FS: Acoustic Image Contra combo amp, NYC
Steve Freides
model. I have no idea if the newer model will make any difference, but
I've been using mine for keyboards a lot lately and the newer model has
a defeatable tweeter while mine doesn't have a tweeter at all - haven't
missed it, but figured I'd give the newer model a try.
If you aren't familiar with these amps, they've been discussed here now
and then but are more popular with upright players, although these amps
will handle anything you throw at them. I've used mine for electric and
acoustic guitars, keyboards, and both electric and upright bass. AI's
claim to fame is that their amps have no sound of their own - their goal
is high fidelity to the input, so if you're looking for a particular
sound from you amp, this ain't it unless you can get that sound directly
from your instrument or via an effect.
New these are now $1049 most places and another $125 for the padded gig
bag, which I'm including.
$650 for mine.
I far prefer someone local to buy it and pick it up here, and I've
placed an ad on the local craigslist, but if it doesn't sell within a
week or so, I'd consider shipping it.
Thanks for reading.
-S-
Steve Freides
Misifus
Congratulations. That was quick.
-Raf
--
Misifus-
Rafael Seibert
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rafiii
home: http://www.rafandsioux.com
Steve Freides
It's great stuff - bought by a gigging upright bass player. I just
replaced with because I found a good deal on some slightly newer, and
more appropriate to my purposes, gear from the same company. Instead of
a combo amp, I've now got a Contra-EX, which is the speaker cabinet, a
newer model that's got a tweeter, which I wanted because I use mine for
keyboards a lot. The integrated amp is Clarus 2R Series III, recently
discontinued. It'll put out 400 watts into the 4 ohm cabinet mentioned
above, and 800 watts into 2 ohms if you add a second cabinet. It's got
more bells and whistles than I'll ever need, but I wanted a 2-channel
amp because I often end up plugging our upright bass player _and_ my
keyboard into it at the same time. It's got phantom mic power, a
high-pass/notch filter, 3 band eq (the old one had that), several
effects like reverb and chorus, a direct out and the ability to have
that be pre- or post-eq, an effects loop, and the list goes on and on.
I got $500 for old gear, and paid $850 for the replacements.
-S-
Misifus
I was tempted, but I just can't justify it now.
Steve Freides
AI is not everyone's cup of tea - it sounds like exactly what you put
into it, and some people don't like that, i.e., they want their amp to
have its own sound. I find this is especially true of people who've
gotten used to playing through other rigs - they don't like the change
in sound, and that's because they like what their current amp does and,
if anything, they want more of that, not less. I came in w/ no biases,
just wanted my upright to sound as much like my upright unamplified as
possible, and I've frankly been very happy with a $50 pickup and this
relatively expensive (for someone who plays out as little as I do) gear.
I started off with a borrowed Fishman pickup and didn't like the sound -
too scratchy, too much bow noise and the like.
Pickups are yet another thing with uprights, and I suspect that I've
gotten to like the sound of my $50 pickup and its distortions and will
probably not like a better one when I hear it again <sigh>.
-S-