Anyone using a Mission Engineering Gemini 2 active 212 cab?

Billbill

Billbill

Power User
sorry if this not the right spot for this but was just curious if anyone out there has tried the Mission Engineering Gemini 2 FRFR active 212 cab and any and all thoughts on it. I got one and my only issue is cosmetic unimportant stuff lol. Any thoughts?
 
I had one. Sold it pretty quick. It didn't sound good enough to have the eq and the volume controls on the back of the cabinet, 2/3's of the way to the floor... Trying to make adjustments in levels and the dial for FRFR vs traditional cab tones was maddening. Maybe when other amp makers start putting their primary controls on the back of the unit, the Gemini will catch on?

And... it was really heavy.
 
AndyOrr said:
I had one. Sold it pretty quick. It didn't sound good enough to have the eq and the volume controls on the back of the cabinet, 2/3's of the way to the floor... Trying to make adjustments in levels and the dial for FRFR vs traditional cab tones was maddening. Maybe when other amp makers start putting their primary controls on the back of the unit, the Gemini will catch on?

And... it was really heavy.
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Hmmm i can agree with most of that. I think it sounds pretty good tho
 
AndyOrr said:
I agree. It can be made to sound great. As long as you have a flashlight and and mad yoga skills. ;-)
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Lmfao!! I know right?!?!? And speaking of location of controls, who's the moron that put the power switch on the far bottom corner?! My old ass about blew out my back trying to bend over every time when I went to jam. My solution was to stand it up over/under instead of side by side but then I realized now that the power switch is up top, the cool little mission logo is at the bottom near the floor! Genius lol
 
I got hear one at Mission headquarters right before they were released... They hosted an Axe Fx event.

Sounded great to me when compared to Xitone, CLR and AccuGroove. They actually all sounded really good, just subtle differences.

As a comparison, what other active cabs have you used? I don't know of any that don't have the controls on the back...
 
I have one. I think it sounds pretty good except for the amBient noise it makes just sitting there. For the power I wired it into a power conditioner so the switch is in the heade now. It makes a massive squawk when you power it up, I am told that is normal. I have it on the full range setting, prob good to just tape the pot so it doesn't shift and stays on full range
 
I owned a couple of Atomic active wedges for a little while back in 2011 when I first bought an Ultra. Being that it was a smaller, lighter form factor wedge (easy to lift or get behind) and the only control was a level pot, I don't recall being as flummoxed. I also once had a powered Tech 21 cab with controls and inputs on the rear but they were on the very top rear and easy to get to. The Gemini sounds great, has a removable top panel for open / closed back, high quality build, Bluetooth, feature rich, etc., I understand that for manufacturing efficiency, they placed all controls on one rear panel. Unfortunately, manufacturing efficiency and ease of use can be opposing forces. The Gemini suffers from poor design. Experimenting with the empower control is not practical. Just my opinion. I hope they sell a billion units.
 
I have the Gemini 2x12 active cab with bluetooth, which I found second had in new condition at a hard to pass up price. So far I've only used it with Bias amp software, but I'm looking forward to putting the Gemini through its' paces once I get my AX8 this week.

My only major complain is the shear weight of the thing, 65 lbs! Which isn't the end of the world as long as you don't plan to move it often. Why it didn't come with casters, I'll never understand.
 
Charles Sheets Jr. said:
I have the Gemini 2x12 active cab with bluetooth, which I found second had in new condition at a hard to pass up price. So far I've only used it with Bias amp software, but I'm looking forward to putting the Gemini through its' paces once I get my AX8 this week.

My only major complain is the shear weight of the thing, 65 lbs! Which isn't the end of the world as long as you don't plan to move it often. Why it didn't come with casters, I'll never understand.
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Yeah I've got the same one without Bluetooth though. Thing sounds killer and out of all FRFR Cabs, this puppy is a "real" cab and doesn't sound fake in any way. One thing I've noticed that's annoying though is when I have the cab over/under (stood up on its side) if I walk to the left it's very cool and heavy thick sounding but if I walk to the right it's a much thinner tone like the bottom end has been cut. Not sure why this lol
 
Billbill said:
Yeah I've got the same one without Bluetooth though. Thing sounds killer and out of all FRFR Cabs, this puppy is a "real" cab and doesn't sound fake in any way. One thing I've noticed that's annoying though is when I have the cab over/under (stood up on its side) if I walk to the left it's very cool and heavy thick sounding but if I walk to the right it's a much thinner tone like the bottom end has been cut. Not sure why this lol
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That's interesting. I'll have to experiment with positioning. Right now I have it in the horizontal position. Where do you normally set the EmPower knob? Also curious, is there anything I should set globally on the AxeFx/AX8 to work with the Gemini, or is it good out of the box?
 
Charles Sheets Jr. said:
That's interesting. I'll have to experiment with positioning. Right now I have it in the horizontal position. Where do you normally set the EmPower knob? Also curious, is there anything I should set globally on the AxeFx/AX8 to work with the Gemini, or is it good out of the box?
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I found the Empower knob useless for me so I run it full FRFR mode. The amp sounds so good it does not even need that knob. Second, I had my patches setup to work through studio monitors and when I got the Gemini I found i now had frequencies that I couldn't get when going through the monitors. I had to retweak the bottom end of my patches using the GEQ in the amp block and often adding a second one post-effects.
 
Billbill said:
I found the Empower knob useless for me so I run it full FRFR mode. The amp sounds so good it does not even need that knob. Second, I had my patches setup to work through studio monitors and when I got the Gemini I found i now had frequencies that I couldn't get when going through the monitors. I had to retweak the bottom end of my patches using the GEQ in the amp block and often adding a second one post-effects.
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Thanks for the input. I'm sure a lot of tweaking and fun will be ahead of me once my AX8 arrives!
 
I'm thinking of picking up Gemini 2x12...currently have a single QSC K12. Sounds good. Is the Gemini better? Or about the same? Thanks
 
Billbill said:
Lmfao!! I know right?!?!? And speaking of location of controls, who's the moron that put the power switch on the far bottom corner?! My old ass about blew out my back trying to bend over every time when I went to jam. My solution was to stand it up over/under instead of side by side but then I realized now that the power switch is up top, the cool little mission logo is at the bottom near the floor! Genius lol
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Why don't you use an amp stand?
 
Tombstone said:
I'm thinking of picking up Gemini 2x12...currently have a single QSC K12. Sounds good. Is the Gemini better? Or about the same? Thanks
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I run my Axe Fx 3 through my Allen and Heath Q16 I have 2 QSC K12's and 2 K10's as well as 2 beringer power 18" subs 3 alto 10' as monitors on the floor. I will be getting the Mission Gemini this coming week I will let you know how it all sounds together. I know it will sound better the the QSC's because the QSC's are plastic and the mission is birtch and is the same spec's from what I read and heard as a Mesa Boogie 2x12 can.
 
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