Atomic CLR = Sonic bliss !!! In depth review

[Rocket Brother]

Thanks Jimfist. Being in YouRup, it looks like I'm going to be waiting a lot longer than most - but when did you put yourself on to the list?

LOL! Yesterday....methinks it will be a long wait here, too.

If I'm not mistaken Tom has some large shipments coming, I think the wait times are going to shorten significantly from now on - but you guys better ask Tom directly about availability and lead times.

 

[Rocket Brother]

Thanks for the in-depth review! Good to have all of that info in there, different scenarios, etc.

I have asked a lot of users this and wanted to get your opinion. Obviously a lot of folks want to have two (or even four) CLRs so they can run a stereo setup. There are going to be a lot of people that will only be able to afford one. Does sitting in front of one wedge take away from the excitement of playing thru a CLR and do you really have to hook up two to really get the whole picture so to speak? I know that hearing speakers in stereo, whether it be guitar cabs, P.A. speakers, etc. allows you to take in the full sound of a particular preset with the delay, reverb, etc.

Also, and not sure if you mentioned this in the review, but were you able to just play thru standard presets or did they require tweaking? I know most units SHOULD require tweaking on the AxeFx-II since every unit is different but just curious. I also wonder if some standard presets sounded better than others (heavier tones versus cleaner, etc.)

Thanks again for writing that up. I know that had to take awhile to throw everything together. Definitely appreciated by us forumites though!!

I'll take one CLR over two of any other prosumer priced monitor any day of the week and twice on sundays.

If you get one CLR just make your presets in mono.
I did try out a few of the standard presets shortly with the CLR just for kicks, they generally sounded as fine as I've ever heard them sound, but that said I always prefer to make my own presets for my kind of playing, my string attack and my guitars.

 

[Rocket Brother]

Thank you so much for this in depth review.
I appreciated all the detail and sharing your professional experience.
Your writing style is easy for me to read and I felt you stayed on topic.

I've been considering CLR's in the same configurations you detailed so well. Personal wedge AXEII & mini PA.
My partner and I do meditation workshops for 50-200 persons. Keeping life simple for me could include (3) CLR's which would cover my sound re-enforcement needs at a nice price and easily portable.

Considering thinning the herd.
Now, I've got to work through deciding
all (3) active wedges
or
(1) active wedge and (2) active cabs.

Hrm....
Thoughts?

I'd always go for the active wedges for the added versatility, as they can be positioned as a wedge, a cab and on a pole - whereas the cabs can only be placed in the latter two positions

 

[romanianreaper]

I'll take one CLR over two of any other prosumer priced monitor any day of the week and twice on sundays.

If you get one CLR just make your presets in mono.
I did try out a few of the standard presets shortly with the CLR just for kicks, they generally sounded as fine as I've ever heard them sound, but that said I always prefer to make my own presets for my kind of playing, my string attack and my guitars.

Thanks! Appreciate you taking the time to explain.

 

[Thomas-Hawk]

Great review, RB. Thanks for taking the time to write up your opinions and experiences, and in so much detail. Much respect and appreciation!

 

[klaushouz]

Great review. What did you mean when you made the typo "2,5-3 times the price of the CLR" Also wanted to ask what style of music you write/play with others or at clinics.

 

[winger]

Great review! Thanks for taking the time to do this. Much appreciated.

 

[stevorc321]

Great review. What did you mean when you made the typo "2,5-3 times the price of the CLR"

I don't think it's a typo. 2,5 is how Europeans write 2.5

 

[Rocket Brother]

Thanks! Appreciate you taking the time to explain.

You're welcome, I'm happy to help

 

[Rocket Brother]

Great review. What did you mean when you made the typo "2,5-3 times the price of the CLR" Also wanted to ask what style of music you write/play with others or at clinics.

I don't think it's a typo. 2,5 is how Europeans write 2.5

Yep is the European way of typing 2.5

I mostly play classic rock, blues rock, blues and old school R&B in general but particularly when it's my own stuff - but as you know everybody sort of have their own definition as to what is contained within a genre, so mine might differ slightly from yours.
Sometimes I also do a little funky stuff and "top 40 modern pop-rock" (whatever that means) and some acoustic singer-songwriter stuff.
It really depends on what the project needs and whether it's my own stuff or I'm participating on somebody elses project.
Sometimes (mostly luckily) participating on somebody elses projects is a collaboration, other times it's "I want you to play this and nothing else".

I love jazz as well but play it quite poorly
I can fake a few of the easy standards, but leave jazz to the guys that can actually play jazz - it's just really a totally different thing/game than what I do.

I don't do anything heavier than Rage Against the Machine or Audioslave kinda stuff, and I don't play traditional country.

In the clinics we discussed genres quite a bit, also in relation to what makes a good sideman, making yourself marketable as a musician and the tool/gearbox.
We tried to showcase a few styles/genres and we did bits of or full songs of acoustic singer-songwriter stuff, blues-rock-fussion a little in the vein of Robben Ford, classic rock in the vein of among others Hendrix and Led Zep, a modern top 40 pop-rock thing and we showed how we'd make an acoustic and an electric version of the same song.
We also talked about how you can integrate elements from one or more of your favorite players into your own playing and make it your own instead of just copying somebody else, which in my book is key if you have ambitions of moving beyond being a weekend warrior - not that there is anything wrong at all with being a weekend or a bedroom warrior.

I want to stress that last point, as we should all play because we absolutely love playing music - if that feeling ever change for me, I'll leave the business in a heartbeat.

 

[deathsilver]

Excellent review, thanks! I would like your thoughts on the passive (lets say with a Matrix amp) instead of the active wedge/cabs from CLR? Any idea how the two would compare?

 

[yek]

Thanks Yek - you're too kind, coming from you that means a lot.

Since I updated to the most recent firmware I've trashed all my old presets, so at the moment I'm only using those described in the review and a few others (Concorde, Dirty Shirley, Morgan, Tweed Deluxe & Swart AST).
These presets are all made specifically for the bands I'm gigging with the rest of the summer.
In these projects I'm not going for an amp in the room though, more a miked cab sound.

I'm still using a few of the OwnHammer V2 Beta cabs, until Kevin churns out the V2 of the cabs I'm waiting for, but apart from that I'm using stock MIX cabs from the Axe.
I'm using a few of the cabs that correspond specifically to some of the amps (tweed deluxe mix, AST mix, Morgan mix and so on) but otherwise I'm a big fan of Greenback cabs, the Dumble cabs and the Santiago cabs. Sometimes I mix the cabs and sometimes I mix in the G12-65 FF (JM) to give it a bit extra dimension.
On the Friedman preset there a V30 Mix cab mixed in as well.
I do have a few IRs that a friend made for me and him, where he captured my one of my old tweed fender cabs, my Carr Rambler cab and his old Basketweave Greenback cab with a mix of close and far field micing, very neutral mics and preamps - these IRs gets a spot on perfect amp and cab in the room sound.
He is thinking about whether or not to make more and sell these IR's, if he doesn't go in that direction I'll share them on Axechange.

I'm quite busy at the moment, but when we get past the summer, I intend to get the producers packs from Fractal and see what Kevin at OwnHammer has out, and start experimenting with those.

When I'm micing a real amp and cab in the studio I always make sure to get the classic SM57 & R121 mix down as that always works for me. If possible I also get a AEA R84, and maybe a few other choices on my cab.

Hope this answers your questions

Thanks!

Yes, I was particularly wondering about the farfields since you mentioned those in your review.

I share your enthusiasm for the betrusted R121+57 combo, greenbacks and EVMs.

BTW, I have A7Xs on my desk. Always been very happy with them but they take up too much space.
I have been using the CLR mainly live so far. After reading your review I replaced the Adams with my CLR (under the desk), which turns out to sound fantastic. And I run mono anyway.

 

[Hugomack]

Thanks Hugomack, the neighbours are fine - all high volume playing has been in a rehearsal space or on stage

What you are describing is one of the things that knocked me out as well. I kept expecting to find a pitfall in at least one or two applications - but not only did I not find pitfalls, the CLRs continued to impress the hell out of me in every application and scenario that I put them through, that is something that I've never experienced before, and I've been lucky enough to have been provided with stage monitoring options costing 3-4K a piece on many occasions.

I think the absolute strength of the active CLRs is that it truly is a perfectly balanced and tuned reference monitor that will accurately reproduce the signal you feed them. It is the old saying of shit in = shit out.
As long as the signal you feed the CLRs is dialed in correctly you'll be golden.
That it is capable of going from a whisper to a roar and prized in the prosumer pricerange is just unbelievable and mindblowing.

So in shot - yes I do believe that we are witnessing something that will rock not just the boat, but indeed the world of pro audio.

This is all rather desperate. It's logical that reference monitors should be best for the Axe, but I guess gig volumes and dispersion (plus cost) have been the problem with using them live - until this CLR appeared.

So for us, using keys and guitar with a wide range of FX, and for most gigs drum loops, 3x CLRs and IEMs takes us straight into the 21st century for all our pub gigs....

I wonder when I'm likely to receive Tom's invitation?

 

[Rocket Brother]

Excellent review, thanks! I would like your thoughts on the passive (lets say with a Matrix amp) instead of the active wedge/cabs from CLR? Any idea how the two would compare?

I've only tried the active CLRs so I can't speak from experience about the passives.

That said, personally I'd definitely and always go for the active CLRs for a number of reasons

1) The internal power amp in the active CLR is very light weight and very high quality, making the active CLR only 1 lbs more heavy than the passive !!
2) The active CLRs has an active crossover and the DSP with presets for wedge, backline and freefield positions
3) The active CLR is designed to work together as a flat system where the speaker, cab and poweramp are tuned for each other.
4) Having the internal power amp frees up space and weight in your rack
5) When using the passive CLRs with an external power, you don't have the DSP with presets, so you have to make a corrective eq or separate patches/presets for each position. I'm very happy just to flick the preset switch on the back of the active CLR, when I change position.

I realize that a number of users already have a power amp and thus could gravitate towards the passive CLR, which I'm sure is a great monitor as well, but personally, I'd always go for the active version for the reasons stated above.

 

[axel]

Excellent review and information Rocket Brother! In your opinion, how would someone running their system through a clean 1500 watt power amp and two 4x12 guitar cabs (lots of oomph) most likely adjust to something like the CLR's? I'm not talking about versatility, because it's obvious the guitar cabs will always sound like themselves, and the CLR's can reproduce multiple cab IR's. Would there be anything missing in the "oomph" department, or would two CLR's easily out perform the two 4x12's?

 

[Rocket Brother]

Excellent review and information Rocket Brother! In your opinion, how would someone running their system through a clean 1500 watt power amp and two 4x12 guitar cabs (lots of oomph) most likely adjust to something like the CLR's? I'm not talking about versatility, because it's obvious the guitar cabs will always sound like themselves, and the CLR's can reproduce multiple cab IR's. Would there be anything missing in the "oomph" department, or would two CLR's easily out perform the two 4x12's?

Well having eight 12" speakers with a very beam like dispersion blasting at you is a very different thing than having two 90 degree dispersion FRFR speakers blasting at you.
The 2 quad boxes will push more air for sure and the physical impact felt on your body will be far more prominent with the quad boxes.
One has to accept that it's two different beasts entirely in that respect.
Having said that though the CLR's will give you oomph if you play loud enough - just not as much oomph as the 2 quad boxes - but the CLRs will give you a physical reaction and further will help you generate easily controlled feedback when you want it.
The CLRs will, with the right IR's, easily sound like 2 quad boxes - no problem there and the versatility and sound quality wins it easily for me.

I think if you are to make the change and you are concerned about the degree of oomph, you have to realize that physically it is a different thing and you have to realize where the approach differs from one rig to the other.
If you just A/B them only judging on the degree of oomph, you are not seeing anything close to the full picture.
IMHO you should give yourself a few days or a week (Atomic Amps offers a 15-days return period) to get used to the CLR rig and make presets optimized for that instead of the presets made for the "quad box rig". Play it for some time, a few days or a week to let that approach get under your skin - then A/B the rigs and note the cons and pros of each rig.

Hope this answers your question.

 

[axel]

Well having eight 12" speakers with a very beam like dispersion blasting at you is a very different thing than having two 90 degree dispersion FRFR speakers blasting at you.
The 2 quad boxes will push more air for sure and the physical impact felt on your body will be far more prominent with the quad boxes.
One has to accept that it's two different beasts entirely in that respect.
Having said that though the CLR's will give you oomph if you play loud enough - just not as much oomph as the 2 quad boxes - but the CLRs will give you a physical reaction and further will help you generate easily controlled feedback when you want it.
The CLRs will, with the right IR's, easily sound like 2 quad boxes - no problem there and the versatility and sound quality wins it easily for me.

I think if you are to make the change and you are concerned about the degree of oomph, you have to realize that physically it is a different thing and you have to realize where the approach differs from one rig to the other.
If you just A/B them only judging on the degree of oomph, you are not seeing anything close to the full picture.
IMHO you should give yourself a few days or a week (Atomic Amps offers a 15-days return period) to get used to the CLR rig and make presets optimized for that instead of the presets made for the "quad box rig". Play it for some time, a few days or a week to let that approach get under your skin - then A/B the rigs and note the cons and pros of each rig.

Hope this answers your question.

Thanks, and yes that helps. I know it's hard to answer a question like that, since they are definitely different animals. Based on your review and responses, I'm starting to look at it as a quality vs. quantity thing. Sounds like, although there may be some loss in the ability to move a lot of air, the quality of the overall tone and wider dispersion would easily win out in the long haul. Like anything, guess one just has to try them for themselves to reach a conclusion.

 

[simeon]

excellent review. it still blows my mind that these can be used as reference monitors and you can actually mix on them...wow...

i'm using two 10" rcf's at the moment, but i'm thinking of switching to something else, because i need something i can use as backline and can be stacked on top of each other. i was considering the matrix 1x12's, but it seems obvious that these are a long way ahead of anything else out there. i doubt i'll ever be able to afford a pair, though!

 

[Rocket Brother]

Thanks, and yes that helps. I know it's hard to answer a question like that, since they are definitely different animals. Based on your review and responses, I'm starting to look at it as a quality vs. quantity thing. Sounds like, although there may be some loss in the ability to move a lot of air, the quality of the overall tone and wider dispersion would easily win out in the long haul. Like anything, guess one just has to try them for themselves to reach a conclusion.

That echoes my thoughts exactly - and with Atomic Amps 15 day return policy it's easy to give them a good try out for yourself with nothing to loose.

 

[Rocket Brother]

excellent review. it still blows my mind that these can be used as reference monitors and you can actually mix on them...wow...

i'm using two 10" rcf's at the moment, but i'm thinking of switching to something else, because i need something i can use as backline and can be stacked on top of each other. i was considering the matrix 1x12's, but it seems obvious that these are a long way ahead of anything else out there. i doubt i'll ever be able to afford a pair, though!

Thanks Simeon,

Yes I too continue to be blown away by the way the CLR handles everything, including the studio use - just mind blowing.

Knowing your expertise in programming patches utilizing the advanced effects combinations I think a CLR would be absolutely perfect for you.