Volta Violinatron Hybrid Violin With Powered Speakers
A new kind of hybrid violin, the Volta Violinatron offers both unplugged and amplified performance, but is not acoustic-electric...at least not in the traditional sense. What it is is a chambered body electric violin with built-in powered speakers, which amplify the pickup sound with reverb[!].
The speakers' output is loud enough for solo performance in a reasonably quiet setting, for self monitoring in a band environment, or simply for a great sounding practice experience. When you need to really crank it, simply plug Violinatron into a amplifier as you would any other electric violin and rock out!
The Volta Violinatron is the brainchild of Russian-born classical violinist Marat Gabdullin, a professional symphonic violinist who also plays electric. He came up with the idea when playing his fine acoustic violin outdoors, where the sound dissipated and sounded dead and scratchy because there was no natural reverb. Looking at one of his amplifiers he wondered if he could simply scale the circuit and speaker down to fit into a violin, while keeping it lightweight, playable, and great sounding. He succeeded.
The Violinatron weighs in at a surprisingly light 1 lb. 12 oz., so it feels quite comfortable to play in spite of the gear it houses. That additional gear consists of two 1.5-inch tweeter drivers and a battery powered circuit to drive them. The two active speakers are located on the lower bouts of the violin nearest the player. Up top on the bass side of the fingerboard is a resonator that helps open up the sound of the chambered violin body.
The chambered body design serves several purposes--it retains a traditional full violin shape while keeping weight to a minimum; it allows for acoustic resonance within the instrument, adding to the richness and complexity of the tone; it creates a closed resonating environment, which eliminates feedback, making this a great performance violin whether using the onboard speaker system or plugging into a loud PA and stage monitoring system.
Tone from the piezo pickup system is quite nice, and is augmented by the integrated reverb effect. Two knobs control the pickup output and the reverb level independently, so if you want it loud and dry or soft but echoing, you can achieve either, and everything in between.
The included reverb effect works only through the onboard speakers, facilitating a very realistic in-room playing experience, even if playing outdoors. The output that you would send to an amplifier or PA does not retain the reverb effect, however, so you can color your clean sound separately using your favorite pedal board effects.
While the speaker system is battery-powered, the pickup system operates passively, allowing you to perform plugged in without relying on the battery. As a passive violin, Violinatron is compatible with bug-style wireless systems such as Line 6 G10 and BOSS WL-20.
A dart shaped violin case is included.
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