Behringer manual Introduction, The design concept, ULTRACOUSTIC ACX1000, Tube emulator

ULTRACOUSTIC ACX1000

1. INTRODUCTION

Thank you very much for expressing your confidence in BEHRINGER products by purchasing the ULTRACOUSTIC ACX1000. With the ULTRACOUSTIC, you have acquired a state- of-the-art 2-channel amplifier that can be operated easily and quickly, and enables you to create out-of-the-ordinary sounds for a variety of applications.

When developing the ACX1000, our top objective was to reproduce the pure and detail-rich sound of acoustic instruments and to help you work out the characteristic properties of your instrument. For this reason the instrument channel includes a number of controls tailored specifically to meet the requirements of acoustic instruments. What’s more, your ULTRACOUSTIC has a second microphone/instrument channel with about the same control elements plus an enhancer circuit that gives, for example, vocals increased presence and liveliness. A very special feature is the ULTRACOUSTIC’s digital multi-effects processor with its wealth of studio-compatible effects. The tube emulator gives audio signals in both channels unmistakable tube quality and adds that much sought-after effect of warmth and transparency. When working in the studio or on stage, you will find the numerous connection options on your ACX1000 very helpful. And despite its extremely flexible design, your ULTRACOUSTIC can be operated easily and intuitively.

BEHRINGER is an audio engineering company that has been successfully developing products for studio and live applications for many years now. Our range of products includes microphones and a variety of 19" devices (compressors, enhancers, gates, tube processors, headphone amps, digital effects devices, DI boxes etc.) as well as various monitoring and P.A. speakers plus professional live and recording consoles. The name of BEHRINGER stands for no-compromise quality, fully- featured products and exemplary service—even years after purchase—as well as sensationally low prices, which allow any ambitious music lover to make their musical dreams come true.

We also set great store by flexibility, which has become a particularly important factor in the music business over the past few years. Modern guitarists and musicians need to offer a broad range of sounds, but should still be able to play in different kinds of applications at short notice: home recording, studio, live concerts. For this reason, it has always been our prime concern to give you a maximum of functions that can still be operated intuitively and quickly—no matter what kind of style you play.

As technology advances, you’ve got to keep track of latest technological breakthroughs to avoid falling by the wayside. We too have continuously improved the ULTRACOUSTIC and included many of your valuable suggestions. We have spared neither expense nor effort to test different types of circuitry and speakers until the results have given us complete satisfaction. After all, we really want to give you fully designed and developed products that meet your expectations in every respect. The ULTRACOUSTIC shall be a useful tool for years to come, which is why we’ve equipped the effects modules of our entire guitar amplifier series with EPROMS that can be updated. In this way, we can keep working on new algorithms and considering your ideas and suggestions. The resulting software updates will be made available for free on the Internet, so as to ensure that your amp will never be outdated.

We’ve packed our entire experience into this latest-generation acoustic guitar amp. Many people contributed to this project of intense development: studio musicians, collectors of vintage guitar amps, music and guitar lovers alike. All of them helped us develop an amplifier that gives you the best of all worlds:

Sophisticated analog technology with a “feel factor” only analog technology can provide.

Latest DSP technology to give you a broad range of modern studio-compatible effect sounds.

Rugged and solid construction which even withstands the roughest handling.

Intuitive operation, so that you can focus your mind on what is most important to you: your music!

This manual first describes the terminology used, so that you can fully understand the ULTRACOUSTIC and its functions. Please read the manual carefully and keep it for future reference.

1.1 The design concept

The philosophy behind BEHRINGER products guarantees a no-compromise circuit design and employs the best choice of components. The operational amplifiers used in the ULTRACOUSTIC are exceptional: they boast extreme linearity and very low distortion characteristics. To complement this design, the choice of components include low-tolerance resistors and capacitors, high-quality potentiometers and several other stringently selected elements.

The ULTRACOUSTIC uses SMD technology (Surface Mounted Device). These subminiature components adapted from aerospace technology allow for an extreme packing density to further improve the overall reliability.

The super-robust steel enclosure of your ULTRACOUSTIC, with its generously proportioned high-capacity power supply and temperature-controlled active fan, makes sure that your ACX1000 keeps on working even when the going gets tough. The cabinet is made of high-grade, non-polluting E1-MDF boards, which are grooved, multi-glued and free of formaldehyde.

1.1.1 Tube emulator

A special FET circuit in your ULTRACOUSTIC emulates the positive characteristics of a tube exciter, producing additional harmonics and a subtle compression effect which gives your guitar sounds the power to make themselves heard and adds sustain and definition. Acoustic guitars, in particular, with their wide dynamic range, need to produce a homogeneous sound image in all registers. The FET circuit makes sure that even the high registers have sufficient sustain and won’t get drowned. While the WARMTH control allows you to add the tube sound effect as desired.

By using solid-state components we succeeded in eliminating tube-specific interference noise to a great extent; the actual tube effect is thus achieved without additional noise or hum.

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