Picking a cabinet for dedicated use with AxeFX 3

[Alainarose]

Well since you are used to the polished tone of your Adam monitors why don't you utilize the JCM cabinet that you have and utilize a powered CLR or Friedman FRFR at the same time? Through the routing on the AXE 3, you can easily have cabinet sims go to the FRFR speaker and a different path where no cabinet sims go to your real 412 cabinet. This is the best of both worlds in my opinion as this gives your the real thump of a 412 cabinet and the polished tone of the FRFR speaker and when blended together, you have sonic bliss as both running together compliment each other real well. Running the FRFR and cabinet sims also allow you to blend together 4 cabinet sims at once. I found when running quiet that the traditional sims were best and when playing at stage volumes that the Far-Field sims blended together sounded the best when played loud.

You will find that using this approach that the real cabinet and the FRFR cabinet really compliment each other well and both fill in the missing sonic frequencies that each inherently overproduce or don't produce at all. Try it and you will realize how huge the sound is.

 

[∞Fractals]

Well since you are used to the polished tone of your Adam monitors why don't you utilize the JCM cabinet that you have and utilize a powered CLR or Friedman FRFR at the same time? Through the routing on the AXE 3, you can easily have cabinet sims go to the FRFR speaker and a different path where no cabinet sims go to your real 412 cabinet. This is the best of both worlds in my opinion as this gives your the real thump of a 412 cabinet and the polished tone of the FRFR speaker and when blended together, you have sonic bliss as both running together compliment each other real well. Running the FRFR and cabinet sims also allow you to blend together 4 cabinet sims at once. I found when running quiet that the traditional sims were best and when playing at stage volumes that the Far-Field sims blended together sounded the best when played loud.

You will find that using this approach that the real cabinet and the FRFR cabinet really compliment each other well and both fill in the missing sonic frequencies that each inherently overproduce or don't produce at all. Try it and you will realize how huge the sound is.

This. I play through FRFR and traditional cabs (stereo ... 2x Friedman 2 x 12‘s). It is YUGE!

 

[Alainarose]

This. I play through FRFR and traditional cabs (stereo ... 2x Friedman 2 x 12‘s). It is YUGE!

Yep 2 Friedman ASM12's and 2 real 412's here. Definitely YUGE!!!!

 

[rushfan]

Yep 2 Friedman ASM12's and 2 real 412's here. Definitely YUGE!!!!

I happen to use Matix CFR12's, but that's a whole 'nother rabbit hole!

 

[DLC86]

True, but one methods requires nothing more than what OP already has.

Sure, but in my experience it's pretty much useless.
If he doesn't want to bother with the hassles of a proper measurement, it's better to just scroll thru the various curves until he finds one he likes, or select one with similar speakers and construction

 

[aens]

I’m a big fan of the 80’s Marshall cabinets. Here’s my recommendations:

• 4x12 JCM800 1960A/B, G12M70 speakers. I don’t see the reason why so many seem to hate these speakers. Yes they have a spike in 2,5 kHz region, but if you mic them well it’s not a problem at least for me. I think these speakers sound absolutely awesome with a JCM 800 head. I made an impulse from a 2x12 Marshall JCM800 cab with these speakers and it’s my go-to IR atm. Really hard to find these cabs with G12M70’s because they’ve most probably been replaced. Not a big fan of the 80’s G12-T75’s which I also have and I very much prefer over them the M70’s, 80’s-90’s Marshall Vintage or Celestion V30 speakers. G12-65’s are also nice, but are the ones that are the most sought after and expensive.
• 4x12 JCM800 1982A/B, G12H100 speakers. Has a really nice top-end with great bass response. 400w of pure love. I own a 1982B cab with the H100 speakers. Still can get these pretty cheap. G12-80 speakers sound great as well.
• 4x10 1965A/B. Great sounding cabinets that don’t weigh that much. I usually have to set treble way down with JCM 800 head.

EDIT: outside of the JCM800 series, I’d recommend 1960TV, 1960A/BX, 1960A/BHW or 1960A/BV cabinets. If you think about buying any of the newer cabinets (2002-), the debate between UK vs China made Celestion speakers is mostly exaggarated. They sound different, but it’s not a night and day difference.

 

[cardinal]

Lots of opinions here.

I'd go with a Marshall-style 4x12 with G12M speakers. That would have to be good enough for most styles. Unless you play mostly modern high gain amps, then you might like something with V30s, which do well enough with other styles too.

 

[aens]

Lots of opinions here.

I'd go with a Marshall-style 4x12 with G12M speakers. That would have to be good enough for most styles. Unless you play mostly modern high gain amps, then you might like something with V30s, which do well enough with other styles too.

I’d also say a 4x12 Marshall with G12M speakers is the safest option. Pairs well with most, if not all of the Marshall style amps.

Try impulses with G12M, G12H, V30 and 80’s G12T75 (if you’re interested in a 1960 JCM 800 cabinet with these speakers, the newer G12T75’s are a different beast btw) speakers first, decide which one you like the most and buy the cabinet that has the speakers you like the most.

 

[Budda]

I had a jcm800 A cab with G12-65's and it loved everything I put through it. I'd buy another were I going back to 412's.

 

[chumbucket]

I use a open back 2x12" w/ G12-65's (space doesn't allow me to use a 4x12" or I would) in the center as a dry cab in between two Atomic CLR's. Easily the best sound that I've gotten out of the Fractal units. No longing for amp in the room because I have it all now.

 

[cardinal]

I had a jcm800 A cab with G12-65's and it loved everything I put through it. I'd buy another were I going back to 412's.

This is my main cab and works for nearly everything. Modern metal is the tough spot. 5150 iterations work ok, but the low and high end aren't quite right with a lot of these dark, super-high-gain amps.

 

[Bking7string]

I've always had marshall jcm 800 and 900 1960s. I got a hold of a Engl pro 4x12 straight and sold those marshall cabs and never blinked an eye. Also one Engl pro 4x12 cab weighs as much as two marshall 4x12s lol my back wasn't ready for that. But I do prefer the sound out of my two Headrush frfr cabs over my Rocktron velocity 300 power amp paired with my Engl 4x12 cab. I want to get a passive frfr 2x12 to run with my power amp eventually, should sound awesome.

 

[pauly]

Hi again @bxlgotham ,

If you only want to ever sound like a guitarist with a Marshall 4x12 cab, sure. If you want to harness the diversity of the axe fx though, a couple of really high end stage monitors would do the trick... something like 2 Martin xe or le series stage monitors. They are coaxial (sort of) so no problems with lack of point source, and they will sound close to studio monitors. The picture you have painted of yourself is that you have bucks, but lack time, and want accuracy in sound... using a couple of frfr monitors like that will allow you to hear what’s going to the pa pretty accurately, and take advantage of the plethora of tones available from all the cabs in the axe fx.
However..... if all you every want is to sound like a Marshall 4x12, then yes - go for it!
Thanks
Pauly

So I currently am running the unit through Adam A7x monitors. Gotta say it sounds really fantastic. I am interested in having one output though go to cabinet. I have a Seymour Duncan PowerStage 700 unit waiting to be used to connect the two. I was thinking of using a vintage Marshall JCM 800 cabinet, or a JMP Mk2 2203 cabinet, or something in that neighborhood (I realize there are a lot of variations).

Are there any lessons or maxims about this? Perhaps a dumb question but when connecting to a cab, does one disable cab emu or rather set it to what the actual cab is? Or are both legit ways to try to find ideal sound? Lastly, do people mic cabs that have AFX3 running them and is that somehow odd or silly vs just direct digital to DAW (assuming you're using one) and using cab sims?

 

[MrPond]

Orange PPC412 - i played over 10 years marshall cabs (1960, 1960AV, 1960TV) until i played the orange for one time...
Imho better in every aspect ...

 

[Budda]

Orange PPC412 - i played over 10 years marshall cabs (1960, 1960AV, 1960TV) until i played the orange for one time...
Imho better in every aspect ...

I went from a jcm800 412 to a ppc412 and the big difference was the weight. Ymmv.

 

[eddyrox]

For myself and from my experiences with various corporate bands, I've been running one output with IRs to FOH/monitors and another for a real cab for stage sound. I've used all the recommended boxes except for Redsound (e.g. CLR, RCF, Xitone, etc.). I think in those cases, I was generally happy with the sound, but it required a certain amount of "buy-in" from others on stage in terms of coverage and volume. Lots of gigs where people struggled to hear me, or where the dispersion of the cab was too wide (a goldilocks type of conundrum). So I moved to one of two cabs: a 1x12" open back pine and Marshall 2x12" SV vertical cab. Yes, I've lost the flexibility of specific cabs matched to specific amps, but I can still use multiple cabs for FOH if I really wanted (I prefer 1 or 2 mixes total per night). Right now, I have an ASW KTS-60 in the open back, and an Alnico Cream combined with a Swamp Thang in the Marshall. I lean towards looser, nastier sounds rather than tight metal-esque precision. It's working well for me at this point. I would guess many wouldn't dig it, but that's cool.

As Iaxu pointed out, you could have lots of fun using panning to help "select" one of two cabinets to get you flexibility. That's been on my to-do list when I can crank things up and experiment with tones, though I highly doubt I would take all of that to a gig.

did u find you were editing presets to achieve a parity btwn your stage/backline tone and that which you were sending to FOH (via given IR)? or was it a matter of it sounded good when editting (thru your given monitor) and "set and forget"?

 

[bxlgotham]

Thanks for this awesome device. To the person who recommended a floor monitor wedge, is there an equally quality and appropriate traditional cabinet that has a form factor similar to a combo amp to give the same “amp in the room” feel?