Xitone wedge vs J Design Neo Thinline ... This is really hard.

[Jim Soloway]

I ordered a Xitone passive wedge about a month ago and it just arrived this morning. I also have a J Deign Thinline 1x12 open back cab loaded with a Celestion neo classic vintage.

When I ordered the Xitone, I was struggling to get a sound I liked from the J Design but then I got a Carvin DCM200L power amp and the struggle ended instantly. With the Carvin providing the power and perhaps after some break-in for the neo speaker, the J Design came to life with some wonderful tones, so much so that I was having some buyers remorse about the Xitone. Ultimately I decided that I would wait until the Xitone arrived and just keep whichever sounded better. I've been going back and forth for the last two hours and this is really tough.

They sound very different and they both sound very good. The J Design definitely has a more traditional guitar-amp-in-the-room sound, as I would expect from an open back cab while the Xitone has more of the 3-D sound that I expect from an FRFR cab. This is definitely not going to be an easy choice.

 

[charley]

Let's hear some clips!

 

[Jim Soloway]

Let's hear some clips!

I'm no longer set up to record from a cab. All of my recording is done direct from my modeler via USB so you never hear the cab.

 

[charley]

Well, looking forward to hearing more. Been thinking about getting a Xitone......might even order this week...

 

[Jim Soloway]

Well, looking forward to hearing more. Been thinking about getting a Xitone......might even order this week...

Having gone back and forth all morning, I'm leaning towards keeping the J Design and selling the Xitone.

 

[bluesdoc]

Jim, have you tried both at once? I know, too much stuff, but it might be sonically intriguing.

jon

 

[Jim Soloway]

Jim, have you tried both at once? I know, too much stuff, but it might be sonically intriguing.

jon

Hi jon

Sonically amazing is probably more accurate. I'm running both in true stereo right now just for testing purposes and with both cabs going it just sounds huge.

 

[jmtaylor22]

Just curious are you using the cab sims on the HD500 with the Xitone, and off with the J Design?

 

[jb4674]

Jim, what kind of speaker came loaded in the Xitone? In your quest for a good cab/speaker, have you ever tried the EVM-12L? If so, what were your thoughts about it?

 

[bluesdoc]

Hi jon

Sonically amazing is probably more accurate. I'm running both in true stereo right now just for testing purposes and with both cabs going it just sounds huge.

Amazing is hard to beat, huh?

jon

 

[Jim Soloway]

Just curious are you using the cab sims on the HD500 with the Xitone, and off with the J Design?

No. I've tested them with identical patches, some with cab sims on and others with the cab sims off. BTW, surprisingly, the main patches that I use with the J-Design have the sims on.

Jim, what kind of speaker came loaded in the Xitone? In your quest for a good cab/speaker, have you ever tried the EVM-12L? If so, what were your thoughts about it?

The Xitone has an Eminence 12LTA. I haven't tried the EVM-12L.

Amazing is hard to beat, huh?

jon

Amazing is indeed hard to beat and there is a very powerful attraction to running stereo. Cliff and his crew from Fractal showed me just how powerful
stereo could be when they took me through the AxeFx II at the NY amp show when it was first coming out and it really is compelling on a whole different level. Sadly though my finances do not allow beyond amazing at this point in my life so I'm just trying to stay focused on reasonably attainable and the J-Design with the neo and the Carvin are both reasonably attainable and thoroughly satisfying. The neo is a bit of a surprise but I've known for a long time that Jeff really does build a very cool cab.

 

[tvegas99]

just curious how much play time is on the Eminence... do these speakers need a certain amount of break-in?

 

[Noodler]

I've put the Eminence 12LTA in 3 different cabs (2 closed, 1 open) and I haven't like it in any of them. My ears were telling me something was wrong and my RTA confirmed it - the 12LTA drops off big time around 3K and then comes back strong above 8K with the whizzer cone. So to me it loses the "presence", but has all the "shrill" top end.

If the XiTone sounds good with 12LTA, then it will probably sound fantastic with something better. My preference currently is for the Celestion TF1218 and I have the TF1218TC (Twin Cone) on order. Note also that the EVM-12L is also a much smoother full range 12".

 

[Jim Soloway]

just curious how much play time is on the Eminence... do these speakers need a certain amount of break-in?

The cab just arrived yesterday so there's almost no time on it. I have no idea how much break-in is needed but I don't think that's really an issue here. It sounds very good as it is I just don't think it's ever going to have the low end of the J Design cab.

 

[MaxTwang]

Isn't your J Design cab open back which fills the room differently than the XiTone's front ports? Have you created patches just using the XiTone?

I also have the XiTone and patches I created using nearfield monitors or headphones transfer really well.

 

[Jim Soloway]

OK, day two and it just got even harder. I played a bunch more last night and was all set to keep the J Design and sell the Xitone. This morning, I played about an hour through the J Design and took some photos of the Xitone so I could get it listed but of course I just had to try it one more time. All of a sudden it sounds much sweeter to me than it did yesterday. Instead of sounding smaller than the J Design, it sounds tighter and more balanced. Somehow I don't think a decision will get made today.

 

[Jim Soloway]

So I ended up playing almost all day and I'm more confused now than when I started. I have both cabs sounding much better than when the day began but I'm not one bit closer to which one to keep.

 

[jb4674]

You should record both cabs and do a poll to see which one everyone likes better

 

[ejecta]

If its that close with the tones.... I'd just pick the one that makes a gig easier with things like loading and hearing yourself etc

 

[Jim Soloway]

I did some more testing this morning using my down tuned guitars and the J Design seems to have more of the magic. Interestingly, it works great with the patches that I programmed for the XiTone.