Greg Ferguson
Legend!
I think the million dollar question is what does Fractal Audio think about PA/FRFR speakers?
Starting with the manual in section 4, regarding FRFR:
This is by far the most popular type of setup, taking full advantage of the ability of the Axe-Fx III to every part of an “end-to-end” guitar chain, from stompboxes to amps, cabs, post effects, and more, for maximum versatility.
There's the Wiki:
An amp (real or virtual) needs a speaker (real or virtual) to sound good. Amplification is required to make things loud. Usually this means using either a traditional guitar cab with a power amp, or a so-called FRFR monitor / cab.
A traditional guitar speaker will give you the familiar, fairly easy to set up, "amp/cab in the room tone". This does limit possibilities, because any sound you will create will be colored by that particular guitar speaker.
- Traditional guitar cab and power amp
When using a traditional cabinet, the preset shouldn't use a Cabinet model. If it does, disable it or disable Cabinet Modeling in the processor's Setup menu.
A hardware power amp is required to provide a loud signal to the speaker. This can be a guitar-oriented power amp, head or combo, which will add its own coloring to the sound and decrease the possible tonal variations. This usually sounds best with Power Amp Modeling disabled in the processor's setup menus.
More popular is a so-called "neutral" power amp. This relies on the virtual power amp of the modeler, so keep Power Amp Modeling enabled in the Setup menu.
More information
Alternatively, you can use FRFR sound reproduction and amplification: Full Range Flat Response. This requires a FRFR speaker and an external or built-in neutral power amp. Studio monitors are FRFR by nature, as are some monitor wedges and cabs, high-quality PA-systems, and headphones.
- FRFR
FRFR systems (including direct recording) require Cabinet Modeling because the signal doesn't go through a traditional guitar cab. Fractal Audio's amp modelers provide many built-in cabinet models. They also allow loading external cabs, known as Impulse Responses (IRs).
Important: when using an FRFR sound system with cabinet modeling, you're listening to the sound of a miked speaker. That's a different sound than that of a guitar speaker cabinet. A virtual cab (almost always) represents the sound of a speaker that was captured using one or more microphones placed very close to the speaker (referred to as "nearfield" or "close-miking"). The sound of a guitar speaker at a certain distance is referred to as "far-field" or "in-the-room". Because of the close proximity of the recording mic to the speaker, the FRFR sound has more highs and lows, and has the characteristics of the microphone baked in. It can take a while to get accustomed to the FRFR sound, but just realize it's the same tone you hear at a concert or when listening to recorded music.
Modelers and FRFR go together like peas and carrots.
Last edited: