guitarcab for home use

SloeGin

Member
Anyone using a guitarcab with the Axe FX III who's only playing at home?
What cab do you use and what speakers do you recommend?
Obviously the guitarcab will give you the amp in the room, but is it also suitable when you only can play at low(er) volume?

Thanks!
 
Myself I would and do use pa speakers for home use, gets kinda boring playing at home with out jamming to some tracks, these tracks do not sound good through a guitar cab.
 
I really like playing through real guitar cabs when I'm just practicing or writing music. Recording, I always go direct, but my monitors are nowhere near the quality of my cabs, so it's more enjoyable for me to go through a power amp and cab. Those cabs are two Mesa Boogie EVM12L loaded 1x12 cabs. One is a Thiele, the other is an open back. Because the EVs don't have a lot of color on their own, I find that they sound alright for my purposes at low volumes. Of course, the louder they get, the better sounding and feeling they are. Other people find EVs very sterile at low volumes, but I think having two helps with that, at least that is my perception. I also have a Port City 2x12 OS cab loaded with V30s. While I love that cab, I find those speakers really benefit from having a good amount of volume going through them, because of their signature character that cannot be accounted for at low volumes. So I would suggest something on the flatter end of the frequency spectrum that may translate better across different volumes. There will be no doubt, different opinions on this, so I certainly encourage you to find a store with a good return policy to try things out. I hope this helps in some way. Take care.
 
I have 2 mesa 112 widebody cabs powered by a Matrix GT1000Fx power amp. These sound good to me even at low volume with the mesa models on Axefx but are overkill for home use - I may sell this soon as I prefer studio monitors for home playing. Having said that I have a small 5w combo amp (Blackstar) that sounds great (Axefx > to Fx Return) - good for home use. Thing about using traditional amps/cabs with Axefx is that they color modelling sounds so not a great solution if you want to hear varied amp models accurately.
 
I really like playing through real guitar cabs when I'm just practicing or writing music. Recording, I always go direct, but my monitors are nowhere near the quality of my cabs, so it's more enjoyable for me to go through a power amp and cab. Those cabs are two Mesa Boogie EVM12L loaded 1x12 cabs. One is a Thiele, the other is an open back. Because the EVs don't have a lot of color on their own, I find that they sound alright for my purposes at low volumes. Of course, the louder they get, the better sounding and feeling they are. Other people find EVs very sterile at low volumes, but I think having two helps with that, at least that is my perception. I also have a Port City 2x12 OS cab loaded with V30s. While I love that cab, I find those speakers really benefit from having a good amount of volume going through them, because of their signature character that cannot be accounted for at low volumes. So I would suggest something on the flatter end of the frequency spectrum that may translate better across different volumes. There will be no doubt, different opinions on this, so I certainly encourage you to find a store with a good return policy to try things out. I hope this helps in some way. Take care.
I forgot to note that I do not use cab sims through the real cabs. I do use EV IRs though that keep me in the ballpark of my tonal comfort zone, which is through the Mesa cabs.
 
Still waiting on the Axe iii but I played my old modeler through a Marshall 2x12 for a while. Sounds good. You lose some of the tones but works well. As part of tis "gear makeover" if you will, I'm planning to hook the unit up to 2 Mission Gemini 1's and the also route to a SD Powerstage into a Mesa 4x12 cab. I also have 2 JBL 305s monitors too. Not sure how I'll use those.
 
I use a Matrix GT 1000 fix into a Mesa vertical 2x12 and a Mesa compact 2x12 in stereo. I also run into a Yamaha DXR 12. Sounds glorious. Can’t hang anything on my wall cause it vibrates off and ends up on the floor 😀
 
I'm very happy with my Matrix FR12 (powered) and NL212 (passive).
Used at home and for gigs.
Super lightweight but loud.

The FR12 has some DSP modes but not one to kill the tweeter.

I also have a Xitone ML Brit (powered) which does have a 12" driver-only mode that makes it a nice hybrid FR / standard speaker.
 
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