Kriig
Fractal Fanatic
It is good days for us as users of modeling gear. The FRFR solutions are getting better every day. Atomic and Matrix are fighting a battle to get the customers.
This has resulted in gear like CLR (AA) wedges and cabs, Q12, Q12a and CFR (Matrix). You also have XiTone. We must not forget XiTone.
They strive to make the best gear, within a reasoneble amount of money.
We all like that. And the fact that they put effort in things like dispertion and weight is great.
I don`t mention RCF, QSC and other here. Because they are not making solutions for us. They are making stage gear in general, that just happens to work for us.
The only challenge with Matrix, Atomic and XiTone for me, is that there is no way i can test it before i buy. It was the same with Axe Ultra. I took a chance and sold my Mesa RKII and got the Ultra. I got myself a poweramp (Mesa 50/50) and kept my cabs.
This worked great. The only thing that changed was the preamp. Everything else was familiar. I used the cabs with the RK, never tried the 50/50 PA, but it was a Mesa, so how wrong/different could it be.
Now i know that my AXII sounds great. I get great sounds both trough my Yamaha HS80 and my HK monitors.
So where should i go next. I got my eyes on both the CLR`s and the Q12a. But i can`t test them first. There is not possible to return them either. So i get what i buy.
I must, once again, trust others.
What i hope, is that there will be someone that test all these solutions. I hope the one who does this, has a regular amp/cab setup to. Because the regular amp and cab is still the benchmark.
It is still what we try to get with our setup. At least that`s what i want. The amp/cab sound with insane flexibility.
The AXII is there IMO. I just need to amplify it to my liking.
I hope Pete Thorn will get to try all these options. He is a benchmark. He uses both modeling gear and amps stuff (ie amps)...... and he likes both options for what they are.
He also will tell us the differences between the options. Uncolored. There is no right or wrong, just opinons.
Enough rambling!
Best of luck to us
Edit 20.feb 2013:
And finally got to try the Q12a. And it sounds good. All my sounds are tweaked for my Yamaha HS80 at pretty low volum. I would adjust them a little bit, to get the best out of the patches trough the Q12a.
But man. Those small boxes can blast out a pretty good low end. I was pretty stunned. Because they did not fart out.
The Q12a was on 2.5 on the volum and i ran my Axe at half. It was pretty loud. I don`t think you will have a problem to keep up with anything. They were standing on a table and the room was less than ideal, but thats how it often is when you do gigs.
The first thing to adjust was reverb and delay(i wish there was a seperate global delay mix), because those got to strong when the volum and room came in the calculation. Just adjusted global reverb and FX mix dow by 30%.
I tried most of my patches. Tried a little eq adjustment globally. To get the most of it, i would have to play loud and set it up properly.
The high end was pretty different from the HS80. More cab, i dare to say.
A little eq tweak is needed. But it`s also about getting used to the cab sound again. That sounds different than studiomonitors. That`s no secret. And if you only play at home, setting it up for that, you will have to either make patches
for louder live playing or tweak the patches you have. After all. We have room for about 300 patches, so making some for each application should not be a problem.
I think i have to get some for testing. Need to test and adjust in a band setup to know for sure.. But from what i heard, even without setting it properly, i`ll buy them.
They did not sound like a regular PA box. Most of them feels a little stiff. The Q12a did not. And i REALLY liked that.
And the fact that the Matrix guys are so extremly helpful, does help when i decide what to get.
Thanks to rednebb for letting me try them
This has resulted in gear like CLR (AA) wedges and cabs, Q12, Q12a and CFR (Matrix). You also have XiTone. We must not forget XiTone.
They strive to make the best gear, within a reasoneble amount of money.
We all like that. And the fact that they put effort in things like dispertion and weight is great.
I don`t mention RCF, QSC and other here. Because they are not making solutions for us. They are making stage gear in general, that just happens to work for us.
The only challenge with Matrix, Atomic and XiTone for me, is that there is no way i can test it before i buy. It was the same with Axe Ultra. I took a chance and sold my Mesa RKII and got the Ultra. I got myself a poweramp (Mesa 50/50) and kept my cabs.
This worked great. The only thing that changed was the preamp. Everything else was familiar. I used the cabs with the RK, never tried the 50/50 PA, but it was a Mesa, so how wrong/different could it be.
Now i know that my AXII sounds great. I get great sounds both trough my Yamaha HS80 and my HK monitors.
So where should i go next. I got my eyes on both the CLR`s and the Q12a. But i can`t test them first. There is not possible to return them either. So i get what i buy.
I must, once again, trust others.
What i hope, is that there will be someone that test all these solutions. I hope the one who does this, has a regular amp/cab setup to. Because the regular amp and cab is still the benchmark.
It is still what we try to get with our setup. At least that`s what i want. The amp/cab sound with insane flexibility.
The AXII is there IMO. I just need to amplify it to my liking.
I hope Pete Thorn will get to try all these options. He is a benchmark. He uses both modeling gear and amps stuff (ie amps)...... and he likes both options for what they are.
He also will tell us the differences between the options. Uncolored. There is no right or wrong, just opinons.
Enough rambling!
Best of luck to us
Edit 20.feb 2013:
And finally got to try the Q12a. And it sounds good. All my sounds are tweaked for my Yamaha HS80 at pretty low volum. I would adjust them a little bit, to get the best out of the patches trough the Q12a.
But man. Those small boxes can blast out a pretty good low end. I was pretty stunned. Because they did not fart out.
The Q12a was on 2.5 on the volum and i ran my Axe at half. It was pretty loud. I don`t think you will have a problem to keep up with anything. They were standing on a table and the room was less than ideal, but thats how it often is when you do gigs.
The first thing to adjust was reverb and delay(i wish there was a seperate global delay mix), because those got to strong when the volum and room came in the calculation. Just adjusted global reverb and FX mix dow by 30%.
I tried most of my patches. Tried a little eq adjustment globally. To get the most of it, i would have to play loud and set it up properly.
The high end was pretty different from the HS80. More cab, i dare to say.
A little eq tweak is needed. But it`s also about getting used to the cab sound again. That sounds different than studiomonitors. That`s no secret. And if you only play at home, setting it up for that, you will have to either make patches
for louder live playing or tweak the patches you have. After all. We have room for about 300 patches, so making some for each application should not be a problem.
I think i have to get some for testing. Need to test and adjust in a band setup to know for sure.. But from what i heard, even without setting it properly, i`ll buy them.
They did not sound like a regular PA box. Most of them feels a little stiff. The Q12a did not. And i REALLY liked that.
And the fact that the Matrix guys are so extremly helpful, does help when i decide what to get.
Thanks to rednebb for letting me try them
Last edited:
