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someone just lent me an acoustic image head -CL1 I think it's the first generation, without the Reverb. I can't seem to connect it to my Hendriksen cab-- The cab takes a simple instrument cable, but the acoustic image head has this weird sort of connector that requires a special cable, that came with the head. Is there some sort of adapter that can attach this special acoustic image cable to my Henriksen cab ? Thanks.
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08-30-2015 02:06 PM
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This is what you need. It's a Neutrik Speakon to 1/4 cable adapter.
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The AI heads use a Speakon connection between amp and speaker. Speakon is pretty much a standard for speaker connections (and not so wierd), though a simple jack connector is also often used. The downside to the simple jack connector is that there's a risk of shorting the speaker cable if the jack is pulled out while the amp is on which can lead to damage. That won't happen with the Speakon connection. But since your speaker has only a jack connection, you have no choice but to use it. However, DON'T pull out the jack while the amp is on.
What you should be looking for is a Speakon to jack adaptor. Or alternatively, remove one of the jacks from the instrument cable you'll use and mount a Speakon connector instead, so you have a Speakon connector at the amp end and a jack at the speaker end.
EDIT: Oops, Klatu gave the answer while I was writing.
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The current AI heads come with that adapter.
Oh, and the cab you have takes a 1/4" plug, but I hope you don't actually plan to plug an instrument cable into it. I suspect you already know that, though, and were just trying to describe the 1/4" nature of your cab.Last edited by krusty; 08-30-2015 at 05:40 PM.
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Thank you all. Much appreciated. I just picked one of those up tonight. Amp works fine. I think I will profile it and see if the profile is close to the actual amp.
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OK, a very preliminary look at the acoustic image amp --- pretty good and very clear with a solid carvEd box with a floating pick up. Plywood with a setin pup--- pretty unimpressive to say the least.
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Many use some kind of preamp pedal in front of the AI head for added sound coloring. I use a Sansamp Paradriver DI, but say a Barber BarbEQ or the like also works well.
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What sounds does the Sansamp provide that the built in Acoustic Image preamp doesn't?
Originally Posted by oldane
A while back, I picked up a Joyo American Sound pedal just to see what influence an external preamp would have on the Clarus, and was surprised to find that I preferred the straight up Clarus sound.
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I believe the Sansamp Paradriver DI can provide nearly any sound you can think of (no reverb, delay etc. though). From light adjustments of the amps given sound to wildly destorted heavy metal sounds. The mid range control is semiparametric meaning you can move around the center frequency of the midrange as needed. The low and high controls has fixed center frequencies but they are well placed for guitar. It can be used with full sound processing or used as just an advanced tone control with anything in between by use of a stepless blend knob. The controls ranges are wider than on most preamp pedals, meaning that a slight turn of a knob produces a very audible change in sound. As such it's "temperamental" and it takes a while to get the hang of it. It's very easy to get an ugly and very artificial sound. But with practice it's also a very flexible tool. I have tried out other pedals with my AI head but despite there has come a lot of new pedals to the market since the introduction of the Paradriver DI, I keep coming back to it because I have found the settings that work well for me. Originally Posted by Klatu
I find the native sound out of the AI head somewhat dull. The Paradriver DI adds some luster and clearness to my sound which I like. MAybe an approximation of a tube amp, though of course not quite there - and it's be no means a Twin Reverb.
Some don't like it, though. Jack Zucker is one. And Jorge find that other pedals work better for him.
If you like the AI head better without anything in front of it, well, that's what you should use. Tastes vary. Pat Martino liked the "naked" AI head too, and who's to say he was wrong.
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While I preferred the sound of the Clarus piano to the Joyo, I do think that there is room for improvement, which is why I am open to the possibility of adding another preamp. I would also like the flexibility to transform the clear acoustic sound of the Clarus to the syrupy thick tones of my Evans or the classic scooped sound of an old Fender.
Along with the sound shaping capabilities of the Sansamp, I like phantom power feature. Anytime I can cut down on the number of wires required, I'm happy.
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Not sure why but I like the Joyo American on my Henriksen but not on my Schertler Jam 150 acoustic rig.
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So am I, but I ended up powering the Paradriver DI with a wall wart instead of with Phantom Power when at home, because there was a bit more hiss with Phantom Power. In a gig situation the difference is likely not audible. Originally Posted by Klatu
If you get one, don't blame me if you end up not liking it. As I wrote above, some love it and others hate it. And like I wrote, it's a temperamental beast and it takes some time until one finds the preferred settings (it may be why some doesn't like it, they never find those settings) - which for jazz likely will be close to a neutral setting. I have low, mid and high controls set close to 12 o'clock and fine tune the sound with the control for the center frequency of the mid range.
Some like, say, the BarbEQ better. I have compared them and I think I'm able to get the Paradriver DI to produce the same sound as a BarbEQ - but the range of the Paradriver is far wider. So the Paradriver was the keeper. The BarbEQ is basically an EQ unit while the Paradriver can also produce breakup like a tube amp (though nothing really sounds like one - except a tube amp). I like to add just a tiny amount of breakup, which is not heard as obvious breakup but as a slight fattening of a somewhat sterile SS amp tone. The BarbEQ doesn't offer that fattening.
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Oldane is right - I liked the PDDI but I like the Barb EQ a lot more. First I don't look for any sag ir tube emulation from these pedals but for a good eq. The Barber operates just like a Fender amp modded with a higher mid pot value which is perfect for me. My zoom ms100bt has a true parametric eq so I don't miss my PDDI.
I am having a polytone eq pedal arriving soon and the ethos clean is on my radar as the kingsley squire.
An important notice - my somewhat vast experience with eq pedals is limited to henriksen, mambo, jazzmaster ultralight and mu current digital rig. No experience with AI.
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my fender preamp works great with the AI amp. The AI has a parallel effect loop though so you can't run the preamp pedal into the effect return. However, it seems to work fine going through the front of the amp.
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I think there's a point here. The AI head is a very neutral amp, much like a PA amp, and I believe that the AI head colors the tone less than the mentioned amps. Thus a Paradriver DI with those amps may be too much coloring if the gain/processor is on. With the Paradriver DI, it's certainly possible to overdo it. If one own an amp which offers coloring by itself, a more simple EQ unit may be all that is needed. I also have a Mambo head and a Mambo 8 and I never use the Paradriver DI or any other pedals in front of them. Originally Posted by jorgemg1984
Yep. I have yet to try a pedal that didn't work well through the front of the AI head (not that I have tried that many). In fact I have never used the effect loop of the AI except a few times when I have bypassed the preamp and plugged directly into the FX return to use it as a simple effect amp. That of course necessitates the use of some external preamp. Originally Posted by jzucker
Last edited by oldane; 09-18-2015 at 11:31 AM.
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Jack your fender preamp is making me curious. Is it commercially available? Originally Posted by jzucker
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Agreed 0ldane - that's why I mentioned my lack of AI experience. And yeah I loved the Barb EQ with the Henriksen but the Mambo is just perfect as it is, the best ss "jazz amp".
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no, it was custom made. I have 2 of them. I'd lend you one if you want to try it. I think you should be able to find someone to build one for $200-$300 Originally Posted by jorgemg1984
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Thanks a lot for the offer Jack but me being in Portugal makes it hard
I can always get the Squire or another Barber but you praise yours si much I got curious.
I am not sure the guys I know here have the skills to design a blackface preamp in a pedal fornat.. but I can ask.
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there shouldn't be that much design involved. If I lend you mine, you can just blueprint the design but I guess shipping might make it prohibitive. Originally Posted by jorgemg1984
Thanks a lot for the offer Jack but me being in Portugal makes it hard I can always get the Squire or another Barber but you praise yours si much I got curious.
I am not sure the guys I know here have the skills to design a blackface preamp in a pedal fornat.. but I can ask.
I can send some high-rez pix of the wiring if that would help...
It's actually so simple I bet you could make it yourself.
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The fact that the Clarus head has parallel effects loops is of absolutely no significance when using an external preamp or modeler. You run the guitar directly into the preamp or modeler and run a line-level, unbalanced output from there into the Clarus's return. There's no signal running through the AI preamp, so even though it's connected, it has no effect. I usually turn down that channel's volume control to ensure no noise comes through.
The way to look at the circuit is that the return represents a mixer, with the volume up full on the side of the AI preamp, and a control to adjust the volume of the return signal. On a two-channel Clarus you can use all four inputs at the same time if you like. All of them are isolated and buffered, so there's no unwanted interaction.
The other advantage of the parallel loop is that you can use the send as an auxiliary output when using the AI preamp. I plug my tuner into mine, so it's not in the signal path.
The only disadvantage of this loop is that if you want to put an effects box inline, you can't have more than a 50% mix.
Danny W.
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Thanks a lot Jack, the pictures would be great, I'll send you an email. Originally Posted by jzucker
Ha ha you wouldn't imagine how disastrous I am with that kind if stuff. Perks of being dyslexic! But hopefully one of my techs can do it.
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