the power from a stereo amp into mono.
so a 100 watt per side stereo amp becomes a 200 watt mono amp.
So it is just right. Neither too much or too little power.
You will need a preamp.
 |
| $60.00 USD |
The Strymon has a unbalanced line out. This mic pre has both.This little studio quality preamp made in the good ol' USA is only $60.00. A real winner.
Just a nice simple level control is perfect. What we need is headroom and distortion free clarity. We have all the EQ we need from the Iridium.
I have the luxury of owning a quasi parametric EQ pedal.
I will use it to flatten the frequency response of the speaker cabinet as the voices on all modeling boxes are programmed
to sound the most accurate thru a studio monitor.
But since in spite of being 2 or 3 way systems ...PA systems and stage monitors are highly coloured. In short a guitar
speaker can sound as good or better for our use.
 |
| $30.00 USD |
Danelectro Fish and Chips clone of am MXR graphic EQ
could do a great job too. I got mine New and cheap too. $30.00 USD
 |
| $260.00 USD |
The only thing missing is a speaker cab.
Since it is a modeling rig you can use a small
Sound Reinforcement cab ...even a wedge monitor
or go for a guitar cab. Actually most use the PA stuff.
A PA cab usually has a horn or tweeter for full frequency response
but a guitar is not full frequency. The only thing that may improve is the room reverb feature. Many of us are content already using reverbs and delays etc. without these added frequencies.
A Fender SC112 cab is only $260.00 USD
You can perhaps use what you already have.
I am.
I am using my home made pine open back cab with a Celestion NEO Creamback 12"
GOURMET MODLER AMP
JUST UNDER A THOUSAND!!!
Keep in mind ...world class sound ...comparable to any gourmet set up!
On a recording ...you will be quite literally invincible!!!
in a word! KILLER!
______________________________________________________________________
OK.....WHY????
Out there in the real world serious recording is going direct.
Large venues are eliminating the backline and using only the PA
on all levels from medium size clubs to outdoor concerts
Even big name stars are finding the cost of touring only practical
by taking one guitar & if they want control of their sound ...then modeling their own tube amps
their own sound is the way to go. Some get Kemper themselves to model their
present rig so they're playing a clone of their fav amp done dead perfect!!!
Kemper has brought out a pedalboard floor style version of it
recently to accommodate it as a better fly rig.
BACK TO THE REAL WORLD
Like me ...many of us are playing the small clubs and perhaps could be there
quite a while yet. So having a small modeling rig as a replacement for
a club size Combo amp makes sense. A few makers ...even Friedman
are making their own Type D amps for the job. Needlessly expensive too!
There is a enormous advantage. You can even practice using the headphone
plug on the Strymon to playing an out door gig to hundreds of people.
Your whole world class rig can be less then a thousand!
It is impressive enough to hold it's own against the Kemper too!!!
Checkout the comparison video's on the Strymon Iridium Post.
If the Strymon's sound are better it is only so by a fraction! It took me many listens of the same vid!
If you had to compare them by hearing a band do a set using one and a set after a break using the other it would be impossible to tell!!! Absolutely impossible!!!
Rob Chapman had to choose between Kemper 'models' of a Fender, Vox, and Marshall
and the real amps in a blindfold test.
He tried 3 times on their own ...and 3 times boosting them with a Tube Screamer.
He had 6 times to get it right. He got it wrong on all 6 choices.
I repeat MR. TUBE AMP GOT IT WRONG EVERY TIME!!!
WOW ...that sold me. I thought overdriving a modeled sound could not help but sound fake!!!
Apparently it does not!!! I am not giving up my 26 dirt pedals!!! lol
Even a die hard Tube Amp guy like me will take the plunge. I may still keep my
Marshall but it is virtually 2020 so it's time to join the present century!!!
Stay tuned ...which one will be my real amp and which will be the back up?
SERIOUS ADVICE-
WAIT UNTIL I ACTUALLY TRY IT!!!
THIS MAY NOT BE UNTIL MARCH!
DEC.15/19
So the more I think of it the more I want it. LOL
I did a lot of drawings designing my faux amp head.
It occurred to me that I want front access to the amp's volume.
Keep in mind these amps are designed for institutions where
they are usually built right into a locked cabinet.
They are set up to left with a 'fixed' volume etc.
So they do not need to be touched once set.
Simply turned on or off
.
Yes live you could turn it up full and adjust the volume from
the Strymon or the preamp ...but I find ideally the master volume is
where to go.
Live I do not wish to go behind the amp to adjust the volume.
It is a luxury I am willing to pay for so I have decided to get the
UNITY 450 watt model. Total overkill LOL
 |
$250.00 USD _____________________________________________________________ |
I digress but you should know...
WARNING
Below are are two pedalboard amps. Both identical except for the paint job. lol
The first is a Harley Benton at $100.00 USD the second is a Carvin at $200.00 USD
Both are inadequate with about 20 watts of REAL db. In short a live drummer will drown you out!!!
One is a reasonably priced practice amp the other is a rip off.
NOTE: There are many pedalboard and micro amps out there. Be warned! If they do not tell you then their advertised wattage is rated at 4 ohms. BUT 4 ohm speakers are rarer the '59 Les Pauls and your average speaker cab is 8 ohms. Add to that these are modest amps. Bottom line anything less than 200 watts in a small &/or budget amp can be a real set back.Ideally for MOST is a 50 watt RMS amp with a 12 inch speaker Celestion or Eminence
Again ...a Class D 200 watt which is usually rated into 4 ohms as well gives you 50 watts RMS
A loud drummer puts out enough level to match a 50 watt RMS amp.
Unfortunately no one has yet found the volume knob on a drummer of any make. If you do please let us all know. Yes we know ...a Drummer does have a foot activated off switch located between the legs of the unit but it is inadequate to solving our problem once the unit is reactivated.
No comments:
Post a Comment