The delivery was fast and the communication with Thomann was fine, thanks a lot :)
I am upgrading from AE-10 to the new AE-20, I can describe my first comparison after one week. Overall - the AE-20 is much better, I am satisfied (although there are small things that could be improvement).
AE-20 design and construction (compared to AE-10):
- visually the instrument has moved a lot further, it looks good and professional and not like a vacuum cleaner (as the AE-10 was nicknamed in my band)
- it has improved key mechanics, quieter with better strokes
- it is slightly longer and heavier with a different center of gravity
- the position of the right thumb is adjustable (2 attachments), but beware of losing them (cannot be bought now)
- the tight palm keys have improved significantly, I do not longer have a problem with Bb :)
- left palm keys moved inwards the hand palm. I sometimes find difficult to distinguish between pressing Eb and D in fast bound runs (eg in A - D bound run I often press s right before D and Eb :( ) D should be higher and in a slightly different location.Hopefully a few layers of duct tape on the key will help.
- significantly improved HW of mouthpiece and bite force detection and regulation (vibrato, tuning)
- I find it more breathable
- It has a standard small headphone jack, cable holder on the bottom :)
- It has a diode that shows discharge warning and the display that shows the battery status :)
- It has less solid package. But it is dimensionally more efficient than the half-round one from the AE-10. I would like something in between here. I had to make reinforcements, otherwise I would be a little worried about the instrument during transports. The zips inside are also not very practical and they stick to the sides.
- Slightly shorter battery life.
- 2 listening speakers now go directly against the face (in the AE-10 one went to the front) and are closer so I can hear myself better (if I don't have headphones)
- The octave keys are higher and more on the tip of the thumb, I have to get used to them. Again, I would like something between the AE-10 and the AE-20.
- The neck strap distance to eye is a bit shorter than the AE-10, otherwise it's the same as the AE-10 and scratches my neck.
- The AE-20 eyelet for the neck strap is metal (not plastic).
- I made my own neck strap with open hook from one of my old tenorsax straps (it needs shortening). The original (same as AE-10) has hook with locking part which I don't like - I change sax, clarinet and aerophone often..
Electronics and software
- wireless bluetooth connection for background songs while practising and for app (scene settings)
- better SW for Android with more detailed setting options
- slightly improved SuperNatural sounds (not more sounds/scenes, but improved)
- much more ZenCore sounds/scenes and better, here I can finally choose and choose :) (synths, guitars, keyboards)
- faster harware/CPU (On the AE-10, the HW could not keep up with 3 layered parallel sounds - it had noticeable delays; here it is OK)
- better settings (e.g. added tuning for the whole instrument and not just per scene... but there's a lot more)
So those were my first impressions a week after the upgrade.
