Mosvalve 962 vs matrix

R

redbud

Inspired
I really like what I have been getting out of my mosvalve lately, however I cant help but wonder how much better the matrix would sound. The 1u is certianly attractive. What do you think?

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redbud said:
I really like what I have been getting out of my mosvalve lately, however I cant help but wonder how much better the matrix would sound. The 1u is certianly attractive. What do you think?

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What Cliff said. However, the Mosvalve was a bit underpowered for MY use so I had to get higher powered power amp. If it's doing good things for you then keep it. It's a good, reliable unit.
 
The biggest difference will be headroom.
The Mosvalve @ 80 watts a side into 4 ohms is designed to distort like as tube power amp when you play it loud.
The Matrix amps have over 400 watts per side into 4 ohms and are designed to never distort.

The Mosvalve would work better with the Axe if you defeat the axe's tube power amp simulation.
The Matrix works best with the Axe's power amp sims on.
 
joegold said:
The Mosvalve would work better with the Axe if you defeat the axe's tube power amp simulation.
The Matrix works best with the Axe's power amp sims on.
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I disagree with the above statement the mosvalve sounds awesome with power amp sim on. In theory maybe but in reality there is not much breakup with the mosvalve cranked. I have tested it with everything bypassed.

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For you maybe.
Are you using 4 ohm cabs btw?

For me, I'd be using 8 ohm cabs which gets the Mosvalve's power down to around 40 or 50 watts per side.
For the types of clean jazz playing I tend to do, which needs surprisingly high headroom in a power amp, that simply wouldn't be enough power and I'd be noticeably lipping the Mosvalve.

I owned one of the original Mosvalve power amps when they first came out.
Used it with an ADA MP-1.
It was a nice rig for the time.
Circa 1986.
Sure, the Mosvalve needs to be driven quite hard before it will noticeably break up but you need to be aware that it distorts the signal well before you get loud enough for it to be noticeable.
That's why/how it feels more like a tube power amp.

With the Axe, technically speaking, it's best to have all the noticeable power amp breakup (and/or any more subtle distortion of the preamp signal like power tube compression, etc.) happen within the Axe's power amp sim.
The more headroom from your physical power amp the better it will be at reproducing what the axe is actually putting out w/o distorting its characteristics.

But you should also consider that when your physical power amp does distort the signal it's not just the guitar amp sims that will be affected.
The signal generated by the Axe's Reverbs, Delays and Choruses will also be distorted compared to the the pristine quality that they'd have with a power amp that has more headroom.

Of course if you're getting a tone you like to play with then that's all that counts.
 
Yes I am using 8 ohm thiele cabs

Yes I get the tone I like

And I cant help but think the matrix may be better

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P.s. I never play clean. Im a mid gain dude. Even my clean tones require some grit when you dig in or i am not stoked.

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I have both and they are like night and day. The MosValve is a class D amp and is very brittle and sharp while the Matrix is a class A/B amplifier and is very bouncy and round. Knife verses bouncy ball, which one do you want to play with?
 
What makes you think that the Mosvalve is a class D amp?

The "Mos" stands for mosfet and they've been around since the mid 80s before class D was in common usage except for car stereos.

My understanding is that they are mosfet Class A designs.
 
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I own a Matrix GT1000FX and the Mosvalve MV-962. I love my Matrix. The Mosvalve is a nice alternative but in my opinion it is not in the same league as the Matrix. I agree that the Mosvalve is "sharper" and to me just doesn't sound as open. With that said, the voicing is similar in that they both are very flat sounding.

The Matrix sounded perfect right out of the box for me. I never found myself wishing I had something else.
 
maschoff said:
I have both and they are like night and day. The MosValve is a class D amp and is very brittle and sharp while the Matrix is a class A/B amplifier and is very bouncy and round. Knife verses bouncy ball, which one do you want to play with?
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The documetation for the old mosvalve amps say class A

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I have an old Mosvalve 500 that I used to run with the Axe II. It couldn't hang with the other guitarist Blackstar HT-100. I tweaked for weeks to get it where I liked it and came up short every time(it was very harsh and/or dull at high volumes). Then we lost our bass player and the other guitarist(also our vocalist) switched to bass. So then I was running the other guitar rig and my Axe II/Mosvalve rig in stereo. So then I decided to run the right side of the Axe through the return of the Blackstar...eureka! It was rich and ballsy, a paradigm in my quest for killer tone. Now I'm running an Engl 840/50 stereo tube power amp with the Axe II and couldn't be happier!
 
maschoff said:
Good to know, I was making an assumption. Doesn't change that it sounds terrible compared to the Matrix :)
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You haven't a clue what you're talking about, and I'd bet my life that you wouldn't be able to tell the MosValve apart from your Matrix in an A/B blind comparison.

The MosValves sound great.
 
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