I finally had a chance to use on stage... Alix certainly improved the tone on my Martin SC. The EQ section has good sound shaping capabilities... the midrange has a lot of adjustments, which I'll need to fiddle around with a bit more, but overall, it seems rock solid. I've found that parametric EQs to be challenging to set up, but with time I believe I'll be able to find my sound with Alix to help me out.

I didn't know what to expect. I was running with the Baggs acoustic pre amp for years. Well this is a total game changer. Totally enhances the signal like nothing else. It is worth every penny. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants their instrument to sound amazing. I'm in 4 bands and it takes a lot to wow me with gear. This preamp took it to another level.

So I just decided to go for the gusto on my pre-amp and this one stood out from others with steller reviews -ya it's pricey but this is definitely an example of you get what you pay for.

Right out of the box I was immediately blown away with how my ES2 pick-up sounded vrs my Baggs Anthem and Element pick-ups in my various guitars-this thing makes them all sound incredible.

The impedance switch lets you find what is best for the pick-up you are using. Previously I wasn't able to get much volume out of my Element on the high E string -was going to have it looked at but with the Alik my guitar just sings - I played around with this and 3 hours went by before i even though about taking a break -it is that good.

I added Chorus and Reverb pedals and feel I'm ready to just slay it with this set-up. Highly recommend this pedal it is the one to get!

Should have paid attention to this when I first saw it because I have used Grace preamps in my studio for years and they always sound top notch. I play solo nylon string piezo bridge equipped 7 string archtop into a high end PA system. That's a hard instrument to amplify effectively as it is very different from a flat top which is what most acoustic preamps seem to aim at. After years of experiments thought I had a very good setup. Anyway, I got the Alix, set everything flat, turned on the power and heard the best my guitar has ever sounded by far. Haven't even touched the EQ yet but it doesn't really need it. Highly recommended !!

I bought the ALix a few weeks ago and after several gigs and band practices, I'm glad I did. Over the years, I have used the Session DI, Venue, JHS Clover, Boss AD 3, Presonus Studio Channel, etc. The ALix preamp just sounds good with very little tweaking. I play through a Taylor 814 with an LR Baggs Anthem pickup. The ALix just pulls the sound from my finger tips. I notice my articulation and speed is better. And overall tone is just smoother and more refined. I have gotten more compliments on my tone overall. I play through a Line6 PowerCab in full range/ flat response mode, and I use a HX Stomp for effects. I play through 2 EV Evolve 50 for live gigs.

I love this pedal!! In my experience it blows away the Fishman,LR Baggs products. I've been using this for years now. I play about 200 shows a year and couldn't live without it...definitely a major part of my sound. Takes my Martin guitars to the next level.
If I did have one complaint,it would be the tuning knobs. 2 of them came off over time. Not a big deal though.

Granted, I have a difficult instrument to amplify...it's resonant, with hot pickups and fussy acoustics. I got great sound out of a LR Baggs Para DI but for some reason it started to distort after years of faithful service. It's an issue that even the factory can't figure out. The Alix Grace is well built, and is a solid quality unit. Despite many EQ and other adjustment options, I can only say that the sound I'm getting is pretty good. The main reason is that this unit doesn't really reflect the warmth and depth that the instrument has to offer, but on the other hand, it does offer more adjustments and gives a deeper bass to one of my Ouds that need it.

This unit is amazing. I'm running a Trance Amulet MV pickup into it.
If you're torn between this and something like a Tonedexter, Soundscape, or similar IR pedal... but you own DAW software, you may want to do what I did:
Use a match EQ plugin (I used Ozone, but Logic or similar will work) to see what eq curve is suggested to match your pickup to the microphone,which you record simultaneously. Then write down the software's suggestions, and use it as a starting point with the professional eq of the Alix. It'll get you close, and in a more musical-sounding manner. My guitar sound mic'd through this thing. And Grace is an amazing company that picks up the phone when you call.
HIGHLY recommend this preamp.

I play electric bass, and this preamp was a sneak surprise! It matched my tube preamp in terms of heft and tone, and its amazing EQ does all. Every EQ point is just so useful. The boost is its own bit of magic, and the construction quality is 11/10 on this thing. I'm in awe of it. I still use tubes around it though in my signal chain, because I believe in tube voodoo, but on its own it doesn't need anything else to make it stand out, tall and proud, amongst the competition. Mainly posting this because this pedal needs representation beyond acoustic guitars (which it is KILLER on).

I use this on my violin, playing about 150 shows a year. The Alix is great. It is SUPER clear. I didn't like that at first. I was used to the Tonebone PZpre that was warm and punchy and the Alix is totally transparent and at first I was worried it was shrill. But after listening to recordings of both DI's, I prefer the Alix so much for that clarity. One drawback to the Alix is that you have to buy a special insert cable for your effects loop. One huge plus to the Alix is that it produces more power than it needs and has a 500 mA output so you can daisy chain the power to a small board. I run it nearly flat most of the time, and no exaggeration every FOH engineer tells me I have the best violin tone they have ever worked with. I am using an LR Baggs mounted violin pickup -->Sarno Black Box-->Alix.

This pedal provides high quality electronics and allows you to selectively carve EQ settings with its sweepable mid-range controls that include a "Q" setting to adjust the band width of the frequency you select.

I upgraded to this from my Fishman Platinum Pro EQ/DI Analog Preamp, and this thing has really improved my tone. It produces a really fat and juicy tone on my violin. I use the Fishman v-200 pickup, and that thing is really metallic sounding (somewhat tinny); the ALiX makes it sound big and gorgeous. The overall quality of this is amazing, the foot switches make almost 0 sound and they are smooth. The feet on the bottom are screws, so you can take them off (save them for later) and attach the ALiX to your pedal board.

The problem I was getting when I played through the Fishman DI was that it always had an overdrive, metallic kind of whistling in the sound. It was very noticeable when I would turn on the boost (at +3dB). This pedal, on the other hand, has no unwanted noises, hums, or whistles. I love recording with this device and I look forward to playing live in a couple weeks.

Worth every penny.

This thing is pretty awesome. It blows the competition out of the water. Only reason I gave them 4.5 stars is the price. For that price I wish they would have included a soft case or even a pedal power connector cable. Oh well, still one of my favorite preamps. I have had a few different preamps. I play a Martin OM guitar into a Bose model II. It"s hard to get a good solid bass tone dialed in live without getting "mushy". This unit will do it. It is a flawless boost of my real guitar tone. Very sensitive. I would like to say that this sounded great right out of the box, but it didn"t. It took some tweaking. Once I got it dialed in, it was great. The notch filter is pretty handy, the boost feature is very handy. Actually, the boost is one of the best volume boosts I have ever used for an acoustic. I play 110+ shows per year and having a volume boost is essential. I have tried a Keeley Katana, which seems to boost the high frequencies twice as much as the rest, so I tried a Lizard Leg Bass boost, which was closer, but obviously boosted to bass more. Grace Design nailed the volume boost feature. The boost is clean and clear at all frequencies. I don"t record at home, but if I did, I would see where this could be pretty helpful. It"s very quiet. I"m glad I did it.

This is an expensive unit, but I finally feel like I've finally found something that really translates pure acoustic tone from my guitars. I'm a real tone bug and have high end acoustic guitars. I use K&K Pure Mini's on all my guitars-- mostly because they are a non-invasive install that an be easily removed (no permanent alteration to the instruments). As such, this review only relates to how the Grace unit interacts with K&K passive pickups.
K&K pickups can sound really good, but they have an impedance and construction that (to my ear) doesn't like a whole lot of the acoustic pre-amps out on the market (including K&K's own pre-amps-sad to say). In fact, my recommendation is that, if you can't afford this unit, a simple Boss 7-band EQ pedal is your next best bet with K&Ks (cut a lot of low mids using the Boss EQ and you get into the ballpark for a decent acoustic sound). I've discarded or sold off more acoustic pre-amps than I care to admit, but that "never-ending quest" for good acoustic sound from a pickup is now over with ---thanks to the Grace ALiX.
From the get-go, the Grace ALiX sounded infinitely better than any other acoustic pre-amp I've tried--even before I began making adjustments. There was a quiet "roundness" and smoothness to its sound that is similar to that of a great old classic analog mixing board channel. Screams "high quality" design. I found, for my K&Ks, the primary "low-mid dump" typically necessary get rid of pickup muddiness is best achieved using the notch filter, dialed at about 800k (or the 3:30 o'clock to use a clock comparison). I actually would have liked to reserve that dial for use as a high pass roll-off (it can be used as either), but I found I needed to use the notch filter to "ground" the sound before finessing things further with the fully parametric mid EQ. Oddly, I ended up setting the parametric mid to boost highs/hi-mids a bit at what looks to be the 5k position, with the "Q" factor dialed all the way down (affecting a broad spectrum of frequencies) and the mid gain dial at 2 o'clock. I really expected to be more "surgical" with the fully parametric mids and using them to sculpt out quacky or tinny mids, but that's where I found the best sound. Highs were set at 2 o'clock position and lows dialed down to about 10:30. Master gain at 11:00 o'clock. It sounds fantastic and natural! I doubt I will get much benefit from supplementing my pickup with a condenser mic-which I often do. What will I find to grumble about now that my pickup sound issues are laid to rest!!
A couple tips. You will have to find a short TRS insert cord if you want to keep things neat on your pedalboard and integrate effects. These cords are hard to find. I ended up first reconfiguring my pedalboard around the ALiX and then ordering a custom length TRS insert cord to avoid creating a crow's nest of extra cable on the pedalboard. Also, the tuner output is dependent on the "amp out" dial being turned up (a "Duh" moment till I realized this). Mute footswitch for tuning is dead silent (as should be on an expensive unit).
Kudos to the Grace Design folks for putting out a quality product that for me was a real game changer in terms of achieving true acoustic guitar sound. The first time I used live it the club owner (a talented musician) wanted to know what kind of acoustic guitar I had --as it was "the best sounding guitar he'd ever heard in his club." I told him "it's this here box" and pointed to the Grace ALiX.

I play Violin, 5 and 8 string Mandolin, as well as Mandocello. Getting good tone, especially from the amplified violin up until now has been near impossible. I've used some of the best pre amps for acoustic instruments on the market. A small fortune invested for what seemed like a never ending search for a warm rich tone. The Grace Design ALiX is amazing. Beautiful rich tone right out of the box. Detailed instructions made it easy to find the right "spot" for the tone I wanted. When I first played through it my wife came into my studio and asked me what I did, she said she'd never heard the fiddle sound so beautiful. I'm very pleased with this pre amp and highly recommend it to any acoustic instrument player. I've never sounded better and I'm very grateful to have found this gem. This is an excellent investment in your sound. I would highly recommend the Grace Designs pre amp!!!

I wanted to wait a few weeks and do some gigs before I said anything. Let me say right from the start that I have been a fan of Grace Design from their preamps and recently Felix and now AliX. If I have a gig and I'm going to amplify with a pickup on my guitar, I won't leave home with out the AliX. My flamenco guitars are equipped with the LR Baggs Dual source, UST Element and mic blend. I can adjust my bass so I have no low end feedback. Tame and boost my mid frequency (love the fully parametric eq) and I can pull my treble or boost to the liking of my ears and what the room needs. The elegance of the design just oozes pure beauty and grace with roadworthy strength. I waited for the AliX and put off buying other preamps. I wanted a small single Chanel preamp. I'm so glad I waited. Everyone who has heard this magic box is blown away with the clarity and precision of the tone sculpting. One of the best things is you a clearly defined tone. There is no loss of tone when you use the eq. And all of the knobs are functional. I have used gear where I can't hear anything change when I move the knobs. The High Pass Filter allows for taming the bass in any situation. The preamp is so smooth and silky in the tone that is produced. Another one of the super cool things the design team did. and I think it's a first, is they put an extra jack that allows you to power your pedals without wall warts or another power supply. I am able to power my Line 6G30, Strymon blueSky, and Digitech Jam Man, all from AliX. I just think this shows how the team at Grace is not just making a box with knobs but actually thinks what do musicians need their gear to do to make life easier and more musical. Then there's the nice effects loop that is a TRS. For me all my gear mounts onto a pedaltrain pedalboard. When I get to the gig I just plug in my power and XLR out and I'm good to go. The boost switch is great for solos or when you need more this one does not just go to 11 it goes up to 10db of boost from where you are. I have used the AliX with my Bose Compact, Bose L1II w B2 sub, QSC Speakers, and House PA systems including TubroSound, JBL, QSC, Mackie and every time my gear sounds great, and I get complements, tips,and rebookings. If you are serious about your tone on your instrument and want to learn how to make it sound it's best, then as far as your preamp search goes, look no further, it's here, Grace Design. Sweetwater took care of the transaction and got the AliX to me. Thanks Grace Design