Thomas-Hawk
Power User
Ok, so I'm gonna be the one going against the grain here, but wanted to add my experience to the mix...
I had the chance to meet up with a fellow forum member a few months back, who owns the RCF 12 SMA, and I'm running a Matrix GT800FX with cabs. I have a Mesa 4x12 slant Recto cab (which I didn't take to the meet) and an Avatar open back oversized 2x12 cab with a V30 and a G12H30 in it (which I did take to the meet).
We did some fairly in-depth comparisons. We first fired up his RCF, and he was demoing it for me, and I was impressed. Played mostly Fender sims/cabs, and a few Marshall sims/cabs. Sounded really good to me. Then we fired up my rig. And, for me, my rig just felt and sounded better. To me. I of course was running the Axe-Fx II with power amp sims on, cab sims off. Even the Fender sims sounded better to me thru my Celestions than they did using the Jensen based cab sims thru the RCF. He preferred the RCF overall. Then, we attempted to match the tones I was getting thru my rig by tweaking settings on his rig (cab sims, room size, etc.) and using an A/B box. I must say that in the hour or so that tweaked, we were able to get fairly close to the tones I was getting my my Avatar cab, but there was just *something* missing to me; can't put my finger on it. We even tried the near field-far field cabs thing. Just wasn't doing it for me. I suppose with another few hours of severe tweaking we could have gotten even closer, but in my mind I was thinking "Why? I've already got what I like."
Again, I want to point out that he preferred his RCF. I preferred my Matrix/cab setup. Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.
Also, I want to point out that I did think the RCF sounded better than the EV Live-X 112Ps that I used to use. I didn't do a direct comparison, but I know for sure I liked the RCF quite a bit better than I liked the EVs. Not that it's a fair comparison, as the RCF is quite a bit more expensive than the EV 112P. Just sayin'. :mrgreen
I had the chance to meet up with a fellow forum member a few months back, who owns the RCF 12 SMA, and I'm running a Matrix GT800FX with cabs. I have a Mesa 4x12 slant Recto cab (which I didn't take to the meet) and an Avatar open back oversized 2x12 cab with a V30 and a G12H30 in it (which I did take to the meet).
We did some fairly in-depth comparisons. We first fired up his RCF, and he was demoing it for me, and I was impressed. Played mostly Fender sims/cabs, and a few Marshall sims/cabs. Sounded really good to me. Then we fired up my rig. And, for me, my rig just felt and sounded better. To me. I of course was running the Axe-Fx II with power amp sims on, cab sims off. Even the Fender sims sounded better to me thru my Celestions than they did using the Jensen based cab sims thru the RCF. He preferred the RCF overall. Then, we attempted to match the tones I was getting thru my rig by tweaking settings on his rig (cab sims, room size, etc.) and using an A/B box. I must say that in the hour or so that tweaked, we were able to get fairly close to the tones I was getting my my Avatar cab, but there was just *something* missing to me; can't put my finger on it. We even tried the near field-far field cabs thing. Just wasn't doing it for me. I suppose with another few hours of severe tweaking we could have gotten even closer, but in my mind I was thinking "Why? I've already got what I like."
Again, I want to point out that he preferred his RCF. I preferred my Matrix/cab setup. Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.
Also, I want to point out that I did think the RCF sounded better than the EV Live-X 112Ps that I used to use. I didn't do a direct comparison, but I know for sure I liked the RCF quite a bit better than I liked the EVs. Not that it's a fair comparison, as the RCF is quite a bit more expensive than the EV 112P. Just sayin'. :mrgreen