Chris Hurley
Power User
In one of the many power station threads on TGP someone had linked a video with Steve Fryette speaking to someone, I think it may have been just a part of a longer interview/discussion, where Steve talks about the Suhr reactive load, the Boss TAE (it may have been in a Boss TAE thread now I think about it) and the power station loads, about why he decided on a tube amp, versus Boss' decision to use a solid-state amp.
If I recall correctly, I think it was something like you describe - it was his design decision for part of the reactivity to come from the reactive load in the power station, the rest of it to come from the direct coupling of the power station's tube power amp and the cab. From what everyone says about the sound and response of the power station, I imagine it is pretty heavily damped (as long as presence/resonance are set low) and therefore shouldn't react a ton to the impedance curve of the cab, then you've got a reactive load element that is maybe toned down a bit from something like a suhr. I have seen plots of the impedance curves and the low resonant peak in the Suhr is higher than that of the power station (then you can make it smaller if you want, depending on the switch selections on the front).
Makes sense- I notice right away when comparing the powerstation to the matrix (on an amp switcher again) that the powerstation high end is much more present- even with the presence all the way down. I chalked this up to the reactivity, because I detect it when I compare the powerstation against other solid state amps I have too, though the matrix seems a little subdued in the high end compared to other solid state amps that I own.
Don't get me wrong- I love the matrix for what it is. Crazy crazy light, well behaved, powerful, sounds good, lasts long time
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