User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs

Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

vinnieRice said:
The point I'm making about playing a club blues band every night is that it is an environment where the natural cleanish sound of a Strat through a Bassman is appropriate. and yet the bridge pickup is basically unusable.
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Add me to the dissenters list. I'm not normally a strat guy, but I've been studying them lately to help me become one. EJ has no problem making the bridge pup sound amazing, so I started with his rig. He just EQs the amp in such a way that the bridge sound is useable. It results in some unconventional settings, but it definately works. In the studio, his lead Marshall head had the presence and treble nearly totally off. Similarly odd settings were on the Twins as well.

I tried stuff like that in the Axe-FX, and I discovered that the strat bridge pickup is completely useable if you set the amp right. I gigged it that way last weekend and it sounded amazing. I have wired the second tone control to work both the bridge and middle pups as well, but I was surprised to find that I rarely had to roll the tone control off on the bridge once I had the amp set right.

D
 
Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

Yes, please, keep the posts here about user reviews of the Atomic FRs. I enjoy learning about other topics, but I hate having to scroll through dozens of pages on a bulletin board to find information. They're not built well for this.
 
Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

Hi everyone, we're the new distributors in Australia for Atomic Amps and Fractal Audio and would like to say hello to everyone.

Hello!

We're going to be posting high quality audio of all the Atomic/Fractal wonderfullness in the coming weeks and months and hosting it on our website http://www.independentmusic.com.au (please don't go there now - it is having a MAJOR upgrade).

In the meantime though, for those who want to hear the Reactors, we have posted some furiously completed footage taken on my iphone to youtube - hopefully it can give people who haven't heard the Reactors a bit more of an idea of what they sound like with an Axe-Fx Ultra in front (and sadly of course - with the fidelity of an iphone and then iphone upload compression to youtube).

But it's enough to give you an idea we hope.
We've turned off all delays, reverbs and mic emulation etc so that we can get a straight "I'm an amp" tone.
Hope that you all enjoy and get something out of it if you haven't heard this gear yet. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkt3FiodQq0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ1vMOKJ_H8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7oDRm0vT1c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbf0X6sKd5w

cheers, (and if you are in Australia and would like to make enquiries fractal@independentmusic.com.au >_< apologies for crass commercialism there)
Seamus
 
Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

Thankyou Independent Music for the demonstration,
Seems to me that there shouldn't be a volume issue after that one demo. And your business partner is a good player, wish he'd head into the 7 string brutalz area though... along with showcasing some effects. But the demo's you provided helped me decide to go through with the purchase. Looking forward to seeing more demos from you.
Ken
 
Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

I finally got to crank the Atomics for a while and am at a loss for words for their awesomeness. I've had them for @ 2 weeks but haven't really had any significant crank time until tonight.
I have been happy with them at the family friendly volumes I play at on a daily basis but was not prepared for how much better they sounded turned up. Normally I'm at noon on the atomic volumes and 8-9 oclock on the axefx output knob, tonight at 10-12 oclock was a tonegasm.
Although everyhting sounded better I was particularly blown away by the plexi 1. I've always fought with plexi 1 and the 4x12 25w and 4x12 greenback cabs, at low volume and really thought it was mushy and lacking punch much preferring plexi 2 and the 4x12 20w and 4x12 30w cabs... not anymore it just wanted to be cranked a bit just like a good 4 hole Marshall. It was the elusive amp in the room tone I've been stalking.
This isn't a slam at the low volume tones, which are still the best I've heard incl QSC HPR 122i, FBT verve 12ma, Carvin dcm150/Marshall 8008 and 1x12/2x12 and 4x12 cabs. However, I haven't had these options at the same time as the Atomics.
Anyway I was real happy with these bad boys and now I'm real happier.
:D
 
Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

Independent Music - are you running 1 or 2 in the videos. I would expect 2 given the volumes in the video
 
Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

Jay Mitchell said:
vinnieRice said:
The point I'm making about playing a club blues band every night is that it is an environment where the natural cleanish sound of a Strat through a Bassman is appropriate. and yet the bridge pickup is basically unusable.
Click to expand...
I strenuously disagree. I play a Strat with replicas of ca. 1968 stock pickups, I often play very clean, and I use the bridge pickup frequently. My settings for the tone controls are somewhat unconventional, yet the guitar will still cut through beautifully without being too bright.

When I built the guitar, I did two things that deviate from a perfect Strat-spec instrument: I had a pickguard made with the treble pickup angle reversed, and I wired the switch so the second tone control affects both the bridge and middle pickups (which takes one jumper added to the stock switch wiring). I can get a good result with the bridge pickup of a perfectly stock Strat, however.
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I use my Strat bridge pickup all the time as well - it's a Fralin with the Tele-style base plate on the bottom. A stock Strat bridge pickup is harder to dial in something good that works well with the other positions though.
 
Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

rmbaylin said:
Independent Music - are you running 1 or 2 in the videos. I would expect 2 given the volumes in the video
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Yes you'd be right there, it is 2, Andrew is sitting on one and the Axe-Fx is sitting on the other (you can see me turn both up to about 12 o'clock half way through the first video).

We're confident that one Reactor would make a very fine personal monitor though (which is how they were designed).

Also if you are running an Axe-Fx through just one Reactor (for shame! :) ) and you want to get the best tone out of it, make sure you go to the I/O page of your Axe-Fx and experiment with changing your output from stereo to Sum L&R or Copy LtoR. See which you prefer (it will differ depending on the effects you're using or not using).

Keep in mind that this will affect your signal to front of house - but listening to just one side of your Axe-Fx output isn't going to do your tone any favours (particularly your reverbs, delays, stereo choruses etc).

Apologies if anyone has already mentioned that.

cheers
Seamus
 
Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

Independent Music said:
Also if you are running an Axe-Fx through just one Reactor (for shame! :) ) and you want to get the best tone out of it, make sure you go to the I/O page of your Axe-Fx and experiment with changing your output from stereo to Sum L&R or Copy LtoR. See which you prefer (it will differ depending on the effects you're using or not using).

Keep in mind that this will affect your signal to front of house - but listening to just one side of your Axe-Fx output isn't going to do your tone any favours (particularly your reverbs, delays, stereo choruses etc).
Click to expand...
I was unaware of this. Thanks! Gonna see if I notice any difference.
 
Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

IF you are running mono and using one Reactor, I'd recommend using 'copy l-r' instead of summing them. Removes any probability of issues with phase issues
 
Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

Scott Peterson said:
IF you are running mono and using one Reactor, I'd recommend using 'copy l-r' instead of summing them. Removes any probability of issues with phase issues
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That works if your running stereo FX's and don't want to change them to mono right? My Atomic arrives Monday...... ;)
 
Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

Sixstring said:
Scott Peterson said:
IF you are running mono and using one Reactor, I'd recommend using 'copy l-r' instead of summing them. Removes any probability of issues with phase issues
Click to expand...

That works if your running stereo FX's and don't want to change them to mono right? My Atomic arrives Monday...... ;)
Click to expand...

Yes, but you don't need to do that. Just plug in one of the outputs (left) and you'll be fine. If you are running stereo, but want identical outputs (dual mono) then use the "Copy L-R" and you'll have identical outputs without any phase issues.
 
Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

I'm returning my Atomic. I've had the chance to play it at rehearsal only twice since I got it a week ago which probably isn't sufficient to properly road-test it but so far I haven't been able to generate the same girth and warmth as my V30 2x12. I'm taking on too much right now with this when at the same time I'm trying to prepare upwards of 50 presets for 3 different bands and learn how to use my new pedalboard setup at the same time. I need more than just 4-5 hours rehearsal with this to know whether I can get what I want with it and I just don't have the time. Trying to deal with another new piece of equipment right now is frying my brain. My playing is beginning to suffer because I'm spending all my time and energy fiddling with gear instead of learning material. Maybe in a year or two when I'm more settled with the Axe I'll get back to it. :|
 
Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

Stringtheorist said:
I'm returning my Atomic. I've had the chance to play it at rehearsal only twice since I got it a week ago which probably isn't sufficient to properly road-test it but so far I haven't been able to generate the same girth and warmth as my V30 2x12. I'm taking on too much right now with this when at the same time I'm trying to prepare upwards of 50 presets for 3 different bands and learn how to use my new pedalboard setup at the same time. I need more than just 4-5 hours rehearsal with this to know whether I can get what I want with it and I just don't have the time. Trying to deal with another new piece of equipment right now is frying my brain. My playing is beginning to suffer because I'm spending all my time and energy fiddling with gear instead of learning material. Maybe in a year or two when I'm more settled with the Axe I'll get back to it. :|
Click to expand...

I've been there before.Not an unwise decision. The gear will be there and ready for you when you have time. The Atomics do require an adjustment (at least it did for me), fortunately for me i have the time right now.
 
Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

I did want to get back and share my experience to date with the Atomic cab.
I really like it.
I've had it for a few weeks now and my rig is sounding better than ever. I've had to make a few adjustments along the way, but i do with each new piece of gear i use. The first adjustment i made was with my acoustic patch- made reference to it in an earlier post on this thread- but essentially i was hearing things out of my acoustic i had never heard before. Not that what i was now hearing wasn't present before- the previous FR system i used did not have the frequency range the Atomic has. I was getting pickup noise below the LF cutoff of my previous FR (cutoff at 70 Hz) the pickup noise occurred at 36Hz;using the Atomic, a simple fix of a shelving filter with a -7db cut at 38Hz solved the problem. The LF cutoff on the Atomic is 20Hz, just be mindful of that lower sonic area.
Secondly, i have become very friendly with the speaker resonant frequency parameter on the axefx. With my gear (Strat Ultra w/ lace sensors>Ultra>Atomic) and signal chain, 86-95Hz is another tricky area. I have been finding that many of the 4x12 cab sims and even some of the 1x12 sims i've used were boomy where they had not been with my previous FR solution. A small adjustment with the speaker resonant frequency parameter cleaned this right up. I noticed on the amp sims i like (didn't check all sims for same condition, just the ones i am using) the axefx was defaulting to 95Hz for this parameter. Right, wrong or indifferent I have lowered this parameter to aprox. 77Hz with excellent results. This is what has helped my setup- yours may be completely different.
I have the tweeter rolloff at it's neutral, flat detent...i played around with that for awhile but have settled for the flat response. There may come a time where it is needed, i'm sure at that time I will appreciate having it available.
So..i really dig it. i have only played my Ultra with an FR setup and have tried a lot of FR setups in the past two years. For me, the Atomic is the best Fr solution i have used. Wish I had two!
 
Re: User Reviews of ATOMIC FRs?

Ok I recived my Reactor from Greg (gasp100) thanks Greg for the great deal and prompt shipping. After a 45 miniute romp running through all the presets I have tuned in for the FOH system I run through it took some minor tunning to get them to sound correct. Shows how different FR can be in a given venue.

The clean (Maz 18) sounded dull and lifeless untill I messed with a few things but it still needs a lot work but it is usable.

Using the FAS Chrunch the pushed dirties sounded great after a few turns on the AIR and Freq peramiters in the cab block. 70% and 3500k (thanks Scott for that tid bit)

The JCM 800 is still a bit boxy sounding even after the cab sim tweek so more work needed there but it is usable.

The High gain tones are where you need to be carefull. The tweeter and EQ settings are very crucial, if you have a little upper end EQing in the signal chain and the tweeter is set at noon or higher it will squeal like a little girl with a snake in her painties.
After some extensive tuning I was able to tame it somewhat but it is still there if you crank up the volume.

Musical feed back is possable but seamed difficult to get with the pups in the guitar I'm using (PRS #6) unless things were quite loud and a ton of gain added. While in the Powerball preset I added some Gain and pulled back the master reduced the presents and moved the twetter to 10:30 and I was able to get things to happen but always wanted to wind up around a high F# when playing a relitive note :?:

Volume is pretty good not 412 but bigger sounding then a 212 and for a single 12 it has some really good bottom end but will mush out if driven to hard with a lot of bass emphasis. Depending on the volumes you want to run you will have to ease up on the low end the louder you get just like any FR cab (nothing new there).

FWIW I ran through some of the stock presets some were really great sounding and some sounded like ass but I kind of exspeceted that.

All in all I think I will be ditching my 412's and buying another one for the full stereo and added air movment for a larger room or stage ;) . BTW The room in my house that I demoed in is 14x12 and has carpet just to give you an idea.

I wonder if a Coaxial speaker would have been a better choice for the box :roll: Anyway there's my .02 worth hope you can use some of the findings.
 
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