QSC HPR 122i vs Verve 12ma

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archangel

Member
I use a QSC HPR 122i with my Ultra. It sounds good, but there is something a bit harsh in the upper freqs.

I ordered an FBT Verve 12ma from Eric at RMC last week...should have it this week...when it arrives, I'll put up some opinions about how the 2 compare in A/B testing...stay tuned.
 
I'm really interested to hear about this since i'm presently in the market for a pair of FRFR, preferably wedged shape like Verve12m/12ma.

Thought also about 2 Traynor K2's and Carvin's TRX12n even if they're not in the same league ...

A local dealer is proposing me the new Eon's 305/315 series saying they adressed some harshness issues of the Eon's previous series. The relatively new line are supposedly alot smoother but they're bigger than what i'd like having 15" woofer.

Looking forward for your conclusions.

Claude
 
archangel said:
I use a QSC HPR 122i with my Ultra. It sounds good, but there is something a bit harsh in the upper freqs.

I ordered an FBT Verve 12ma from Eric at RMC last week...should have it this week...when it arrives, I'll put up some opinions about how the 2 compare in A/B testing...stay tuned.
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I'm looking forward to that. We need more 12ma reviews here. Even if you ended up not liking the 12ma, I think you'll like how you can move around a lot and the tone changes little compared to other FRFR cabs. What I like about the 8ma I use is it's really smooth and clear at low volumes, has a 100degree sweet spot, and sounds gigantic for its size.

The 12ma is going to have a different high end driver in the coaxial speaker than the 8ma so I'm curious how it'll sound. My guess is it'll have less "beaming" & be smoother overall than the QSC on the high end driver, but it may be a little hot around 8k when cranked. Hard to say since it's different than mine. The upper midrange and down to 200hz should have a lot of clarity and character and be smooth all at the same time. B&C makes quality drivers.
 
I cant wait either. Just saw these on the FBT site. I use a pair of Maxx2'a. I love them but would be very interested in hearing about this coaxial speaker design. WHat is the price on these?
 
it'll have less "beaming" & be smoother overall than the QSC on the high end driver, but it may be a little hot around 8k when cranked. Hard to say since it's different than mine.
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I agree with this. I lower my GEQ 5-6 dB at the 8K and a little at the 4K... Also found to my ears it sounds a little smoother with the Bass and Treb boosted to about 2 oclock on the 12ma.
 
Cam said:
it'll have less "beaming" & be smoother overall than the QSC on the high end driver, but it may be a little hot around 8k when cranked. Hard to say since it's different than mine.
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I agree with this. I lower my GEQ 5-6 dB at the 8K and a little at the 4K... Also found to my ears it sounds a little smoother with the Bass and Treb boosted to about 2 oclock on the 12ma.
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Hmmm...you're boosting your treble shelving eq on the 12ma -- which boosts 4 & 8k in the process. And you're adding lows with the shelving eq -- which will decrease perception of midrange punch/cut. I don't know where the shelving points are, but that's the general result.

Maybe this won't work, but if you want more punch/cut/clarity in the midrange/upper midrange (500hz-1k -- just a guess), and more thump (90hz-150z) why not experiment with those specific ranges on GEQ or PEQ on axe-fx instead of pushing up all the highs and all the lows on the 12ma and then compensating for overblown highs. Just a thought. I've always tried to do the "less is more" approach to eq.
 
My 12ma is due to arrive today. I've got a pair of QSC HPR 122i's to compare with.

I may not have time until Wed. to do some comparisons though.
 
I should have been clearer..... I'd been running both on the 12ma straight up. I was tweaking yesterday at home and boosted both to about 2 oclock... just sounded better... smoother. I may be counter acting my GEQ but it did sound better. I should say also that my overall volume on the 12ma was not near the level I run live and that may make a difference. But I agree, less is better usually when it comes to EQ.
 
Cam said:
I should say also that my overall volume on the 12ma was not near the level I run live and that may make a difference.
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I think there you might have the point. Fletcher Munson. Loudness buttons on hifi.

lower volume = perceived weaker treble and bass > turn those up.

Not a bad thing if you know how it works and what you're doing.
 
I think there you might have the point. Fletcher Munson. Loudness buttons on hifi.
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EdZachary Wright! I will most likely have to back those down when playing live... probably will be too overbearing.
 
I got mine yesterday - only had time to mess with it very briefly so I can't really say. None of my existing patches will work since they're all setup for my Fish preamp and VHT poweramp with the Axe-FX for effects.

I did try a few dozen presets and some sounded very good - the Ecstacy patch (#342?) stands out as something that sounded pretty cool.

The one thing I forget to check on the presets is if they have the Enhancer block - you have to disable that if you're running summed mono.
 
My turn to bump this... I'm *really* interested to find out other opinions on the Verve...

Incidentally, does anyone know where to find these in Canada? When I google "fbt verve" in Canada, I get very few hits, and most/all of them have pretty funky looking headings like "???? ????? ????? ???? ????????"...
 
Hey Dpoirier,

I'm still looking for a compact/powerful/good sounding FRFR solution. About the Verve wedge shaped series, called a retailer in Montreal lately and been told that the Canadian distributor doesn't keep the Verve series in stock, but they can be ordered if you like.

Claude
 
Well, so far I'm not sure about the 12ma. How's that for not f**king helpful at all? :lol:

Don't get me wrong, the 12ma sounds pretty damn good but I find that every time I switch back to my Boogie power amp and a Port City 2x12 cab I like it better.

And I've been playing at varying volumes - actually quite loud at times.

I think part of the problem is that I really haven't found a cab model in the Axe-FX to bond with yet. I need to download some user cabs and experiment.

No matter what I do I'm still hearing this "thing" that annoys me about the tone when running to FRFR setups. Same thing happened with the QSC (which I still haven't A/B'd with the 12ma yet).

I *really* would like to find a FRFR rig to bond with. I'm going to try the VG-99 with it when I get a chance as well.
 
hippietim said:
Well, so far I'm not sure about the 12ma. How's that for not f**king helpful at all? :lol:

Don't get me wrong, the 12ma sounds pretty damn good but I find that every time I switch back to my Boogie power amp and a Port City 2x12 cab I like it better.

And I've been playing at varying volumes - actually quite loud at times.

I think part of the problem is that I really haven't found a cab model in the Axe-FX to bond with yet. I need to download some user cabs and experiment.

No matter what I do I'm still hearing this "thing" that annoys me about the tone when running to FRFR setups. Same thing happened with the QSC (which I still haven't A/B'd with the 12ma yet).

I *really* would like to find a FRFR rig to bond with. I'm going to try the VG-99 with it when I get a chance as well.
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Please put an EQ after the cab. You can 'tune' the cabs to sound like you want to hear. You cannot really do that with a conventional rig; unless you include the signal chain that occurs after the mic.

Remember that to use FRFR effectively, you need to think outside of the 'guitar rig' box.
 
hippietim said:
... the 12ma sounds pretty damn good but I find that every time I switch back to my Boogie power amp and a Port City 2x12 cab I like it better.
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I'm confused: you're comparing axe-fx into FRFR against axe-fx through boogie amp into an unmiced cab? Or... are you playing a recording of your axe-fx/boogie/2x12 through an FRFR and comparing that to axe-fx direct. Scenario 1 is apples to oranges, scenario 2 is apples to apples.

I thought this was the apples to apples thread. I'm curious to hear an in depth comparison of the QSC to the Verve with your favorite patches.

hippietim said:
I *really* would like to find a FRFR rig to bond with. I'm going to try the VG-99 with it when I get a chance as well.
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To bond with FRFR, you have to bond with the sound of a miced rig, including your 2x12 rig miced(are you micing/recording that rig? I don't know). Expand your thinking beyond the naked cab realm into the miced rig realm and it'll be a lot easier to bond with FRFR.
 
Scott Peterson said:
Please put an EQ after the cab. You can 'tune' the cabs to sound like you want to hear. You cannot really do that with a conventional rig; unless you include the signal chain that occurs after the mic.

Remember that to use FRFR effectively, you need to think outside of the 'guitar rig' box.
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I'm trying the minimalist approach first. Just amp and cab. I want to get as close as I can using as little as possible.

Right now it's not an EQ problem. At least not in the typical sense like when mic'ing a guitar cab. It's really a "realism" issue. I can't get something that doesn't have that "I'm playing through a digital modeler" sound. I'm getting very close so I think what I want is in there.

Scott - you've been gigging with the Axe-FX through FRFR for a long time with great success. So can you send me a couple of your current go-to basic patches that you are using with the QSC and what you generally use them for? Regardless of whether or not I like the tones, you've got something that's delivering the realism through FRFR that I want to hear. And IIRC, you run in mono so that makes A/B comparisons between the QSC and FBT very simple.
 
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