No IR's were harmed in the making of this video.....

[MicFarlow]

Actually, they weren't even used!!!!!

Back story... My cousin Dave has been playing around with another friend of ours Marshall half stack some. Basically it's a 1960A with one of the Valvestate heads.. not sure which actually... matters not, he just runs out of Output 1 and into the FX return and then out of the head into the cab... simple and it sounds awesome! Cab block bypassed of course or not even in the patch.

There is no wonder to us why folks like that setup! It is rather impressive.

So, last week I figured I'd bring over one of my 2x12's and put it into bypass mode and see how we liked it compared to the 4x12. The 4x12 is loaded with G12T-75's and the XiTone a pair of 12CX's running in bypass mode so the only thing in the signal path is the 12" driver.. no crossover and no tweeter.

We weren't trying to see which we liked better or who is best... there is a reason folks go the guitar driver route and that is very clear to me. I will never discount that!

But I did want a comparison. I am adding in the bypass switch a lot more nowadays and any and all comparisons to actual guitar cabs is a good thing.

The surprise to us though was just how close they were in terms of overall character, tone and feel. I was not expecting that. Sure there are differences... that is to be expected but we were still surprised at how close they were overall, at least to us.

For the clips, all we did was move the cable from one cab to the other.. nothing else.



Thanks all!

Mick

 

[Tailstop]

I gig a lot. There are two new things that happen within the last year that I enjoy witnessing when I play out...
One of them is the grin on the soundmans face when the Axefx lines in to his board. There is always a great comment and a handshake... The 2nd thing is the reaction I get from opening band members or other musicians when they study my rig, pedalboard, and cab. My pedalboard is gorgeous and that's always first to be noticed, but when I light my XiTone 212 up and I start sound checking my stereo rig I see them mumbling to each other! The bravest one always comes up and asks "what the hell is THAT?"
Super proud to be a Xitone user. There isn't a cab I have seen yet that I would trade it for. It rivals any 4x12, any 212, and any frfr solution..

Thanks for sharing Mick!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[sullysnet]

Tailstop, what FRFR cabinets have you owned before this one? thanks...

I just bought the same Matrix amp that you have and so far I am loving in with my Passive CLR wedges.

 

[Tailstop]

I had a CLR for a minute, and a powered MACKIE P.A. speaker. I liked IRs a lot but it didn't sound like a cab to me. I needed more BARK!! =)

I then tried a XiTone wedge a friend had. Search over!

Now, for big states I use my xitone212 and an Egnater 212 stacked. For smaller clubs I split my XiTone cab so half is FRFR and the other half is a regular driver. For sit-ins I just bring my rack case!

Dream scenario...

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Tailstop]

The nl12 and nl212 were on my radar heavily before I bought my XiTone.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[sullysnet]

with the XiTone you do not use the cab sim? I thought the XiTone was FRFR like the CLR

thanks

 

[Genghis]

with the XiTone you do not use the cab sim? I thought the XiTone was FRFR like the CLR

thanks

For this test he bypassed the tweeter and crossover and ran it like a guitar cab, only using the 12 inch drivers.

I tend to use my 1x12 pairs on FRFR mode and love my xitones. Nice to know they are even more versatile though.

 

[sullysnet]

interesting.... good to know thanks

 

[Tailstop]

FRFR is awesome. The choices of cabinets were absolutely daunting at first but I started to get a feel for what worked with what. It seemed every standard cab I tried ALSO ruled. Dilemma... So Mick suggested to me not only could I have both choices on my custom cab, but I could split them! The right or left speaker could be either FRFR OR standard! He went further saying that he had an idea to make this switchable via midi/MFC-101. So now I have the SwitchGizmo installed so I can switch between any configuration with a tap of my toe. I currently switch to standard cab during aggressive solos to give my cab more Bark-n-bite!

In the first photo you can see that I have Output 1 -LEFT and Output 2 -RIGHT. This way I can keep my beloved stereo settings and effects and still split FRFR/RegCab.

.

In this next photo you can see the left switch is UP and the 3bd driver is on for FRFR operation. The right switch and 3db pad are down, switching it to a regular driver!

In this one you can see just how killer my cab looks in its ATA home!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk