Going from FRFR to poweramp/cab

flyingrhoads

New Member
Generally speaking, what changes do you usually do to your patch to go from running FRFR to a poweramp/cab setup to get as close of tone as possible to your FRFR/direct sounds? Usually just tweaking a global EQ on that output?

My patches are all set up for FRFR/direct, but I don't have a FRFR. Instead I'll be using a poweramp and cab, but when I turn off the cab block the tone gets very buzzy and bad.
 
Probably disable power amp modeling (sag 0), and speaker modeling, might be a global param... Just going to have to use your ears i'm guessing. I'd reset the amp model and start turning knobs.
 
Probably disable power amp modeling (sag 0), and speaker modeling, might be a global param... Just going to have to use your ears i'm guessing. I'd reset the amp model and start turning knobs.
Only turn off power amp modeling if using a tube amp... solid state, leave it on. Cab sims off with a guitar cab, but no rule says you can’t leave it on.
 
yep - turn off global cab modeling - leave amp modeling on. Don't use your old patches - start with new ones.
Unless you want to set up to use both foh and a real cab - then you have to run 2 different chains in the patch.
When you start a new patch and pick an amp, you should have to do very little adjusting to get a good tone...
 
Yeah the poweramp I'm using is solidstate flat response. I have a lot of good patches for FRFR, so I was hoping to make a few minor tweaks to get them ready for my real poweramp/cab. When I run them into this setup with the cab sim turned off, it is far from good LOL

It also doesn't sound good with the cab sim turned on. It sounds better and more full, but it sounds like the audio is going through a can
 
I'm going to play around with it more tonight, but I may just flip the poweramp for a good FRFR, perhaps a friedman asm12, and avoid all the hassle
 
I play both ways (FRFR and power amp/cab). I generally lower, but not completely turn off amp modeling. I usually set SAG between 5-10 and always disable cab modeling. FYI, my amp is a Mesa 20/20 and my cab is a Mesa oversized Recto 2x12. Hope this helps!
 
Shouldn't require more than bypassing the cab block and maybe some global EQ tweaks. If this doesn't do it, like others have stated, try starting with a new preset. It's possible you've made some forgotten tweaks to the preset which could be impeding things.
 
Wow I think I might be the only AxeFx user that plays thru "real" cabs with cab modeling ON! I like it! Lol

I'm going to give this a go this weekends gigs. Leave cab sim on and run one Xitone wedge and a 2x12 V30 upright cab. Was planning on throwing a 30 band dual eq in between the AFXIII and Matrix amp to see if I could get the two cabinets evened out.
 
Wow I think I might be the only AxeFx user that plays thru "real" cabs with cab modeling ON! I like it! Lol

Whenever I use my strat - I use a cab block. Because the single coils are a bit more thin sounding, I find the cab block beefs things up a bit. But I never use it with humbuckers.
 
Find an IR that's the same as your cab. If you're playing with a Marshall cab with T75s in the real life with the poweramp, don't practice at home with an IR of Mesa 4x12 cab with V30s, in other words. That way when you set your tone in the amp with headphones, it will be at least somewhat close when you hear it live.

Or, if you really like your Cab block tone and don't mind lugging a cab around, you can have your cab block tone go direct to FOH. Then, just use an FX Loop block right before the cab block to send your amp tone out to your power amp/live cab for stage volume. Don't mic the cab or anything. It's cosmetic more than anything. This is what I do.
 
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I'm going to give this a go this weekends gigs. Leave cab sim on and run one Xitone wedge and a 2x12 V30 upright cab. Was planning on throwing a 30 band dual eq in between the AFXIII and Matrix amp to see if I could get the two cabinets evened out.

So I used an Alesis DEQ230 to Eq the two cabs to sound similar in the afternoon. Get to gig fire up gear and I must not have stored the curves to memory. Over all it worked out fine.
 
My patches are all set up for FRFR/direct, but I don't have a FRFR. Instead I'll be using a poweramp and cab, but when I turn off the cab block the tone gets very buzzy and bad.

When you say they are set up for FRFR, do you mean that you make them on studio monitors? It's important to make the patches from scratch at high volume. Also it sounds like the IR be messing up the patch creation, so when it is disabled and played through the real cab, the tone changes too much.

Another tip is to use a low pass filter around 6k-10k hz depending on how much fizz you are getting. That might be the only problem/solution actually so definitely try it.

Unless it's a tricky amp like a mesa (USA) I would try just loading an amp block at mostly default settings and a filter block with low pass at 8k. If that sounds bad then it probably isn't your patch and something else is wrong.
 
This is what you do to get authentic results:
Only if you are using a tube power amp - Disable power amp modelling and cab modelling, and you are set.
If you are using a transparent solid state power amp - disable or bypass Cab modelling, but do not disable power amp modelling. Set speaker compression to 0***, then set your speaker resonance settings to fit your physical cab. It will not sound right (authentic) unless all of these steps are done.

No special EQ settings, unless you want to do something that real amps don't actually do.

** Setting speaker compression to 0 will bring you closest to authentic results, but it's not completely correct. Only Axe FX 3 has a "Amp+Cab" output mode that bypasses the speaker compression, but doesn't bypass the amp interaction portion of it. Still waiting for a Axe FX 2 firmware update!
 
You may have already found your answer with these mentioned before, but when I switched to power amp/cab, I re did all my patches. I started with just an amp model in the chain and tweaked that til it sounded good to me. I use power amp sim on, sag is usually around 3.5 - 4 depending on my master volume. I dont use cab sims & am running an avatar 2x12 with v30's and an ART SLA 2 power amp. Hope it all works out for you man! cheers!
 
I only use power amp/rel cab with my band. everything "FreeMind" stated above is a required. Once I found my low res "number' for my cab(s) and shut off speaker compression , life got a lot easier. plus I lower the hi res to around 5, it kills any shrill top end and gets me a smoother sound.
the biggest piece to this though (for me anyway) is the Duncan Power Stage)
that has made a world of difference
I have a JVM setup right next to my Axe II set up and if I blind fold you and switch you back and forth between my JS-Jvm patch and my real JVM , you'll probably think my Axe patch is the real thing, it actually sounds a little better than my real amp.
 
Wow I think I might be the only AxeFx user that plays thru "real" cabs with cab modeling ON! I like it! Lol

No sir, you unfortunately, are not alone. Lol! Power amp MOD ON makes the treble a little more active, but with a few tweaks I like the sound with it ON as opposed to the tweaks I've done to make it sound good while OFF.

To the OP, I've never been able to use any of my studio patches (which work good for FOH and FRFR) through my cab/power amp rig. My advice to you is to take your old patches and use them as templates to create new ones. It shouldn't take you long unless you have loads of presets. And even if it does, it's nice to have presets made for every situation. Good luck!
 
I'll never understand having Cab Modeling = ON and running through a live cab. Nails on a chalkboard to me. The 3-dimensional experience of playing with a live cab just disappears.

I played a showed like this once accidentally and my tone was so muddy and felt strange through the whole show. Unfortunately I realized this after the show and died a little inside. I mean, I get that it depends on what IR is being used and what cab I'm using and it could sound less muddy, but it feels like sacrilege to me. It's analogous to playing a isolated, master track recording of Stevie Ray Vaughn's guitar and playing it through my 4x12 Marshall and saying, "Yes, this is fine. This is how it's meant to be heard." Just no.
 
** Setting speaker compression to 0 will bring you closest to authentic results, but it's not completely correct. Only Axe FX 3 has a "Amp+Cab" output mode that bypasses the speaker compression, but doesn't bypass the amp interaction portion of it. Still waiting for a Axe FX 2 firmware update!

Don’t think that’s correct. It’s not been stated that Amp+Cab overrides Speaker Compression. Also read this:
http://forum.fractalaudio.com/threa...2-00-public-beta-2.144615/page-2#post-1710669
 
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