Dialling in Matrix Gt 1000 difficulties

M

Mitch5150

Member
Ive recently picked up a matrix Gt1000fx and i haven't been able to get the results I'm after. Previously i have monitored my AFXII through a QSC k12 and had incredible results. I've got the matrix as a means of backline sound and also to see possibilities of using a real cab to see if the feel was any different. Using the Gt1000 through my mesa 4X12 the sounds I'm achieving seem to quite thin and brittle, I'm sure its some perimeters i haven't got set quite right in the Axe. What suggestions do you have to get effective sound from AFXII - Matrix - Cab to get the best feel and a deep full sound like a traditional head through cab? I've played with the depth and speaker resonance in the Cab block and had minimal success.

LOVE my AXEII through a Pa or frfr speaker, maybe matrix and a cab isn't for me
Thanks
 
The general consensus is that you should not use a Cab block if you are using a real guitar cab... The point of the Cab block is to emulate a mic'd Cab when you don't have one.
 
Hi Mitch,
I currently have both a FRFR/FOH setup and a Guitar Cab setup.
For guitar cabs, I'm using "2" Port City OS 1x12's powered by a Matrix GT1000FX.
For FRFR/FOH, I'm using "2" Matrix CFR-12's powered by the Matrix GT1000FX.
I use two completely different sets of Presets.
In my "Guitar Cab" presets, I don't have a guitar cab block.
The amp settings [Gain, Bass, Treble, Mid-range, Presence, etc...] for the guitar cab setup are completely different than for the FRFR setup.
Same amp, different settings. Start by resetting the amp block and start turning knobs.
Don't be afraid to turn something like Treble, Brightness or Presence down, or even all the way down, if your getting too bright or too thin a sound.
What speakers are you using in the Mesa 4x12?
I sold a vertical 2x12 with V-30's last year. It was a bright cab,
I also suggest you tweak your amp settings at stage volume. Presets created at home, at bedroom volume, will sound bright when cranked. [Fletcher-Munson thing]

I've done numerous A/B comparisons with my amps [Mesa, Fender, Egnater] and the Axe Fx.
I have to tell you, the Axe Fx nails it!

2016-01-02_Axe Preset.png
 
bypass the cab block

(I run a GT1000 through a pair of Friedman cabs) - if I go back to headphones to be polite to my better half, I just turn the cabs back on. Tastes great - less filling.

gigging w a PA would be a different solution, routing to O2 with a send and a cab
 
For ages, I couldn't get the Axe to sound right through conventional speaker cabs and always ended up going back to my amps whilst using the Axe for effects only. The solution, for me, was that you have to get the Speaker page of the amp block really dialled in right for the cab that you are using. If you use different cabs, which I do, then you have to do this for each cab as the settings required can be very different for each one. This is the key imo.

There are some old threads on LF resonance and such, but I found that you need to nail every parameter on the Speaker page of the amp block to really get it right and it is a real pain in the ass to do and took me some while. The best place to start is to pull up an amp model - Mesa to match your cab - that would typically be paired with your own speaker cab in real life and make note of all the parameters on the Speaker tab for that amp. Pull up a few other Mesa amps and do similar and check where all the Speaker parameter settings are at for each amp against each other. This should give you a ballpark setting for each parameter from which to start and does make life a lot easier than trying to do it all by ear alone.

For example, one of my cabs is a Marshall 4x12 so I pulled up a few related Marshall head amp models and just logged all the settings and took a consensus view as a start place. It also gives you the likely degrees of variance for the parameters across similar amp types. Once you have that page dialled to properly match your own cab, the amp models will really sound and feel like the real thing.

I find this to be the biggest pain in the Axe because, even when you get your settings nailed, every time you want to try a new amp, you have to reset all parameters to match your cab. I did post ages back in the wish list that there could be some way of locking the speaker parameters in the amp block so that, when you were dialled for your cab, you could switch amp models but keep your cab settings intact but all I got was tumbleweed on that one.

Cliff did post about this ages back, acknowledged the issue and implied that he had in mind a method of feedback from the cab to the Axe such that the Axe III would be able to self adjust itself to any cab that you were using it with and be tuned right. I'll buy 2 of those the minute they come out.

Hope this helps you anyway as I totally feel your frustration. But it is definitely worth the effort when you get it nailed. I can get the plexi model to sound and feel like my YJM Marshall cranked, even at quite low levels.
 
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This is interesting to me. I typically run a combination of FRFR to FOH and CLR on stage as well as to a Matrix GT1000 to a cabinet behind me. I have never found the sound to be thin or brittle from the real cab. If anything, the real cab sounds beefier because of the "in the room" effect.
Maybe try inserting the FXL block into a preset, after the amp block and before the speaker block. This sends the amp sound only to output 2 of the Axe which you would connect to the Matrix/Cabinet. You can compare the 2 sounds now-Live cab vs IR (frfr). If they are similar (Mesa Cab, Mesa IR) the 2 shouldn't sound that different.
Also check that the Global output EQ on both outputs 1 and 2 aren't out of whack.
I've never had to mess with the speaker resonance parameters to get a good sound to a cabinet via the Matrix...rarely if ever. If you have to do a lot of tweaking there, something else is not right.
I'd be interested in seeing your preset. Can you post it?
 
I've run the Matrix into their NL12's, Jet City, Peavey, and Blackstar cabs, and the only way I got brittle sounds from the guitar cabs was with a cab block engaged. Not even every cab block, some sounded good, some were terrible. Axe + Matrix - cab block + Mesa cab should sound awesome for things that sound great through a Mesa cab. Other cabs my suck though...
 
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