Recording - July 2012 - 22

JDX 500
The JDX Reactor Speaker Simulator is another Radial device that has existed for a few years in standalone form and has been adapted to the 500-Series format. Reviewer Fernando Curiel took our first look at the original JDX back in our November 2009 issue. The JDX is an interesting box as it is equal parts straight-up guitar DI as well as a speaker simulator, or both at the same time. The JDX in its simplest mode is a device that offers a quick, clean DI to capture your guitar’s direct signal into your DAW, but in reality that’s more of a bonus feature, considering what the JDX really does. In a world where amplifier plug-ins and simulators are becoming all the rage, the JDX takes part of this idea—speaker emulation—but allows you to capture the tone and nuance of your guitar amp in the process. It does so by living between your amp head and your speaker cabinet. With that come two caveats: For one, this is not a type of power soak device (for playing loud amps at reasonable volumes), and number two, you must have a speaker plugged in while running it, as the JDX uses the actual speaker’s reactions in its calculations for increased realism.

Reamp sound, the Reamp JCR offers a nice bang for the buck, both sonically and functionally. For our last reamp device we move into the 500-Series format and the redesign of an established Radial classic...

X-AMP 500
Darwin Grosse gave us our first look at the X-AMP in its original standalone version back in our August 2004 issue. He was impressed and felt that, just like the above units, it was simple to use and, better still, sounded like the “real thing”. The X-AMP is and was Radial’s best known and most popular reamplification device. The biggest difference between it and the other boxes mentioned so far is that it is an active device and capable of driving a pair of amps at one time. The standalone version contains an output attenuator, phase switch, and external power supply (required since it is an active device where phantom power is not an option). In its new 500-Series format, power is supplied by the rack enclosure, and internally the X-AMP uses 100% discrete active buffering along with transformer isolation to eliminate ground loops. Other than its new yellow color scheme the X-AMP 500 is functionally similar to its stand-alone sibling, but with some nice logical enhancements. On its faceplate are two output channels (fed by a mono source), each with its own independent output control, on-switch complete with green LED indicator, and ground lift. Channel Two also contains a 180-degree phase (polarity) switch. The 500-series X-AMP also includes an additional feature accessed through its Omniport when used in one of Radial’s Workhorse boxes. In this instance the Omniport becomes a simple guitar-level 1/4" input and allows the X-AMP 500 to function as a simple ABY guitar splitter/distribution box, allowing the guitarist to audition and play a pair of amps at once. Please note that this is not a DI/instrument input for recording at the same time. I have my Workhorse connected to my studio’s patchbay, so running a signal out of my DAW into the X-AMP was even easier than using breakout cables with the other boxes, and being able to mike up and run two amps at once and spread them wide in the room for natural stereo imaging was very cool indeed. Reamp conclusions I evaluated all three reamplification boxes mentioned above, as well as a fourth model reviewed on page 50 of this issue, on a pair of tube-based amps—Marshall JCM 900 half stack and 10" Mesa Boogie Express—and a pair of solid-state amplifiers— Roland JC-120 and a Carvin 2x12 combo. In each instance I matched the output signals to guitar level and recorded them back into my DAW with a Shure SM57 through a Chandler Little Devil mic pre (also reviewed in this issue—see page 34). Each pass was level-matched within 0.2 dB and while it would satisfy some gossip-hungry urge to tell you that the differences were huge, for the most part I really could not tell that much of a difference. That’s a good thing for a reamplification box in most cases, because you should be hearing the guitar and the amp, not the device connecting them. I can mention that the JCR had the most headroom and the ProRMP had the least, but other than that, they all worked fantastically well and sounded like the real thing being played live, so the choice will most likely come down to price point, format, features and your specific needs. Our last two Radial pieces in this issue’s guitar-tools roundup are both 500-Series modules. First we’ll take a few steps away from reamping towards amp reproduction and guitar tracking...
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RECORDING JULY 2012

The front of the 500-series version starts with the original’s design and has the switchable 1/4" input. (The rear-panel 500Series enclosure input lets you feed other modules into the JDX to take advantage of its filtering and cabinet emulation.) Below the input is the 1/4" output to the speaker. The rear output goes into your DAW. Additionally you can record the speaker’s output with a mic so you can mix, match and blend the two. To aid in dealing with phase-related issues in such cases, there is a 180-degree polarity inversion button; the unit also has a ground lift button. This is essentially where the original design ended. The 500-Series JDX has additional features. The first is that the input is switchable between direct guitar or amp input. The second is a matching button marked 300w that lowers the gain to compensate for high-output amps. Both controls have LED indicators. The remaining controls are all for the purpose of tone shaping and include a lowpass filter, variable from 800 Hz to 5 Hz, as well as my personal favorite—a low-frequency extension switch made to simulate the characteristics of a 15" bass cabinet. Even on a guitar signal it adds a tangible low rumble that feels like

Recording - July 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - July 2012