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Fender Cyber-Twin Guitar amplifier. |
Fender Cyber-Twin Guitar amplifier
Specifications:
Power Output: 65watts per channel (130watts total)
Impedance: 8 ohms per channel
Preamp input impedance: 900k ohm
Sensitivity: adjustable using trim control
Effects loop: mono send, stereo return
SPDIF line out jack: RCA jack, digital stereo
XLR output jacks: stereo, mono/switchable
Tubes: 2X12AX7 Groove Tubes
Speakers: Celestion 2XG12T-100 (12inch, 8 ohm)
Footswitches: 4-button 5-pin MIDI type cord, 1-button effects switch (on/off)
Expression pedal jack: ¼ inch Tip, sleeve
MIDI: In, Out, through
Headphone jack
Weight: 25kg
FEATURES:
205-amplifier design presets
85 Custom shop (including FX, permanent)
35 your amp collection (permanent)
85 player’s lounge (re-writable)
28 individual effects with adjustable parameters
11 reverb types (each with 4 adjustable parameters)
4 Tone stacks (each with 2 location parameters before or after the distortion circuitry)
3 noise gate level settings (with adjustable depth)
4 Timbre types (for room acoustics or tone boosts)
Display and control panel: 40-character 2-line display
1 Dynamic-data wheel
8-motorised knobs drive circuitry
16 selections, 12 tube types, 4 solid-state types
MIDI implementation: 23 continuous controllers for auto-control by external
QUALITY:
PLAYABILITY:
BANG-FOR-THE-BUCK:
OVERALL:
Fender Cyber-Twin Guitar amplifier.
The last decade has seen tremendous developments for guitar players as far as equipment versatility is concerned. For years, keyboard players have had the luxury of being able to push a button and call up a sound as required whilst the guitarist had limited choice, depending of course on what amp and effects you owned. More sounds meant carting around more equipment such as stomp boxes, racks and even more amps to get the required results. As you can imagine things could really get out of hand, so an alternative had to be found. Enter the Digital era for guitar, an era which has already produced a number of quality products for the guitarist. If you’ve been reading this magazine in the past you would have read about some of the better ones. What’s interesting is that a lot of these products are from companies that are relatively new in the industry, while the giants of the guitar world have been quiet in this area of digital amplification. Fender however, are set to change this with the release of the Cyber-Twin guitar amp combo aimed at the player looking for total satisfaction in the way an amp should look, feel and perform. The day I took this amp out of the box, I knew I had something special. Like most Fender products, it came well packed and supplied with plenty of accessories, ready to be cranked up loud.
Fender’s success among musicians over the many years can be attributed to the fact that they’ve continued to incorporate experience to design innovation and mix it with current technologies. In the year 2001, appropriately, they’ve launched one of the most ambitious and technologically advanced products in the Cyber-Twin. According to Fender, the seed was sown in conversation. The idea of making a do-it-all guitar amp blossomed into an engineering crusade. The ‘quest for tone’ culminated in an all-star gathering. Players, collectors and Fender design guru’s sequestered themselves in a New York basement with a private collection of current and classic museum-quality amplifiers and guitars. One by one, they oscilloscoped, computer analyzed, documented - and listened - to numerous hall of fame guitars and amps made by Fender and other famous brands of amps.
When they emerged, they had created a blueprint for a flagship instrument in an entirely new category of amplifiers. Not another modeling amp, the Cyber-Twin is a warehouse filled with the Holy Grail of amplifiers, housed in one cabinet - and whose electronic architecture literally reconfigures itself and becomes the amp selected. When you choose, say, a ’59 narrow-panel 4x10 Fender Bassman, the Cyber-Twin doesn't just give you a snapshot of that amp at a single setting, it maintains the Bassman’s sonic personality - throughout its range of volumes and tones, which are all adjustable. Fender calls it Cybernetic Amp Design (or C.A.D., for short), "as it embodies science and communication; man and machine". At the helm of the Cyber-Twin is a three-tiered selection of preset sections: Your Amp collection, Fender Custom Shop, and Player’s Lounge - a total of 205 possible preset playing options. Your Amp Collection is a permanent collection of 35 of the greatest amp designs - from vintage to contemporary - including the Fender Bassman, the blackface Super Reverb and tweed Deluxe, plus some of the celebrated British stacks, and modern classics like Fender’s Vibro-King. The Fender Custom Shop features 85 permanent custom amp designs with effects - handcrafted, professional sounds perfect for any style, live performance or recording. Lastly, and perhaps the coolest feature, is the Player’s Lounge, 85 rewritable presets that you can design from the ground up to create your own sounds. You're not just adjusting EQ, you’re actually choosing from a palette of analog and digital circuit configurations, tone stacks, and dozens of effects. You can be your own amp designer, without the hassle of getting an engineering degree! That is what’s good about this amp. It’s so easy to use. The front panel is simple and very user friendly. The Cyber-Twin provides an arsenal of studio quality effects at your command - all the stereo delays and modulation effects that you’d expect, plus effects devices such as a virtual analog tape echo, backwards delay, and a catalogue of reverb types from Fender Reverb to plate. The Cyber-Twin doesn’t merely sound like a great amp it is a great amp with tubes, capacitors, resistors - the complex tone of analog drive circuits - alongside Fender’s award-winning DSP effects circuits. With a familiar control panel, it’s playable right out of the box - a full range of sounds available at the touch of a fingertip and a twist of a knob. Everything here is catered for and once you plug in and play, you’ll sure to be impressed. Once you get into the presets, you’re sure to find a sound that you’ll be able to work to your needs.
Overall I must say that for the short time I actually had the amp, I started to see the thinking behind the Cyber-Twin and I must say that Fender are on the right track. They’ve managed to provide a product that serves a number of applications. A quality live amp capable of producing a number of tones and effects all accessed via a footswitch and yet quite at home in the studio environment providing versatility and reliability that Fender are famous for. To cap it off the motorized faders are a nice touch and the removable castors (supplied) and amp cover are also supplied with the amp. You also get a CD-ROM, which I recommend to watch as it outlines the basics behind the design and concept of the Cyber-Twin. If you are into Fender amps, you’re gonna love this unit. If you are a bit skeptical, you need to check out the website at www.fender.com or visit your local Fender dealer and ask by name. Whatever the outcome, you need to experience what the fuss is all about. No doubt this amp won’t be for everyone but it’s certainly not for pussies. I can see plenty of pros upgrading to one of these babies, as the versatility is too good to pass up. When you weigh up the options you’ll find that in this league of amps, the Cyber-Twin is one amp to be reckoned with.
