NAD

[ZenKen]

As I continue to explore alternative amplification options I just picked up a Fender Cyber-Twin and foot controller from my friend Craig (Craigslist). Not a modeling amp in the context of current technologies this hybrid amp (it's got a few tubes in there somewhere) features multiple electronic circuits and tone stacks and can "re-wire" itself . I just got it home and it's still in the boxes so I probably won't get into it until the weekend. If you guys are interested I'll post some comments after some play-time.

 

Photo from the interwebz

[Searcy]

Very cool!

[BobF_]

I had one of those and loved it ... but it ended up being too loud for my use, so I let go not too long ago.

 

Very cool if you take the time to 'build' your amps. Most of the factory presets were as cheezy as they were good at demonstrating the extremes it could go to :-)

[daveinspain]

Looks cool, what's the wattage on that? Congrats...

[pippy]

...(it)...features multiple electronic circuits and tone stacks and can "re-wire" itself...

Wow! How Cool Is That?!

 

They should have called it the Fender Twin 'HAL'...

 

 

P.

[ZenKen]

Note my use of "" and insertion of the Pippy.

 

Dave - I think it tops out at 130 watts. The dogs will love that!

[pippy]

Note my use of "" and insertion of the Pippy.

Ah....

 

I actually thought you were quoting something from the instruction manual...........LOL!

 

OK. I'm fully awake now.

 

 

P.

[ZenKen]

Haven't even touched it yet Pippy. I was just quoting what I learned on the internet. And "they can't put anything on the internet that isn't true", can they? B)

[saturn]

Congratz on the new amp. Surely you've tried it out by now. B)

[ZenKen]

Thanks Jay and nope, haven't gone on a test drive yet. Today may be the day....if I'm not totally wasted after getting out in the yard. Will be cutting the grass for the first time this year, about 2 weeks late as we had rain 2 weeks ago and an out of town wedding last weekend. The wife has big plans for my weekend that don't involve me playing with my toys. :huh:

[Searcy]

Tease...

[ZenKen]

When I picked it up I did turn it on to make sure it worked. The display is pretty.................... B)

[Kaiser Bill]

Ken...congrats on the new amp. I was fortunate to see this amp demoed in my hometown a few years back by none other than Greg Koch. WHOA NELLIE. Thats a super amp. He had that thing standing up on its hind legs and begging, rolling over and speaking. Of course specific amp settings need to have specific songs played to drive home the authenticity of the amp's sound. Greg did this in spades....then threw t-shirts into the audience. I was lucky to get one and live to talk about it. I hope this amp gives you years of trouble-free use. Ya done good!!!

[ZenKen]

Thanks Bill. Greg is one of my favs. A little manic at times but that cat can play. You guys are making me consider disappointing the wife by skipping the yard and breaking this thing out for a whirl. If necessary maybe I can sleep on Jay's couch tonight.

[saturn]

Congratz on the new amp. Surely you've tried it out by now. B)

 

 

Thanks Jay and nope, haven't gone on a test drive yet. Today may be the day....if I'm not totally wasted after getting out in the yard. Will be cutting the grass for the first time this year, about 2 weeks late as we had rain 2 weeks ago and an out of town wedding last weekend. The wife has big plans for my weekend that doesn't involve me playing with my toys. :huh:

 

Come on Ken, haven't you ever seen "Airplane"? I left the door wide open for a "don't call me Shirley" joke..

[ZenKen]

 

Ok, here’s a few initial thoughts after after about an hour of exploration.

 

I didn’t hook up the foot controller and just quickly ran through the 3 banks of presets. The A bank (Amp Collection) of 35 presets are based on classic amps, most of which are Fenders but there is a Sunn preset, 3 that appear to be based on Vox amps and 2 that appear to be Marshall/Hiwatt or some high gain British amp. These all have either no effects or minimal effects and are all very good, usable settings. Looking at the documentation these are based on a combination of circuitry and tone stack. There are 3 tweed circuits, 3 Blackface circuits, 1 Hotrod circuit and 2 other circuits labeled HMB Tube and Dyna-Touch. Tweed, Blackface, British and Modern Tone Stacks are featured. There is also a reference to Tone Stack location as either “Pre” or “Post” which appears to refer to whether the tone stack is before or after the distortion circuitry (I’ll have to look at this in greater detail). These presets are permanently stored but can be modified and saved to the P bank.

 

The C bank (Custom Shop) features 85 presets that take the 35 amp models and layer on all of the available effects the amp has in various combinations. I have to agree with what Bob said and say that about half of these seem designed to show off how the amps and effects can be combined, some usable and others resulting in quite bizarre sounds. These presets are permanently stored but can be modified and saved to the P bank.

 

The P bank (Players Lounge) is another 85 presets where I can create new amp/tone stack/effects combinations or where any mods made to the settings in banks A or C are stored.

 

The Fender amp models are very good (as expected). I’m looking forward to doing a side by side with the Cyber-Twin, my Bassman, my Twin Reverb and my Mustang to see how they stack up. I don’t have a lot of recent Vox experience but I liked these as well. The 8 reverb settings are also very good with the Fender Reverb (based on the tube driven 63 Reverb unit) a particular fav. I’m thinking this is the same/similar circuitry as used in Boss’ Fender 63 Reverb pedal (which I use and like). Also nice is the Blackface reverb setting which has 5 adjustable parameters. The amp also feature a noise gate. Didn’t look at this.

 

There are 28 other built in effects including 9 delays/echoes, 2 tremolos, Phaser, 2 Wahs (1 used with a pedal, the other a touch wah), 2 Chorus’, 2 Flange’s, Vibratone (!) and a few combination effects (ie. Delay + Chorus). Most of the effects have adjustable parameters. Also has a built in tuner that mutes the speakers when engaged. Speakers are also muted when headphones are used.

 

So it will take many hours to learn and set this thing up but I am intrigued that it would be possible to gig/record with plenty of power and a preset for every song in the set. At the very least this will be an interesting journey.

[dem00n]

I'll take it, how much?

[J.R.M.30!]

I now anoint thee pro!

[ZenKen]

Clearly you haven't heard me play. :unsure:

 

And dem00n you can pick these up cheap.