Bobalooba, the 'no meat on the bone' is the perfect description of my
concerns before purchasing the Alix. Vancebo, that is what I was describing
as 'dry'. The Fishman Platinum would fall in this camp where a Presonus Tubepre could be described as err'ing in the other direction. I spent too
many years in the Audiophile world. :-)
I played with the Alix more today. As Bobalooba says, I do at times feel
like I am walking a fine line between having meat and not. So far,
I have had good results with my Black Angel equipped Goodalls.
I can get the tonality fullness similar the PADI but with the added dynamics
I mentioned earlier. The soft touches on the strings finger-picked are
brilliantly revealed giving opportunity for more expression. When I bang
the guitar, the PADI gives me a quack, whereas the Alix doesn't.
When I tried my Collings D1 with a Trance Amulet, I could dial it in
somewhat, but there was definitely a lack of meat on the bone.
Gfsark, all my comments have been based on running through the T1
Tonematch mixer. I generally keep the ZEQ flat and add Reverb and Compression if needed Since my Black Angel is passive, I always prefer
the sound when I use a preamp/DI rather than going directly to the T1.
I also preferred the BA over the active M1A and M80 which I sometimes
ran direct to the T1 back a while ago. I guess that shows that I am OCD
about sound.....now we see why I am trying the Alix.
I DID take the T1 out of the chain and ran the Alix directly to the L1C
using the Line Out and volume control. Tonal characteristics were
similar, but it was grainy by comparison. ..not a horrible degradation, but there.
My thoughts on Day 2:
Given its price ,the Alix is definitely not a no-brainer. It can be unforgiving
with the wrong associated gear. If the added dynamics are important
to you, it is worth checking out. I am finding them somewhat addictive.
I still have some more time for evaluation. My Venue is in California
to have a broken phase switch fixed. I hope it comes in soon for a
shootout but deep down I think the results will be similar to the PADI.
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