Buying and using full range speakers: A few basics

[mejoshee]

is there anyone out there willing to do a separate sticky or article on the wiki that has a list of (regularly updated) recommended frfr monitors, cabs, power amps, and pa speakers/systems?

[DC23]

+1. that'd be great. I know the companies, but there are so many different options it's tough comparing them all.

[mejoshee]

+1. that'd be great. I know the companies, but there are so many different options it's tough comparing them all.

well even this week i went from thinking i "had" to get a verve 12ma to realizing i can get away with a couple studio monitors @ home. they can probably double as temporary tv enhancements.

anyway, i don't know how to nicely do this in the wiki. i (or someone) would of course put it in a separate page as an expansion on the "list of suggested accessories" yek already has.

[zslane]

well even this week i went from thinking i "had" to get a verve 12ma to realizing i can get away with a couple studio monitors @ home.

Heh. I'm heading the opposite way. I went from thinking I could get by with my 60W Roland keyboard amp to realizing that I'm experiencing only a fraction of the Axe-FX's true sonic potential. I'm thinking that a Verve 12ma would finally let my AFX really sing!

[Velociryan]

The only hurdle I can't get past is playing my Axe-Fx through a frfr system live alongside my other guitar player playing a traditional halfstack. The nice cd tone just doesn't cut through the band mix as well as a poweramp and guitar cab. Now on equal footin (his amp and my Axe-Fx mic'd up through a pa) I blow his doors off.

[boltrecords]

one thing im not getting is...after you dial in a good FRR tone, do you mic the powered cabs when playing live? i prefer not to plug direct to a mixing board/pa

[KyleUMF]

No, well you would have to mic the tweeter too, which it really doesnt seem to make sense why you would not want to run DI to FOH?

[Velociryan]

one thing im not getting is...after you dial in a good FRR tone, do you mic the powered cabs when playing live? i prefer not to plug direct to a mixing board/pa

Why would you rather use a crappy house mic than just run direct? For live gigs I run an FX loop block off of my chain right before the cab sim and then run the loop output to my poweramp and cab. The main outputs go straight to the board. This is essentially the same as running a mic'd halfstack on stage without the crappy mic and stage volume issues.

[boltrecords]

is the DI coming out of the powered cab? can you still use the cab as a monitor for stage volume? i just dont want to leave the stage volume (me hearing myself) in the hands of the sound tech at the venues. i have always struggles with sound techs telling me to turn down and that they would add me more in the wedge and then they never do. i constantly struggle with being able to hear myself on stage. at least if i have my amp on stage i can turn up if need be.

[KyleUMF]

You bring your own wedge and control the volume yourself so the soundguy isn't a part of your stage volume

[boltrecords]

but isnt that why i have the atomic cab? or are you saying use the atomic cab as my wedge and stage volume. i think im missing something. where does the powered atomic FR coming into play when playing live? or is it now used for live at all?

[boltrecords]

is it possible to setup a stereo atomic cab setup for stage volume and also send stereo outs to the PA?

[prometh]

Send 1/4" out to your atomics and XLR out to the mixer for PA.

Atomics are used live to give the same feeling of a regular guitar cab. You will need to do a slight post-EQ adjustment for the PA, though, since all speakers sound slightly different no matter how flat they advertise themselves to be.

[Doug]

No offense Bolt, but have you read through the Wiki? http://axefxwiki.guitarlogic.org/ind...itle=Main_Page

That's going to explicitly answer a lot of your questions, I'd recommend especially "Yek's how to" section.

[boltrecords]

Great I think I'm getting it
I actually did read up on this stuff first. No offense to the wiki site but for someone who is not great at the technical side of things, it can get a little confusing. There is so much information on there it's hard to know where to go for an answer to a simple question. You can't ask a question to a manual which is why I came here.

Just one last question or more of a clarification. Let me know if I'm right, from what I understand. One of the main benefits of using the atomic amps and running frfr is that you will dial in tones on a full range speaker which is what will most likely be amplified through the pa. Therefore the tones will match better, as opposed to dialing in a good tone on a guitar cab and then having it sound like crap through the frfr pa.
Is that correct?

[LMO]

is there anyone out there willing to do a separate sticky or article on the wiki that has a list of (regularly updated) recommended frfr monitors, cabs, power amps, and pa speakers/systems?

There is some (probably old) information in the recommended accessories page. Digging through a ton of threads and trying to cull out the good info would be at the very least time consuming, and my collection of links to such things is obsolete now that we've moved to a new forum.

It would also be interesting to find out what the forum mainstays are using and why. Most of that information is probably in old threads as well.

[zslane]

Great I think I'm getting it
I actually did read up on this stuff first. No offense to the wiki site but for someone who is not great at the technical side of things, it can get a little confusing. There is so much information on there it's hard to know where to go for an answer to a simple question. You can't ask a question to a manual which is why I came here.

Just one last question or more of a clarification. Let me know if I'm right, from what I understand. One of the main benefits of using the atomic amps and running frfr is that you will dial in tones on a full range speaker which is what will most likely be amplified through the pa. Therefore the tones will match better, as opposed to dialing in a good tone on a guitar cab and then having it sound like crap through the frfr pa.
Is that correct?

FRFR amps/cabs like Atomic and Verve are basically sound reinforcement only. They simply make it possible to hear the simulations coming from the Axe-FX (which is doing all the work of sounding like a guitar amp+cab). No other coloring is necessary or desired (those I-gotta-have-amp-in-the-room-sound folks will have a different view). Ideally you would supply a direct feed from the Axe-FX to the house FOH system, and you would listen to yourself on stage with your FRFR wedge. Both the PA board and your wedge are getting the same signal, so you will be hearing the same thing as your audience (notwithstanding whatever EQ tweaks the sound guy applies at the board and the frequency response characteristics of the house speakers, of course). There is no need or reason to mic up a stage FRFR monitor wedge and feed that to the FOH.

[boltrecords]

Thats exactly what im looking for it to do. that would solve all my sound issues.
In Theory, would the direct sound im sending to the pa sound better if i dial in my tones on a FRFR monitor instead of a power amp and guitar cab?
i know with all my live rigs in the past, i never liked the way they sounded when mic'd up through the house pa. its sounded great from the amp, but through the pa it always sounded horrible.

[prometh]

It'll sound different without post-EQ for the FOH. Better, worse, I dunno but if I had to choose, probably worse since you've found what your ears like on different speakers.

[LMO]

FRFR amps/cabs like Atomic and Verve are basically sound reinforcement only...

You're mixing your fruit here. The Verve has flat frequency response, but the Atomic does not. Try tweaking a patch on your Atomic and then listen to it through studio monitors, or vice versa. As I understand it, the Atomic is the sort of flat solution for those who want to use a guitar cab without giving up on using cabs inside of the AxeFx. See Another atomic powered speaker question..