Axe FX and Atomic Powered Wedges Questions

T

ttosh

Member
I was planning on and still will probably buy a Fryette 2:50:2 to go with the Ultra I am getting. However before I do I want to understand the wedges a bit more. I have 2 Mesa 4x12 Traditional cabinets which is another reason I was thinking of going with the power amp because of the cost of the Wedges, then I realized I needed to factor in the fact they are powered and so I could rid myself of the 2 4x12's and the Fryette.

So on to my questions. If this is the wrong sub forum to post this in I apologize.

1) Are the Wedges for me on stage only and the second output of the Axe FX goes to FOH, or do you Mic the Wedges like a normal cabinet?

2) Do the Wedges give you the pushing air feel you get with a couple of 4x12's and a power amp?

3) Do the wedges on a stage point towards the guitarist like regular monitors or towards the crowd like a guitar cabinet?

4) Since the wedges are tube do they not color the sound the same as a power amp? If so then how do they differ in allowing one to use the cabinet sims and power amp sims where the other scenario does not. (I do realize some use power amps sims even with the full cabinet and power amp as well)

I hope those questions made some sense and I appreciate any input.
 
Hi,

Good questions. Here you go:

1. What you would most likely do is run the Axe-Fx into the Wedges via XLR, then allow FOH to tap the XLR THROUGH on one or both wedges to the house.

2. A pair of 1x12 is not going to move the same volume as a pair of 4x12s, but sonically, you will have the same range (greater, actually).

3. The Wedges have a special feature which is that they are not bolted to the floor ;) Point them where you like :) I'd say at you for starters. If you feel very confident that you'd prefer the traditional experience of having the amp behind you, I might recommend the CABS-- the wedges can in fact be stood upright to get the speakers perpendicular to the floor, but you can't stack them in this configuration like you could 2 cabs. Just a thought.

4. Incorrect assumption but a good question. It is the DESIGN of the wedges' amplifier section which makes them "flat" - not the fact that they are tube based. Different amps have different tones. With the wedges, you would have power amp and cab sims ON-- this allows you to use the Axe-Fx to the full extent of its versatility by having control to create your own amp/cab flavors-- while also allowing different presets to use different amps/cabs. The answer to your question is for many the single best reason to use an Axe-Fx and FRFR solution like the Atomic Reactor FR Wedges.
 
ttosh said:
I was planning on and still will probably buy a Fryette 2:50:2 to go with the Ultra I am getting. However before I do I want to understand the wedges a bit more. I have 2 Mesa 4x12 Traditional cabinets which is another reason I was thinking of going with the power amp because of the cost of the Wedges, then I realized I needed to factor in the fact they are powered and so I could rid myself of the 2 4x12's and the Fryette.

So on to my questions. If this is the wrong sub forum to post this in I apologize.

1) Are the Wedges for me on stage only and the second output of the Axe FX goes to FOH, or do you Mic the Wedges like a normal cabinet?

2) Do the Wedges give you the pushing air feel you get with a couple of 4x12's and a power amp?

3) Do the wedges on a stage point towards the guitarist like regular monitors or towards the crowd like a guitar cabinet?

4) Since the wedges are tube do they not color the sound the same as a power amp? If so then how do they differ in allowing one to use the cabinet sims and power amp sims where the other scenario does not. (I do realize some use power amps sims even with the full cabinet and power amp as well)

I hope those questions made some sense and I appreciate any input.
Click to expand...

1. Yes, the wedges would be your monitors on stage and you could send the same signal that they are getting to FOH if you like.
Or you could send the signal from the Axe's Out 2 jacks to FOH with a slightly different EQ, but that shouldn't be necessary if you've dialled your tones in properly. The sound man can do any post subtle EQ'ing that's needed to make it sound right through the PA if you've dialled your tones in properly for the wedges.
Or you could mic the wedges but that really shouldn't be necessary.

2. No. It'll feel different.
What is, is. What ain't, ain't.
You might like the sound and feel you get from the wedges even more than your your 4 X 12 cabs, but it will be "different".

3. You can point the wedges anywhere you like on stage as long as you're also going through a PA.
On smaller gigs, with no PA, place them like you'd place guitar cabs so that both you and the audience can hear them.

4. There is nothing about tube power amp construction that automatically colours the sound.
Most guitar-oriented tube power amps are designed to colour the sound.
Most audiophile oriented tube power amps are designed to not colour the sound.
The Atomic wedges have audiophile-oriented tube power amps.

IMO, the only problem with these amps is that they are not powerful enough.
Fifty watts will not give me the amount of clean headroom I need to play loud and clean.
A hundred watts is just barely enough sometimes for what I do.
If I was always using 2 wedges it'd probably be fine for me, but that's more gear than I'd want to be lugging around to most of my gigs.

I've also never been totally comfortable with the sound of FRFR.
That's why I usually play my Axe through guitar cabs.
 
Thanks for both replies, good answers and very helpful to me. I want to give FRFR a try so I am seeing if I can offload my cabs for a decent price. At the worst I can always go back to cabs in the future. I like the idea a lot of coming out the wedge to FOH and this will allow a more simple process for patches. I figured with cabinets I would cut off and send out output 2 to FOH and send something else to the poweramp/cabinets.

Again thanks for the good responses!
 
ttosh said:
Thanks for both replies, good answers and very helpful to me. I want to give FRFR a try so I am seeing if I can offload my cabs for a decent price. At the worst I can always go back to cabs in the future. I like the idea a lot of coming out the wedge to FOH and this will allow a more simple process for patches. I figured with cabinets I would cut off and send out output 2 to FOH and send something else to the poweramp/cabinets.

Again thanks for the good responses!
Click to expand...

Not sure, but based on your comments you may be missing something.

The Atomic cabs are FRFR cabs.
They have a tweeter.
They don't sound like guitar cabs. They sound like a PA system.
When playing through the Atomics you'll want a signal that includes the cab sims.
The cab sims will make the Atomics sound more like guitar speakers.
Ideally speaking, the sound you get through the Atomics should be the same sound that comes through the FOH.
So, ideally speaking, you'll want to send the same signal to both the Atomics and the FOH, including the Axe's cab sims.
The soundman may have to EQ your signal slightly if his system sounds a bit different than the Atomics, which is likely.
But they shouldn't sound too far off from one-another.

The main reason why you'd want to use both the Axe's Out 1 and the Out 2 jacks is so you can separately control the level that you send to the Atomics and the level that you send to the FOH, which probably a good idea.
The Axe's outputs are quite hot (line level @ +4dB) so you'll want to turn down the Output pot of the Output that you're sending to the FOH so that it doesn't clip the input(s) of his mixer.
In that case you'll probably want to send the Axe's XLR outs from Out 1 to the board and its Out 2 1/4" outs to your Atomics.
And you'll want the cab sims active on *both* signals.
The only disadvantage to this is that the XLR outputs are 6dB hotter than the 1/4" outputs so you won't be driving the Atomics as hard as you could.
 
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