seriously considering ditching FRFR speaker

Dear OP, I also own a pair of Altos. They are not good, but that isn't where your low end problem is coming from.

Follow this man's advice:


Thanx. I have watched that vid and it helped a bit. However I think it is the alto speaker. Im planning on buying better frfr speakers in the future, for now I will have to live with these and the power amp/cab that is coming from a friend of mine.
 
Something I tried this morning was turning up the volume 3/4 of the way full on the Alto. I normally turn them halfway because there is a notch there for “optimal” performance... says the manual. It definately tightened it up a bit to my ears. Lol... I will play with it some more a bit later with fresh ears.
 
A huge thing for me was to cut down low end before gain, then add back afterward in eq if you want it more bassy. That mid and high distortion with a cleaner bottom makes it sound much tighter, and still gives out the sense of power and richness and fullness without it being muddy. You can experiment with adding or cutting the bass knob in the amp to change the tone color and use the post-eq to change how actually bassy it is.

Anyways, seems like config changes are easier and cheaper to try first than hardware changes. Another thing I found is to be subtle with eq. Getting too crazy with big notches or peaks makes things sound more artificial. In general, keep the Q values less than .707, except sometimes a nice effect comes from a low shelf cutoff but with a higher Q (like 2 to 4) to make a little spike to give more power in the low end but all above a cutoff frequency (e.g. 110Hz to 240hz or whatever floats your boat) that makes more space for a bass instrument. Can do the same thing on the upper end cutoff if you need to make space for drums or another lead guitar- try anywhere from 1900hz to 3400hz or even up to 6400hz.

Not saying this is gospel, but something to try if you haven’t already, and before you pay money for more hardware.
 
Soooo..... update... I have used some of the excellent knowledge I have received from you kind people. I think I have fixed my issue.

- I made a patch for my 7 string guitars at a high volume: I also turned my Alto up full blast and dialed in a patch and wow, it sounds so much better, the flubby low end is almost gone.
- I used the filter parameter but didnt care for it too much so I used someone else's trick by turning down the gain a bit and turning up the input trim a hair. Made a massive difference, was a lot tighter to my ears.

I think it solved my issues for now, again thank you for all your assistance.
 
Cool! Hopefully you didn't get ear fatigue so it will still sound good next time u play. That took me forevvvver to figure pickle that one
 
I also turned my Alto up full blast and dialed in a patch and wow, it sounds so much better, the flubby low end is almost gone.
Are you having the speaker at 10 and then controlling the overal volume with the patch/AXE output to normal levels or are you just going full on neighbour killing level? lol
 
Are you having the speaker at 10 and then controlling the overal volume with the patch/AXE output to normal levels or are you just going full on neighbour killing level? lol


Haha, no not neighbour killing. The speaker is at 10 but controlling the volume with the axe/patch.
 
I highly recommend the JBL EON612. You can get a used one for around 250. They push 1000 watts and they sound killer. If you play live often, it doesn't make sense to buy an Atomic wedge or Friedman IMO. My reasoning for that is that I prefer to dial in my tones and play through something that you're likely to find at a venue. A venue isn't going to have you running through Friedman FRFR speakers or Atomic wedges. You'll likely be playing through a peavey/JBL/QSC/EV speaker, so it only makes sense to play through one at home too. Of course this is just my subjective opinion. If you don't gig often, disregard my comment.
 
Where are you located? I tried switching from traditional cab to FRFR so I bought a xitone wedge. Turns out traditional cab is a better fit for my particular use case. Would be happy to let you demo the xitone and whatever else if you're close enough. I'm in Raleigh NC.
 
Where are you located? I tried switching from traditional cab to FRFR so I bought a xitone wedge. Turns out traditional cab is a better fit for my particular use case. Would be happy to let you demo the xitone and whatever else if you're close enough. I'm in Raleigh NC.

Im in toronto canada, would love to try it! Lol... I borrowed my friends avatar v30 loaded 2x12 and I am really digging the sound a lot more than the frfr setup. I think I am going to ride this setup for a bit and see how it goes.
 
Im in toronto canada, would love to try it! Lol... I borrowed my friends avatar v30 loaded 2x12 and I am really digging the sound a lot more than the frfr setup. I think I am going to ride this setup for a bit and see how it goes.
Haha gotcha, oh well.

Yea what I found is that since I don't gig or play live at all, only jam with one other guitarist who uses a regular tube rig, don't care about the tonal variety of IR's etc etc etc...I just don't have any of the typical use cases for an frfr setup. I'm super happy with my 2x12, don't care that the cab "colors the tone" because to me, the cab is part of the tone anyways. I use maybe three or four different high gain tones and a few other crunch types and a clean. I record direct using IR and just tweak that with studio monitors then record it silently while monitoring on my cab. Works like a charm and I don't feel like I'm compromising.

If I ever start playing live I'll possibly hook up the frfr instead to make it easier but compromise a bit on the feel of it. Not really sure which way I'd really go with that. Might even be tempted to just go full traditional and bring my 212 and let them put a mic on it like it's any other amp, who knows. 99% sure I won't play live anyways so it doesn't really matter haha.

Just use what works for you, frfr isn't for everyone and that's ok. I feel like I'd be more able to get along with it if I wasn't trying to play death metal, but who knows.
 
Haha gotcha, oh well.

Yea what I found is that since I don't gig or play live at all, only jam with one other guitarist who uses a regular tube rig, don't care about the tonal variety of IR's etc etc etc...I just don't have any of the typical use cases for an frfr setup. I'm super happy with my 2x12, don't care that the cab "colors the tone" because to me, the cab is part of the tone anyways. I use maybe three or four different high gain tones and a few other crunch types and a clean. I record direct using IR and just tweak that with studio monitors then record it silently while monitoring on my cab. Works like a charm and I don't feel like I'm compromising.

If I ever start playing live I'll possibly hook up the frfr instead to make it easier but compromise a bit on the feel of it. Not really sure which way I'd really go with that. Might even be tempted to just go full traditional and bring my 212 and let them put a mic on it like it's any other amp, who knows. 99% sure I won't play live anyways so it doesn't really matter haha.

Just use what works for you, frfr isn't for everyone and that's ok. I feel like I'd be more able to get along with it if I wasn't trying to play death metal, but who knows.

So when are you coming up to Canada so that I can try the wedges??? LOL... Also I hope that Florence didnt affect you too much there. Be safe fellow forum friend. :)
 
I highly recommend the JBL EON612. You can get a used one for around 250. They push 1000 watts and they sound killer. If you play live often, it doesn't make sense to buy an Atomic wedge or Friedman IMO. My reasoning for that is that I prefer to dial in my tones and play through something that you're likely to find at a venue. A venue isn't going to have you running through Friedman FRFR speakers or Atomic wedges. You'll likely be playing through a peavey/JBL/QSC/EV speaker, so it only makes sense to play through one at home too. Of course this is just my subjective opinion. If you don't gig often, disregard my comment.
Are you still using the JBL EON612?
 
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