So I played through a Two Rock combo yesterday.....

The only time I ever sort of miss the "amp in the room" sound is when I'm playing by myself. When I'm playing with a band there is so much other stuff going on and half the time I'm hearing myself through the monitors anyhow so the pure amp sound is pretty much lost.

There are a couple magical things about blues/roots/classic rock type stuff with an open back cab though:
1) There is something more spacious on stage - the FOH sound isn't affected much.
2) Drummers hate a cranked open back cab :)
 
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Ahh... the classic case of hearing a cab in the room and being impressed by it. I think everyone should have that option available every now and then. Just remember that you are the only one who's going to hear that sound. Mic that cab up and the Axe-Fx will kill it.
this. Exactly.
 
Ahh... the classic case of hearing a cab in the room and being impressed by it. I think everyone should have that option available every now and then. Just remember that you are the only one who's going to hear that sound. Mic that cab up and the Axe-Fx will kill it.

yup. everyone should buy or borrow a wireless and stand where the audience is and hear how their "holy grail stage volume" tone actually sounds like 100 feet away.

it sounds like an amp in a room. very far away. not holy grail'd anymore.
 
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The only time I ever sort of miss the "amp in the room" sound is when I'm playing by myself. When I'm playing with a band there is so much other stuff going on and half the time I'm hearing myself through the monitors anyhow so the pure amp sound is pretty much lost.

There are a couple magical things about blues/roots/classic rock type stuff with an open back cab though:
1) There is something more spacious on stage - the FOH sound isn't affected much.
2) Drummers hate a cranked open back cab :)

I'm actually switching to open-backed cabs with the AFX at the request of my drummer - says he can't hear me like he used to...
 
Just a quick post of my take on this thread. I've been doing FRFR for a few years now, and it's been cool. But I was doing a bunch of gear maintenance lately and going thru gear and for the hell of it plugged in my old system. Fractal(Cab and pwr amp sims off)>Eclipse>Boogie stereo tube power amp>Bogner 1x12's.
I have to say, I was stunned at how awesome it sounded. It kinda unfortunately made me reconsider my whole way I've been doing my rig. My rig is uber small, portable etc. But man, this other retro rig just was so much more pleasing. It just felt 'luxe'. Like plush and smooth. Hard to describe. But the harshness was gone, it just felt more, well, 'amp' like. Obvi I know given it IS a stereo pwr amp and gtr cabs that it would. But it made me realize instantly that although my current rig is super convenient, I don't find it as pleasing. The tube rig was just more forgiving sonically. It's just easier to dial in too. Just my 2cents. Been playing FRFR for a number of years now. Don't want to go back, really don't want the weight and extra set up. But I A/B'd it back and forth and it was quite a difference.
 
For me personally, I love hearing it as the audience does. That's why I love FRFR, because I know if it sounds good to me and the PA/Room doesn't suck, then it sounds good in the crowd. And if the PA/Room suck, oh well, at least it sounds good to me still. :D
 
IMO the best of both worlds is to have IEMs with IRs and run a real cab for the cab in the room sound. I did the FRFR thing for a long time but eventually didn't want to compete with a drummer with my FRFR speakers.
 
Why don't some people just run Output 1 to FOH with cab sims, and Output 2 to their guitar cab with no sims? Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds for those that like 'amp in the room' feel?

Ideally this is how I'd like to run my rig too, I just haven't found "the" power amp that I mesh with yet.
Every SS power amp I've tried has been a major disappointment and every tube power amp I've tried colors the tone too much
with it's own flavor.
I may try the Mesa CabClone with my JVM head and see if I can get a good FOH sound that way, that would get me the same
end result as the above configuration with the Axe, just minus all of the effects.
although for this current gig I've got a good el-34 power amp would do quite nicely since I'd live on my Marshall models.
just.....which one?
 
thats what i do most gigs. nl12 on stage and nl12 IR to FOH. totaly happy, but i feel like i might like an open back cab more.
by the way i had to play some gigs in europe and new york just FRFR...and its allways this "yuck" effect when u first build your rig and hear just the guitar...once the whole band starts playing all is good but yeah i am one of those guys, like hearing the real cab on a stage, in recording situation FRFR is better.

Why don't some people just run Output 1 to FOH with cab sims, and Output 2 to their guitar cab with no sims? Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds for those that like 'amp in the room' feel?
 
Why don't some people just run Output 1 to FOH with cab sims, and Output 2 to their guitar cab with no sims? Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds for those that like 'amp in the room' feel?
Wouldn't you have to edit every single patch to do this?
 
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