Retro Channel VS matrix Gt1000fx, anyone tried a comparison?

S

shag331

Member
Just wondering if anyone had compared the two of these, I have gotten the matrix to sound "fair" but still its lacking for me.

Not enough feel through a guitar cab, that's my preference as far as a setup.

I have one of these coming (retro channel power amp), I just hope its loud enough to push two delta pro 12as in a 2x12 (stereo cab) and also sounds good, hoping it will outdo the matrix as far as tone, and it will remain fairly neutral (allowing to hear the different amp types still).
 
I've got a Retro Channel amp and it will be loud enough. This amp was made for guitar cabs in mind and it sounds killer when you reach that sweet spot between the master and volume knobs. I also like that you can dial in the Resonance and presence too. I find that it doesn't work as well with FRFR cabs/monitors. I have a xitone monitor wedge that I recently converted to active by adding the Matrix GM50, before that it was just passive and I didn't enjoy it with the RC. So I used my cabs instead and it worked really well. It wasn't until the Ultra Res cab sims came out to where I wanted the option of FRFR with the xitone. The RC is much heavier then the Matrix but its like having a tube amp without the tubes. Look forward to hearing about your experience with it.
 
elchampion said:
I've got a Retro Channel amp and it will be loud enough. This amp was made for guitar cabs in mind and it sounds killer when you reach that sweet spot between the master and volume knobs. I also like that you can dial in the Resonance and presence too. I find that it doesn't work as well with FRFR cabs/monitors. I have a xitone monitor wedge that I recently converted to active by adding the Matrix GM50, before that it was just passive and I didn't enjoy it with the RC. So I used my cabs instead and it worked really well. It wasn't until the Ultra Res cab sims came out to where I wanted the option of FRFR with the xitone. The RC is much heavier then the Matrix but its like having a tube amp without the tubes. Look forward to hearing about your experience with it.
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Sweet. Just what im after. I may hold onto the matrix amp, still inside 30 days (got it used at GC ) so it might be a good idea to keep it around in case I decide to go FRFR down the road. U never know....

But at present im still clinging on to some old habits so I think it will do nicely. Btw, im a total newb, what is all this buzz about ultra res etc? , is that like better clarity on the cab sims etc?
 
shag331 said:
Btw, im a total newb, what is all this buzz about ultra res etc? , is that like better clarity on the cab sims etc?
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Cliff introduced it with 13.07. I dunno how to explain it, but I definitely hear a difference when I choose it over the factory or other 3rd party non URes cabs. To me it has way more clarity and it just sounds right. Sorry wish I had a scientific explanation but if you search for Ultra Res you be able to find Cliff talking more about it. Good Luck and yes I would keep the Matrix.
 
elchampion said:
I've got a Retro Channel amp and it will be loud enough. This amp was made for guitar cabs in mind and it sounds killer when you reach that sweet spot between the master and volume knobs. I also like that you can dial in the Resonance and presence too. I find that it doesn't work as well with FRFR cabs/monitors. I have a xitone monitor wedge that I recently converted to active by adding the Matrix GM50, before that it was just passive and I didn't enjoy it with the RC. So I used my cabs instead and it worked really well. It wasn't until the Ultra Res cab sims came out to where I wanted the option of FRFR with the xitone. The RC is much heavier then the Matrix but its like having a tube amp without the tubes. Look forward to hearing about your experience with it.
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I also own a Retro Channel amp, one of the first off the assembly line, and i 100% agree with all of the above. This amp will be plenty loud enough but it's the versatility that is, in my opinion. the most valuable feature. You're going to love it!
 
Thomas-Hawk said:
Color me very interested in hearing your comparison of the RC and the Matrix, shag
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Ok. I got the retro channel today and just got done A/B testing to the matrix 1000fx, well, the retro is VERY close to an actual tube amp. It sounded much better than the matrix thru a guitar cab to my ears, it really shines on mid-gain tones where the matrix falls very short. The matrix does cleans nicely, and high gain, but not between so much imho.

I even bought a tubemeister 36 to do a gig with this weekend , using the axe for only effects ,since I wasnt sure it would sound good enough for that. Well, I did a comparison against that too, its a hughes and k ettner lower end tube amp, but has a good modern tone, sort of mesa ish, I just did a direct to amp and then axe with retro, using the same cab compare, its very very close. The tubemeister had a little more natural tone, but the axe/retro rig got within 95 percent of the quality. I would say the matrix /axe rig got to maybe 80 to 83

I do believe the tubemeister may go back. Ill think about keeping it just as a backup rig (has cool lights lol, sounds good too) but I don't know if 5 % is very noticeable to an audience. May make more sense to just get a k12 or k10 to do a combo rig.

I was very much considering giving up on the axe . I'm gonna keep trying now. This has me reinvigorated.

Retro channel is very good. Lance did a pretty amazing thing
 
shag331 said:
Sweet. Just what im after. I may hold onto the matrix amp, still inside 30 days (got it used at GC ) so it might be a good idea to keep it around in case I decide to go FRFR down the road. U never know....

But at present im still clinging on to some old habits so I think it will do nicely. Btw, im a total newb, what is all this buzz about ultra res etc? , is that like better clarity on the cab sims etc?
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I can't believe you found one used at gc! Rare find! I've been struggling with my power amp solution too. Tried the Koch atr-4502 and I sent it back. Sticking with my carvin dcm 1540 for the time being. And yea ultra res is making me think about frfr too. The weight of the retro is definitely a negative but sounds like it's a great power amp choice. Lots of power right? Stereo 100? I'm also waiting around to see if fryette ever releases that Lxii. Waiting.... Haha.

What I can't really tell is why go with the retro channel over a vht 290? Just the tube replacement I guess?


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I have a GT1000fx but don't use it. It is very light and I can see the appeal in that but, if you're playing through conventional cabs, the Retro is great. I have two of them. I'm not going to get into comparing them as it just stirs things up, but folk are entitled to their preferences.

Once I got the speaker resonance sussed, especially the low frequency, then it became impossible to compare directly to my tube amps through the same cabs. You play your tube amp and you're thinking I really prefer this. Then you switch to the Axe and Retro and you're thinking, nope, I prefer this. It's like comparing different amps rather than comparing digital vs tube. It's like you play a Marshall then it's nice to switch to a Mesa - not better, just different.

FWIW, I dial the resonance and the presence all the way back to zero on the Retro and set everything through the Axe. I also keep the Retro channel volumes quite low and just adjust the Masters on the Retro and the Axe output for the volume, so I'm getting all the tone shaping through the Axe rather than the Retro. I've tried all ways but prefer it that way round.
 
shag331 said:
The tubemeister had a little more natural tone, but the axe/retro rig got within 95 percent of the quality. I would say the matrix /axe rig got to maybe 80 to 83
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I believe that you can chip away significantly at that missing 5% by spending time getting the speaker resonance page dialled in correctly for your cab. This was the missing link for me and it makes a big difference when you get it right. Try it if you haven't, it's worth spending a bit of time on it because when you get it - you know you've got it.

The cab I'm using mainly these days is a Marshall 4x12 and for example, after a lot of tweaking, I arrived at a low freq res of 113.9 as sounding and feeling right to me. I then noticed that many of the Marshall amps in the Axe are set at 114 so I reckoned that was close enough for me. The other variables have impact as well although to a lesser extent IMO.

I have a YJM 100 and a JVM410HJS and it's all there in the Axe/Retro/Cab combo.
 
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