First Rehearsal with AxeII (v9.02), Matrix GT1500FXBD & 2 x Matrix CFRs

X

xpenno

Power User
So I quit my old band a few months back and have not really been playing much other than a quick noodle here and there. I called up a couple of the members of the band I was in prior to that and sorted a jam as I was going a bit crazy from lack of rocking out! This was my first outing with my new Matrix gear (GT1500FXBD and a pair of CFRs), it was also my first time out since about version 7 of the Axe firmware. I knocked up 10 presets at home the night before and hoped for the best :)

I shouldn't have worried, firstly v9.02 firmware is just amazing, I literally thorough the patches together in about half an hour and they ranged from fender/marshall cleans, AC30, Plexi, JCM800, Rectifier, Dirty Shirley, Div13, Camaron & a 6160. I used an IR that I shot that day using a cab from PC based guitar sim. I had also read some interesting info on IR truncation and it's affect on tone and took this into account with a quick EQ but that was it, everything else was just standard amp controls. V9 not only sounds superb the feel is where I noticed the improvements most. I felt more connected, more part of the tone and thus more inspired to play than ever before, it was a great rehearsal indeed!

I ran the Axe2 into the Matrix GT1500FXBD and then in mono (forgot my second long speaker lead!) to my first CFR, I then daisy-chained into the second speaker using a short lead. The tones from this rig were nothing short of outrageous! It's the first time that I had been able to tweak patches at home and have them translate perfectly to rehearsal levels, I put this down to the Matrix amp which delivers great, consistent tones no matter what the volume. Next the CFRs, they really help get the real cab vibe going on, they have a mojo that I found lacking in the majority of FRFR speakers that I have played and owned (QSC, FBT, RCF, LD Systems etc..) They are compact and lightweight but really pack a punch, especially when using two together. The other guitarist was using a Marshall into a 4x12 and my rig sounded more punchy, clearer, just better all round really. It's worth noting that the CFRs also sound great at low volumes, I put this sound to them not sounding as stiff or as sterile as some other FRFR options.

I really can't say enough good things about this rig, it's a real winner with tone and feel for days, I'm stoked and for the first time in a long time I am truly happy with my setup, the same for both home and live, I would recommend that anyone who gets chance should check out the Matrix gear stat, I've have and do own some of their earlier generation gear and it just seems to go from strength to strength!

8)

Pics to follow.

Spence
 
Nice. My Matrix gt1000 will be here this week I will be running it into a Mesa Rectifier 2x12 cab with V30's. Any suggestions as I start tone hunting after playing the Axe 2 through my 8" studio monitors the last 3 months? I have to admit I'm a little worried it's going to take me a while to adjust to the cab but I have one so I want to use it for the next few months at least. Thanks!
 
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Apologies for the poor quality :)
 
Jason Haverfield said:
Nice. My Matrix gt1000 will be here this week I will be running it into a Mesa Rectifier 2x12 cab with V30's. Any suggestions as I start tone hunting after playing the Axe 2 through my 8" studio monitors the last 3 months? I have to admit I'm a little worried it's going to take me a while to adjust to the cab but I have one so I want to use it for the next few months at least. Thanks!
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Nice, I would say that it should be easier to adjust your tones when using a traditional guitar cab as the speaker has a large effect on the tone. I find that when using traditional speakers that tones don't translate from low volume to high. If a guitar speaker isn't moving air then you can get some nasty artefacts in the upper frequencies, these even out as the volume increases (Fletcher Munson curves etc..). This exists in the FRFR world but to a lesser degree as the speakers are designed to work with all frequencies. I can't really crank my Marshall cab at home and don;t like the sound I get, at band level this option sounds good but with the CFRs it is rendered useless :)
 
looks quite a flat angle on the wedges, they just hitting you in the face or they fill a practice room ok?
 
scruffydoo said:
looks quite a flat angle on the wedges, they just hitting you in the face or they fill a practice room ok?
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i used one as shown in the pic and one on end, worked well, everyone could hear ok and I got an extra shot in the ears from my monitor :)
 
Dont you mean CLR xpenno?

Anyways, Jay Mitchell said these would these would be equally as good for mixing and as monitors. Would you agree?

Also, can you describe more of how the CLR has helped your tone?

Thanks,
Brandon
 
BORNintoMUSIC said:
Dont you mean CLR xpenno?

Anyways, Jay Mitchell said these would these would be equally as good for mixing and as monitors. Would you agree?

Also, can you describe more of how the CLR has helped your tone?

Thanks,
Brandon
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I'm pretty sure that Jay didn't comment on these as they are Matrix speakers :mrgreen see link above for info.

As for tone, these things are great, I'm not sure that they affect the tone as such but it's a feel thing for me, these are FRFR but were designed specifically to keep that guitar cab feel. They feel very natural and breathe like a real cab it just felt like the missing link. I've tried/owned many of the forum favourites and always felt like something was lacking in the feel department.

Spence
 
barhrecords said:
I'm curious about this one.

Can you elaborate?

Thanks,
Richard
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Firstly a caveat, I don't know the facts/science behind this one, it sounds plausible and they have a graph and everything so it must true, right? :mrgreen

I was checking out LeCab2 by LePou Plugins on their website and they had the following.

lecab2.PNG

The graph shows the result of truncating an IR, no idea from what length to what so I can't even say if it's relevant to us AxeFX users or not, you can see the extra lows and highs and it sounds like both can cause artefacts in the sound. During my testing I did some EQ'ing to try and combat this and things sounded good, I just added the lo cut on the cab block at around 40hz, set the high cut to about 11k and then added a shelf in the PEQ at 5-6k and lowered the topend by around 4db. These were based on rough estimates from the graphs (I actually downloaded SPAN to check scale of the graph).

More info on the plug can be found here

LePou Plugins: LeCab2 (VST for Windows)

I'd be interested to know if it's relevant to us and whether Redwirez/Ownhammer are potentially affected by this...

The only reason I tested was because I compared 3rd party WAV IRs on my PC against what I heard in the Axe and the results from the Axe seemed a tiny bit muddy in the lows and a bit harsh in the highs, this seemed to match what I was seeing here so I tried the EQ and it worked in this case, it might work in others, worth a shot if you get these symptoms :)

Spence
 
Can you post a video giving us an idea of what the Matrix CFR's sound like? I haven't even found a good youTube video on these yet, not even by Matrix themselves which I thought was curious...? I'm sure they're amazing though!
 
Hi - I would be really interested to hear a high quality video of the CFR's too - I really dont understand why there Matrix havent done anything either for the CFR's or the Q12a ... ( I am a GT800FX owner and not a Matrix basher btw - its great kit )

Also noticed your MFC flightcase - is that a stock item from anyone or custom built - I need something fairly quickly as I'm taking my Axe setup to France - skiing + gigging later this month ..
 
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