New to Gemini 2 and interested in your experience

M

MikeEmery

Member
Yesterday I had the chance to spend an hour with my new Gemini 2 and then a full band practice. I'm coming from a Mackie SRM550 (just because I had them) and was able to do a bit of A/B. Most of my presets are from Moke (awesome) except for my super-clean settings. My firmware and Moke's presets are all updated. Amp and cab sims on off course. Global EQ set flat. I wasn't particularly impressed and considering returning the unit but before I did I was hoping to get any tips. Note: I did search the forums and one reason I'm asking is my experience, so far, is a bit different.

I started with the empower knob on full FRFR and volume about 11:00 on the Gemini. Running mono XLR. First reaction: harsh, ice-picky, almost painful. Ended up with the empower knob all the way off and it sounded good. Not particularly awesome but good. That seems different than what others experience - seems people run the empower knob more towards the FRFR setting. A/B with the Mackie and, well, a little different but not significantly better. As noted in other discussions, I also experienced an annoying pop turning the unit on or off and it is a heavy beast. Must say it makes a much more attractive backline looking rig.

Feedback from the band was ok. The Gemini seems to be less directional which is good. The other guitarist/lead singer is truly old school not interested in anything other than the Marshall half stack he's had for 20 years. Respect that - one reason I got the Axe FX is I want to bring sounds to the band he doesn't (why have two guitarists?). The band is generally inclined to hate everything digital and, I think, listen a bit with their eyes not ears but they do admit the tone overall is excellent.

So, with apologies for raising an old topic, thoughts? Willing to invest some time to pull out the potential. Don't want to give up too easily.

Thank you!
 
MikeEmery said:
Yesterday I had the chance to spend an hour with my new Gemini 2 and then a full band practice. I'm coming from a Mackie SRM550 (just because I had them) and was able to do a bit of A/B. Most of my presets are from Moke (awesome) except for my super-clean settings. My firmware and Moke's presets are all updated. Amp and cab sims on off course. Global EQ set flat. I wasn't particularly impressed and considering returning the unit but before I did I was hoping to get any tips. Note: I did search the forums and one reason I'm asking is my experience, so far, is a bit different.

I started with the empower knob on full FRFR and volume about 11:00 on the Gemini. Running mono XLR. First reaction: harsh, ice-picky, almost painful. Ended up with the empower knob all the way off and it sounded good. Not particularly awesome but good. That seems different than what others experience - seems people run the empower knob more towards the FRFR setting. A/B with the Mackie and, well, a little different but not significantly better. As noted in other discussions, I also experienced an annoying pop turning the unit on or off and it is a heavy beast. Must say it makes a much more attractive backline looking rig.

Feedback from the band was ok. The Gemini seems to be less directional which is good. The other guitarist/lead singer is truly old school not interested in anything other than the Marshall half stack he's had for 20 years. Respect that - one reason I got the Axe FX is I want to bring sounds to the band he doesn't (why have two guitarists?). The band is generally inclined to hate everything digital and, I think, listen a bit with their eyes not ears but they do admit the tone overall is excellent.

So, with apologies for raising an old topic, thoughts? Willing to invest some time to pull out the potential. Don't want to give up too easily.

Thank you!
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I have a Gemini 2 and really like it. I originally used Adam monitors and they weren't loud enough and were too hifi and not like an amp in the room, which FRFR will always struggle with. I play mostly at home, but occasionally play with other guys very informally, not gigging out. I play mostly high gain, but also have many clean, edge of breakup / blues, and a guitar with a piezo for acoustic stuff, so I run the gamut. And what I found is while the empower knob is excellent for making a preset sound more amp-in-the-room like in a pinch, when you are switching between presets amoung different genres its not fun to reach back behind the Gemini and fiddle with it. I just defaulted to using the knob all the way to FRFR and use the cab block to attenuate the low and high frequencies to get it to sound amp-like. The speaker is very much like a cab - the high and low drivers are all in the same housing and this sounds way more like a cab than monitors do.

Are you using the cab sims and power modeling? I never have a problem with ice pick at all. If anything, I find myself trying to get more high end out of the factory cabs and amps. Sounds like you have cab modeling off somewhere....
 
I tried several FRFR cabs and amps before settling on a 2x12 open back Alnico Blue cab and a Matrix power amp. Unfortunately, the Gemini 2 was my least favorite. Aside from being massively heavy, the controls are on the lower rear panel. That is probably the worst design I've ever seen on a high end piece of gear. Rotating and viewing empower and volume knobs required getting on hands and knees, using a mirror and a flashlight. I never got it to sound good. Maybe because I couldn't see what I was doing with the controls... Sold it. No regrets.
 
Thanks to both of you. I have cab and amp sims on (though I'll double check to make sure I didn't accidentally change a setting). I'll give it one more shot. I can still return it. If I do, I'll go with the matrix amp. I recently went to a local show and guitarist had that set up and sounded awesome (of course...he was an excellent player which helps :))
 
I'm going to be honest, I didn't like it and returned it. The heaviness and the pop are annoying but not dealbreakers. I didn't like how it sounded. The highs were very harsh and piercing. The low to mids sounded congested and missing something in the lower frequencies. I also found it to be very directional. More so than a regular guitar cab. It wasn't just god awful, but it was just "okay" sounding. Not worth the price tag.

I love the product in concept though. If it sounded better, I would totally go back.
 
I've owned 3 of these Mission Gemini 2 "stereo" 212 powered cabs. They have all been returned and money back! They are extremely unreliable! First one came broken as it put out a crazy loud hum when powered on with nothing connected, vol down, and on different circuits! Second one lasted 4 months then the right speaker stopped working. Third one worked for 2 days and then I had Spanish talk radio coming out of it then the right side cut out like last time. F*** Mission Engineering and thier s****y products (sorry I'm getting re-angered just thinking about it all again)
Looks wise, they look killer, sounded good minus the stupid "empower" knob on the back which just makes it sound sterile and dead (blanket over it). Oh the loud pop at power up was annoying as hell too. Get rid of it while u can and go with something else. I personally went back to amp and cab setup and it's great. I don't need FRFR speakers because I think that's more of a convenience thing than it is about sound.
 
AndyOrr said:
I tried several FRFR cabs and amps before settling on a 2x12 open back Alnico Blue cab and a Matrix power amp. Unfortunately, the Gemini 2 was my least favorite. Aside from being massively heavy, the controls are on the lower rear panel. That is probably the worst design I've ever seen on a high end piece of gear. Rotating and viewing empower and volume knobs required getting on hands and knees, using a mirror and a flashlight. I never got it to sound good. Maybe because I couldn't see what I was doing with the controls... Sold it. No regrets.
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If you don't mind, are you using that setup with or without cab modeling on? I really like the presets I have made with different cab IRs through my studio monitors (small JBL 305) but I need to find a solution to crank up a little for practice. Ideally would like to find something that translates my existing presets created on studio monitors most faithfully.
 
Jagermeistro said:
If you don't mind, are you using that setup with or without cab modeling on? I really like the presets I have made with different cab IRs through my studio monitors (small JBL 305) but I need to find a solution to crank up a little for practice. Ideally would like to find something that translates my existing presets created on studio monitors most faithfully.
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You can rest assured that I would have tried both ways. Since it's an FRFR solution, I would have first tried with cab and power amp modeling set to on.

Based on my experience, you will struggle moving your presets from a 5 inch monitor driver to a 10" or 12" cabinet. You'll definitely need to do some tweaking. My original post is almost two years old and I'm still using the same 2x12 blue alnico loaded cab and Matrix power amp. It's the most 'amp in the room" solution for me with the Axe FX. I tried several horn loaded, FRFR cabinets but never found any I liked.
 
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