Gemini I Wedge head to head against QSC CP12 - no contest

As a player who is fairly new to the modeling world and only used AXE III for studio use, I had no experience with running signal into an amp/cab or FRFR. Like most of us, I watched a lot of video reviews and read everything I could in these forums to help make an educated choice on the subject. Ultimately I decided to go straight to a top end product designed specifically for modelers, the Mission Engineering Gemini I powered wedge with USB. I thought I would share my experience for others who may be searching for their powered speaker solution.

First, I have nothing against Mission Engineering (love your pedals, guys) but I DID NOT have a good experience with the Gemini wedge. First off, it was noisy. At first I thought the AXE presets were noisy. So I plugged my UA OX Box in and it was still annoyingly noisy. Finally unplugged everything from the inputs and it was still very noisy even when not receiving any signal. Just not a good power amp section in my opinion. Second, I struggled to get ANY tone I thought sounded good. Everything sounded harsh, no depth. The EmPower EQ control did affect the sound but I still wasn't able to get any tone that blew me away. For the upper end money I spent, I expected to be blown away.

I packaged it back up and drove to Sweetwater to return it. While I was there one of their associates auditioned many PA speakers for me in their listening room. He played a John Mayer live recording through different speakers, some that were very expensive. Surprisingly, I ended up liking a QSC CP12 the best for guitar tones. It was 40% of what the Gemini wedge cost and sounded great in the store. Now the true test was to hook it up to my OX Box and AXE III and see what it would do. Let me say I was blown away! The same AXE presets that were lackluster through the Gemini sounded "warm", "ballsy" and "rich" through the CP12. I am very impressed. The same great sounds I was getting for studio recordings sounded stellar when cranked up through the CP12. Also, the power section is so quiet you can't hear whether it is on or off when there is no signal going through it. Very clean, quiet power.

I would not hesitate to recommend this for anyone looking for an affordable FRFR speaker solution. They are running a $75 off promotion right now at Sweetwater. I went ahead and picked up a second one.
 
I use 2 QSC K.10's the 2000w ones and sounds like a Big 4x12 cab in the room to me, but still Intrigued with the Aspen Pittman stuff and might pull the trigger someday
 
Back
Top Bottom