hiffclall wrote:JimN wrote:As far as I am aware, the original 2005 passive ARiAB and the 2006 improved active version are still available from Roberto Boldrini in Santa Croce sull'Arno.
Thanks Jim. Are these successor to the Gemini or just a similar thing?
The history is important.The ARiAB was the
original small-box tone-conditioner unit, available from mid-2005. I was there (in Italy, with designer Roberto Pistolesi) when the passive design was finalised and suggested that the device could not only be sold commercially, but also that "Abbey Road In A Box" would be a good name for it. After all, it emulated the sound of the studio's pre-amps and was just as relevant to those seeking the recorded sound of The Beatles. Two prototypes were made in ex-aircraft transformer boxes. The commercial product was packaged in the same distinctive green used by Roberto for his distortion units and amplifiers. I was given one of the prototypes (the one with the circuit settled on for the production run).
It was never meant as a stomp-box, so the basic model was fitted with normal tumbler switches for response level and on/off. But it was recognised that many players would see it as a floor unit, so a version was produced with a footswitch for on/off. Released for sale in the late summer of 2005, it was an instant success - selling well over three hundred hand-made units within a few months.
A few months later, someone else started selling a rival product, with a different name and a different colour scheme. I don't want to make any particular comment on that manoeuvre. It was a long time ago.
Roberto died in the spring of 2006, but just before that, he had designed a Mark II ARiAB, with an active circuit which allowed gain to be balanced between the "on" and "off" positions. He gave me serial number Number 01. He also gave me serial number 02 to use a demonstration example. I eventually passed that second unit to a mutual friend in the USA. Roberts’s colleagues continued to produce the active, Mk II, ARiAB to order from the same workshop.
A couple of years later, David Mitchell created the Gemini unit, which was an active battery-powered device aimed at the same market. I have heard nothing but good reports of that unit, though again, it is some time since it was in production, and I haven't heard anything from David for some years now.
But be under no illusion: the ARiAB was first.