RamboMadCow
Inspired
Just had a band rehearsal last night where my band mate went through my Axe 3 into a Matrix GT1600FX into a single 2x12 Matrix FRFR cabinet. I played on my Mesa Triple Rec into a Mesa 4x12 over sized cab. The Matrix cab was monstrous and pushed air equal or greater to my 4x12 cabinet. We normally run IEMs with no cabinets, or each guitar going through a separate Axe in identical Matrix setups so we had never tried this before.They absolutely don't and they feel totally wrong.
Last night was the first time we mixed an Axe with the Mesa to see if there was a huge difference and everyone in the band was shocked and blown away by how good the Matrix FRFR212 sounded AND pushed air in the room for the feel and everyone preferred the Matrix setup. That's likely because that Axe is running a Splawn so it has a slightly different sound from the Triple Rec...but they were close and that "in the room" amp feel everyone talks about was there in spades.
It was an eye opening experience for me personally as I've never done an A/B test like this before and just took it on faith the Axe and my Matrix setup was good. This completely justified my setup in my eyes. And when I play alone, I hook up both FR212's to my one Axe and it absolutely trumps the Mesa 4x12.
They absolutely CAN sound and play just as good, if not better...if you know what you're doing.