In September of 2006 when Atomic Amps released their new 50 watt versions of the Atomic Reactor, Tom King, President of Atomic amps, scheduled a hands-on demo of the amps with me in Washington DC. Turnout was a little light because we had to reschedule at the last minute, but the demo certainly provided some very vocal and respected members of the Line6 PODxt community a chance to see if this Atomic thing was really all it was cracked up to be. If you're looking at the Atomic Reactor as your live amplification rig for the PODxt, read on...and get out your credit card. You'll no doubt be purchasing one halfway through reading this.

The demo took place at Cue Recording Studios' Red Room in Falls Church, VA. It's a 30' x 30' room with a floor full of Persian rugs, 20' ceiling, small balcony, and a "drum-brella" which turned out to be a large patio umbrella covered in Auralex and suspended from the ceiling using a pulley mechanism. Really cool way of cutting down on drum reflections to just the right amount. Reminded me of the "cone of silence". Tom was already there, set up and wailing away on the 212-50 when I came in.

My initial impression of the 212-50 was "DANG! That's HUGE!". And indeed it is for a 2x12 combo. It's 30" wide by 26" high and 13" deep while weighing in at 79 pounds. Mine is now a bit taller as I installed 2-1/2" casters on it. Regardless, it looks like a small 4x12 cab, and from what I heard Tom playing, it sounded like one too. I was eager to give this thing a try and while I set up my PODxt, Tom took a spin on my Ibanez SZ720, doing a little Van Halen medley. Not only can this dude design amps, he can play too. No, make that wail. I wasted no time getting my PODxt ready and plugging into the 212-50. Turned up the master on the Atomic to full and the output volume on the XT to 3-1/2...

LOUD! Really, freakin LOUD! But aside from the volume what I noticed most was that this was the best option I'd tried yet for amplifying the PODxt. It's very faithful to the character of the modeler, and yet it somehow improved upon it at the same time. The amp sounded "real". The direct quality of the modeler was gone. The amps being modeled not only sounded like the actual amps, but also responded like them too. They felt real. Amps I'd never used before when going direct came to life through the Atomic. The mid-gain Vox and Matchless sounds, crunch and shimmer, sounded and felt like the real thing. The studio engineer, an admitted anti-POD guy, said that those mid-gain sounds made him want to buy one of Tom's amps. High-gain amps became fire breathing beasts, ready to disembowel you with thundering low end. Marshall Plexi models grunted and barked like the real thing. Amazing!

All right, plenty of talk about the 212...what about the 112-50? Can it deliver the goods? Absolutely. In fact, aside from a slight advantage in the volume department and maybe some extra low-end thump in favor of the 212, the 112-50 really is no different except in size and trim. Very nice Voxy looking appointments on this baby, and easily portable. Don't get the idea that just because it's a 112 combo that it can't be gigged with. The studio engineer commented that it had to be easily the loudest 112 he's ever heard. It rocks. And it's definitely giggable.

Okay, but what about stomp boxes? Lots of modeling amps don't play nice with those and if you're like me, you still have a bunch of these lying around that you don't want to part with. I brought out a stock Boss DS-1 and put it in front of the PODxt using a clean Plexi patch. Engaged the stomp and was right back in the 80's where I belong. Excellent! Another member of the crowd brought out a original Ibanez TS-808 that we all drooled over. Plugged that in with a Fender Deluxe dialed up and we were in blues territory. Did a little A/B of the PODxt model of the 808 and found that it was very, very close. Okay, so the Atomic/PODxt combo takes stomps exceptionally well. To date, I've used it with great success with a Digitech Bad Monkey, a must-have stomp for $40. Amazing sound, buy two of them. Also does really well with the Boss Metal Zone. This is very important to the 80's hair metal folks like me. I know it seems odd to some, but a distortion or overdrive stomp in front of a semi-clean tube amp was the standard during the 80's. So was permed hair.

So what about other options? Many of you may know that I really favored the Fender Hot Rod series for working with the XT. They're great amps too, don't get me wrong, but they don't hold a candle to the Atomic in this department. Just so I'd have a fresh impression of the Hot Rod, I went to Guitar Center before the demo and plugged into a DeVille 212. It sounded wonderful but after changing through the stock patches, I started to notice something. All of the stock patches sounded wonderful, and they also all sounded the same. Coincidently, this was a sound I really liked which is why I must have been so keen on this combo, but what I realized is that the Hot Rod DeVille made the PODxt sound like a PODxt through a Hot Rod DeVille. The characters of the original amps were altered.

Two things came out of this night:

1. Tom King is an exceptional guy. He drove all the way from Connecticut to DC just to show half a dozen guys his amps. I spoke with Tom bunches of times before and since that time, both before and after my purchase, and he's just a class act. He really cares about his product and more importantly, cares that you're happy with it. You don't get customer service like this from Fender or Marshall.
2. These 50 watt Atomic amps are, pun intended, da bomb! I own one now: a 212-50. It's the best amp I've ever owned and because of how it works with other modeling units and preamps, probably one that I'll keep forever. How can you go wrong with a 50 watt tube beast that makes everything you plug into it sound like gold?