Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR - UPDATED 7/27/09

[vaxed]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

All sounds very exciting, already put my name down with G66.

To me the perfect solution would be a 2x12 Stereo version with the 2u gap in the top to slot the Ultra in.

Currently using a Traynor K4 which allows me to set up my patches in stereo i.e the same as heard front of house.
It has been mentioned many times on this forum that stereo patches don't always work too well in a mono set up.

Anyway, can't wait to hear one.

 

[jonah]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

It sounds pretty cool and all, but I personally thought that it would be more Axe-Fx customized, with a slot for the Axe-Fx and in stereo. The tilt thing would be appreciated too, at least from me.

What would I win by choosing this over the Traynor K4?

Cheers!
- jonah

 

[Gitarrenschlumpf]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

with a slot for the Axe-Fx and in stereo.

Yes, this would be nice. But with 2 tube-amps and an AxeFx inside? Weight??? :mrgreen:

 

[MKeditor]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

I was REALLY hoping for a wedge. I don't care about the look of a traditional rig. A wedge design is the best option for keeping stage volume as low as possible, and still hearing yourself. The few feet in front of me, is the only guaranteed stage real-estate I have. So, at this point, I guess this is a deal breaker.

+1

If a wedge design is made available I would be interested.

Perhaps those fold-down side "legs" that you see on some fender combos ? I would like that option.

I've been happy with normal guitar cabinets for a long time...wedge or no wedge, makes no difference to me...Put it on an amp stand and tilt it back if bothers you

Amp stands and folding legs would be a step backwards from the QSC. I am not moving backwards. It has to be better than the QSC for me to make a move.

My goal is to have a speaker/amplifier system that I will sound the same for the most part as the house. That way I can be confident that the tones I am creating are not heard just by me.

The QSC is close enough to the FOH that it works for me. Also I play with my speakers in front of me.

This Atomic option might be great for some.....perhaps even most....but in its current form it doesn't meet my goals.

 

[BlueLotus]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

In regards to the tilting option, why wasn't the cabinet made with an angle on the bottom? Like this:

That way, you could run it the normal way and also tilt it back if you want to. I'm sure that the new Atomic FRFR sounds amazing, but I agree with others here that don't know why it isn't made to function as a wedge. The only purpose of the tweeter volume knob on it, as I can see, is to tame the treble when the amp is pointed directly at the head/ears. If it isn't pointed directly at the head/ears then you'd probably want full treble. I've had this problem with traditional guitar amps. The guitar player has their cabinet pointed strait to the audience or another band member and it's a war between "I can't hear myself" and "turn it down, I can hear it plenty where I'm standing". Also, it's much worse at small club gigs. You're in the audience and you can see the guitar player's having a great time playing onstage but he doesn't realize that his cabinet is pointed directly at the audience and all they hear are ear piercing high end.

It just seems odd to me that this would be designed as an FRFR option, but it's not made to function as one. No one points a FOH louspeaker at the ceiling, they point it at the audience's ears. Then, why wouldn't this FRFR amp/cab be primarily made to point at the guitarist's ears first? The design of this makes me think that this is made for the guitarists that want to use the FRFR benefits of the Axe-Fx but have some preconceived idea that having a cabinet pointed directly at their ears is not a good thing.

 

[jb70]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

if you guys want to tilt the amp just get one of these:

http://www.ampstandback.com/

problem solved.

 

[John Alexander]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

...in the past, a lot of the comments being made (while the FRFR solution was being solved) were by guys that were acustommed to a more traditional looking rig...they wanted something that resembled a guitar speaker cabinet...and that's what Fractal/Atomic has done...

...so now, the other side comes out and wants a more "functional" cab ie; the opposite of a macho 4x12 is a "little wedgie." :lol:

...all I want is for it to sound awesome and be fairly light (compared to a QSC)...the consensus at the LA Amp show seems to indicate that they succeeded...so...

...just tilt it back...geez... :twisted:

...knowing Cliff, they'll probably make another one to satisfy both camps...I would probably buy both...knowing me!

 

[Rico]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

My goal is to have a speaker/amplifier system that I will sound the same for the most part as the house. That way I can be confident that the tones I am creating are not heard just by me.

That is exactly how I feel about it, I use IEM anyway so it's not on my list, I can understand why some might like it tho, I am sure it’s a great product.

 

[squealie]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

if you guys want to tilt the amp just get one of these:

http://www.ampstandback.com/

problem solved.

Thanks, but that is unwieldy for placing at the front of a STAGE. At that degree of incline, you'd have to be 7-10 feet back from it to be on axis. Not to mention, club/bar patrons would dump that teetering contraption over in the first set. I don't get why this is so hard to fathom.

It seems that the designers at Atomic understand what us 'wedge' folk are saying....but have went with the traditional approach, because that will be more popular and marketable. The current design addresses pro and bedroom needs alike. Makes perfect sense to me, that they did that. And no one is complaining....just a few of us declining, and making our reasoning known. If/when they come out with a wedge, I will be first in line. But, I won't hold my breath...because it's evident that the whole concept is so bizarre to most players.

 

[squealie]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

I use IEM anyway so it's not on my list

Nice excuse. Just duct tape a pair of Atomics to your head.... I fail to see the problem. :?:


:lol:

 

[electronpirate]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

Thanks, but that is unwieldy for placing at the front of a STAGE. At that degree of incline, you'd have to be 7-10 feet back from it to be on axis. Not to mention, club/bar patrons would dump that teetering contraption over in the first set. I don't get why this is so hard to fathom.

It seems that the designers at Atomic understand what us 'wedge' folk are saying....but have went with the traditional approach, because that will be more popular and marketable. The current design addresses pro and bedroom needs alike. Makes perfect sense to me, that they did that. And no one is complaining....just a few of us declining, and making our reasoning known. If/when they come out with a wedge, I will be first in line. But, I won't hold my breath...because it's evident that the whole concept is so bizarre to most players.

Good enough.

Don't really feel it's BIZARRE, but it seems like a small thing to be a sticking point... Really if its that important, and you actually want the tone (which is kind of what this should be about), you could cobble together a custom (non-bar patron knocking-over type) tilt out of a few pieces of wood in about 20 minutes. I agree that particular solution looks a little flimsy for stage work...a quick kick while working the crowd and it's either pointing at the ceiling, or face down...

 

[Finaldo]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

I'm curious about the Reactor FR giving the in-the-room sound as well. I thought it was the close-mic IRs that made it NOT sound like you're in the room with the amp, not the speaker cabinet...

Seems to me we're in 6.0 territory here. Probably all that work Cliff's done with 1024 IR's will have plenty more options regarding that.

We did not use 1024 IR's at the show. We used firmware 5.26 - stock.

This would seem to oppose the things that Jay has said in the past about the "in-the-room" sound not being achievable with close-miced speakers, unless I've read what he said wrong, or I'm remembering it wrong. I thought the key to getting an in-the-room sound with an FRFR system was to far-mic the speakers for the IR, not use a different FRFR system. Or is it a little bit of both?

 

[squealie]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

but it seems like a small thing to be a sticking point...

If I didn't already have a housefull of traditional cabs, it wouldn't be a sticking point....I'd jump on this.

 

[Tom King]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

Seems like a silly question, but it does help for those who spend plenty of time playing at 3am with a family upstairs...

How is the bedroom volume? I'm sure we can use the AFX volume to control it, but the majority of my playing happens every night when kids are sleeping. Sad but true. A consistent sound across the volume knob is helpful, rather than the volume knob '1 - can't hear it, 2, Siberia can hear it....'

Thanks.

Ron

Not a silly question, Ron.

The volume taper on the Reactor FR is smooth and gradual. At bedroom volume, it sounds as good or better than any solution we have a/b'd it with.

 

[electronpirate]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

Seems like a silly question, but it does help for those who spend plenty of time playing at 3am with a family upstairs...

How is the bedroom volume? I'm sure we can use the AFX volume to control it, but the majority of my playing happens every night when kids are sleeping. Sad but true. A consistent sound across the volume knob is helpful, rather than the volume knob '1 - can't hear it, 2, Siberia can hear it....'

Thanks.

Ron

Not a silly question, Ron.

The volume taper on the Reactor FR is smooth and gradual. At bedroom volume, it sounds as good or better than any solution we have a/b'd it with.

Hot damn! Thanks Tom!

Now I'll stop talking so you get back to work!

 

[Dpoirier]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

So Tom, do not despair. The folks on this forum are indeed very opinionated. Cliff brought us up this way ;-) Seriously though, Cliff did bring to market a piece of gear that totally revolutionizes the way musicians approach sound and equipment. Before the Axe-FX, you would have been hard-pressed to find a single guitar player defending the benefits of a full-range flat-frequency wedge monitor as his/her preferred guitar cabinet. Now that there is this bunch of converts, you'll find that many are not willing to go back to the pre-Cliff era. Some of the opinions are very strong (FRFR also means form-factor), other opinions are more forgiving (an improvement will be great, no matter what form factor).

As others have said before in this thread, don't let yourself be offended or brought down by all this passion (but also don't ignore the input, which can be very meaningful).

Having said that, I suppose that if the final (non-prototype) cabinet could be set down securely at an angle (similarly to the Ibanez Troubadour picture posted by BlueLotus on page 11 of this thread), you would find a little bit of softening in the strong opinions. And the wish list might grow considerably.

 

[Tom King]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

I'm curious about the Reactor FR giving the in-the-room sound as well. I thought it was the close-mic IRs that made it NOT sound like you're in the room with the amp, not the speaker cabinet...

We did not use 1024 IR's at the show. We used firmware 5.26 - stock.

This would seem to oppose the things that Jay has said in the past about the "in-the-room" sound not being achievable with close-miced speakers, unless I've read what he said wrong, or I'm remembering it wrong. I thought the key to getting an in-the-room sound with an FRFR system was to far-mic the speakers for the IR, not use a different FRFR system. Or is it a little bit of both?

All I can offer is that we have a/b'd the ARFR with other some of the actual cabinets modeled in the Axe and have been very pleased with the results.

Last weekend for example, at the Amp Show, we had the Axe-Fx running into a VHT power amp then into a really nice sounding vintage greenback cabinet on the R side and directly into a ARFR on the L. A vast majority polled preferred the ARFR. This was pubic and some people who post here witnessed it. There were subtle differences but no one including Cliff and myself felt those differences were based on the ARFR being less present or "in the room".

To clarify – this illustration is not to claim that the ARFR sounded more like a greenback than the greenback, it's to highlight that the "in the room" part was not an issue. That being said, the ARFR did have a really nice vintage greenback vibe .

 

[Tom King]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

So Tom, do not despair. The folks on this forum are indeed very opinionated. Cliff brought us up this way ;-) Seriously though, Cliff did bring to market a piece of gear that totally revolutionizes the way musicians approach sound and equipment. Before the Axe-FX, you would have been hard-pressed to find a single guitar player defending the benefits of a full-range flat-frequency wedge monitor as his/her preferred guitar cabinet. Now that there is this bunch of converts, you'll find that many are not willing to go back to the pre-Cliff era. Some of the opinions are very strong (FRFR also means form-factor), other opinions are more forgiving (an improvement will be great, no matter what form factor).

As others have said before in this thread, don't let yourself be offended or brought down by all this passion (but also don't ignore the input, which can be very meaningful).

Having said that, I suppose that if the final (non-prototype) cabinet could be set down securely at an angle (similarly to the Ibanez Troubadour picture posted by BlueLotus on page 11 of this thread), you would find a little bit of softening in the strong opinions. And the wish list might grow considerably.

I am not in despair nor has offence been taken. I have thick skin. :lol:

I would expect nothing less from you guys. Listening to the wants/needs of the people on this forum is great market research! You are being heard. The Reactor FR is not the last product we intend to do. There is no one product that will suite everyone’s needs.

Thanks to everyone for the valuable feedback.

-TK

 

[Finaldo]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

All I can offer is that we have a/b'd the ARFR with other some of the actual cabinets modeled in the Axe and have been very pleased with the results.

Last weekend for example, at the Amp Show, we had the Axe-Fx running into a VHT power amp then into a really nice sounding vintage greenback cabinet on the R side and directly into a ARFR on the L. A vast majority polled preferred the ARFR. This was pubic and some people who post here witnessed it. There were subtle differences but no one including Cliff and myself felt those differences were based on the ARFR being less present or "in the room".

To clarify – this illustration is not to claim that the ARFR sounded more like a greenback than the greenback, it's to highlight that the "in the room" part was not an issue. That being said, the ARFR did have a really nice vintage greenback vibe .

All that makes sense to me. Given the near-field and far-field behavior of a speaker, I would think that if you recorded one in near-field, and played it back on a good FRFR monitor, it would behave like the original speaker in that the far-field sound should be close to the actual speaker's far-field sound. Of course, I don't know much about the science of physics and sound, so I'm sure if I'm wrong someone will point it out to me.

 

[LPSWR]

Re: Announcement: Atomic Reactor FR

Because of this statement I may have to hold off on the purchase of the Atomic Reactor FR. I know I WILL be buying something from Atomic for my AxeFX, I just want to make sure I get the product that best matches my needs. I can't do that until I know what all the product offerings will be.

The Reactor FR is not the last product we intend to do. There is no one product that will suite everyone’s needs.