FRFR amps for live stage performances

J

Jim Lawrence

Member
I'm having difficulty being heard above the drums and bass of my band.
I'm trying to decide if I should give up on my Fractal AX8 and two Atomic CLR NEO MK II monitors and just use a Marshall stack (or ?). I've gotten complaints 3 bands in a row now and I bought the Moke and Fremen presets. I own a Custom 59 R9 Les Paul and an EVH wolfgang signiture USA guitars.

We play mostly 90's grunge, AiC, STP, Soundgarden, Nirvana, with some metal like Metallica, Creed, Black Sabbath, etc.

Any feedback/advice of what I should do? At home I sound just great, but not above a loud band, it just doesn't blend well. My feeling is my speakers are not doing my equipment justice. After all 2 speakers against 8 in a stack is tough odds. I've gotten advice directly from Atomic about setting the levels correctly on a the monitors themselves, I'm at a loss of what else to do.
 
I'm sure there's plenty of people who use cheaper monitors and don't have problems with volume. No one has complained about the overall volume of the band? What are your output volume knobs set to on the CLRs and your AX8?
 
You should be able to cut through (as long as the bass player isn't diming his volume)...only other thing I can think of is maybe your presets have more mids/bass so you don't cut through and you get kind of lost in the mix. Hopefully someone else can chime in with some answers!
 
Can you post a preset example?
I've used CLRs and never had a problem with volume, even in a 6 pc band.
 
I use a CLR/AX8 combo and that can get extremely loud! Two of them can be crazy loud if you want them to be. It sounds to me like you have an internal setting like the master volumes either in the patches or most likely in your global output level set too low. Does this happen on all patches??

Check your global settings first and see where they are and then your patch output levels and adjust as needed. The CLR's are 500 watts each...plenty of power in them!!
 
Jim Lawrence said:
I'm having difficulty being heard above the drums and bass of my band.
I'm trying to decide if I should give up on my Fractal AX8 and two Atomic CLR NEO MK II monitors and just use a Marshall stack (or ?). I've gotten complaints 3 bands in a row now and I bought the Moke and Fremen presets. I own a Custom 59 R9 Les Paul and an EVH wolfgang signiture USA guitars.

We play mostly 90's grunge, AiC, STP, Soundgarden, Nirvana, with some metal like Metallica, Creed, Black Sabbath, etc.

Any feedback/advice of what I should do? At home I sound just great, but not above a loud band, it just doesn't blend well. My feeling is my speakers are not doing my equipment justice. After all 2 speakers against 8 in a stack is tough odds. I've gotten advice directly from Atomic about setting the levels correctly on a the monitors themselves, I'm at a loss of what else to do.
Click to expand...


Are you guys plugging into a PA system?
 
yek said:
This issue is common to amplifying modelers. Luckily it can be solved. It’s not about volume, it’s about EQ-ing your sound. You need more mids in your sound and cut lows and highs. This will bring the guitar to the foreground in the mix.

http://wiki.fractalaudio.com/axefx2...odeling_for_beginners#Cutting_through_the_mix
Click to expand...
+1 - Mids are king in a band mix for guitar players. Lot's of mids can sound crap at home without the rest of the band, but it works on stage. Maybe put in an EQ block with hi Mids (if you can spare the CPU) and only turn it on for live work.
 
Great comments, thanks. At some level, seems not intuitive that 4 speakers of a 4x12 would not fill up a room better than 2 speakers.
I have some ideas here to try. Here's one preset I was working with that was complained about, used on ManInBox.
We do not use the PA. Only my Atomic CLR speakers. Volume isn't the problem, I can raise my volume to super loud, but mixing or "cutting through the mix" is a problem.
 

Attachments

  • ManInBox3t.syx
    12.6 KB · Views: 5
  • U404_Sandman Crunch.syx
    10.6 KB · Views: 6
  • U405_Sandman Into.syx
    10.6 KB · Views: 5
If it’s cutting through the mix that’s the issue then it’s definitely your EQ settings, I used to have this same problem, and sometimes with certain amp models still do, but like everyone has said boost those mids and make sure to cut the low’s and high’s in the cab block, I have also found that sometimes for live applications I like the 1x12 and 2x12 IR’s better than 4x12 even for Marshall’s and what not.
 
Save months of going crazy after your to find the right cutting EQ and balance all the presets with each other : buy Austin Buddy's naked amps package. You won't regret.

I did this, as many others, and I just fine-tune my presets after picking up the amp I want from his, come ready to go.

I know you would expect this to happen as default by Fractal itself, but it's not the case....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom