Somnium7
Noise Criminal
For my wife's birthday last month I bought her a new Fender electric violin (FV-1). So, it was time to get her something better than her little Roland micro cube to play it through. At the local music store we spent a few hours checking out some acoustic amps - Roland, Crate, SWR and Fender. We went home and talked about the good and bad of each. Finally we decided on the Fender and went back to the store to buy it.
First of all it's built like a brick shithouse. The tilt back legs might not last for the long haul but the rest of the unit is very solid.
The sound of this thing is pretty sweet. It captures the tone of the instrument and delivers it without any noise or objectionable color. Within limits it actually sounds as clean as my studio monitors. The EQ is well designed with overlapping frequency range chosen for acoustic instruments. Dialing the right tone is quick and the results sound natural.
What impressed me alot is the quality of the FX unit. While you can't edit any parameters there is a nice range of usable voices. The chorus is lush and about as deep as the old Micro Cube's chorus. The reverb is fantastic. Beats the pant's off both the Cube and the larger Roland acoustic amp we tested. Fender was king of reverb on amps from before I was born so it's no surprise they got it right.
After getting the amp home we tried the Fender Violin and a Jackson Acoustic/electric 6 string guitar with the amp and for both instruments it shined. Honestly, I was never happy with the sound of that cheap Jackson until I heard it through this amp. It sounds like a much more expensive instrument now.
The electric violin sounded awesome too. Full of body and thickness we couldn't get with the old cube amp. It handles the violin's highs without sounding tinny.
What's more is there are some flexible features for both live and recording uses. The direct out obviously are great for sending to a PA but also handy for going into a recording console since it is balanced. Then there is an effects loop. I love this, because I can patch my G-Major in here and use it's wonderful Fx on the violin. With that setup the possibilities are only limited by my imagination.
So there it is, a review of a piece of gear being used for a somewhat unique instrument. I hope this will serve to help another person interested in playing an electric violin.
I have not had a chance to do any recording yet but I've thought about a setup I would like to try out. One track to record from the direct out. Another track recording from an Audix i5 right on the speaker. And another channel recording a ribbon mic placed at a short distance from the amp. Just an idea. I'm sure some careful experimentation will be necessary. Certainly less challenging than attempting to record from the micro cube
First of all it's built like a brick shithouse. The tilt back legs might not last for the long haul but the rest of the unit is very solid.
The sound of this thing is pretty sweet. It captures the tone of the instrument and delivers it without any noise or objectionable color. Within limits it actually sounds as clean as my studio monitors. The EQ is well designed with overlapping frequency range chosen for acoustic instruments. Dialing the right tone is quick and the results sound natural.
What impressed me alot is the quality of the FX unit. While you can't edit any parameters there is a nice range of usable voices. The chorus is lush and about as deep as the old Micro Cube's chorus. The reverb is fantastic. Beats the pant's off both the Cube and the larger Roland acoustic amp we tested. Fender was king of reverb on amps from before I was born so it's no surprise they got it right.
After getting the amp home we tried the Fender Violin and a Jackson Acoustic/electric 6 string guitar with the amp and for both instruments it shined. Honestly, I was never happy with the sound of that cheap Jackson until I heard it through this amp. It sounds like a much more expensive instrument now.
The electric violin sounded awesome too. Full of body and thickness we couldn't get with the old cube amp. It handles the violin's highs without sounding tinny.
What's more is there are some flexible features for both live and recording uses. The direct out obviously are great for sending to a PA but also handy for going into a recording console since it is balanced. Then there is an effects loop. I love this, because I can patch my G-Major in here and use it's wonderful Fx on the violin. With that setup the possibilities are only limited by my imagination.
So there it is, a review of a piece of gear being used for a somewhat unique instrument. I hope this will serve to help another person interested in playing an electric violin.
I have not had a chance to do any recording yet but I've thought about a setup I would like to try out. One track to record from the direct out. Another track recording from an Audix i5 right on the speaker. And another channel recording a ribbon mic placed at a short distance from the amp. Just an idea. I'm sure some careful experimentation will be necessary. Certainly less challenging than attempting to record from the micro cube