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Topic: Acoustic Image, what a wondeful company! |
Hiro Keitora
From:
New York, New York
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Posted 3 Dec 2005 1:46 pm |
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Folks, I play through Acoustic Image's Clarus 1-R, and I fried the output transistors by mistake( while the amp was on, the speaker cable was unplugged and plugged back again.) That was it. Just a simple accident like that.
I contacted Rick Jones at Acoustic Image and he was very supportful, I shipped my amp via UPS on Monday morning, and by the Friday afternoon, I got the amp back, and he didn't even charge me anything for the repair.
I call that's the ultimate customer support, it was truly incredible.
I love to share this with everyone, the Acoustic Image's amp is not only great sounding, powerful, yet compact design, it's product support is also truly wonderful.
I thank Rick Jones here again for his solid service. |
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Scott Appleton
From:
Ashland, Oregon
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Posted 3 Dec 2005 2:34 pm
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Are you using the Claris for PS or Bass?
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Mullen S12 Almost Mooney
71 Tele, Regal 45
Sho Bud S10 NP
Line 6 Flextone 3 + JBL D130, Acoustic 165 100 W all tube EV 12, Nash 112, digitech 2101 FX |
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Darvin Willhoite
From:
Roxton, Tx. USA
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Posted 3 Dec 2005 5:35 pm
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I have an Acoustic Image Coda IIR that I really like. I use it for guitar, I still haven't tried it with a steel, but I will some day. Its a great sounding amp. I've had it a couple of years and have had no problems with it, but its good to know they have good customer service.
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Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording
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Steve Alcott
From:
New York, New York, USA
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Posted 3 Dec 2005 10:30 pm
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I use the Clarus SLR for PSG and bass (electric and acoustic) and am very satisfied with the results.
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Williams keyless S-10,Acoustic Image Clarus SL-R,Marrs cab
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Hiro Keitora
From:
New York, New York
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Posted 4 Dec 2005 9:13 am
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Yes, I'm using Clarus for Pedal Steel.
My Webb with extension cabinet became "end tables" by my bed. They are just about right height( chuckle). |
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James Quackenbush
From:
Pomona, New York, USA
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Posted 4 Dec 2005 9:41 am
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Hiro,
Does your Clarus sound as good as the Webb ? .....The Webb sounds very "tube" like to me .....Is the Clarus similar, or is it more of a Solid State type tone ?...
Thanks , JIm |
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Hiro Keitora
From:
New York, New York
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Posted 7 Dec 2005 2:59 pm
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Actually, Webb sounds very, very good. it has that, "beef" to it. However, it can be heavy and big to rig around.
Here's something else; I've never been too happy about Deltalite 15" speaker in Marrs...seems to me, it lacks that high sparkle. So I tried Jensen Neo 15" in Marrs. ( For some reason, I've always liked that "paper-ly" Jensen sound. )Wow, what a difference!! It sure isn't exactly BW or D-130, but it's way closer to that sound than Deltalite can offer! Check out Jensen Neo 15"!! |
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john widgren
From:
Wilton CT
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Posted 7 Dec 2005 4:55 pm
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I LOVE my Focus 1R by Acoustic Image. I've been using it in lieu of my stereo rack system (which I love too) about 85 to 90 % of the time. Sounds great, warm and sweet, very hi fidelity, with good digital reverb built in, and weighs 4 pounds...complete. Sounds great with my Marrs ulralight cab. Rick Jones has a midrange mod which makes the unit better for psg..I think the mod is a must.
Hiro, I think you may be onto something...I've not been satisfied with the deltalite either, although my 1501 sounds great, but heavy. |
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Hiro Keitora
From:
New York, New York
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Posted 12 Dec 2005 4:28 pm
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John, what you can do, if you're interested, is that, when you have a gig in town, I can bring in that Marrs with Jensen in it for you to "test drive" the unit.
It is 8ohm like Deltalite, so technically, you may lose a little bit of power.
Jensen Neo 15" comes in 2 different model. The one I chose handles 150W. There's another one can handle up to 300W, but when I checked the speck( frequency response graph), the 150W one seemed a little punchy-er than 300W one. Of course, 300w one comes with bigger Neo magnet, so it's slightly heavier than the one I have.
I think Jensen Neo 15" is even lighter than Deltalite, so with Marrs, it's a joke to lift it up. |
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john widgren
From:
Wilton CT
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Posted 14 Dec 2005 8:11 am
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Dear Hiro,
Thanks for your kind offer, I'll contact you about that test drive. I went to the Jensen website, and was curious about which power rating you chose. Should I worry about pumping 350 watts into a 150 rated speaker? Who did you get the speaker from....You can contact me privately if you like...Thanks and happy Holidays...JW |
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Hiro Keitora
From:
New York, New York
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Posted 15 Dec 2005 9:20 pm
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John, as I understand, higher wattage handling capacity speaker tends to like to be driven hard at high power to sound good. I guess it's designed that way( ala PA speakers, for example)
I chose 150W one, because the Clarus does not produce anything near that 350W like your Focus. But Jensen offers 2 different Neo 15" with higher wattage one. that has a slightly bigger Neo magnet, and I think the voice coil is a bit wider too.( so when I checked the friquency spec, 150W seemed to be brighter, and puncher sounding than that high watt one.) But the basket is same. I play through this 150W one with JBL D-130 both in Marrs, and the Jensen is not bad at all. When I play Deltalite with JBL, I can clearly hear that Delta is darker sounding, but with Jensen, though it's not same as JBL, it ain't bad at all, considering JBL was re-coned by Woody at 4ohm and the Jensen is 8ohm, but the Jensen seems to be very efficient.
I bought it from US speakers or something like that for $100 or so. It's pretty affordable I remember. I don't have the reciept with me at the moment, but I'll dig it up for you. |
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Darvin Willhoite
From:
Roxton, Tx. USA
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Posted 16 Dec 2005 7:19 am
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I've been playing steel through my Coda IIR the last few days. I see now that it does need an EQ mod to sound the best with a steel. I had to turn the MID control all the way off to get it to sound good to me. It sounded pretty good with the stock speaker configuration (with the downfiring 10" woofer, and 5" midrange), but when I plugged in two 12", 4 ohm Black Widow cabinets, it really came alive. I love the multiple program digital reverb in this amp too. I may look for another A/I in the "head" configuration, just to use with these two cabinets. Its hard to imagine such a great sound from such a small unit. I see on their website that they have boosted the power amp section of most of their amps to put out even more power.
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Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording
[This message was edited by Darvin Willhoite on 16 December 2005 at 07:20 AM.] |
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Hiro Keitora
From:
New York, New York
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Posted 18 Dec 2005 10:12 am
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How I understand that "mid Mod" is that, stock Mid control gives +-at 625hz, but the mod moves that roll off(or on) point at 750hz, which is very "steel" friendly mid-roll off. Ask Rick Jones, and he'll guide you.( Or ask John Widgren, because he's the one who came up with that for Rick).
I played those "downward" speaker cabinet with my steel, although it sounds really good with bass, but for the steel, you don't get that "projection". |
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Mike Shefrin
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Posted 10 Jul 2006 8:32 am
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I used the Acoustic Image Clarus 1R through a small Razers Edge cabinet for my jazz guitar gigs. It's a super light combo with a nice clean,fat warm sound that worked well in my trio of guitar, organ and drums. I also run my Emmons steel through it at home with no effects, just guitar straight into the amp and it doesn't sound half bad.
The Clarus 1R is also the most noise free amp I ever used and is perfect in the recording studio. |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 10 Jul 2006 8:34 am
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| I am surprised that something as simple as unplugging the speaker and then plugging it back in could fry the amp! |
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Darvin Willhoite
From:
Roxton, Tx. USA
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Posted 10 Jul 2006 10:13 am
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I agree Bill, especially since the Acoustic Image amps use Speakon connectors that do not short out when plugged in or unplugged. I guess it could have been a 1/4" jack on the speaker cabinet that was the culprit. I have Acoustic Image and Fender Jazzmaster Ultralight amps that both have Speakon connectors for the speakers. I'm converting all of my speaker cabs to use these so I can get away from 1/4" plugs everywhere I can.
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Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording
[This message was edited by Darvin Willhoite on 10 July 2006 at 06:51 PM.] |
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Steve Alcott
From:
New York, New York, USA
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Posted 10 Jul 2006 11:04 am
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As I understand it, there is a quirk in this particular design that makes it sensitive to being on with no load. The manual is VERY clear on this issue. I always plug in the speaker before I put the power cord in the amp.
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MSA Millennium D10, Acoustic Image Clarus SL-R, Marrs 1x15
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