Fellas, just when I took the chance to test a newly developed Blueamps (german high class boutique manufacturer) active stereo cab, I got the news that the Elis.8 arrived at G66, since I was on the waitlist, but rather planned to go with a Blueamps. Jacques sent me an Elis.8 bundle to test it. So I have three cabs in my small room and I played away with a new modeller from NDSP.
Elis in a nutshell: Great sounding cabs with a serious punch and great dispersion, a pretty tight bass response, very clear highs and upper mids. They fill the room easily with a big sound, and I was astonished that the bass did not fart out at pretty high volume (all this said with my limited experience with the Dynacord wedge, a Xitone 10“ and another very small and light Blueamps cab).
I still think that the new Blueamps cab nails the Fender sounds I am after a little better (still have a Reverb Deluxe), using the QC presets and cabs. The Blueamps delivers strong and warm lower mids and bass, at first I missed the highs, the so-called blanket came to my mind. In comparison the Elis delivers very clear and strong upper mids and highs plus a very tight bass. Definitely pushes more air whereas the Blueamps starts to compress a little earlier. All in all I had to use the EQ quite a bit more with the Elis, there is a little bit of „honk“ in the mids I had to pull out at around 1 khz and some highs also. With the Blueamps I often did not need the EQ at all. It sounds silkyer and smooth. The same happened with acoustic guitar. Just used a preamp, compressor, EQ and reverb block, no IR. Two of my acoustics - a Martin and a Santa Cruz (both with a simple passive Schatten pickup inside) sounded a bit more natural with the Blueamps, the third (McIlroy) better with the Elis. On the other hand, because of the sheer push and power, the notes just „jump“and ring out from the Elis cab. All of this in a contest where I find both brands very very usable and on a very high quality level.
I have a hard time to decide which one to go with: Silky smooth sound with a warm deep bass which sounds good right out of the gate versus pushed air like from a loud guitar amp, clear mids and tight bass with more work on the EQ - at least for me.
I wonder if the Elis start to break after some usage. I hope they do. Even if I heard you guys saying the Elis sounds so smooth and not at all harsh (that is also my observation compared with other brands, but those clear and strong upper mids and highs are still a wee bit too present for my taste), do you think the speakers break in after some usage? I read in a post about a „burn in“ at Redsound but I wonder, if Redsound really gibves them a treatment, because this usually takes days of constant play in my experience.
What a though decision!
Please chime in and let me know what your „ears think“.