Axe FX II with Tech21 power engine 60

manu68

Inspired
Hi everybody.
I had the opportunity to pick up a second hand tech21 power engine for cheap yesterday .
As it is like brand new and it was in my village, I decided to purchase it , even if I don't really need it.
Very nice built, looks great, not to big and heavy.

I am a bedroom player. I play at home with laptop + Axe FX and a pair XLR studio monitors 8" coaxial 80W (Fluid audio FX8) + backtracks . And that is perfect ! I use the axe FX II as soundcard .

But now that I have this Tech21 power engine, how should I hook it to the all system ?
I will not use it daily, but probably sometimes when I want to have some more "guitar in the room" feeling.
(with or without backtracks from the studio monitors).
I can also use the tech21 with some pedals I have to have a transportable small rig (tech21 liverpool, ...)

Just put 1/4 cable on the Axe FX II output 2 to the tech21 ?
Remove left XLR cable on output 1 and use output 1 XLR between Axe FX II and the tech21 power engine when I want to use it ?

May I let the studio monitors on the output 1 XLR AND at the same time use output 1 1/4" to the Tech21 ?
and then use them together and or only the tech21 ?? (the tech21 has a volume knob to match the volume of the monitors, which are plenty loud !)
...

I will of course give it a try, but someone here is maybe already a "specialist" of this AXE FX + power engine 60

Thanks in advance.
 
I have a Tech21 PE60 that a used for a small little gig I used to do. This amp is a clean power amp into a guitar type speaker. As such, you will not need to use speaker ir's with it. (Of coarse, you may like using ir's with it, some people do). Mine does have a treble and bass control that I keep at the mid point. Your studio monitors will definitely need ir's so you will probably want to use an output that bypasses the speaker cab in your axefx; like output 2. You can put the cab at the end the chain and take an output right before it, to get your effects and such in both speaker setups.

Also, keep in mind that the Tech21 PE is just a clean power amp with no coloration except for the speaker. There is no guitar amp simulation so check if pedals alone get the job done. I always ran my axefx straight into it with a small midi pedal to switch things in and out. Sounded great.
 
Thanks for your answer.

between my initial post and your answer, I could make some tests by myself, and I am happy so far.

- Tech21 power engine + Joyo American in front (clone of Tech21 Blonde ; simulate fender type amps fr direct recording) in front
It sounds nice. Powerful . Very easy to find a good sound for practising Jazz or blues in my music room.
The built-in EQ (low-mid-treble) are very effective.

-Tech21 power engine + preamp SDD300 clone in front.
Sounds again nice

-Tech21 power engine + Axe FX on 1/4" Left Output 1 (my monitors are on XLR output 1)
I sounds perfectly fine with the AXE FX presets. no hum or anything.
I could match about the volume and global tone of the monitors pretty easily with the EQ. But with more of a guitar amp sound.

-Tech21 power engine + Axe FX on 1/4" left output 2 (FXloop send block in parallel path in preset.
It sounds like previously, but I can tweak the volume on the Axe FX panel ; output1 for monitors and output 2 for the tech21.
It is great !
I could for example play backtrack on the monitors and play along on the tech 21 if I want.

All is a question of time to tweak the all thing.
As I said, I am absolutely fine with my Axe FX + monitors in my music room. It sounds great, plenty loud, etc...
But for 120€ i thought i would be a nice Opportunity to purchase this well designed and manufactured Tech21 , which offer me more the sound of a guitar amp in a room.
Even if I use it for practising some jazz with my Ibanez archtop without AXE FX, it will do perfectly the job !!
 
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