Matrix vs Tube power amp

[mmpete]

. I use a 2 x 12 Marshall 1936V (V30 speakers) and the resonance frequency is somewhere between 100-110. 108-109 to be a bit more detailed. Adding more bass doesn't help either. Maybe I'm missing some other parameter to dial this in?

I was disappointed when I first plugged my matrix into my 1936 cab with v30 and CL80. Just didn't seem to have the bottom end I like. I managed to improve it by starting presets from scratch and found that some amps were ok eg Engl Savage. The main improvement was when I plugged into various 4 x 12s at the practice room and they sounded loads better. I came to the conclusion that the Axe Fx works as lot better using 4 x 12s than this cab. I keep meaning to get my Engl 4 x 12 out my parents garage to try it out but dont have much space in my house at the moment. I did a few practices with my last band using this setup and was pleased with the results. Was just like using a valve head again. Im still curious to try a neutral valve head like the Fryette to see whether it improves on the matrix.

Prior to getting a pair of ASM-12's I was using mine through a Mesa 20/20 and a Marshall 1936 (G75's). It did the job but was not really giving me what I was hoping for. Going FRFR really unlocked the AX8 potential for me - I have never looked back.

 

[deleted]

So, the Matrix is going back today. I've decided to use a tube amp. It just works better for me. The only thing to decide now, if I should keep the 2/50/2 or not ..

Does someone know what the most neutral settings are on those units?

 

[Manny Fufish]

Oh great, thanks for chiming in Manny! I am curious how you split the tube configuration. Was it all 6L6 on side A and all EL84 on side B, or a blend of both on side A as well as a blend of both on side B. The weight of the rack will suck but I think i'll be happier with a tube power section with the amps sims active. Hey, I've noticed that some of the Axe amps sometimes sound good on the bridge PUP but muffled on the neck PUP, while others sound great all around. Had you experienced that as well?

Hi PRS513, (a favorite guitar of mine actually) There is only one way you can run it mixed and that is half EL34 and half 6L6 in each channel. This gives each channel a blend of the two types. You can do this without adjusting the amp but you will be getting mostly 6L6 and very little EL34 until you have the plate voltage raised on the EL34 sockets to get them to work equally hard. At that point it's a magical blend and its amazing!

I have certainly found that some amps accept the lower tones of the neck pickup better then others, but I have found that in the real amp world too. If you can't eq it out, between the amp eq and the tone control, then move to another amp that works for that pickup and you can even X/Y them in your preset.

 

[deleted]

So, after testing several devices I now come to the conclusion to use none of them.
I decided to postpone the purchase of an amplifier to be able to get a new Fractal device first and come back to that topic later or give 4CM another try with a newer Fractal unit.
The bottom line is that a tube power amp suits me better. I probably would say that the EL 34 50/50 was the best sounding unit, followed by the 2/50/2 and the E840/50. Though it has some disadvantages. The biggest is surely weight.

 

[speedloader]

To those who switched to FRFR tube amps vs Matrix or vice versa with a real cab configuration, when the amp speaker page was already as advanced as it is now (low/hi freq/res, xfrmr drive) ;

how much did you experiment with those advanced parameters? From what Cliff said, we should be able to restore the sparkles and bottom we get from the interactions between a tube amp and the speakers. So how did those parameters played in your favor? Do you find them to be realistic enough, or complete, or not?

 

[reinhardtwj]

So I got my power station this week and i love it. The feel is much improved over the Matrix GT1000FX and its like someone took the blanket off.
Using the same main preset as I setup on the Matrix, it has just a bit too much high end.

My question is, since the tubes are interacting with the speakers, should I be making everything in the speaker page flat? I tried this and it helped take some of the pointyness away but didn't get it all. It also doesn't sound right turning the power amp completely off. Are there any other settings beside Low Res and High Res that I should be turning off?

any help is appreciated

I have this same issue. I love my powerstation v2 and people keep saying it is transparent, but then why is there so much high end with power sim on. If you turn it up loud it is just way too much. I have to go in and eq lots of the highs out and then it sounds great. I compared the axe fx 2 into the powerstation with amp sim on to my JVM410 head and if the powerstation was flat they should sound very similar, but they don't. If I turn power sim off then they sound much closer and almost exact once I adjust the presence control. When I use my axe into the effects return of the JVM410 I cant really tell the difference between the axe and the real JVM so I know the axe is accurate. So in the end while I do think the powerstation sounds great I do have to use an eq to tame the highs. This is all with the powerstation presence and resonance set to 0.

 

[Jezuz]

Thanks for your reply.
Been using the AxeFx since 4 years or so.

Yes, been thinking about buying both too. On the tube side I'm not sure if a Marshall EL34 50/50 or a Fryette 2/50/2 would be a better choice.

Sorry my ignorance im thinking on buying an fx can this be used with a mesa 20/20 to pa system or just to can ?

 

[mmpete]

Sorry my ignorance im thinking on buying an fx can this be used with a mesa 20/20 to pa system or just to can ?

The Mesa 20/20 is a real tube power amp and must go to a normal passive cab of some kind. It can't go direct to a PA.

You could go out to the Mesa 20/20 and Cab and send a different out to the PA direct from the FX.

 

[Jeff B]

Like many of the players chiming in here, I have tried many different options when it comes to my rig. I've always been a tube guy and the "magic" it offers to my tone. However, for me, the trade off when going to SS was the maintenance and weight savings. While there are the tone aficionados that will truly choose a specific setup in order to achieve that "magic" that a tube setup offers, my back told me it wasn't worth it in the end. I chose the Matrix GT1000 and while I do find that it isn't offering 100% of what a tube setup does, I have yet to have one person in a live performance ever say otherwise or tell the difference (or care) that I'm not playing a tube amp. I think that for saving my back in transportation and for the near-accurate tones it offers, especially when in a live situation, the SS was the way to go for me. Also, in choosing the AxeFX in the first place, I was choosing it for reasons of weight-savings and downsizing my rig. If I wanted to stick with the other, I could have continued lugging around all my tube heads and such and wouldn't have had to spend a dime. So, that also helped on my decision to just go the small, lightweight SS way and get as close as I could without sweating all the other tone details. I have yet to be disappointed with that decision.