guitaristguy
New Member
Hey all - need some advice from the Fractal community on some amp/cab issues I'm experiencing and upgrade advice...
I've currently got a 2010 Atomic Reactor powered wedge (50W model ARFR-AW, NOT the version with the modeler dock). Its been a great cab for the last few years, and I've been really happy with it....until recently. Fortunately, (or not...depending on perspective), I've been playing with a really great wedding band that has spoiled me with reasonable stage volumes. The Atomic Reactor has treated me wonderfully for this group...and I've never had an issue with it. I've recently started playing with some new groups where volume is an issue...and it just can't keep up. Clean tones are distorting...getting tweeter squeal from using mid/higher gain patches...wah block in the heel down position sounds like an absolute dumpster fire. None of these issues are present at the more reasonable volumes I'm used to. It's obviously getting driven too hard in these situations. I know the "simple" answer would be to tell everyone to turn down...but as the new member of said established groups...its often easily said and hardly done. In addition...occasionally these groups may play gigs without a dedicated sound person...in which case the extra headroom is sometimes needed to fill out the room/blend with the group or even just as a boost for soloing.
With that said...I've been looking at upgrading to the Atomic CLR Neos or the Xitones. My goal here is NOT to start another discussion on which one sounds better (there are enough and that's mostly subjective anyway)...but in your guys' experience do these have higher headroom capabilities and output volumes than the older Reactor series without introducing distortion? The CLRs are rated at 500W, while the Xitones are 800W (600 woofer/200 tweeter)...and while that is much higher than the 50W of the old Reactors I also know that doesn't directly correspond to an increase in volume or headroom (especially since the Reactor series has tubes involved). In addition...will either of these provide enough power to be used with a band in a room without a dedicated PA/sound person?
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
(PS - I don't think it matters since it seems like it's entirely a cab/speaker issue, but I'm running the Axe-FX3 and using the Output 1 XLRs)
I've currently got a 2010 Atomic Reactor powered wedge (50W model ARFR-AW, NOT the version with the modeler dock). Its been a great cab for the last few years, and I've been really happy with it....until recently. Fortunately, (or not...depending on perspective), I've been playing with a really great wedding band that has spoiled me with reasonable stage volumes. The Atomic Reactor has treated me wonderfully for this group...and I've never had an issue with it. I've recently started playing with some new groups where volume is an issue...and it just can't keep up. Clean tones are distorting...getting tweeter squeal from using mid/higher gain patches...wah block in the heel down position sounds like an absolute dumpster fire. None of these issues are present at the more reasonable volumes I'm used to. It's obviously getting driven too hard in these situations. I know the "simple" answer would be to tell everyone to turn down...but as the new member of said established groups...its often easily said and hardly done. In addition...occasionally these groups may play gigs without a dedicated sound person...in which case the extra headroom is sometimes needed to fill out the room/blend with the group or even just as a boost for soloing.
With that said...I've been looking at upgrading to the Atomic CLR Neos or the Xitones. My goal here is NOT to start another discussion on which one sounds better (there are enough and that's mostly subjective anyway)...but in your guys' experience do these have higher headroom capabilities and output volumes than the older Reactor series without introducing distortion? The CLRs are rated at 500W, while the Xitones are 800W (600 woofer/200 tweeter)...and while that is much higher than the 50W of the old Reactors I also know that doesn't directly correspond to an increase in volume or headroom (especially since the Reactor series has tubes involved). In addition...will either of these provide enough power to be used with a band in a room without a dedicated PA/sound person?
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
(PS - I don't think it matters since it seems like it's entirely a cab/speaker issue, but I'm running the Axe-FX3 and using the Output 1 XLRs)