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

MikeyB59 said:
I'm not on the list yet, but I'm psyched. I've convinced myself to live with my current solutions for the time being and wait for the verdict on the Fracta/Atomic solution. One of my biggest revelations in sound came when I purchased a Scott 60's tube integrated amp (299c I think) in the early 90's. I had some pretty nice solid state stuff, a Harmon Kardon 100 wpc SS power amp and a Phase Linear SS preamp. I put on a Sonny Rollins album. It sounded like a recording of a sax on the SS gear. I switched out and ran the Scott. It sounded like Sonny Rollins in my living room.

That's why I'm really psyched that they chose to use a tube power section. I think they might've been able to achieve the sense of "realism" with a SS solution, but I think tubes, particularly in the power section bring a presence and aliveness that's just harder to do with SS. I was taking lessons a few years ago from Mike Elliott who was the top jazz guitarist in the Minneapolis area in the 60's and 70's. He later moved to Nashville and was a session guy for a bunch of years. While I was studying with him, he did a jazz album where he played all the parts with midi. It is a pretty amazing accomplishment even if some of the sounds are a little cheesy. What he was really proud of though was the guitar tone which he thought sounded as good as any jazz guitar tone ever recorded. He had a fairly complicated signal chain for his guitar and it did sound really great. It was all tracked direct. What I do remember is that he used a Fender stereo tube power amp (can't remember model...Red-faced Twin era thing) and a Hughes and Kettner Redbox as part of the signal chain.

He'd talk about how all the people doing solid state amps with tube preamps had things completely ass backwards in terms of where it was important to have the tubes. I tend to agree. I love my Musicman amps and they're solid state front end, tube power. So, I'm delighted they used tubes. If they hadn't, I probably would've bought a Verve 8ma or 12ma. As it is, I'm making do with a Tech 21 Power Wedge 60 and a couple of ok powered monitors and waiting for the reports.

Mike
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So what you are saying is that if Fratomic had been SS, you would have bought a different SS solution? That doesn't really make much sense.
 
Its not a Fractal, its an Atomic.

While the two share ideals, websites, resources etc they are still seperate companies. Cliffs ideal of "made in US" has no bearing on where Tom chooses to get his stuff manufactured.
 
Existing Atomic Reactor amps are made in China AFAIK, and I never heard of any reliability problem with them
 
juliancs said:
So much for Fractals "made in america"!
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How 'bout "designed in" and "engineered in" and "supported from" and "innovations from"...etc.etc. ?

The economic realities of manufacturing goods overseas vs. in the US are far too daunting for ANY company producing goods in the US to overcome, let alone a small start up producing niche high-end guitar products.

You should take solace knowing that all of the important facets of developing these products still appear to be done right here in the US. Now when Fractal outsources the software engineering to China and their tech support to India, you'll have more to complain about.
 
http://www.g66.eu/index.php?page=shop.p ... &Itemid=91

Sweet :D

NUCLEAR POWER 2.0
With the new Atomic Reactor FR a tube-driven active monitor is available for the first time in guitar-amp format. Robust, good-looking, loud and powerful, while also being light, handy, versatile and accurate in its sound reproduction.

ATOMIC REACTOR FR
This is the reason for the development of the Atomic FR. It is based on the proven concept of the Atomic series and eliminates the above-mentioned constraints.




The Atomic FR has a separate 1” tweeter driver with a 4.4” horn which, with the help of a sophisticated cross-over, is optimally suited to the 12” loudspeaker. This makes it suitable for all tasks which require a linear reproduction of the entire frequency spectrum, i.e. for acoustic guitar, vocals, keyboard, small PA uses – in effect all situations where an active linear monitor is needed.

The tweeter has an individual level control and can be turned off completely, if necessary.

The built-in 50W tube power amp has been re-developed by amp guru Harry Kolbe, and is based on a pair of 6L6GC vacuum tubes from JJ and a single 12AX7 driver tube. An extremely quiet fan keeps everything cool.
Both elements can be run singly, enabling you to connect a separate cabinet to the amp or use the cabinet passively with an external power amp.
Optically the Atomic FR comes dressed in the style of a classic small cabinet, so those for whom a real vintage look is important can also enjoy the benefits of a premium FRFR signal.

THE NEW PERFECT COUPLE
Robust, good-looking, loud and powerful, while also being light, handy and versatile – these are the characteristics that Atomic FR stands for. Conceived for the Axe-Fx and, together with the Axe-Fx, an unbeatable combination.
 
Good call Spartacus... my only gripe is why didn't we (forumites) get this info straight from the horses mouth... why do we have to go hunt this info down?!??!?!!? Oh well... Can't wait for someone to get theirs and post a review!!!!
 
Looks fantastic, and the amp has a very approchable price. I don't really understand the monitor part - it seems to be another version of the amp?

I still want to know how loud this 1x12 can go!
 
juliancs said:
Looks fantastic, and the amp has a very approchable price. I don't really understand the monitor part - it seems to be another version of the amp?

I still want to know how loud this 1x12 can go!
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It is an FRFR loudspeaker which makes it suitable for monitoring purposes. Of course a lot of us want to use it like a guitar cab.
 
Yeh - very nice.

My only gripe is the cost !!!

As usual we in the Eu (and even more so in the UK) get stiffed.

The Axe is the same price in Euro as it is in $. The Atomic is more than that !! I had done my calculations at 799 Euro. Guide price for EU was 699 to 799 Euro - same as in $. In the US is comes in at the top end of that - ie $799. Why is it 849 Euro ??

I know - exchange rates and so on, BUT its not changed that much recently.

It works out at £729 to the UK. Thats not bad given the competition (FBT at £699 - K12 at £750) but thats still $1100 ish equivilant. Thats a bit pricey.

That said - with no choice Ill probably still get one.

**EDIT**

Just Emailed Sussi at g66 - and already had a response. She confirmed that I was already on the list for first shipment :D Also - as I already have an Axe-FX from them I only pay 824 Euro NOT the 849 stated on their site. this is good news. OK still expensive by US standards but cant fault that level of customer service ;)
 
"So what you are saying is that if Fratomic had been SS, you would have bought a different SS solution? That doesn't really make much sense."

Nope, what I'm saying is that it makes sense to me that they're using tubes if their goal is to get that "in the room feel" as Tom put it. As he said, they have some ideas about how they could do it SS, but given their time and budget constraints, tubes made sense.

I like tubes and the fact that they're using them does make me more psyched for it. If it had been solid state, I would wonder how/why they were able to accomplish something different/better at the price point they'd set when there are already lots of other FRFR options by companies dedicated to doing this for years.
 
paulmapp8306 said:
My only gripe is the cost !!!
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I think G66 is really good in this subject. Let's get this straight:

  1. Base price is EUR 849. G66 offers a EUR 25 rebate if you buy or bought an Axe-Fx at G66. That means, new customers get this discount if they buy the Atomic FR in conjunction with an Axe-Fx. Plus, you get this discount if you own an Axe-Fx you bought from G66 in the past. So as you are qualified in this concern, your price is EUR 824.
    [/*:m:zl879lrp]
  2. The price contains 19% VAT. Divide by 1.19 and you have EUR 692.40.
    [/*:m:zl879lrp]
  3. The price contains 5% toll. Divide 692,40 by 1.05 and you have EUR 659.40.
    [/*:m:zl879lrp]
  4. The price contains EUR 90 shipping cost from the U.S., so you have EUR 569.45.
    [/*:m:zl879lrp]
  5. So let's convert this to US Dollars by multiplying by 1.4. Now you have $ 797. This is less than the U.S. price. That's what I call a really fair deal.
    [/*:m:zl879lrp]
  6. Now compare: A Rocktron Midi Mate is $150 in the U.S., and EUR 250 ($350) in Germany. This is addition![/*:m:zl879lrp]

Well, I think the cost is okay. Consider that G66 has to pay CE fees, a fee for disposal of waste, and do not forget the service you get: A full two years of warranty including shipping in the case of repair.
Plus, if you buy two Atomic FR, you will get another EUR 50 rebate. And you want two, don't you? ;)
 
I think it looks great and it's very well-priced for what you get. I bet it will sell very nicely!

I have an offer for someone out there who wants a passive version.. buy one of these and sell ME the removable power amp for a reasonable price. I'm serious! You could call this sort of thing jerry-rigging, but I call it custom modification. Looks pretty straightforward in this case too, from the pics it looks like it would be simple to build a passive patchpanel with speaker connectors. What I want is a small, light 6L6 tube power amp that could fit in a 2U rack enclosure (looks like that would fit).

As for the whole China thing, wake up and smell the past 20 or 30 years! This is reality now if you want to manufacture any kind of quantity for a reasonable price. It's the design and components that matter. Have a close look at your iPhone, marvel at the vast technology packed into that shiny little box Apple sell by the Chinese boatload. Does it honestly look like cheap, poor quality to you? Do you think it's even possible to mass produce something of that quality in the USA? I don't think it can be done at any price, let alone a few hundred bucks a copy.

That said, the Reactor FR isn't an iPhone.. There would be a small market of cork-sniffing guitar nerds who would prefer similar specs hand-built in the USA and be willing to pay for it. Build them one at a time, ditch the PCBs, hand-solder everything point to point, use NOS tubes, getTom and Harry K. to sign their names inside the chassis and charge $5000 for this 'boutique' FR. You'll have to wait another year on the list to get it, but you will really enjoy the online bragging rights and post everywhere about how pumped you are. Will it sound any better? You'll SWEAR it does and post all sorts of cool descriptives about it on TGP "more bloom, 3d, hair, grit around the note tails", etc.

:D
 
Friedlieb said:
paulmapp8306 said:
My only gripe is the cost !!!
Click to expand...

I think G66 is really good in this subject. Let's get this straight:

  1. Base price is EUR 849. G66 offers a EUR 25 rebate if you buy or bought an Axe-Fx at G66. That means, new customers get this discount if they buy the Atomic FR in conjunction with an Axe-Fx. Plus, you get this discount if you own an Axe-Fx you bought from G66 in the past. So as you are qualified in this concern, your price is EUR 824.
    [/*:m:9tcdzheq]
  2. The price contains 19% VAT. Divide by 1.19 and you have EUR 692.40.
    [/*:m:9tcdzheq]
  3. The price contains 5% toll. Divide 692,40 by 1.05 and you have EUR 659.40.
    [/*:m:9tcdzheq]
  4. The price contains EUR 90 shipping cost from the U.S., so you have EUR 569.45.
    [/*:m:9tcdzheq]
  5. So let's convert this to US Dollars by multiplying by 1.4. Now you have $ 797. This is less than the U.S. price. That's what I call a really fair deal.
    [/*:m:9tcdzheq]
  6. Now compare: A Rocktron Midi Mate is $150 in the U.S., and EUR 250 ($350) in Germany. This is addition![/*:m:9tcdzheq]

Well, I think the cost is okay. Consider that G66 has to pay CE fees, a fee for disposal of waste, and do not forget the service you get: A full two years of warranty including shipping in the case of repair.
Plus, if you buy two Atomic FR, you will get another EUR 50 rebate. And you want two, don't you? ;)
Click to expand...

No - I dont want two ;)

G66 has already given me this breakdown - and yes it isnt that bad.

The 19% VAT is a bit much - UK Vat is currently 15% so why the other 4% for UK customers? that could have brought the price down by another 30 Euros or so - or are we paying German VAT even though its bought for the UK market from a US supplier? I never get that.

If I "could" buy direct from the states, $799 is £480. Add the shipping of £75 gives £565. Add VAT and import/handling duty (a total of 20% to cost PLUS carriage) gives £678 total - against £703 from g66. Not much difference - in fact £25 (and thats after the 25 Euro discount on top)- which is approx the difference between the 19% VAT charged and the 15% current UK VAT.

Still - g66 are still very good people :cool:
 
Yes Paul,

afaik customers in the European Community pay the VAT of the (EC based) dealer's country. This is European trade law. The only exception I know of is when the dealer is really really big - much bigger than G66. In that case the dealer is enforced to bill VAT with the financial authorities of the customer's country. If you think about it a few moments this makes sense. But even if nobody sees any sense in it - it is the law and has to be obeyed.

Unfortunately, the Britains are the ones who lose in this game because UK VAT is so low. Many other countries benefit from the fact that they have to pay German VAT rates because their own VATs are higher. G66 tries to compensate for this and bills no shipping fee to UK customers.

And well, your £25 difference stands for
- Two years of full warranty instead of one, and with no shipping costs in case of repair
- Customer support based in your own "local" continent
- You do not have to deal with customs and authorities
- Good karma since you're supporting two good companies instead of just one...

It is on your own to decide if all this things are worth £25 for you but I guess I know what your decision will be. :cool:
 
Of course ;)

And G66 are one of the best companies Ive ever had to deal with. Helpfull, personal, great service. Id pay more than the £25 just for that.

In fact, G66, Fractal and Atomic are probably the BEST 3 companies Ive dealt with period (in all genres not just music) - though Steve Fryett at VHT (or Fryett as they are now) was also in the same bracket.

Thats saying something given the ammount of companies Ive dealt with over the years.
 
Im actually quite interested in the "speaker out" skt and switch.

From the blerb it appears you can run the Atomic as a whole - OR dissable the Power amp and run your own (so I can A/B the power section with my SLA) - OR you can run the Power amp into another speaker (So I can run my 2x12 Cab - again another way to A/B the Power sections).

Im also assuming that you can power the internal speakers AND an external cab (from how it reads). Does this mean (If I want to) that I can power both the internal FR speakers AND my 2x12 at the same time ??

Not sure how usefull that would actually be, and it will still be mono of course - but Id like to try it :D
 
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