The new MATRIX GT800FX. THE amp for THE Axe-Fx

And more.

Try putting a HB loaded guitar STRAIGHT IN - nothing else, its a rather tastey Jaxx tone.

also, there is a band using a traditional pedal board, with drive pedals (a Boss SD and a TS I think), a reverb and delay straight in . no other amps, and it works surprisingly well ina band mix.

Go on - try it, I know you want to:)
 
My Matrix arrived an hour ago..i am only just regaining consciousness from the amount of blood i lost with "cardboard cuts" opening the damn box!!

So i get to turn it on..and it sounds amazing!! yes even without an Ax, cab or guitar the fans sound almost "FRFR" and the little "pop" switching it on, is to die for!!

:mrgreen
 
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LOL

Not connected it sounds just like when you are laying on the beach on a nice sunny day and your peaking over your sunglasses peaking, looking no steering at some nice ladies with godly figures playing with a beach ball. zzzzzzzo nice......gl
 
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Strange. I got mine a couple of days ago, and my experience is nothing like other posters here. Mostly I have found it flat and lifeless through my V30 loaded semi-open back 2x12 The Valve cab. My current setup is an RCF NX 12-SMA, and for now this has far superior fidelity to my ears.
 
Stringtheorist said:
Strange. I got mine a couple of days ago, and my experience is nothing like other posters here. Mostly I have found it flat and lifeless through my V30 loaded semi-open back 2x12 The Valve cab. My current setup is an RCF NX 12-SMA, and for now this has far superior fidelity to my ears.
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Some might argue that "flat and lifeless" is in fact a good thing, because the AFX should provide all tone coloring, not the amp.

Did you dial in a preset from scratch?

Looking at previous presets of yours, your tone settings posted on another thread and issues you're having with stuff like feedback, make me wonder if / where something's wrong somewhere in your setup.
 
yek said:
Some might argue that "flat and lifeless" is in fact a good thing, because the AFX should provide all tone coloring, not the amp.

Did you dial in a preset from scratch?
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I haven't done this yet. I tried several of my existing presets and messed around with the EQ, Damp, Sag, etc. I'll pull it out in a couple of days and have a go at building a preset from scratch.
 
DADA said:
Also suited for stereo amplification at home. Your music never sounded better :razz
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Some time ago I asked Matt about this and he told me he uses the Matrix for his home cinema and listening to music. I don't have powerful enough speakers though. These last days, as I'm in Paris, I was on the hunt for decent monitoring speakers but to no luck, everything sold for home studio purposes here is active. Any suggestions ? Even hifi speakers ?
 
Tonight I fired up the Matrix 800 with my Ultra for the first time and within a couple of notes I was blown away. No hype, this lightweight poweramp is loud and clear. The Rocktron I was using before sounded great, but the Matrix is like upgrading from SD to HD. I did notice that on some of my patches I'll need to dial back the treble a bit since they seem to cut through more, but the low end punch sounds killer.

Once I get a chance to play it at a full band rehearsal I'll post more since everything always sounds different when playing with live drums and bass.
 
ive seen two posts now - where the users are struggling with the MATRIX - and both have described it as "like having a blanket over the cab). One post here and the other on TGP.

Personally I find it odd - however, It may be that there using the amp in bridged mode without the required cable?

To get a bridged o/p you need to tap both sides of the amp (if you dont and turn on the Bridge you get phase issues in the signal). This cant be done with a jack plug. If you use Speakons you can - but you have to alter the wiring of the plug at the amp end to do it. If you want to use the AMtrix bridged you need a speakion, correctly wired at one end going to a jack at the other.

I tried to bridge the amp out of curiosity - and I didnt get the volume rise I expected (a little but not as much as it should have) however if DID sound liek a blanket had been thrown.

I had read another post saying that the user had tried bridged and mono - and thought that the bridged mode sounded warmer. This is what caused me to try it - and is another way of describing the differences.

anyway - just a thought for those struggling - make sure your in mono or parallel mode NOT bridged unless you have the correct cable.
 
Again lol

Credit tio Si for giving the Axe a second go and spending more time with it this time round. Ultimately no one solution os for everyone. Guess hes an amp guy.

I actually think so is Stringtheorist. He contemplated selling the Axe fairly soon after getting it, but has spend the last 18 months or so trying pretty much EVERY amp/cab/frfr solution available and still he has problems getting the sound hes after. I love the Axe, but as I said its not for everyone. Maybe he should give it up too.
 
I'm still trying, and it's not sold yet so you never know, I'm in no hurry to get rid of it.

...but after a few weeks of messing with it, it's still not sounding right to me. However, I recently got a new Valve head as well, plugged it in, twisted some knobs and it sounds great. Despite what everyone says, and despite how good the AxeFX is, a Valve amp just sounds a lot better to me without the need to spend 6 months messing with this setting and that setting and tweaking this and that.
 
paulmapp8306 said:
Again lol

Credit tio Si for giving the Axe a second go and spending more time with it this time round. Ultimately no one solution os for everyone. Guess hes an amp guy.

I actually think so is Stringtheorist. He contemplated selling the Axe fairly soon after getting it, but has spend the last 18 months or so trying pretty much EVERY amp/cab/frfr solution available and still he has problems getting the sound hes after. I love the Axe, but as I said its not for everyone. Maybe he should give it up too.
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The GT800 still isn't working for me. I followed suggestions here and dialled in a bare-bones preset (amp block only) with gate off, using all my go-to amp models, and I still couldn't get a clear, lively sound with controlled feedback like a regular amp. Everything sounds congested and mushy. My RCF monitor is far and away clearer sounding, and for now I will stick with that.

On a related note regarding the Axe in general, I have now come very close to being fired from my band because of the friction being caused during soundcheck and performance over my inability to balance my preset/amp block levels. Mucking about with my Axe during performance is now having an impact on my playing and I'm making schoolboy errors all the time because I'm fretting about my sound instead of focusing on playing. This has been going on for 3 YEARS! Part of the problem is that I made things too complicated for myself at the outset by using all ten global amps for the 40 songs in our repertoire. I have been given an ultimatum to strip back my sound set to 3-4 sounds or get a normal amplifier... or else I'm going to be let go because the other band members (and myself) can't take the stress of inconsistency and unreliability any more. :(
 
Stringtheorist said:
The GT800 still isn't working for me. I followed suggestions here and dialled in a bare-bones preset (amp block only) with gate off, using all my go-to amp models, and I still couldn't get a clear, lively sound with controlled feedback like a regular amp. Everything sounds congested and mushy. My RCF monitor is far and away clearer sounding, and for now I will stick with that.

On a related note regarding the Axe in general, I have now come very close to being fired from my band because of the friction being caused during soundcheck and performance over my inability to balance my preset/amp block levels. Mucking about with my Axe during performance is now having an impact on my playing and I'm making schoolboy errors all the time because I'm fretting about my sound instead of focusing on playing. This has been going on for 3 YEARS! Part of the problem is that I made things too complicated for myself at the outset by using all ten global amps for the 40 songs in our repertoire. I have been given an ultimatum to strip back my sound set to 3-4 sounds or get a normal amplifier... or else I'm going to be let go because the other band members (and myself) can't take the stress of inconsistency and unreliability any more. :(
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Sonds like you would be far better off with a decent amp and the Ax for effects.
 
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