Anyone demo this yet?
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SoloAmp/

Any info on if it would be good for KB's in addition to guitar players?

Thanks-



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Bill in Dayton

Bill, not the Solo, but I did hear the Fishman Combo this summer outdoors and the guy was playing guitar and singing thru it. It sounded pretty d*** good to me.

There was a post several months ago about this one and the general consensus was that it was a great guitar amp, but mediocre at best for keyboards. Additionally, you would still need to purchase a powered subwoofer, and the rated power was peak power--not RMS. At $900 with no sub, relatively low power, you get a better bang for the buck if you purchase the old model Bose L1.

Gary

After searching for a few hours last night and this morning, I couldn't find one instance of a keyboard player using this system. So I called Fishman Transducers directly up in Massachusetts. I spoke to a guy names Erik in their technical support. His comments basically distill down to the following:

1) It was designed/built to be a guitar amp system...Not a keyboard, bass, etc. system

2) He DOES however know of performers who do play non guitar instruments through it, and are very happy with it.

3) In his opinion, a keyboard player doing straight piano...no drums, bass, horns, etc,. would probably find this unit to be very good.

4) He acknowledged very candidly that the demands a full spectrum arranger would place upon it may leave some sonic zones lacking. Most likely the low end because the low ends on a T2 are quite different than on an acoustic guitar.

5) He also stressed that ideally a potential buyer would demo one using as close to the actual keyboard they would use with this and then evaluate it under those conditions.

...Generally, I thought the guy to be pretty frank about it not working ideally for our applications.

The alleged original developer, has his own "version" scheduled for release early in January 09. Its called a bagamp and would retail from around $500...
http://www.collinsamerica.com/page2/page2.html

I have emailed him directly this morning and asked if his product would be suitable for my use. I'll report back his reply...

This doesn't look like a promising way to go, but we'll see...

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Bill in Dayton

Thanks for doing the legwork Bill. Looking forward to your report on the email.

Gary

...my CS rep at Sweetwater will be setting up a T3 and the Fishman system in their demo room over the weekend so he can get his arms around how it actually sounds. They are technically closed - (M/E Inventory), so it should be good conditions to do this...

If he feels this produces good quality results, my lovely Wife and I may take our normal Sunday morning drive / lunch date up to Ft. Wayne, IN and put it through its motions with my actual T2 and Digitech harmonizer, with my mic, etc...I'll also set up my current PA side by side to compare...(If I'm going all that way, why not, eh?)


A major question for me is the low end response and overall general output. If this doesn't look usable, then I think a Bose in the way to go...


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Bill in Dayton

[This message has been edited by Bill in Dayton (edited 11-21-2008).]

update...

CS rep at Sweetwater just called back to say he ran a PSR900 through it and thought it performed very well...

He said output wise, if the two of us had been standing within 5-10 feet of it at 50% volume, we would've had to really yell to each other to be heard.

Clarity wise he thought it sounded a bit "broken up" (his words) when we stood right next to it, but improved as he moved more than 5' away. He commented that may be more a function of his hearing and not the Fishman.

I've asked him to grab one of the hardcore kb guys and have them put the psr through it and see what they think.

Hopefully, I'll hear something early next week on his findings...

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Bill in Dayton

This thing IMO is nothing more then a pa system to for a business meeting at Amway or a very lightweight acoustic guitar coffee house gig....go with a tried & true system....from the top manufacturers.....heres a nice unit also ...from Roland...watch the video demo

http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.aspx?ObjectId=698&ParentId=33



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 11-21-2008).]

Here's some more info on the roland unit...
http://www.rolandus.com/community/insider/hands_on_articles.aspx?ArticleId=14




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Bill in Dayton

Plus ONE...Fishman is trying to capitalize on the Bose success without the Bose technology or price. For small guitar gigs it would be fine. But may as well spend more and cover ALL possibilities

Or spend less and keep what you've got (which will be VERY likely to sound better than this!)...

You've got to remember... you are NOT a keyboard player!

You are a drummer and a bass player, too. Take one of THEM along, and ask them whether they'd be OK playing through one of these. Then stand back

Why do you think Bass players don't play through a few two or three inch speakers? Why are kick drums 20" and up? Physics...

It sounds great for guitar and vocals ..... that's it's purpose. For kbs...you'd have to stay very quiet and live with only moderate bass response.
I advise to pass on this if you do a OMB deal.