I did a thing recently..

atyourlasthourrr

atyourlasthourrr

Inspired
I had two Matrix GT800FX power amps.. One started acting up so I bought another one and kept the faulty one as a spare..

I gigged with my 800FX and practiced many hours with it and enjoyed the awesome clean power it delivered out of my Orange 4x12.. Indeed I was a happy camper.

However, there was a local guy who was looking to trade his Mesa 2:90 for a Matrix GT power amp due to gigging/weight issues..

I now own that Mesa 2:90 and regret absolutely nothing. :p:D;)

The spare Matrix has since been sent back to Matrix to get repaired ;)
 
Well you certainly won't get as much variety of tone, but real Mesa Simulclass tube tone is a nice tradeoff.

I have a 2:50 and love the all Mesa gear I have tried.
 
atyourlasthourrr said:
I had two Matrix GT800FX power amps.. One started acting up so I bought another one and kept the faulty one as a spare..

I gigged with my 800FX and practiced many hours with it and enjoyed the awesome clean power it delivered out of my Orange 4x12.. Indeed I was a happy camper.

However, there was a local guy who was looking to trade his Mesa 2:90 for a Matrix GT power amp due to gigging/weight issues..

I now own that Mesa 2:90 and regret absolutely nothing. :p:D;)

The spare Matrix has since been sent back to Matrix to get repaired ;)
Click to expand...

Can you share us some impression on the differences among the twos?

Thanks
 
volothamp said:
Can you share us some impression on the differences among the twos?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I only got to play with this rig a few times but I'll try my best.

Please bear in mind that I'm using a 4x12 Orange Cab so for FRFR YMMV.

Basically, the Matrix is very transparent all it does is amplify what you have programmed into your patches without any sort of color. It doesn't add or subtract anything, just clean power.

The Mesa on the other hand makes everything sound more 'beefy' it adds a certain 'oomph' on the overall body of the tone which I personally enjoy. This is the 'color' that people refer to, it adds that Mesa body that you hear from the Mark series.

To some this is terrible and defeats the purpose of even having the Axe Fx, but for my uses it enhances my sounds in a favorable way.

I did try to dial in a Marshall amp model and without messing with the advanced parameters you can get maybe 80% there in terms of classic Marshall tone. I'm sure however, that with all the tweaking capabilities of the Axe FX2 that you can still use this power amp to achieve whatever sound you have in your head, however it would probably be easier achieved with the Matrix.

For me, the only downsides are 1. tube maintenance and 2. it weighs almost 50lbs.

Hope that helps!
 
I had a Mesa 2:50, it was a great amp, but it Mesa-ised everything. Good if that's your thing, but I did not care for it. Then I bought a Matrix 1000, and it was really good. I then go a hold of a Carvin 100TS (https://carvinaudio.com/products/ts100), and A/B them, and the Carvin sounded better. It does not color the sound very much at all and it is warmer than the Matrix. I sold the Matrix and bought the Carvin from the website. At thanksgiving they had a sale at 20% off, so it came in at about $500 and change, which is actually $200 less than the Matrix (they are on sale now for $559 BTW). The only drawback is that the Carvin weighs a metric ton, but I have wheels on my rack, so it's fairy painless. With the 7.02 firmware - sounds great.
 
@Gebella I still have a spart GT800FX so I'm not really missing much. I'm planning on putting into my wife's bass rig but I can always go back to it if I really miss it.

I don't mind being Mesa-fied.. I'm going for more modern punchy tones so if anything it helps me in that regard.
 
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