The FR Debate Continues! (Matrix FR212)

So do you love it, or do you love it?
It's crap. Totally like not even having one. Because I still don't. Haha

BUT...spoke to my buddy today, looks like he'll be in town some time next week with any luck.
Til then, I'm still looking for an opportunity to head to Tampa just in case. lol
 
Christmas came early, in the form of an unexpected visit from my good friend in Tampa...who brought my treasure with him!

Only have about 5 minutes worth of playing time on it at the moment, so when I have a little more time to fine tune the IR (for the first time ever)and play around, I'll start working on a detailed review.

Thinking video is probably better than just a write up...anyone else agree?

One thing for sure, there's no shortage of volume coming out of this little cab. Holy shit it's loud.
 

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Just a quick update for everyone. I haven't really had the opportunity to sit down and play with the cabinet. I hooked it up for a little bit today for band practice, but I wasn't happy with how it sounded. I genuinely believe that has more to do with the IR I was using than the cabinet itself though.
Any IRs I have are whatever the Axe-FX II came with. I've not purchased any of the cab packs or downloaded any uploaded IRs. My first order of business will either be finding an IR that sounds like, or tweaking a stock IR to sound like my Mesa 4x12 Stiletto cabinet, since that's what all of my tones thus far have been crafted with.
I am new to the FRFR thing, so anyone with any tips are welcome to share them, as they would be well received. :)
 
Just a quick update for everyone. I haven't really had the opportunity to sit down and play with the cabinet. I hooked it up for a little bit today for band practice, but I wasn't happy with how it sounded. I genuinely believe that has more to do with the IR I was using than the cabinet itself though.
Any IRs I have are whatever the Axe-FX II came with. I've not purchased any of the cab packs or downloaded any uploaded IRs. My first order of business will either be finding an IR that sounds like, or tweaking a stock IR to sound like my Mesa 4x12 Stiletto cabinet, since that's what all of my tones thus far have been crafted with.
I am new to the FRFR thing, so anyone with any tips are welcome to share them, as they would be well received. :)

With the FR212, I drop my speaker resonance to around 88hz in the speaker tab of the amp block. Far too boomy at default values (around 115hz) for my taste. That should cut back on the bottom end and free up some mids but there are also some tricks to use. One is obviously to use a mixed cab formula to get what you want but you can also add a PEQ in parallel to the cab block. Block the highs (around 3khz) and lows (around 100hz) and then add a generous mid hump to you taste. Play around with the Qs to widen the hump and alter the slopes of the blocking frequencies. The addition of some "direct" signal really does seem to help. Mix in the level of the PEQ to taste.
 
also don't assume because something says it's "frfr" it actually is. they're usually not.

you can get the measure of it by playing some music through it. plug your phone or mp3 player into the rear inputs of the axe with an empty preset loaded up (just shunts) and have a listen. use the global eq to "smooth out" any peaks or troughs. the flatter you can make it, the better, because you won't be constantly battling to ged rid of rogue frequencies and your patches will translate to other systems better. a/b it with some other speakers, like your studio monitors or a good stereo. you have two sets of outs with separate volume controls, so it's actually quite easy to do. personally i don't subscribe to the idea of using eq to carve out all the top and bottom...i shouldn't be necessary. i'm using two rcf's as my backline and i don't use any extra eq at all.
 
If you tweak to much to sound good in your monitor doesn't mean you will sound good in the pa! Get a good cutting tone you can live with that sounds good through a few set ups, try running through other systems as simeon suggested. To many spend to much time sounding good for there self, and have no idea what the final outcome is. Since you set up the sound most of the time,Have some friends at your gigs. ask them to be honest about what they hear, try to use this to set a happy medium.
 
The low end is really extended on this cab. Make sure to tread lightly with dynamic depth, depth, and you can adjust resonance like John said. Personally i use pretty neutral IR's and lowcut in the cab block as high as 180ish at times. I use cab pack 13 which is a Mesa OS 4x12. I really enjoy it. Patches i've made translate pretty well IMO. Just make sure you try it in a few different rooms. Play loud and move around the room, paying extra attention to how it sounds with the horn directly in front of you. I played a 4x12 Mesa prior to getting this. So i was used to a slant cab beaming up higher. This and most 2x12's are about knee level. So make sure to get some distance and get down to its level. I thought it was a dark cab until i brought my ears to horn level. For dialing patches sometimes i'll set a 4x4 under the front of it. This gives it a "wedge like" slant upward. Hope this helps!
 
Honestly I have a matrix FrFr 2x12 along with the Gt-800. Now when I compare it to my focal studio monitors I find it to be muffled.
 
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