JP-2C Axe-Fx III and Real Amp in Cabinet

Tom Morris said:
Been down this road recently. JP2C with a mesa upright 212 V30s. Tone match with a IR capture of the cabinet is gonna get you closest, plus an additional bit of EQing for whatever your playing through. Soon as I get my stuff set up again I will try and find my setup and share it. Im on to another amp this month LOL so I will have to dig it out of a backup. Was my live setup with Friedman ASM-12s wet dry wet rig.
Click to expand...

Though he's trying to make the model sound the same as the head through his real cabinet, not have the Axe FX in the FRFR sound the same as the cabinet. So an IR Capture of his cab isn't necessary here.
 
mr_fender said:
Tube vs solid state doesn't matter when comparing volume at a particular output wattage. Watts are watts regardless of the device.

In bridged mode into an 8 ohm cab, the Matrix is capable of 10 times more clean output than a 100 watt rated tube amp into the same cab. Also keep in mind that the output volume change is logarithmic, so that 10 times more output gives you 10 dB more volume or roughly twice as loud. That said, you also have to keep in mind the power rating of the speakers as well. Mesa 2x12 cabs with Vintage 30's are rated for 120 watts, so trying to push a full 1000 watts into them for any extended period of time would not be a good idea unless you like blown speakers.
Click to expand...
I guess that my answer wasn’t written clearly. I wasn’t saying that tube watts and ss watts were different. I’m saying that if you want the punch of a loud amp, you have to turn up to match the same level of loud. Most people with modelers already have the tone, and stop there. If you want to match the punch of a guitar amp, you must dial up to the same volume. If you don’t have the two set-ups side by side, you’ll be fooled about how loud a real amp can be. Also, and this will probably get me into trouble) this should also be bypassing the CAB block, and wired to a the same guitar cab and guitar speakers. FRFR (with their wider frequency response) don’t punch the same punch.
 
I tried the FM3 JP2C model through the Matrix GT1000FX (one channel, not bridged mode. ) and 2x12 Mesa Boogie horizontal cabinet. I cranked the volume up very loudly...louder than the drummer and similar volume levels as the real amp. I also did the following,

(1) I used the FM3 2x12 Mesa Boogie speaker impedance with default settings in the amp>speaker section.
(2) I used Leon Todd's tutorial to help me find the resonance frequency, which was about 88Hz. That was lower than I was expecting. I used the 2x12 Mesa Boogie speaker impedance with the resonance frequency set to 88 Hz.

Both options sounded good, but neither sounded as good as the real amp. I also tried changing the output mode from FRFR to SS amp plus real cab but I didn't hear much difference. The only other thing I can think of that might cause a difference is the graphic EQ settings. But I tried adjusting those as well.

Can you think of any other things I can try?
 
Try adjusting the speaker compression in the amp block. I have found that to be a very powerful parameter for getting the feel right.
 
Are you dialing things in by ear? As a fellow tube amp/Fractal enthusiast I find that I almost never get my Fractal models to sound like their tube counterparts with the exact same settings on the knobs. For example, my real life 5150 and the Fractal model sound incredibly similar but are dialed in quite differently.
 
I found the same thing when comparing my Mark 5 head (Mk 4 mode) to the Axe3 Mk 4 model. The real amp had a punch and headroom that wasn’t there in the Axe3. It wasn’t a volume difference. The Axe3 sounded good but not as good as the real amp. This was using the same IR with both (had my Mk 5 going through the Boss Amp Expander) and listening through studio monitors
 
SubKrypt said:
I found the same thing when comparing my Mark 5 head (Mk 4 mode) to the Axe3 Mk 4 model. The real amp had a punch and headroom that wasn’t there in the Axe3. It wasn’t a volume difference. The Axe3 sounded good but not as good as the real amp. This was using the same IR with both (had my Mk 5 going through the Boss Amp Expander) and listening through studio monitors
Click to expand...

I also noticed this a bit comparing my Axe FX with the captures in the Quad Cortex. The JP2C in QC had a certain "bigness" that wasn't there in the Axe, even with Cygnus, which IMHO is exciting since now Cliff will take it personally and fix it :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom