If you had to choose power amp/passive or powered cab today?

If you had to start over, would you purchase a powered Cab or powered amp/passive cab?


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Kelleys Heroes

Experienced
For the experienced users, particularly those that have gone down both paths with Axe-II or III. if you had to start from scratch TODAY, would you purchase a power amp and passive FRFR cab, or would you buy a powered FRFR cab?

I've read quite a few posts discussing the same thing, but that was yesterday...
 
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I was thinking of a powered speaker that wasn't FRFR as just being a combo amp, and I hadn't considered someone would use a Fractal with a Matrix (for example) and then just buy a normal passive guitar cab and lose all the IR functionality. Thanks for pointing out!
 
I'd go with a powered amp (probably a Seymour Duncan Powerstage 700) and a pair of passive CLR's.

PROs compared to powered CLRs:
  • flexibility to use a real guitar cab or cabs if you want
  • with the proper rack setup, you'd only need to mess with a single power cable instead of three

CONs compared to powered CLR's:
  • ...?
 
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I'd go with a powered amp (probably a Seymour Duncan Powerstage 700) and a pair of passive CLR's.

PROs compared to powered CLRs:
  • flexibility to use a real guitar cab or cabs if you want
  • with the proper rack setup, you'd only need to mess with a single power cable instead of three

CONs compared to powered CLR's:
  • ...?
Haha, saves rack space, so you can use a smaller rack which also weighs less. More importantly for me: the axe doesn’t warm up so much so you can leave the back of the rackcase on. I always put it on it’s back. Can’t fall that way, don’t have to put it onto something ( I used to bring an amp stand for it) and still the front panels (axe and wireless )are easy accessable.
 
I'd go with a powered amp (probably a Seymour Duncan Powerstage 700) and a pair of passive CLR's.

CONs compared to powered CLR's:
  • ...?
Atomic no longer makes passive cabs.
The power amp in the CLR is specifically designed to work with that speaker & has settings designed to insure consistent sound in different speaker positions.
 
The Atomic CLRs are awesome, Tom King's customer service has been spotty over the years, so there is that to consider.
 
I switched over to powered cabs.

Ax8, FR12 x2

No rack, less connections. Only cons I can think of is all the time I'm spending IR hunting.
 
Powered cab needs less space on a small “stage”, and it’s one less thing to carry and plug in.
 
More importantly for me: the axe doesn’t warm up so much so you can leave the back of the rackcase on
I have been using a Matrix power amp for years with Axe Fx II and III. I have no problems with heat and the back of my rack remains closed.
 
I'm NOT a gigging musician so I don't have to take rig portability into account.

My preference is to run the output of the Axe-FX into a clean power amplifier and run the amp's output into my guitar cabinet of choice.

To me, even the best IR doesn't quite completely match the sound of the speakers and cabinet that it's meant to replicate. There's nothing quite like the real thing.

If I had to tote the rig around on the road I would probably take a different approach. Probably go with FRFR speakers (I'd pick by comparing a few models) and if they had built-in amps, so be it. If not, buy the amps, too. Hopefully they fit in the Axe-FX's rack.
 
I'm a constant gigging...and occasional jamming player.

I started with the Axe Ultra. Then after I got the AxeII ....my mindset has totally changed with regard to real amps and cabs.

My preference now is for that "polished" engineered and board eq'd sound we all hear on our favorite recordings....straight to FOH and FRFR self powered wedge monitors (or whatever the house provides for monitors). My regular club and private gigs I use either Mackie, JBL...and a Bose wedge.

And for those 1 set gigs at benefits and other shows where it's quick plug and play...I've also accustomed myself to play with "less than desirable" monitoring sounds, as I know that the FOH is receiving what I dialed in.

I'm actually too in the process of dialing in some patches with those new far field irs FAS put up. Mainly for those intimate guitar jams (AITR) effect and experimenting with some for FOH as well.

FAS has literally turned my whole gear psych upside down!!! ....for the better IMHO!
 
The Atomic CLRs are awesome, Tom King's customer service has been spotty over the years, so there is that to consider.

I joined a Pre-sales waitlist for CLRs in December of last year... it's now July and still no word at all. Emailed them, no response. Is this company even in business anymore or are they just not making speakers? In any case I ended up going with XiTone instead.
 
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