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Gear Review
Korg AX10A™ Acoustic Guitar Modeling Processor
Korg AX10A Features:
* List Price - $250.00 (Does Not Include Power Supply) |
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Korg had press releases out for the AX10A in January of 2004, and debuted the whole new line at Winter NAMM. The only problem was, the other pedals were available quickly, but the AX10A wasn't actually available to the masses until around July! Being an acoustic player, I couldn't wait to get my hands on one, because I have tried most of the other acoustic processors on the market, and I had high hopes that the Korg would be something special. Finally after waiting for 6 months, the pedal became available to me, and I was able to give it a good workout.
Acoustic processors are kind of a specialty. Many of the manufacturers work hard to make a processor that attempts to perform a difficult task. The task at hand, is to make an acoustic guitar that is run directly into the pedal, sound like an expensive all solid wood construction mic'd acoustic guitar. The pedals usually come with other effects included such as chorus and reverb, but the big selling point is that mic'd and modeled sound. Is the advertising just hype, or is there something to it?
Let's take a look...and a listen.
What's Inside the Package
The Korg AX10A comes in a flip top box with the unit wrapped in protective foam wrap. You get the pedal, and a nicely detailed owner's manual, a warranty card and survey, and that's about it. Not much in the way of extras. At a minimum, I believe they should include a power supply with unit for the asking price. Spending another $20-$30 on a power supply just seems like highway robbery after shelling out $189.00 plus tax and shipping for this processor. The ability to use batteries and be portable is definitely a bonus though in my experience.
Construction
This pedal is plastic all the way around the top and sides. It's silver and a cool dark green metallic color on each side. The bottom is some sort of metal. I gigged with it quite a bit, and found it gig worthy for a while. I did have a problem within a month of use though. The input jack which is mostly plastic started making a pop noise when I would move sometimes on stage. When an acoustic electric guitar is hooked up through a big PA, and the volume is turned up, and then at a quiet moment there is a massive POP; let me tell you, it is an embarrassing and annoying thing to have happen. Experiences like that, have made me gun shy of using anything but the best solid built pedals. The jack seems to have come a little loose at the solder joint. It's something that will have to be fixed eventually. Fortunately, the AX10A has a 1 year warranty.
Connections
The rear panel of the AX10A is quite sparse. The unit is lacking connections that some of the competitors include for about the same money; such as a USB port and Midi ports. The 1/4" input and output jacks are a combo of plastic and metal. I sure wish that all manufacturers would just bite the bullet, and use the nice sturdy all metal 1/4" jacks. At least these are mostly metal.
This pedal isn't the only one that has caused me problems with popping. It's understandable on a piece of gear that is used day in and day out for years. Definitely not understandable on something recently purchased.
Aside from the input and output jacks, it's pretty much just a connect the cords and go pedal. No fuss and nothing fancy in the connections, but connections aren't what this processor is all about. It's all about the sound.
Acoustic Guitar Sound
There are 80 sound programs available here. 40 preset and 40 user programs. That's gotta be plenty for just about any user. Most guitarists are probably gonna pick about 10-20 presets, tweak them, and be fine for any situation.
This is a modeling and a multi-effect pedal, so Korg has seen to it that there is a lot to play with. I spent hours goofing with all the sounds in my home studio and at church through the PA. The effects are decent. The choruses, delays, and reverbs all have their own tone. Most of the sounds I experimented with in the pedal sounded warm. That's a nice change. I think if this processor was run through a tube pre-amp, the sound would be quite convincing. In my usual A/B test for acoustic modeling pedals, I record with the processor I'm reviewing, and then I record the same guitar with a condenser mic only (or two). I do this to see if the pedal's sound really is anything like a mic'd acoustic. Manufacturers sometimes make big claims such as "real mic'd acoustic guitar sound", and many times the sound is anything but.
You'll have to read our other reviews of processors from competing processors to make a comparison. I gotta say this pedal surprised me! In my home studio with monitors a blazing, I can get an accurate representation of the real sound that the processor makes. Let me tell you...in my A/B comparison, this pedal was closer to the real mic'd acoustic than anything I've tried, including the Fishman Aura, Zoom 504II, Yamaha Magicstomp, Yamaha AG Stomp, and the Boss Products. That's saying a lot. Now the effects, (such as the choruses, delays, and reverbs), do not sound as high end studio quality as the Yamaha products. They are fine though, and not a drawback at all. Again they have their own warm tone.
The modeling is quite good. You have all the adjustments available via actual knobs you can turn. That means that there is a knob to turn, and each click is a different guitar or mic model. Another knob allows you to change ambient and chorus effects such as reverbs, air, echo, delays, slap, etc. There's a compressor, limiter and exciter instantly controllable by dedicated little buttons. Sweet! How about this...there are dedicated knobs for all tone controls, level, and even a notch filter knob. As I used the AX10A in praise and worship concerts over and over again, I began to appreciate being able to quickly adjust all kinds of parameters to fit the venue, and then save them in memory at the touch of a button. There are also two big black footswitches for patch changing, and activating the built-in chromatic tuner. Very easy and comfortable to use. But still they are plastic; I guess I can't have everything!
Back to the modeling. Generally it's a stretch for me to say that an acoustic processor's sound is anywhere close to my condenser mics. I don't have to stretch it with this one. In my A/B comparison it was close to the mic's sound with some tweaking. Now I'm not saying it was EXACTLY like a mic'd acoustic sound, but it was close enough for even the finicky of us to have to admit that Korg is onto something here. Plus, there was more than one sound that worked for recording. So I found myself experimenting with the Korg's mic'd acoustic sounds while recording, that I never would have gotten without the AX10A. For me that inspired creativity and song writing, which made me appreciate this processor.
Something we haven't mentioned is the built-in expression pedal. It's a nice feature not found on most of the competition. You have real time control of effects and volume parameters. I used this to some extent. Before trying the AX10A, I didn't think about it; but just having a volume pedal gave me ideas for volume swells and other things, that I used to only limit to electric guitar playing. Another nice feature.
Conclusion
Despite the problem with the input jack, I liked this pedal. It's actually feasible to record with it. It's very quiet, and has usable, good quality sounds that pretty much do what the advertising says they do. It's also a very useful pedal for live gigging use. You have a lot of control, and can switch and re-program sounds so quickly that I can't imagine wanting for more. Of course I'm still gonna use condenser mics as a mainstay on my acoustic guitar recordings, but having the AX10A to use as an option is a good thing.
Live playing with this pedal is also rewarding, because there is so much adjustability, and it has several quite useful mic and acoustic models. Feedback wasn't an issue, because no mic was really involved, but you can get a convincing mic'd sound without feedback, so all I can say is "Way to go Korg!" For future models I would suggest an all metal casing, all metal inputs/outputs, and upgrading the effects quality a bit. These are only minor gripes, so if was in need of an acoustic modeling pedal, then this is the one I'd buy. And I did.
by William Charles
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