Tonight I'm going to order a power-amp! Am I ma(trix)king the right choice? GO FRFR?

SOAWM

Inspired
Dear Brothers and Sister of the Fractal church,

Yesterday I finally said goodbye to tubes. My beloved and trustworthy Peavey 6505 is now officially sold. I loved that amp to death, but lately I had been using my Axe II through it's power amp and to be honest my rig was getting too big and heavy. I have 1U left in my 4U case so I think I'm going for the GT1000FX!

Is the Matrix still the best option money/sound-wise? I'm looking for a light and roadworthy power-amp (since I always take my Axe from and to rehearsals). Yesterday I was talking gear with our other and we were wondering what makes the Matrix so special compared to other and cheaper transistor power amps (Behringer etc.). We always thought a transistor amp was just used to get louder, not to add color to the sound. And since the Axe is endlessly tweakable, you could dial away the coloration the cheaper amps add?

Yesterday I sold my 6505 during rehearsal, so I had to play a set only using my Axe, going through our mixer into our monitors. We were pleasantly surprised by the sound (only quickly added a cab block). So this made me seriously think about FRFR... At the moment I use a Laboga 412 V30 and the sound of the cab is perfect for my band, but since the Matrix and Axe are stereo, I was thinking about going 1/2 cab, 1/2 FRFR. If I'd buy a good passive wedge, I'd be able to use that for all my wet sounds and usage of different amp sounds. If gig at a decent venue, I could just bring my Axe and own wedge as monitor (and use the provided monitors as bandmix)... What do you think about this option?

Thanks everyone!
 
I use a GT800FX and am perfectly happy with it. Used it before with an Atomic passive wedge, and just very recently changed to a 2x12 with CL80s. At the moment I'm only using one side of the Matrix though, so if I want to work the Atomic back into things for some reason, it won't be a problem. :)
 
What makes the Matrix better is quality parts and design. Its not unique as such but as its sold direct its actually very competative in price. look at HiFi amps - you can buy them for a couple of hunders, or a couple of thousand. The devil is in the detail.

TBH, I cant see where the Retro channel amp fits at present. When it was concieved it had a place, but I feel they have been too slow - Im going to post my thoughts fully in a seperate thread, but is short the Matrtix offers a 1U, Lightweight option thats the cheapest of the main competitirs. the RC is 2u, and heavier - though still lighter than most of the real valve power amps. It offer the ability to be flat (like the matrix) or more valve like with the input gain up. HOWEVER, since Steve Fryette has come up with his new power amp - which offers the same flat/valve response, at roughly the same price and weight as the RC - but in a 1U package using real valves, I think its wiped out most fo the RCs positive points. I really think the choice is now light/cheap/SS in the MAtrix, or slightly more expensive/heavey but valve in the Fryette amp.
 
Funny topic cuz I'm in the same situation, I sold my 2 peavey 6505 and I really loved that amp till death haha but I'm really thinking going active FRFR without power amp, we gotta be honest Axe-Fx directly sounds brutal man but at the same time going live without having a cab and playing brutal things like me can be strange, I'll try a pair of mackie's hd 1221 soon but if I don't like I'm going to grab power amps, dunno about you but if you liked the direct connection you should give a try before going to any power amp!

Cheers!
 
Funny topic cuz I'm in the same situation, I sold my 2 peavey 6505 and I really loved that amp till death haha but I'm really thinking going active FRFR without power amp, we gotta be honest Axe-Fx directly sounds brutal man but at the same time going live without having a cab and playing brutal things like me can be strange, I'll try a pair of mackie's hd 1221 soon but if I don't like I'm going to grab power amps, dunno about you but if you liked the direct connection you should give a try before going to any power amp!

Cheers!

Haha, the burdens of being a gearhead... :lol

I chose the Matrix instead of a active wedge because this gives me ultimate versatility. It enables me to play with the Axe is every thinkable situation!

I'm thinking about getting a good passive FRFR monitor and combining that with my 412 cab. This enables me to play stereo and have endless tweakability. The cab is my main rhythm sound, whilst the wedge can be used for solo's, stereo effects or even clean parts that don't sound good through a V30 cab. Or I can just blend two different amps and have the hugest sound imagniable.
 
I think the Matrix GT 1000 works well with cabs or with full range. It's hard to go wrong with this amp IMO.
The fryette is interesting but it will still have the valve maintenance issues and more weight.
If I only used real cabs then I would probably get the RC. :)
 
It's a good option I wish I could make the same thing but going passive FRFR + power amp + cab it's expensive as **** haha

Haha, the burdens of being a gearhead... :lol

I chose the Matrix instead of a active wedge because this gives me ultimate versatility. It enables me to play with the Axe is every thinkable situation!

I'm thinking about getting a good passive FRFR monitor and combining that with my 412 cab. This enables me to play stereo and have endless tweakability. The cab is my main rhythm sound, whilst the wedge can be used for solo's, stereo effects or even clean parts that don't sound good through a V30 cab. Or I can just blend two different amps and have the hugest sound imagniable.
 
Which FRFR cabs would you recommend?

I had a pair of ATOMIC REACTORS and the sound completely like crap !!!
 
I got a GT1000FX a few weeks ago and was playing thru it again tonight. I had the Axe-FX II set with the Recto amp sim and was getting some serious crunch thru my two Marshall 4x12 cabs. I can't imagine how exact it would sound thru an actual Recto cab.

The GT1000FX is an awesome amp. It completely smothers my Mosvalve MV-962, which is now basically a doorstop. :) Seriously though, great amp. I have considered getting an FRFR speaker cab of some kind but I'm pretty happy with my setup.
 
... I had the Axe-FX II set with the Recto amp sim and was getting some serious crunch thru my two Marshall 4x12 cabs. I can't imagine how exact it would sound thru an actual Recto cab....

Send me the preset you were using, and I'll tell you how it will sound thru a Recto cab. :mrgreen

I use a GT800FX, but that shouldn't make too much difference.
 
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