Prototype Flyrig? How can I resist?!?!

baimun

Funkasaurus Rex
I've been a big fan of my Flyrig RK5 and Tech 21 has two new ones coming out... the Cali (Mesa) and the Brit (Vox I think). The production one is kind of a blue-purple print, but the prototype is Turquoise....

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Tech 21 is offering their two factory prototypes on Reverb.... so... HNPPD for me. :helper:
 
"Brit" is Marshall flavor, "Liverpool" is Vox flavor. The Brit version is giving me major GAS......Cool find for the prototype, though!
 
Why do they do the SansAmp and the Cali in the same rig? Isn't the SansAmp just an amp emulator? and the Cali a Mesa style Amp emulator? I would rather have the branded amp emulator (Cali, Brit, etc) with the boost but replace the SansAMp section with some kind of modulation.
 
I'd really like to try the RK5 but I've never seemed to bond with tech 21 stuff. I've had a few different things from them over the years including the Tri AC running through a power engine 60. The Tri AC looked cool on paper but it was missing the bloom of a nice tube amp. The tone just fizzled away and you could actually hear "transistor crack" when the transistor went from being overdriven to clean as the signal died. I'm wondering if the RK5 is better than all my previous experience with tech 21.
 
Why do they do the SansAmp and the Cali in the same rig? Isn't the SansAmp just an amp emulator? and the Cali a Mesa style Amp emulator? I would rather have the branded amp emulator (Cali, Brit, etc) with the boost but replace the SansAMp section with some kind of modulation.

The sans amp is like a clean channel... and honestly, it works really well direct into an amp. I don't know if there's some kind of high/low output sensing... but I've run the same unit into the console and into the front of the amp with good results both ways. There is a little more sizzle if I run the OMG distortion (RK5 version) without the clean channel engaged, but they're both usable sounds.

With my live rig, i'm usually running the clean channel of my Mesa, then I use the delay and boost from the pedal... if I engage the "clean" or the sansamp channel, I have it dialed into a beefy smooth clean as opposed to the spanky funk clean that I set my amp to. Likewise, I'm using the distortion either on top of a spanky clean channel, or on a thick smooth clean channel with expected variations.
 
The sans amp is like a clean channel... and honestly, it works really well direct into an amp. I don't know if there's some kind of high/low output sensing... but I've run the same unit into the console and into the front of the amp with good results both ways. There is a little more sizzle if I run the OMG distortion (RK5 version) without the clean channel engaged, but they're both usable sounds.

With my live rig, i'm usually running the clean channel of my Mesa, then I use the delay and boost from the pedal... if I engage the "clean" or the sansamp channel, I have it dialed into a beefy smooth clean as opposed to the spanky funk clean that I set my amp to. Likewise, I'm using the distortion either on top of a spanky clean channel, or on a thick smooth clean channel with expected variations.

I get that, but it seems odd, that here is a multi effects box, you get amp sound 1, amp sound 2 and delay. I guess their intended audience is folks running direct. I know I wouldn't get much use out of, my clean amp, a little more dirty (sansamp), more dirt (cali) and a boost. But then again, any kind of multi is lost on me :grin:
 
I use a one-channel amp, and the RK5 gives me, in essence, two additional channels -- so I get clean, slightly overdriven, and distortion.
 
I'd really like to try the RK5 but I've never seemed to bond with tech 21 stuff. I've had a few different things from them over the years including the Tri AC running through a power engine 60. The Tri AC looked cool on paper but it was missing the bloom of a nice tube amp. The tone just fizzled away and you could actually hear "transistor crack" when the transistor went from being overdriven to clean as the signal died. I'm wondering if the RK5 is better than all my previous experience with tech 21.

I had one of their Amps a while ago. It was weird, it was the only amp I've owned where pickups made a dramatic difference. With my AM Standard Strat, it sounded really good. I plugged in a MIM strat and it sounded like garbage. The same 2 guitars had little difference in tone through my Hot Rod Deluxe.
 
Just tried it out and I really like it. It's not insanely different from the RK5... the distortion is smoother and has a different EQ curve. I'll be able to set "clean" channel and the two distortions differently between the two units so I'll have "Crisp Clean", "Meaty Clean", "Mild Push", "Overdriven", "Rawk" and still have two different boosts available. I'm also interested in trying two different tap tempo delays into each other... one quick and one long. :baimun:
 
I used it tonight sitting in with a band plugged into a Fender Bassman and it sounded really good. (of course the bassman sounded awesome too, so there were times I only used the delay and boost, but still... pretty portable pedalboard.)
 
I can now fit the Flyrig, one of my Boomerang III loopers, and a Polytune Nano in a Pedaltrain Micro bag and I've got the bare essentials for a gig. :baimun:
 
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