| Review of the Eden CXC110 by Jennifer Clark |
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Many of my gigs are within walking distance of home, and for several years I had been using a 125W Laney RBW200 combo for these and others accessible via public transport. I used a suitcase type dolly to carry it, sometimes over distances of a mile or so, and while I enjoyed the sound, the weight, size and awkward shape were beginning to cause me concern. The obvious solution was to obtain a smaller and lighter combo capable of performing to a similar standard as the existing one – a tough challenge since a couple of local bandleaders had recently made very positive comments about the sound quality of my current rig. Having discarded several other contenders in a similar weight/performance range, I received the Eden CXC110 combo on trial for a week, just in time to test it at a couple of gigs. At 39 lbs the weight was not much less than my existing combo, although the saving is noticeable when you carry it more than a few feet, either manually or on the dolly. The shape is narrower and less deep, and this combined with the comfortable handle makes it far easier to carry, especially up stairs. It also has better balance on the dolly, meaning less oscillation and fatigue when wheeling it around – anyone who has used one of these will know exactly what I mean! |
| I had the opportunity to try the CXC110 at home prior to the gigs, albeit at moderate volume levels, and did a direct comparison with my existing combo. It was immediately obvious that the CXC110 had the superior sound; there was something musical and enchanting about the tone that the other combo lacked - it even made my cheap old fretless sound good. In fact, to say that the tone was superior is really understating things; it was in a different league entirely. At this point I knew I wanted to keep it, but great tone aside, this amp had a job to do - it still had to prove itself in a live band situation. I was sincerely hoping that it would.
The first gig was with an 18 piece jazz orchestra in a large pub with a high ceiling and balcony, packed with several hundred people - a big space to fill in sonic terms. Soloists had their sound reinforced through the substantial PA system, but the bass, keyboards and drums had no PA support. The band is led by a very strong drummer, so I felt that this would be an excellent test for the CXC110 - if it performed well here, I could be confident it would perform well at the other venues I frequent. I started out with fairly standard amplifier settings, with the enhance control at 9 o’clock, gain set as described in the manual, and the “warm” circuit on. The bass was plugged straight into the amplifier, and as big bands have a large dynamic range I set the compressor to zero. |  |
| My first surprise was the bass response, which was far greater than I had expected, and certainly more than I am used to. Rather than invoke the amplifier EQ, which I had set to bypass, I rolled off some bass and added a bit of treble from the active tone controls of my bass. This had the desired effect of reducing the boominess I was experiencing, but reduced the overall volume, something easily compensated for by increasing the master volume of the amplifier. In my experience, the big band sound demands that the bass has enough presence to provide the rhythmic pulse of the music, but not dominate the acoustic instruments, and the CXC110 was able to deliver this with a tight, well defined tone.
The next gig featured a jazz quintet in a small pub with a capacity of approximately 100 people, and turned out to be a more demanding test than the previous one. There was no time to check the sound of the amplifier before the gig started, and I had more difficulty getting the level of bass correct when the band began playing. In this venue, there was a very fine line between the bass being too boomy at one extreme, and too thin at the other – the correct level was somewhere between the two, and it took a couple of songs to find it. At this point I began to appreciate the accuracy and clarity of the “notched” dials on the amplifier, which will allow accurate recording and reproduction of settings when revisiting venues one has previously encountered. With the bass level sorted, the variety of musical situations at this gig allowed me to focus on the nuances of the amplifier to a greater extent than the previous one, and my first observation was that the tone of the CXC110 during bass solos was an absolute knockout. I've never heard the like before; it was beautiful to the extent that it made me play differently; more articulation, longer notes, and vibrato sounds incredible. I had no idea the D, G and high C strings on my bass could sound this smooth, even way up after the 12th fret - a member of the audience remarked that my bass had great sustain and "sounded like a real musical instrument". The drummer thought that the bass had a warm tone, yet remained punchy. At the start of the second set I connected an 8 Ohm 1x15” cabinet to the CXC110 to evaluate its performance with an external speaker. Bass response improved - not that I had found it lacking previously – and volume increased, but I disconnected it after one song. My objective, after all, was to test the CXC110 as it is, not with external assistance - the whole point of this exercise is to avoid carrying large speakers around! And if truth be told, after disconnecting the 1x15”, I was not concerned by its absence. During this gig I had the master volume at about 1/3 of maximum, and at the larger venue it had been at set to ½. Notes on the low “B” of my Dean six string sounded fine at both, with plenty of headroom for occasional “stadium endings” to songs. Adding the 1x15” cabinet improved the definition of the “B” string, but as mentioned previously I did not miss the additional speaker when it was not in use. The final verdict? The CXC110 is the best amplifier I have ever used. It makes my bass playing sound more musical than any other amplifier or audio processing equipment I have previously encountered; by this I mean that the simple act of playing a single note draws me into the sound, in the same way a beautiful note on a trombone or traditional stringed instrument does. As a result, playing takes less effort, and is more pleasurable and inspiring. I’m keeping it. |
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