Well my Q12a arrived about a week ago and I've spent a LOT of time this past week exploring FRFR and all it has to offer. It has been a great new experience, as I've always used traditional cabs with a Matrix GT800FX with the Axe. The traditional cab setup sounded great, but always had that Vintage 30 "blanket" to the tone. Not in a bad way, and V30's are probably the best match for a good chunk of the amp sims in the Axe. However, I bought the Axe for versatility and accuracy. So I could get cranked sounds of any amp at any volume. I am a firm believer that the speakers and cab an amp uses are a HUGE part of what makes it sound like it does. I used to build tube amps (hence the name Dragg Amps) and I would say the tone stack design and speaker are the two single biggest elements of an amplifier that give them their signature tone. Even much more-so than the type of tubes. However, I just never could imagine how a FRFR setup could "do the job" for a live sound situation. But I decided it was time to give it a try with the Q12a, if I was ever going to get accurate Tweed, Vox, Marshall, Mesa, etc style tones all from one box.
Again, I don't have much other experience with FRFR, so I can't compare the Matrix to anything else. However, I just feel like they have that satisfying, typical "quality" Matrix sound. It lets the modeler shine through, and does it in a harmonically rich, full, warm sort of way. I can definitely imagine how some FRFR monitors would sound worse in many ways, but it's hard for me to imagine anything sounding much better. That's completely speculation on my part, but it's the same way I feel about their power amps, and it's just a feeling I have. Again, pure speculation.
The Q12a arrived to me in the States in FOUR DAYS! Read my previous post for details on how amazing Matrix's customer service was, as always. But yes, very fast shipping. It did come with an unexpected $40 customs fee attached, but oh well. That's no fault of Matrix's. I'm happy with the speaker, especially for a great sounding a feeling speaker AND amplification solution in one light, convenient, and small package, and especially for the price. Reasonable for something of such quality. It's very well build and I have full confidence in it. Matrix knows what their doing as far as quality is concerned. Nobody can argue that. Anyway, I'm getting things sounding really great and I have SO MUCH versatility out of my Axe now. I LOVE IT! I highly recommend these. Especially if you're someone still using a traditional cab because you're afraid you can't get the sound and feel of a traditional cab from an FRFR solution. I believe you can, if you want to and are willing to work bit to get there. I admit I wasn't blown away in the first hour or so of getting them and I didn't know how to set my global EQ or why my current patches didn't sound amazing yet. But after trying different cabs with each preset and tweaking them individually for the best sound, as well as setting the global EQ back to almost flat (with a very slight midrange hump, a slight roll off of the highest frequency, and a good roll off of the lowest frequency), I am getting better tones than ever and they all sound as different from each other as they should.
I want to reiterate how good Matrix's customer service is, and how high quality their products are. I also think they're a blessing for tone purists using the Axe that want that authentic sound and feel from their amp sims with the tubelike and cablike feel, and overall just quality tone. They really seem to be the perfect company that goes hand in hand with the Axe FX. Just to include more of my thoughts on this FRFR solution, below is my response to a couple of posts in another thread in this forum:
I feel like FRFR is for standard tuning. I got KILLER tones in standard with it. But in drop B or lower if just isn't there...
With my Matrix Q12a and EBMM JPXI 7 string tuned to drop A, I get killer tones. I'll admit that a regular cab with Matrix power amp is probably "enough" if all I wanted to do was super tight high gain metal patches, because you don't need all the variances that different cabs get you with those tones. It's mostly just EQ differences at those gain levels, and a good traditional cab will work fine for that. But I still like the added flexibility and how brutally tight it can get and getting all sorts of different tones with different cabs, not to mention much more realistic amp simulations. It does it just fine, but I guess it just depends on the FRFR solution you use. The Matrix Q12a handles low tunings well for me.
I play through a guitar cab and am happy. Lots of natural controlled feedback. Feels like I'm playing through any number of killer amps. I have always wondered about FRFR but everytime I play through my rig, I really wonder if I'd get my money's worth going FRFR. Someone somewhere on this forum described it as listening to a great tone on a CD. I think I'm sticking with the guitar cab.
I know it's hard to imagine, it was for me, but FRFR can give you all of that controlled feedback and cablike feel and response. I just recently switched to FRFR for everything, including live rig. I was always skeptical and just couldn't imagine it sounding as good. Well, after some tweaking and relearning how to do things with cab simulations and all of that, I'm sold. As stated above, I use a Matrix Q12a and that's the only real experience I have with FRFR, but I have a lot of faith in Matrix and I imagine that it's just abut as good of an FRFR solution as you can get, if not the best. So maybe some peoples' experiences will differ, depending on their setup. But I am getting SO MUCH tonal diversity now and my patches don't sound like amp "x" into V30's, making them all have a similar character and color, they sound like whatever I want. Either a hybrid creation based on something I thought sounded good or my interpretation of what a particular amp should sound like, or a very accurate replication of an existing amp. A Vox or Fender amp sim can sound good enough through V30's, but the speakers of those amps is probably the single most important element that gives them their signature sound. So being able to use accurate cab/speaker sims for a given amp is what REALLY releases the versatility of the Axe. It can sound great through a traditional cab, sure, but far as being completely versatile and accurate, using a traditional cab is a huge handicap to the Axe, IMHO.
As far as the feel and the amps sounding "recorded" rather than "in the room", it's all there in my opinion. The feel is totally there, and you get more response, harmonics, and cab-like thump the more you turn it up, just like a cab. Although you don't have to crank it as much and it's much more cranked sounding at low volumes, still. I think the idea that FRFR can't sound like an "amp in the room" is just an old interpretation that has been fading away with each new firmware update. Even the last firmware for the Ultra sounds very "in the room" and authentic. I honestly don't even notice a difference with the Ultra, as far as sounding "recorded". It just doesn't if you know how to tweak it to sound like a cab in front of you. The Matrix may help with that, though, because it's not a wedge, it's a backline style setup that has a cab-style construction. I still think I could get the same sound from a wedge, though. The cab sims are just that good, even without using third party IR's, which are supposed to be that much better. One trick is to use a "touch" of reverb on everything, just to give the sound some depth or a sense of "space". Just a tiny bit. But yeah, especially in a live situation with the cab cranked up, you seem to get all of that feel and I honestly don't think you could tell the difference if it's tweaked right (which isn't hard to do). The versatility that using cab sims opens up is what the Axe is all about, IMHO, and it makes it totally worth it. Having the cab sims are a HUGE part of getting the most from the Axe. I know it's hard to imagine how a single 1x12 can have a huge 4x12 sound with the thump and the feel and reactiveness, but it does. And the Matrix DOES have the headroom and volume for it. There are cab sims in there that make it sound bigger than even my crazy expensive Bogner 4x12. I'm personally sold.
