Tip for the amp/cab guys

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xpenno

Power User
So, I've been playing Matrix poweramp into a guitar cab for quite some time and while I've been happy on the whole I was starting to think that something wasn't right. I picked up a decent tube poweramp and tried that. No improvement.

So my cab is a Marshall 1936 with Celestion G12T75 speakers. I decided to pickup some new speakers and give them a bash. I ordered a pair of WGS speakers (an ET65 and a Veteran 30), fitted them into the cab and noticed and immediate improvement in both tone and dynamics. I noticed that on the whole things sounded better but maybe a little harsh so I hooked up the Matrix and Axefx, recorded a loop, boosted the highs and lows and left it playing for about 10 hours. The following day I had a gig and I can honestly say that with the AxeFX running the latest firmware, the GT1000FX and my new speaker combo that everything was perfect! I've had the cab ages and never really thought much of it but it was such a rewarding experience playing through these speakers that it was like I'd picked up an entire new rig.

I suppose my tip is make sure you play through some rocking speakers if you are going poweramp/guitar cab, it'll block you away!
 
I have the same experience, I used to use a 112 EVM 12l, change it for the 2x12 with the same speakers as you (WGS VET30/ET65) powered by the matrix and got a "more guitar" tone. I use the ultra and increasing the bias to around 0.6 also increased the liveness of the sound.
 
Yes, speakers are very very important, just as IRs are in FRFR. That's a great combo of WGS speakers. Nice method to break them in!

I used to have an 80's 1960A 4x12 with 4 original G12-65 speakers. I replaced two of them with Vet 30s and they sounded great together. My other two G12-65 got loaded into a Port City 2x12 OS cab and I absolutely love that thing.
 
Glad it's not just me. I don't remember ever using anything other than cabs with stock Celestion speakers so I'm gutted it's taken me so long to try something new.
 
The different speaker configurations does however has its disadvantages if your mic your cab with two mics, as I experienced last Saturday. So I ordered another vet 30 and also going to try two Celestion G12H100.
 
hugo said:
The different speaker configurations does however has its disadvantages if your mic your cab with two mics, as I experienced last Saturday. So I ordered another vet 30 and also going to try two Celestion G12H100.
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Agreed on that, my original point wasn't about using multi speaker configs it was about trying completely new speakers. The Vet30 is a very cool speaker :)
 
Thomas-Hawk said:
Hey Spence,

Just curious... what tube power amp did you try?
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Engl 840/50. It sounded good and at the first rehearsal I thought it was the key but I got it just before v14 was released and with 14.01 and the new speakers the sound just jumped right out of the cab. The problem with a tube amp is that you can't really use the non-master volume amps as they sound like crap when you turn the power amp sims off. Since most rack mount tube power amps are designed to stay clean and not break up like an early Marshall there is no way to get back there. The closest I got was to keep power sims on and turning Hi/Low resonance down to zero which left that to the tube amp/cab. It worked ok but one rehearsal I couldn't be bothered to carry the tube amp up the stairs and the Matrix was still in the rack with the Axe2, I powered it up and was just loving it.

Maybe the Engl isn't the best amp to compare but I'm really happy right now :)

If you are not quite there with the Matrix then one thing to try is to lower the hi/low resonance in the amp block and take a little 250hz(2-4db) and 500hz(1-3db) out on the global EQ. This sounded better on my old speakers than with the resonance set to full.
 
Oh, I'm "there" with my GT800FX... just always wondering if the grass is greener on the other side. :mrgreen

And, yes... I do mess around with the hi/low resonance in the amp block in my presets until it "sounds right".
 
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