New Amp- Let me have it!

[darwinohm]

Everything thing that I do is a moving target and technology intrigues me. Three weeks ago I bought the Bogner Alchemist which sounded terrible when I got it home. It is now a sweet amp. With my A/B, A+B switch, it, with my custom 15 is awesome. The Bogner tap delay is worth the price I paid for the amp. I put my Fender Pro reverb on CL last week and wanted to trade it for a nice tele type guitar. Last Tuesday a fellow contacted me and asked if I would be interested in trading for a Cyber twin SE. I immediately go into research mode and did a lot of research. I discovered that this amp is loved/hated and there is nothing in between. First of all the presets on this thing are not very good. Everything is on the edge and nothing in the middle. The guy who owned it was not into programming. He tried the Pro reverb and said it would work for him. I said that the Cyber SE would probably work for me afters a few days of figuring it out. This amp can be programmed to anything that you want to do. It is not intuitive for most people but to a computer geek is as good as it gets. It is not a modeling amp but has a different circuit for all the amps that it does. I cannot comment on the effects as I am not an effects guy but you can get some real sweet stuff out of this thing. I have a MIDI foot controller on order to run this thing. So, the bottom line is that those who program these things really get some good things out. As said by others who own this thing, if it doesn't sound good, it is your own fault. Stay tuned and I will report as I get smarter on this thing. If any of you own one, any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks Darwin

[blargfromouterspace]

I have never played through a cyber twin. I'd like to give one a go, just to see how good the modeling is. The sounds produced by these sophisticated circuits is getting better and better all the time. I have found multi function gizmos, be it an amp or an effects unit, to be too difficult to use. I usually end up hopelessly lost in their banks of 100+ presets and user specified settings. A lot of the difficulty come from the function of the foot switches - if they're designed correctly it can make a huge difference in the usability of the end product. Hopefully Fender have it set up to be as user friendly as possible. I look forward to your review, Darwin, and best of luck at the helm of that mother-ship of an amp!!!!

[blargfromouterspace]

How are you going with that amp, Darwin?

[darwinohm]

Blarg, this is a great amp. I can make it sound like my custom twin reverb 15 and I am waiting to get the MIDI foot controller for it before I get into heavy duty programming. The controller is on order. I am an old computer dude so this will be interesting for me. People either hate these things or they love them. The guys that program these things like them. They say that if it sounds bad it is your own fault. I was surprised at what a difference speaker phasing makes in the sound. It can add a neat effect when you reverse the phasing between speakers. There are not many of the presets that I like. They are all over emphasized probably to impress people when they first hear them. When I get the MIDI I will get into it and report. I didn't even know what MIDI was until 2 weeks ago!--Darwin

[standards guy]

I had a Cyber Deluxe for a while, which could only do stereo effects with another amp combined.
There were some sounds in there I never heard before (or since).

It was great at home for getting lost for hours playing with various sounds, but I never did a gig with the amp as it was a bit too much to keep track of. The controller was pretty cool. I've had worse ("universal" controllers: blech!).

One of my favorite things with Cyber amps over other processors, etc., is the ability to get an old Champ sound but at decent usable volume and with some reverb.

[Boogie Bill]

The modeling amps are kinda cool, I admit--but giving up a vintage Pro Reverb???? That's one of my Holy Grail amps.

[darwinohm]

Bill, if it had been a vintage series it will still be here. It was a 2003-2005 build of the new Pro Reverb series. It was replaced by the supersonic. I use my Twin Reverb custom 15 reissue all the time and never used the Pro Reverb. I was looking for something different and when I get the MIDI I will figure everything out and report. Thanks---- Darwin