Reamp (Cuniberti) bought by Radial, any good?

[GuitarHack]

I very well might be (very) late to the party, but Cuniberti Reamp has been bought by Radial http://www.reamp.com/order.html.

So, is the new Radial version any good? I am in the market for a re-amper, (not the X-amp, had that and the signal level loss was a deal breaker) so was considering this one http://www.radialeng.com/r2011/jcr.php

Any personal experience good or bad would be interesting to read, thanks.

Or, what do you recommend instead? Thanks.

 

[Empathy]

It is literally the exact same thing in a different box. I was tossing up between it and the X-Amp, went for the X-Amp in the end.

 

[GuitarHack]

James, thanks for the response. What swayed you towards the X-amp over it? Do you have an issue with the output level loss with the X-amp? I remember at the time I had the X-amp, they were looking at a mod to bring the level up towards parity. How does it work for you?

Thanks

 

[Empathy]

Truth be told I've never had any level loss just running it cranked. I picked it over the JCR just for the dual output function - it's come in handy on a few occasions so far. I'd like to get my hands on one of the JCRs so I can check them back to back!

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

I still think the JCR I'd the best bet; in my re-amp shootout way back when I found I actually preferred the passive Reamp and Redeye over the X-amp, which I found imparted an ever so slight harshness(though part of that may have been from raising the amp gain to compensate for what I too found to be lower relative output) - Radial makes great shit, and I have no doubt the JCR is up to their (and John Cuniberti's) standards, and why deal with a PSU if you don't have to? (unless you wanna use the dual output feature; can't say it seems of much use to me, but I'd be interested to hear, Empathy/James, how you've been making use of it)

Of course, if you also need a good active DI, then the Redeye 3D is your all-in-one solution

 

[MatrixClaw]

I've owned both at once and definitely preferred the JCR. I always got the signal loss with the X Amp, or tons of noise, which made it practically worthless to me. The JCR had none of these issues. That being said, I use a Line2Amp now and am satisfied.

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

^Did you swap out the transformer in your Line2Amp dude? Cuz the one that came in my kit had a transformer that really lowered the output (acknowledged by the creator), far more than I remember the X-amp lowering it - though I dunno if he's since updated the kit in response to the complaints (I got mine in February)

 

[GuitarHack]

Thanks guys, looks like I will go with the JCR, or maybe consider the Redeye. Have you used the 3D version Marcus, or just the original? Which performs better as a reamp box? LL or JCR? Thanks

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Yeah, I bought the 3D a couple of months ago (it's great), and I found the Reamp and the passive Redeye to sound indistinguishable from one another as re-ampers, so I can only assume the same applies to the 3D. Really, it's all about cost; IMO the best re-amping chain is a Countryman Type 85 and a JCR, not for any tonal advantage over the Redeye 3D, but because you could use the Countryman live because of its durability compared to the Redeye 3D - sound-wise they should be about indistinguishable (I haven't been able to compare the Redeye 3D DI to the Countryman, but I have faith in LL to make it sound as good as it can, and my re-amps have been sounding dynamic and chunky!)

 

[GuitarHack]

Marcus, thanks for the detailed reply. Looks like I will go with the JCR. Thanks again.

 

[Empathy]

Think it's time to order a JCR for myself too, then!

 

[GuitarHack]

James, if you have never had any level problems, maybe you have one of the later "corrected" units (I see the latest units are yellow coloured). There was a thread here (in 2008, I think) outlining the corrected values of some Caps and Resistors that resulted in closer to unity Gain. If you don't notice a problem, don't shell out the cash on a different unit. Yours may be fine. Do a loopback test to make sure. Reamp your signal back into your preamp with unity gain and see what level you end up with compared to your Source level.

 

[Empathy]

Smart idea, I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I have this one (and lent it to Marcus for the shootout):

I LOVE how simple and durable it is. Fuck active designs. High quality parts inside a nice metal shell that protects it all, yes please thank you.

I've used this one as well, although the model had no nuetrik combo jack, just xlr so it's a bit less versatile in use.:

Honestly I don't know the difference other than it's purple.

 

[Eschatologist]

I just bought the Radial JCR and from my initial tests, so far so good