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Double Bass New from Acoustic Image at NAMM

#41
The unit does look interesting but the new Clarus almost hooked me. However, telling Rick how much I have appreciated his stellar customer service, he told me that he would keep my series II running as long as he had the parts, which would be several more years. So, I'm in no hurry................
 
#42
Greg Clinkingbeard said:
The unit does look interesting but the new Clarus almost hooked me. However, telling Rick how much I have appreciated his stellar customer service, he told me that he would keep my series II running as long as he had the parts, which would be several more years. So, I'm in no hurry................
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Greg,
Hey partner, it was nice talking to you at the convention. I really enjoyed seeing you in person, and checking out that Ary Bow. You have a standing invitation to visit me here in St. Louis anytime you're in town.
I really did like the Series II's because they had that extra Presence control in the EQ section. I think it makes a real difference in the timbre and sound of that amp. That's why I interested in the Flex, because it's EQ has a low and high midrange control.

Ric
 
#44
Ric Vice said:
Greg,
Hey partner, it was nice talking to you at the convention. I really enjoyed seeing you in person, and checking out that Ary Bow. You have a standing invitation to visit me here in St. Louis anytime you're in town.
I really did like the Series II's because they had that extra Presence control in the EQ section. I think it makes a real difference in the timbre and sound of that amp. That's why I interested in the Flex, because it's EQ has a low and high midrange control.

Ric
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Ric, You are waaaaaaaaay too kind. Really.

When I arrived at the show Tuesday afternoon, I introduced myself to Rick and told him how much I appreciate him fixing my amp last summer. He immediately remembered both the amp and problem. The fact that he fixed a ten year old amp at no charge impressed me, but that personal connection is really something. :hyper:

I spent a fair amount of time over 4+ days talking with Rick Jones because his booth and the KC Strings booth were in the same room. The new Flex and Clarus impressed me as significant improvements over the series III and IV models for several reasons. Certainly, the 4 band EQ are appealing.

In the future, the 2 channel Clarus will incorporate the Flex front end. The single channel version will remain the same. There isn't much weight or size advantage to the Flex and I see no reason to switch over to Rick's powered cabinets, so the Flex isn't very attractive. I couldn't get over just how light the Clarus is. My old series II feels much heavier but it works flawlessly so :hmm:.

I will note that every single performer at the ISB used AI amplification and sounded very good. Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey used the single ten combos and I heard Vic say to Steve, "great sounding amp", or something like that. Ron Carter used a Clarus/Epifani pole mounted at ear level but as a stage monitor only.
 
#45
Greg Clinkingbeard said:
The unit does look interesting but the new Clarus almost hooked me. However, telling Rick how much I have appreciated his stellar customer service, he told me that he would keep my series II running as long as he had the parts, which would be several more years. So, I'm in no hurry................
Click to expand...

Reading this brings me back...
In high school, I was using one of the old Acoustic Image combos (I guess it was the Series I contra) and I was having problems with some buzzing when I played. I assumed it was my new amp, so I wrote to the company about it, saying that I thought the sound was coming from one of the speakers, and they sent me a new midrange speaker in the mail with no questions asked. I changed the speaker and nothing changed. It turns out I was an idiot and had a crappy patch cable that was buzzing with my upright bass... I never really troubleshooted the problem.
That was unbelievable customer service. They didn't hesitate to send the replacement speaker that I never needed in the first place. Amazing.
 
#46
Some time ago, I picked up a used Clarus 1 head from a fellow talkbasser here. It lived pretty much at home, as a second/backup rig until a rather spectacular meltdown. I pretty much wrote it off, but thought I'd take it to Tim, the amp tech at Full Custom Music (fully endorsed and fantastic) to see what it would take to get it back to life. It never crossed my mind that the amp might've been under any kind of warranty. Well, Tim called AI, they said "send it in, it's under warranty" ... I still didn't believe it. Well, the other day it came home, repaired power supply, replaced preamp - they even upgraded some of the circuitry. Zero cost. Looks and sounds better than new.

All I can say is that the music industry has become increasingly consumerized and throwaway ... the days of professional standards and high quality construction seemed to have been lost. Not AI. My next amp will be an AI product, for sure. The new Flex is particularly appealing ... sexy as hell.
 
#47
jrlynch said:
........."send it in, it's under warranty" ... I still didn't believe it. Well, the other day it came home, repaired power supply, replaced preamp - they even upgraded some of the circuitry. Zero cost. Looks and sounds better than new.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's truly amazing.



jrlynch said:
All I can say is that the music industry has become increasingly consumerized and throwaway ... the days of professional standards and high quality construction seemed to have been lost. Not AI. My next amp will be an AI product, for sure. The new Flex is particularly appealing ... sexy as hell.
Click to expand...

I think/hope the Flex will be a real game changer in their product line. They have addressed the down firing woofer's tendency to bloom, by adding low cut filter to the cabinet that's variable from 30-150 Hz and a switch that lowers the output of that speaker by -6 DB.
 
#51
Badong said:
Any updates here?
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I have a production prototype here at the shop, and it's quite cool. Can't get into too much detail until Rick okays it (a couple little things may still change slightly), but I can say that it's everything you expect from Acoustic Image - t's are crossed, i's are dotted... the thing is exceedingly well-engineered and well designed. Looking forward to being able to get these into customers' hands!
 
#52
Mark Gollihur said:
I have a production prototype here at the shop, and it's quite cool. Can't get into too much detail until Rick okays it (a couple little things may still change slightly), but I can say that it's everything you expect from Acoustic Image - t's are crossed, i's are dotted... the thing is exceedingly well-engineered and well designed. Looking forward to being able to get these into customers' hands!
Click to expand...

Mark,
Thanks, for the update, when I talked with Rick at the ISB convention he spent lots of time talking to me and showing the both the preamp and head. Rolling out a new product takes time.

Ric
 
#54
flexpre.jpg


Here's the preamp. I'll actually have these in stock in a couple weeks, maybe even a few days. The powered cab should follow shortly thereafter. I'm in the process of putting the details on the site, I just completed the preamp page and hope to have the powered cab info and photos posted later today.

US Pricing is somewhat dear: $599 for the preamp, $1399 for the powered speaker (essentially a powered Ten2, speaker-wise - but using a new tri-amped power amp - separate 300w power amps for each woofer and a 50w power amp for the tweeter.) So the combo will run you two grand.

Some really smart, powerful features throughout; explaining them all is why it's taking me so long to get the product descriptions up. ;-)
 
#58
Badong said:
Just to clarify, these will have the same front end features as the Flex preamp?
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Yes. The two-channel models of the Clarus, Ten2, Coda, and Corus will all take the new designation of "Series 4+" (four plus) and begin incorporating the Flex preamp (built-in as a head as before, NOT as the removable mic-stand mounted preamp), at a slight price increase.

The one-channel models will continue as Series 4 amps and remain the same (for now).
 
#60
Badong said:
Yes! First in line for the Clarus S4+! :bassist::bassist::bassist:
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BD,
Since I only took a look at the prototype, when I was at the ISB convention in Rochester NY there weren't any different models of the stand alone amp. At that time, Rick showed me the "Flex Head", but I was really more interested in the Flex Preamp. My Walter Woods Electroacoustic Ultra is back up and running, after being serviced by the man himself, so I think I'll let the early adopters tell us about the Flex. Sooner that later though, I'll have to have a backup for the Ultra, it would also be nice to have an amp with a built in DI, Low Cut Filters, 48v Phantom Power (for my DPA 4099B) and two full EQ channels. It's just hard to decide whether I just want to go with the Pre Amp, Amp, or the full tilt Flex. So many choices.

Ric
 

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