My Atomic CLR Neo is dead

Hi all, I invested in 2 CLR NEOs about a year ago. My experience factually - great sound when they work. !!

I must preface this by saying I have had great service from the Australian Distributor who tries his best to uphold customer care on what is a terribly built and unreliable product from my experience.

The facts.
One NEO unit started to vibrate at low frequencies from my guitar via the Axe FX XL. This was at home-studio volumes. The whole unit had to be shipped back. The fault was found - the glue from one of the dust caps gave and the dust cap was vibrating setting up a resonating frequency that would continue for as long as the low E string was vibrating.

The second NEO soon after had a problem with the low frequency driver. I lost all low frequencies and the volume dropped compared to the NEO that was just repaired. On technical evaluation by support the driver was faulty. A new driver shipped out to me for home replacement.

Today (26th Jan 2017) at a small intimate gig on Australia Day, the first NEO completely cut out after being on for 15 minutes right in the middle of my gig. I had to pack up suffering both embarrassment and loss of $$$ not to mention putting a damper on the the whole event.

3 hours later ....

I am sitting in my home studio - the NEO is still dead. Tried switching it on and playing through it. No can do.

I am now paranoid about using the one remaining NEO. I have no other equipment for my gig next Friday (and shall have to cart my Tone King Metropolitan tube rig to it.

I have just emailed the Australian distributor (who has always remained helpful) copying Tom King (I feel confident that the Atomic Amps dreaded Spam filter will apparently preclude Tom from getting it, so against my better judgement, am putting it out here on the forum).

Wish I had a pair of RCF NX12 SMAs !!! or alternative available FRFR in Australia.

Pissed off !!
 

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I'm in Melbourne and would help out if I could, but already booked next Friday.I'm afraid.
See if you can get an advanced replacement or alternative from your contact (who you have the money to).
Good luck and sorry to hear about today.
 
I'm in Melbourne and would help out if I could, but already booked next Friday.I'm afraid.
See if you can get an advanced replacement or alternative from your contact (who you have the money to).
Good luck and sorry to hear about today.
Thanks Callan. I appreciate the kind offer and sentiment. I have sent out comms to start borrowing PA and fold backs. Until I have a clear replacement strategy I have decided to defer any future gigs until I have landed on a more reliable solution.
 
That sucks - hate it when gear goes bad. Not sure of your level of electrical no-how (I have little) but have you tried opening it up and looking for anything obvious? Loose/disconnected wires, blown fuse(if it has em), etc? Might save you a lot of time and frustration.

I had an odd issue with my AX8 not too long ago, and ended up just being a loose screw inside...so you never know.
 
My friend's CLRs have been pounded on for 3 years, zero issues. My NEO MK2 have been flawless since I received in December. I'd put some pressure on the company to take apart whatever replacement NEO they're sending and reinforce any failure points and make sure it's "over assembled" to ensure it survives the trip Australia and subsequent gigging.
 
I agree with the RCF statement... gigging mine for years with nary a hitch. Can't speak to the CLRs, beyond having heard glowingly good comments on sound and occasional concerns on reliability.

My suggestion would be to always have the option to go direct to PA and get it back through a stage monitor if you can. You can even get by just hearing through the mains in dire circumstances. Hardly optimal, but it'll save the gig. I use a separate powered monitor for my band/vocal monitor mix, so can run my Axe Fx to Input 2 if needed (regular JBL Eon). Again, not the best but it'll work.

Even as 100% reliable as the NX12SMA has been, I always have a Plan B on hand.
 
Thank you all for your responses and suggestions.

Tom King has been in touch in a matter of hours, acknowledging my email to him. He was also sympathetic to my issues and bad luck with my NEOs. He has offered to help.

I have suggested as the first option for me to ship both NEO Amp modules back to the local Australian distributor and receive replacement NEO Mark versions (assuming these are compatible and will have had "improvements" or the most occurring problems iron out).

Will keep you all posted as to what the problem is/was and what the fix was for other CLR NEO customers with a similar problem.

Re: Back Ups - I agree. I do not gig very often (say once every 3 months) but use these in my studio about three times a week for about 2 hours at a time. At great expense I am about to investigate and research my back up options.

Back up option 1 - Two Mackie DLM series as I already have the 2000 Watt Mackie DLM sub woofer.
Back Up Option 2 - Two RCF NX12 SMAs. More debt !!

Re: ADMIN's suggestion about posting in the Atomic Forum - Yes I will after I have resolution. MY main reason to post here was to find out if any user out there experienced exactly the same as I and was there a quick fix if I took it apart.

Will report back as this progresses.
 
Tom will take care of you...!
I have RCF's as well as Xitones and the Neo MK II
RCFs are good as a back up. They are clear loud and reliable
 
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Thanks Cragginshred,

I did email Tom and he has very promptly replied. I am at this stage confident of some sort of resolution.
As I live a long long way away in Australia, I suspect (and it is the right thing logistically) to deal with and get support from the local Australian distributor (who to date on the previous two occasions been most helpful). Tom and the distributor have put in place local tech support.

Thanks
 
Progress report....1

Andrew Farnham from Independent Music Australia (the Distributor and retailer) today shipped a replacement amp module (possibly two). Great local service and response. Thanks Andrew.

My paranoia remains as I have no way of knowing or confirming if these replacement units are also unreliable etc. and so a back up solution is now absolutely necessary....

PS: For those interested or with a similar problem ... I removed the amp module and inspected to see if there were any obvious signs of components / wires that had worked their way loose or smell of burning plastic etc. Nothing. It all looked ok. Inserted the module back. Connected up just the power (no signal input into the unit) - switched on and instantly all three red LED limit / clipping indicators flashed bright briefly and then nothing. Connected a signal from my mixer when all input and master controls were at zero, gently turned up the input 1 and the master - nothing. The unit is dead.

Progress report 2 after I receive the amp module(s)....
 
I have an early pair of CLR's and had to replace one of the power modules very early on.

They do sound great, but there have been way too many issues reported with them over time (IMHO). I know.. you only hear about the bad scenarios and never about the good ones.. etc. But I've kept track of this stuff somewhat since I went through my issues with one of them and there's been a trend.
 
Thank you all for your responses and suggestions.

Tom King has been in touch in a matter of hours, acknowledging my email to him. He was also sympathetic to my issues and bad luck with my NEOs. He has offered to help.

I have suggested as the first option for me to ship both NEO Amp modules back to the local Australian distributor and receive replacement NEO Mark versions (assuming these are compatible and will have had "improvements" or the most occurring problems iron out).

Will keep you all posted as to what the problem is/was and what the fix was for other CLR NEO customers with a similar problem.

Re: Back Ups - I agree. I do not gig very often (say once every 3 months) but use these in my studio about three times a week for about 2 hours at a time. At great expense I am about to investigate and research my back up options.

Back up option 1 - Two Mackie DLM series as I already have the 2000 Watt Mackie DLM sub woofer.
Back Up Option 2 - Two RCF NX12 SMAs. More debt !!

Re: ADMIN's suggestion about posting in the Atomic Forum - Yes I will after I have resolution. MY main reason to post here was to find out if any user out there experienced exactly the same as I and was there a quick fix if I took it apart.

Will report back as this progresses.

I certainly don't know the used market in Australia....but I'd look for a used JBL PRX or something (for less than $300)....or any other number of used powered speakers (RCF ART, Yamaha DXR, QSC HPR), all of those can be found for less than $400 USD....hopefully there is an equivalent where you are.

It sucks when speakers die like that because you lose confidence quickly.
But I can tell you that I have had speakers die from many manufactures (Mackie, JBL, Yamaha). It sucks, but it happens.
Atomic CLR's have been around for a while now and although they experience issues (like any speaker manufacturer), they don't seem to have a history of speakers crapping out.

Having a back up plan is always good practice.
(for the record, I've had more tube amp failures than I have had FRFR speaker failures)
 
I sent an email to Tom King <tking@atomicamps.com> and "support@atomicamps.com" <support@atomicamps.com> last week, and again yesterday, no response. I signed up on their forums right now to post my problem to get more attention, and I don't have sufficient permissions to post anything. (Edit: I have permission to post there now, and put a thread in the support forum for CLR, but leaving this here as FYI to other people wondering about the frequency of issues with Atomic CLR).

Tom, if you are out there, please check your spam filters for messages from s k e a g y (a t) g m a i l . c o m

I would call directly but no phone number listed on Atomicamps.com website that I could find.

I have the low frequency sounds dropping in and out in a very annoying way, but seems to be worst in the first 15-20 minutes of playing and then it stabilizes. That still makes it unusable for my rehearsals or shows where we don't have that much time to set up ahead. I haven't figured out if it is good enough for me to just leave it plugged in to "warm up" without me playing anything. I unscrewed the back to look for loose wires, nothing obviously so.

This is for:
ACLR-AW-N-(RL) Atomic CLR Active Wedge - NEO Version
 
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Progress report conclusion....

I received a new NEO Amp Module from the local dealer, took out the faulty one, replaced it with the new unit and all is well again...

Have you had any other problems with your NEO amp module since installing?

My Neo today just lost the low end and I am wondering how much it will cost to fix. Will Atomic let be purchase directly an upgrade amp module updating it to a NEO MK II that supposedly has better heat sync chartestics?
 
Progress report....1

Andrew Farnham from Independent Music Australia (the Distributor and retailer) today shipped a replacement amp module (possibly two). Great local service and response. Thanks Andrew.

My paranoia remains as I have no way of knowing or confirming if these replacement units are also unreliable etc. and so a back up solution is now absolutely necessary....

PS: For those interested or with a similar problem ... I removed the amp module and inspected to see if there were any obvious signs of components / wires that had worked their way loose or smell of burning plastic etc. Nothing. It all looked ok. Inserted the module back. Connected up just the power (no signal input into the unit) - switched on and instantly all three red LED limit / clipping indicators flashed bright briefly and then nothing. Connected a signal from my mixer when all input and master controls were at zero, gently turned up the input 1 and the master - nothing. The unit is dead.

Progress report 2 after I receive the amp module(s)....

I have had modules go bad on two different well-regarded FRFR speaker brands. In both cases, the owners of the company swiftly shipped free replacements. Makes me wonder though if the modules are a weak spot and yes, you need a back up.
 
Hi all, I invested in 2 CLR NEOs about a year ago. My experience factually - great sound when they work. !!

I must preface this by saying I have had great service from the Australian Distributor who tries his best to uphold customer care on what is a terribly built and unreliable product from my experience.

The facts.
One NEO unit started to vibrate at low frequencies from my guitar via the Axe FX XL. This was at home-studio volumes. The whole unit had to be shipped back. The fault was found - the glue from one of the dust caps gave and the dust cap was vibrating setting up a resonating frequency that would continue for as long as the low E string was vibrating.

The second NEO soon after had a problem with the low frequency driver. I lost all low frequencies and the volume dropped compared to the NEO that was just repaired. On technical evaluation by support the driver was faulty. A new driver shipped out to me for home replacement.

Today (26th Jan 2017) at a small intimate gig on Australia Day, the first NEO completely cut out after being on for 15 minutes right in the middle of my gig. I had to pack up suffering both embarrassment and loss of $$$ not to mention putting a damper on the the whole event.

3 hours later ....

I am sitting in my home studio - the NEO is still dead. Tried switching it on and playing through it. No can do.

I am now paranoid about using the one remaining NEO. I have no other equipment for my gig next Friday (and shall have to cart my Tone King Metropolitan tube rig to it.

I have just emailed the Australian distributor (who has always remained helpful) copying Tom King (I feel confident that the Atomic Amps dreaded Spam filter will apparently preclude Tom from getting it, so against my better judgement, am putting it out here on the forum).

Wish I had a pair of RCF NX12 SMAs !!! or alternative available FRFR in Australia.

Pissed off !!

On the issue of a backup rig, have you looked at the Line 6 Powercab. It's about half the price of the CLR and readily available in Australia.

Also, you have a number of PA speakers which could be used with your Axe:

Yamaha DXR10\DXR12
QSC K10\CP10\CP8 (check out the review on the new CP8)
https://www.storedj.com.au/qsc-cp8-8-2-way-powered-1000w-portable-pa-speaker
 
I had an atomic CLR for a year before it went bad. Sent it to amp guy and told me it would cost more than it's worth to repair it. Total garbage.
 
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