Acoustic Image Coda R Series lll Combo Review

I've been playing my 12 string Chapman Stick with the PASV-4 pickup through a Acoustic Image "Coda" for about two months now. This is my review of this amazing little amp.

The Coda R Series lll combo amp features a molded composite cabinet. It has a downfiring 10" woofer, a 5" midrange speaker and a 1" dome tweeter (with off/on switch). The digital switching class D power amp is 400 watts @ 4 ohms. It goes to 500 watts with a 2 ohm load and produces almost no heat. The amp weighs only 19 pounds, speakers included.

The composite cab is semi round. sleek-looking, durable and very light. The size of this amp is 12" H x 15" W x 13" D. It also has spring-loaded tilt back legs and comes with a amp cover and a carrying strap.

The Coda has two identical channels (1 meg 1/4" inputs) that can be used with hi or low impedance sources (1/4" or XLR plugs). They have phantom power, independent FX loops w/ send and return levels, assignable reverb/FX for each channel, three band EQ, mute button, and a 600 ohm balanced out w/ground lift and EQ on/off button. There is also a notch filter for each channel (not used for the Stick).

The sound of this amp is incredible. The Chapman Stick sounds full, clear, detailed and nearly transparent It's the kind of sound that makes you want to play all day long. Nothing harsh or brittle. No honky midrange. It is fat and solid with the warmth of a good tube amp. This is a plug and play amp. It sounds stellar with just a little on-board reverb. The sign of a great amp is no matter where you set the controls, it just sounds good.

You might think that a amp this small would sound thin and lacking in bass response. This is not the case at all. This amp has a really full bottom end. For my restaurant gigs I cut the bass back to about 9 o'clock, boost the highs a bit and put the Coda up on a chair. The speaker configuration makes the sound seem to come from everywhere. It fills a room better than any amp I've ever played. It's amazing that such a full sound can come from such a small amp.

The Coda is more than loud enough for playing in a band. You just put a full range front loaded 4 ohm cabinet under it and you have 500 watts of clean power to play with. You can also defeat the internal speakers if you want to use mutable external cabinets (down to 2 ohms) for the really loud gigs.

There is a button that disconnects the channel two pre-amp from the internal power amp. This allows you to go from "channel two send" to a powered speaker or power-amp/speaker for a true stereo rig.

I bought this little wonder of a amp to replace my 85lb 500 watt "David Eden Metro Combo". By itself it's not near as loud as the Metro but with a front loaded extension cabinet it can more than keep up.

I've played the Stick through a lot of rigs and this little amp equals or surpasses them all. Some people have even compared it to the famed Walter Woods amps. Although it is a little pricey ($1289 US) it's well worth every penny for it's small size, light weight, full sound, power and versatility. For the Chapman Stick The Coda R Series lll combo amp is a real winner.

- David -

Thanks for the review, David. I use an older Series I Contra at the moment and plan on scoring a Series III sometime in the near future. I second everything you have said about these AI amps. My duo partner and I have replaced our giant SWR rigs with just two AI Contras. For most gigs thay are more than enough for spreading the sound across the stage. When we need a bit more projection for greater distances, we just send the AI signals directly into our small PA. They sound beautiful straight into the board. There is nothing that beats walking onto the stage with your Stick in one hand and your 30lb amp in the other. These little guys just ROCK! - Matt

I've really enjoyed having a Coda III. I'd recommend them to anyone who is willing to pay for superlative sound and fantastic portability.

LOVE this little thing... it makes whatever is plugged into it sound better, to the point where it creates a challenge. It's designed to be full range and transparent, but there is an added depth and fullness to the sound (which I'm sure is related to the particular 3 way, downfiring woofer design). So when I plug the XLR output to a mixing board and listen over a PA, monitors or headphones, the sound is not the same (brighter, but thinner sounding). Similarly, when I plug my effects rack into the Coda, it almost sounds too full, and I find I need to reduce the mid range and boost the high EQ to get it to sound similar to what I hear on the monitors.

Anyone else come across this phenomenon? The effects of the tweeter on/off are also VERY subtle, I'm not sure I can tell the difference.

It's been SO easy to set up for open mics, with this in one hand and the Stick in the other, just plug in and go.

Hey Rob,

I think I mentioned this on the old forum too, I can't notice the difference between the tweeter on or off, and even asked my dealer if I can try out another unit to see if mine is faulty. Maybe it is just super-subtle or we have lost our high hearing from standing too close to drummers?

And something I just noticed recently - when I have the melody side out to external effects, the bass side is also slightly affected and sounds kinda more transparent and less meaty. It isn't so bad if the effect is a subtle one, or you use less blend, but if it's a distortion/overdrive sound or you send 100% melody out, the bass side really suffers. I mentioned it to an amp tech last night and he wasn't sure whether it was a loading problem or some sort of bass-signal bleed into the melody out. Will get it checked out soon.

Cheers,

EG

I think what we're looking is the difference between "down loaded" and "front loaded" speaker cabinets. The "down loaded" needs a boosted mid range to sound natural. It's also is not as "in your face" as a "front loaded" cabinet. It sounds like heaven for a solo Stick player or in a quiet band but it gets a bit lost in a simi-loud rock band.

I play the Coda in a blues/rock band and use a David Eden 2x10 extention cabinet. The Coda is a whole different amp with a "front loaded" cabinet. Very powerful and cutting.

I was surprised with how little difference the tweeter on/off switch makes too. I can hear the change farther from the amp than close in. Your right "VERY subtle".

I always feel like I've left something behind when I walk into a gig with such a light load.

Useful review, thanks David. I really like the idea of one of them but it's just way to expensive in the UK. I found a Coda II for £1149, which relates to about $2200!

Have you tried "Gollihur Music"?
http://www.gollihurmusic.com/index.cfm
They ship Coda's all over the world.

Surely Bob Gollihur can do better than $2200 for a Coda II.
That's $911 over the price of a new Coda III.

- David -

The UK hits you with BIG import tax and also VAT if you buy from outside the EU. We can't win over here!

I find it depressing when I see how cheap stuff is in the US.

A question for you Coda owners - how does distortion type effects come across on the amp? I'm not talking blow-the-doors-off-Mesa-Boogie-cranked-to-12-power-chord-distortion. More like something you would add to get a more bite to a melody line. Some amps can sound shrill as soon as you put any kind of distortion thru them.

Anyone run any synth type sounds thru the Coda? How does it handle it?

I'm really thinking that this going to be my next amp. The AC-60 just doesn't have enough bottom for me. And the fact that I can connect one of my Acme Low B2's to a Coda if I needed more oomph is very appealing.

Dave
http://www.ambientstickist.com