NMD: Alto TS210

digitalscream

New Monitor Day - since the Helix is so good, I've decided to give FRFR a try. No more faffing around with amps/cabs/etc...

Three things struck me:

1 - It's very light - 10kg, and noticeably lighter than my Matrix NL212 (which is already lighter than it has any right to be).

2 - It sounds pretty damn good at loud home volume, although quite different to my Tannoy Reveal 6 studio monitors. Had to tweak my live patch a tiny bit to get it perfect (and disable the global EQ I'd set for my Rocktron Velocity + NL212 combination).

3 - It's tiny. Here you go - foot included for scale (size 9, if you want to get really precise about it):



I really hope this works out, because it reduces my rig weight by about 10kg and makes the whole lot transportable in one trip from the car with a hand free for opening doors

Mind you, the whole "1100W" thing is a bit of a con. I suspect it's not going to manage much more than 300 real watts, given that the rated consumption on the back is 450W. I don't think it'll to, though - its only job is making sure I can hear myself on stage. I've already tested the bit where it's a clear winner over the amp + cab setup: it sounds exactly the same within 45 degrees of the central axis, whereas a guitar cab sounds wildly different in every position (and, on the small stages we play on, that inevitably means I can't hear myself beyond a muffled "whump" when I hit a palm mute).

Another bonus is that I'll be able to adjust my volume on stage without affecting the feed to the desk...and, with the Helix, I can even have an entirely different EQ profile in my monitor.

I'm currently wondering how I'm going to use the second input and (basic) mixer on the unit, if at all. Current options are:

1 - Take a full-band feed from the desk. Not convinced about this, because of the chance of getting my own signal out-of-phase if the sound guy doesn't adhere to my requirements, and also because it's not a massively-high-powered unit and things could get muddy very quickly.

2 - Use the emulated line-out from the other guitarist's Blackstar HT-100, since I get most of my cues from him and the vocalist (whose monitor I can always hear anyway, because it's always offensively loud).

3 - Don't bother, just enjoy the fact that my own signal is finally audible after all these years.

Alnico

3.

Why didn't you buy two of them and have Stereo?

digitalscream

Alnico said:

3.

Why didn't you buy two of them and have Stereo?

'cos I don't need stereo on-stage - remember, this is just for me to hear what I'm playing. At home I use the Tannoys (stereo by default), and at gigs I can run a stereo feed to the desk if I want to (I won't, because we already have two guitars in the band and it'd make things messy).

I appreciate the sentiment, mind

drwiddly

Just done the same thing with a Yamaha dxr10 for either my Axe fx or Kemper. Sounds great at home but no chance to try it at band volumes for a couple of weeks (holidays, etc.).
Can I wean myself off the power amp + two 2x12 cabs? Not sure yet but it'll be a lot lighter!!

digitalscream

drwiddly said:

Just done the same thing with a Yamaha dxr10 for either my Axe fx or Kemper. Sounds great at home but no chance to try it at band volumes for a couple of weeks (holidays, etc.).
Can I wean myself off the power amp + two 2x12 cabs? Not sure yet but it'll be a lot lighter!!

The way I see it...I don't really care about losing the "boom" of an amp + cab setup, because when I'm on stage that never matters; what matters far more is that I usually play the gig pretty much guessing at what the audience are hearing and I have to crouch down next to the speaker to hear myself. It's usually due to a combination of uncooperative sound guys, insistence on minimising the on-stage volume and tiny stages.

If that problem goes away, then I see this as a win all-round.

drwiddly

I agree. For me, if I sound good, I play better and I need to hear the rest of the band. If this Rig ticks those boxes, I'll be very happy. On big stages I will probably use the power amp and cabs but for normal pub gigs this will be great if it works as well as I hope.

Beexter

drwiddly said:

I agree. For me, if I sound good, I play better and I need to hear the rest of the band. If this Rig ticks those boxes, I'll be very happy. On big stages I will probably use the power amp and cabs but for normal pub gigs this will be great if it works as well as I hope.

I used my AX8 straight into a DXR10 this weekend on an outdoor stage and had no problems hearing it. Xlr from AX8 to DXR and then the sound guy took an Xlr out from the DXR to the desk.
Super quick to set up and even the sound engineer commented on how good it sounded.

IME, a single, good sounding FRFR in front of me as a monitor works great and both the Alto and Yamaha get the job done well. 

FarleyUK

I have 2 of these with my Helix - fantastic speakers, especially for the price. I'm using them as actual backline speakers for the guitar though, not monitors (although the option to use one as a monitor if required is a nice position to be in!).

midlifecrisis

we use the slightly larger 12 inch ones as our main pa, cheap as chips, lightweight and good sound

gearaddict

How much betterer are the DXR10s? Twice as betterer?

Beexter

gearaddict said:

How much betterer are the DXR10s? Twice as betterer?

Probably not but I got a great deal on both my Altos and DXR by buying them all used so the price difference wasn't a factor. 

John_A

gearaddict said:

How much betterer are the DXR10s? Twice as betterer?

Had an Alto ts110 and the Dxr is defnetely louder and clearer at volume, 'better' is subjective.  The 210s are supposed to be a lot better