Power amp & guitar speakers vs. Studio monitors - opinions on setups

L

Lavely

New Member
I know this has been done to death in different ways, but I have a Fractal AxeFX II coming, and I am curious as to whether there are specific "dos & don'ts" with each of these setups:

1 - Fractal into VHT 2/50/2 into guitar cab 4x12
2 - Fractal into Fryette Power Station into guitar cab 4x12
3 - Fractal into studio monitors

I assume #3 will allow me to use power and & cab simulations, while #1 & #2 make less sense for this, but just wondering if there are specific things to pay attention to in any of these scenarios?

I am excited to try both setups to learn how each "feels" - I am very leery that the studio monitors will provide a "real" feel to me, but also not sure the 4x12 guitar cab will perform well...we'll see!
 
Not sure what do's and don'ts you're looking for. I don't own either of those power amps, but after a quick Google search I see that they're traditional tube power amps. You'll want to turn off Power Amp modeling in the Axe FX, as well as Cab Modeling like you mentioned. Keep them both on when using studio monitors.

I play live with a solid state power amp (Matrix) and a Marshall cab. The Axe FX does very well with a power amp + cab!

Maybe a quick tip would be to dial in your power amp + cab tone while playing at the volume you intend to use it. Dialing in your live tone with studio monitors with an IR and hoping it translates well to a real cab doesn't always work well. Mostly because 1) the amp block's power amp + IR will sound different than real power amp + real cab (unless you have a great IR of your exact cabinet) and 2) Fletcher-Munson. Having a nice fat tone at low volumes can come out very muddy and woofy at higher volumes. Same with the treble. Learn to love your mids.

Another thing - You'll probably get your Axe FX with the new Quantum 9.00 update that just came out. You might want to read the patch notes about Speaker Compression. Sounds like you'll want to turn this parameter off when playing live as you'll want your actual cabinet's speakers to do the compression, not the software in the Axe FX.
 
I use a pair of Yamaha HS5 studio monitors with power amp and cab modeling on, and it sounds great. I imagine the Axe sounds fine through most decent studio monitors. I've never used a power amp and guitar cab, but it seems plenty of people get a lot of mileage out of that setup.
 
power amp+cab=prepare to dial in your tone at the loudest level u play that setup at for best results when playing at THAT vol.
Studio setup=prepare to duplicate the patch and retweak because it's a good possibility it will sound much different to your ears.
Sounds like a lot of work but the end result is the beauty of the black box
 
Just spent a couple hours reading...I have a Fryette Power Station I can try as well, which it sounds like many Axe users are touting as a nice, flat response tube amp. Add that to the mix!
 
I have the Fryette PS-2. I just got my AX8 a couple of weeks ago (sorry, not XL+ but same idea). When I ran through the PS-2 and guitar cab, I left the power amp sims on and just turned off the cab block. I did this because I figured when you use a real amp with the PS, the amp’s power section is part of the equation.
 
I use a Mesa 20/20 or 2:90 into 2 4x12s and 2 1x12s and it sounds amazing to me. Ideally I would like to use the modelling thru monitors and then use output 2 to real cabs and power amp but I cant quit playing long enough to go thru the motions to set it up...... You have a killer power amp....I would use it! The Power Station looks cool too but I have no experience with it. Good Luck Brother. Your gonna love the magic box!
 
I prefer guitar cabs and I could never get into PA speakers or studio monitors.

I've had two poweramps with my guitar cab, a cheap solidstate poweramp from a Kustom PA, it was okay, but it didn't have the feel I wanted.

Then I got a Fryette 2/50/2 and it's great, the feel is there for it as far as I'm concerned. The 2/50/2 is pretty neutral as far as tube amps go (but apparently the Powerstation is even more flat) so I usually keep power amp modelling on, but with the high and low res on the speaker page turned down (but not off).

It also works great with other preamps I have which is cool.

I wish I could compare with a quality solidstate poweramp like a Matrix, but as I'm happy with the 2/50/2 sound, I'm not really in a hurry to do so.
 
lethalband said:
hi was wondering if anyone could help , since ive updated to quatum from like firm 3 everything sounds terrible I'm running fx2 with mesa simul 90 and 2 4x12 cabs I know a lot has changed and I followed all instructions but its muddy and even reverb doesn't sound as good as it did
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Have you tried starting from scratch? Back in the day when it seemed like a new FW was released every other minute, a lot of people were tweaking their old patches to death to get back to something they were familiar with. It might be a good idea to try starting from a blank slate and see where that goes. It can help you get a feel on the "new" FW.
 
Do you play live? If so dial it in with whatever live rig you will use.

If you're a studio guy like myself then studio monitors work great and feel awesome for me.
 
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