FRFR and a good solo sound...

andyp13

andyp13

Power User
I used my Q12 on a gig as a monitor lastnight and was very happy with my rhythm sound, however I found my overdrive sound to be a bit scratchy and thin.
I use the shiver clean for the rhythm and the AC boost (drive block) for my soloing. With my guitar cab (no cab sim) this combination sounds really good however, with the FRFR it does not sound good. Would I be best using another amp block for an overdrive sound? I want a good bluesy sound (for soul music and steely Dan songs) not metal.
Any suggestions.....

Just an update - the reason I want to use the Q12 instead of a real cab is I want to hear more of the sound the audience is getting as I am also going through the FOH. So my FRFR is used as a monitor more than a full on backline (lastnight was the first time I tried this).
 
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I have no experience with the Q12, but I use the ACB as my primary lead sound in conjunction with various clean(ish) amps and find it to work really well.

I'm using Xitone wedges...

What are your settings on the ACB? What IRs are you using? You might consider using X/Y on your cab block when you switch to your lead sound (using scenes).

I've recently found that the ODS Clean works really well with a drive block...
 
andyp13 said:
I used my Q12 on a gig as a monitor lastnight and was very happy with my rhythm sound, however I found my overdrive sound to be a bit scratchy and thin.
I use the shiver clean for the rhythm and the AC boost (drive block) for my soloing. With my guitar cab (no cab sim) this combination sounds really good however, with the FRFR it does not sound good. Would I be best using another amp block for an overdrive sound? I want a good bluesy sound (for soul music and steely Dan songs) not metal.
Any suggestions.....
Click to expand...
Does your shiver clean sound exactly the same with the guitar cab vs the q12?
 
Try this one, see if it works for you. Scene 1 is 'clean', scene 2 adds drive for a crunch/lead tone, scene 3 is clean with delay and scene 4 is drive, delay and 5db volume boost for leads.

I tested it on my Strat and it works okay with my home monitors. My main monitor is at the auditorium right now so I can't run it there to check things out, but it generally reveals a little extra hair that my home monitors don't. You'll probably want to adjust amp and drive gain to taste as my Strat pickups are semi low output so it might have more drive than you want with everything blazing.
 

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chris said:
Does your shiver clean sound exactly the same with the guitar cab vs the q12?
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It is very close to it. But the settings on the drive block don't seem to achieve what I need, I have also noticed that my scene two which has an 808 drive block on (with the drive set to '0' would give a little bit of hair in my guitar cab, but in the FRFR it doesn't sound natural at all.
In answer to Rex, regarding the IR (am I correct in assuming by IR you mean a cab sim?) I use the 1x12 brown sound cab.... it is the only one which does not seem to exaggerate a horrible mid-range honk.
In all honesty - I did considered having another look at buying some cab Sims, but I did buy a cab pack quite a while ago (can't remember which one) and could not hear any real difference between the present ones that came with the axe?
I do find ALL of the cab Sims sound virtually the same, the only difference seemed to be some were thinner and some were a little more muddy, but very little difference in tone.
So that kind of put me off buying Cab Sims - or are there some good ones out there?
I don't want 4x12 sound - just a nice 1x12 or 2x12 open back sound if poss.
 
I used my axefxII and EV ZLX 15p for a gig for the first time Friday night and I couldn't have been happier with the tone. I used the new factory preset #2 just small changes to BMT. Where do you put your monitor? I put my monitor / cab vertical right on the wood of the raised stage, that does seem to help bring out the lows and low mids for a fuller sound.
 
VeryBadMan said:
I used my axefxII and EV ZLX 15p for a gig for the first time Friday night and I couldn't have been happier with the tone. I used the new factory preset #2 just small changes to BMT. Where do you put your monitor? I put my monitor / cab vertical right on the wood of the raised stage, that does seem to help bring out the lows and low mids for a fuller sound.
Click to expand...

I have my cab on a small stand facing forays just to the side of me and back a bit.

image.jpeg
 
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Hellbat said:
Try this one, see if it works for you. Scene 1 is 'clean', scene 2 adds drive for a crunch/lead tone, scene 3 is clean with delay and scene 4 is drive, delay and 5db volume boost for leads.

I tested it on my Strat and it works okay with my home monitors. My main monitor is at the auditorium right now so I can't run it there to check things out, but it generally reveals a little extra hair that my home monitors don't. You'll probably want to adjust amp and drive gain to taste as my Strat pickups are semi low output so it might have more drive than you want with everything blazing.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for this, I will set up my Axe and try it :)
 
Cool nice set up. But yeah decoupled from the floor might make it sound thin. I don't know if you would want to try it without the stand. For me it's just me and my backing tracks and a vocalist so I have to have a very full sound. I don't have all those other tone frequencies to compete with Bass, Drums ect.
 
VeryBadMan said:
Cool nice set up. But yeah decoupled from the floor might make it sound thin. I don't know if you would want to try it without the stand. For me it's just me and my backing tracks and a vocalist so I have to have a very full sound. I don't have all those other tone frequencies to compete with Bass, Drums ect.
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The rhythm sound is fine, it's just the lead sound it thin and raspy, I will plod on, I know I will eventually get it right.... The most frustrating thing is I get an absolutely fantastic sound and 'home' volumes but as soon as I get to a gig and need more volume the sound and quality change quite dramatically.
 
You could put a GEQ block in the path and configure the bypass on the same midi controller for both the Drive and GEQ blocks. Then adjust the GEQ to compensate for the thinness your finding. Maybe put the GEQ after the amp block.
 
Try adjusting the various EQ options in the 'Drive' block. That way those EQ changes are automatically included when the 'Drive' block is kicked in and they only affect the solo tone.
 
andyp13 said:
The rhythm sound is fine, it's just the lead sound it thin and raspy, I will plod on, I know I will eventually get it right.... The most frustrating thing is I get an absolutely fantastic sound and 'home' volumes but as soon as I get to a gig and need more volume the sound and quality change quite dramatically.
Click to expand...
Just to confirm, you DO have cab modeling enabled, right? Your previous comment about all the IRs you have tried sounding very similar is suspect to me...
 
andyp13 said:
I used my Q12 on a gig as a monitor lastnight and was very happy with my rhythm sound, however I found my overdrive sound to be a bit scratchy and thin.
I use the shiver clean for the rhythm and the AC boost (drive block) for my soloing. With my guitar cab (no cab sim) this combination sounds really good however, with the FRFR it does not sound good. Would I be best using another amp block for an overdrive sound? I want a good bluesy sound (for soul music and steely Dan songs) not metal.
Any suggestions.....

Just an update - the reason I want to use the Q12 instead of a real cab is I want to hear more of the sound the audience is getting as I am also going through the FOH. So my FRFR is used as a monitor more than a full on backline (lastnight was the first time I tried this).
Click to expand...


I like your idea of keeping things uniform using the FRFR as your monitor.
Getting just the right tone is a matter of trial and error with IR's and EQ.
The stock cabs give you plenty of good and different tones to choose from.
If they don't sound different, something is probably wrong with your setup.
 
andyp13 said:
The rhythm sound is fine, it's just the lead sound it thin and raspy, I will plod on, I know I will eventually get it right.... The most frustrating thing is I get an absolutely fantastic sound and 'home' volumes but as soon as I get to a gig and need more volume the sound and quality change quite dramatically.
Click to expand...
if your tones are fantastic at low volumes and bad at gig volumes there's only one answer....
 
unix-guy said:
Just to confirm, you DO have cab modeling enabled, right? Your previous comment about all the IRs you have tried sounding very similar is suspect to me...
Click to expand...

Yes I do have the cab sim on, but I just find them to be very similar (ALL honky) though some are muddy and some are very toppy but they all have that horrid honk' - this is why I really dont want to purchase another pack as the last one (I think it was 10) didnt sound any different to what I all ready had.
 
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