Re: Atomic is here
I've been using one for a couple months - here's the scoop as I've experienced it:
My modeler is a Vox TonelabSE by the way, a floorboard - but you plut it in via the effects input on the back of the amp, here's my opinion on the unit:
The amp is very neutral sounding, to get a good sound you've got to use the cabinet simulators in the modeler (unlike my peavey classic 50/50 tube amp and avatar cabinet). The speaker is a no name, similar in construction to a V30 and is somewhat midrange spikey so my assumption is it's a V30 copy. The cabinet is sealed back with a port in the front, the amp is oddly mounted in through the back of the cabinet, to get to the tubes you've got to remove a faceplate on the back (carefully), the power tubes are JJ, the preamp tubes are no name (I replaced mine with JJ's as well for reliability purposes). There are NO controls on the amp, you plug in and play, if your using a modeler without a footboard with a volume pedal you better get used to using either a floor volume pedal or the volume on your guitar. That's pretty much the extent of the technical info - the amp is 20 watts, A/B, as such if you change the power tubes you've got to rebias the amp.
How does it sound, I took some tweaking but I was able to get some very good tones out of the amp - it's very neutral so if the tones you get suck look to the modeler your using! The low end is very tight, not boomy, but thick, the mids and treble are very balanced. Getting a good clean tone at club volumes will be difficult if your playing with a hard hitting drummer, being a tube amp when driven hard it does interject it's own breakup (which doesn't sound bad), so if your a clean picking country player you probably won't be happy with the sound - fortunately I'm not into clean. On the shear volume issue this amp gets loud, easily cuts through in a band situation, the overdrives and crunch amp settings on my tonelab sound very good through the amp, it cuts through on solos. Here's my only real complaint, the amp is very directional - if you stand directly in front of the amp you'll have a hard time hearing it while the people 20 feet away are getting punished, an amp stand is highly recommended. This is due to the closed back design, it just doesn't disperse the sound well. I made a little fix, I installed a closed circuit 1/4 inch jack on the back panel which allows me to plug my avatar cabinet into the amp (8 ohm cab) it does cut out the speaker in the cabinet - there's no impedence selector on the amp. I've used this a couple of times at gigs and I much prefer the sound of the open back cabinet.
Unfortunately for this amp I purchased the peavey 50/50 classic tube power amp about a month back and I'm really happy with the tone and additional headroom. The Peavey is a similar concept, tube power amp, very neutral sounding - sounds awesome with my avatar cab.
So overall is the Atomic worth the $499 price tag? The amp is well made, I can't comment on reliability cause I haven't owned it that long but considering it doesn't have any high gain preamp circuits it should be pretty long lasting, the components on the inside look pretty good, no surface mount chips or crappy solder joints. The speaker is not anything to jump up and down about but it does it's job, I think if you take the price of a POD2 (around three bills) and add it to the Atomic you've got a good package for around $800 - that's a lot less than a Vox Valvetronix, Vetta or higher powered Cybertouch amp - and it's an all tube power section, so yes it's worth the money.
Anyone interested in one???? I'll probably be putting mine on ebay in the next week or so - but I'll work a deal for an interested forum member.
