THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU...
I haven't stop playing for 3 hours... I've only made it through a few presets. I went straight to the Morgan EF 86 amps. I can't believe how good they sound. These presets sound fantastic.
Hey
@skunc - saw you asked about why I chose an Atomic Neo-CLRs? This is as good a place as any to tell the story. They are both my studio monitors and gig "amps." I now have four of them, although one is making noises now - I think the low end from making presets from bass or metal amps when doing the 1400+ Naked Amps or 200+ Bass TonePack may have finally shook something loose in it!
Ten years ago or so when I got my first Ultra and then my first Axe-Fx II, Dweezil Zappa was playing the very first Atomic speaker cabs (tube powered!) -- so I got those. They were heavy and not necessarily strictly FRFR, but they sounded pretty good/loud (at the time anyway!). Dweezil was using them on tour so I got to really hear what they could do.
Then, around early 2010's at an LA Amp Show where Fractal did an Axe-Fest West (2013?), we did a shoot-out in a room with a bunch of FRFRs on the market then. Scott Peterson was there I recall. I liked the RCFs at the time, they had a 2x12 and a 2x10 if I recall right - but pricey. I had some Matrix ones for awhile but if you moved four feet left or right all the top end was gone (they were good for what they did, but not enough for me). I think the Atomics were there but don't recall. But the lesson I got from that experience was this: ALL FRFRS DO NOT SOUND ALIKE or are truly "FRFR." Some hype certain frequencies, probably to make it sound more "cab like" for example.
The Atomic NEO CLRs later came out, and they were lightweight, 500 watts, sounded great, could be used as wedge or backline or even on PA stands, and were coaxial. That coaxial was pretty important, because they have very good dispersion - you don't lose all your sound when you walk left or right a few feet. Plus, they sounded very balanced and "FRFF" - especially the detailed mids and high mids, which is where guitars really live. Their frequency range is 70Hz to 18kHz. For reference, a low Guitar E string is I think is 82Hz.
I also got a test a few once at M@tt Picones house; I brought my CLRs up to visit him and he had been a sent a few to try out so we did. That's when I really heard the CLR difference, liked them much much better than the others (not naming names) because they were more balanced and sounded "truer" - to my ears anyway.
Anyway, I then set a pair up as my home studio monitors for music listening as well -- and was blown away. Because they are sized big (pointing into my ears) -- they more than 1 foot by a 1 foot -- wow, I can hear everything happening, with a larger sweet spot. I put on some Steely Dan and heard stuff in the recording I had never heard before. SOLD! I can mix an album on these, truly.
So I fell in love with them. I tried a few others -- there is a 2x12 Gemini II I recently got that is pretty great for a gig where you have ot be really LOUD -- but always come back to CLRs. I don't like the NON-Neo versions as much though. Something about the neodymium magnet makes the top end smooth and silky maybe?
I recently ran across this review of them by Pete Thorn (who knows what he is doing), and he basically validated all the things I had noticed and mention above. Here it is:
They aren't cheap -- they are like $999 each -- but I've never heard anything better, they are sturdy for gigs, they also hold up remarkably well in A/B test compared to the pro audio ATCs I recently got -- which is what veteran rock engineers/mxiers Eddie Kramer and Elliott Scheiner told me they mix on now, when I met them at the 2020 NAMM show.
To be crystal clear: I don't have any business relationship with Atomic. The owner has always treated me well when I had questions and when I had one of the older amps failed, he gladly paid to replace the failed part and for the labor for a local repair job, which I appreciated.
The proof for me I guess is I create the presets on them, where I can really hear detailed mids, and they seem to translate well to a whole bunch of other playback systems you guys use (with your own adjustments).
So that's the story!
