Well....doing my first 100% FRFR gig tomorrow. Nervous!

Tremonti

Tremonti

Fractal Fanatic
Always used a power amp and cab with FX block before cab. FOH gets sims but never dialed in FOH and spent 100% time tweaking real cab. I'm using the same top for my monitor, an EV ZLX1P. I'm sure this will sound better for FOH but nervous all the same that I won't enjoy it as much. Truly 50/50 as I may enjoy it better??? Wish me luck!
 
Tremonti said:
Always used a power amp and cab with FX block before cab. FOH gets sims but never dialed in FOH and spent 100% time tweaking real cab. I'm using the same top for my monitor, an EV ZLX1P. I'm sure this will sound better for FOH but nervous all the same that I won't enjoy it as much. Truly 50/50 as I may enjoy it better??? Wish me luck!
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I've always gigged with tube poweramp and cabs. I have a new band and me and the other guitarist are now FRFR but haven't gigged yet. I'm nervous and excited at the same time. good luck, break a leg and let us know how your show goes.
 
Used my k12 for a long time now live. I don't really need it but It's there in case we can use our ear rig, and for moving some air. I'd be kind of scared to go back to 4x12's ;)
 
Tremonti said:
Always used a power amp and cab with FX block before cab. FOH gets sims but never dialed in FOH and spent 100% time tweaking real cab. I'm using the same top for my monitor, an EV ZLX1P. I'm sure this will sound better for FOH but nervous all the same that I won't enjoy it as much. Truly 50/50 as I may enjoy it better??? Wish me luck!
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Good luck!! Let us know how it goes !!
 
My first FRFR experience just happened Wednesday night ... axe II + atomic CLR with a line ran direct to board for FOH. I was totally pleased with my tones that I've been tweaking on for 9 months!!!!

Best of luck that your experience is as good as mine was!!!!
 
Yah, good luck man, but be confident. I started giging with two EV zlx12p about a year ago - I don't miss the 4-12 cabs and heavy tube amps, and the stage mix sounds much better because of the General loss of cabinet "beaming" - the wide dispersion of the zlx's helps a lot.

The only marginal experience that I had was on an outdoor gig - just sounded weird. I think I was missing the resonance of a room. Next time, I'll wet the signal up a bit with a little reverb.

Let us know how it went!
 
Enjoy yourself :) my tip is to check with the sound-guy prior and check he's not adding a high pass and low pass if you have them dialed into your Cab block (which you should) :)
 
Gig went well. Thought FOH sounded much better and guys loved that my Genz Benz cab wasn't there to engulf the stage with my guitar.

Pros:
-Thought some patches were really awesome with clarity.
-I could hear myself well and guys weren't annoyed.
-By creating the patches from scratch for FOH, everything sounded overall, better.

Cons:
-Monitor used was very directional. When I stepped out of way for a solo or to move around, I lost some feel and sound.
-Some patches need to be tweaked better and with different IR's. This will come with time.
-Didn't have that engulfing feel of real cab. But the pros listed above really make this less of an issue.

I'll continue down this path and see if I can fine tune things more. Any tips would be very much appreciated!
 
Tremonti said:
Cons:
-Monitor used was very directional. When I stepped out of way for a solo or to move around, I lost some feel and sound.
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This is why I went IEM- no matter where I go onstage my guitar is always right there with me. :)

Even when I do gigs that require an FRFR onstage for bandmates (I run it across the stage versus towards the crowd) the IEMs are a a must.
 
I also went IEM. It's a love hate thing though. Yes, I can hear anywhere I go, and I do move around a lot. BUT... it's NOT the same. I still don't have my IEM mix worked out to where I'm really happy. I know I can get it there, but it's not there yet. I need to invest in much better earbuds. I don't have custom molds yet, and that is my next purchase.
The phrase "Didn't have the engulfing feeling of a real cab" sums it up perfectly. There is something about being inside that sonic wall of guitar when playing... it's very powerful, and nothing else can really simulate that. AXE or AMP is not the issue. For me it's monitoring solutions. That is where the rubber meets the road in live performance for me.
 
I'm glad it went well for your first shot, Tre! I've been doing the FRFR thing live for years now (2011) and am pretty comfortable with it sounding like it needs to (as long as I play like I need to!). Volume is volume, so that will never feel the same as the ol' raging 4x12 but I can still hear well at 56 and that's a pretty good feeling in itself. Stepping away from the volume years ago was a good thing. I'm on again/ off again with the IEM experience. Yes, it gets the music right into your head, but in my environment it also isolates you from the audience and room, which I never cared for. I like it a lot as a backing musician, not so much for fronting my own band where I'm interacting with the audience a lot.

Keep tweaking. I think you will find that, even though you may be less engulfed in your own sound, you will be more engulfed in the band sound and might find that grooves a bit more to you.
 
But, you know, I moved away from the 4x12 route some years ago because so many bands were trying to get better FOH sound, so we started flipping our cabs around backwards on stage and mic'ing them, so I migrated down to a 2x12, then as I got older and the style of music started changing, i went Low Wattage, then down to a 1x12 ... so, for me, using the Axe Fx II with a CLR wedge ... my sound actually IMPROVED .. hahahaha ....

svl said:
Even when I do gigs that require an FRFR onstage for bandmates (I run it across the stage versus towards the crowd) the IEMs are a a must.
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I do exactly this ... i sit my monitor up on the front corner of the stage and wash it at a 45 degree angle so everyone can enjoy my love .. and i crank it up and i have had exactly NONE of the band members complain .. actually the other guitar player was asking how i could set something up like that for him so we can better hear him (he is using a standard 4x12 sitting in the standard location, doing the standard thing, and I or the bass player cannot hear ANYTHING of him on our side of the stage ones everything kicks in, and i have NO clue WHAT the sound guy is doing to him in the monitors lololol ... but he does not cut thru at all.

Here is my setup on a small stage format with VERY limited room ... worked like a champion :)



1987 Kramer American Pacer PC1, Bare Knuckles Juggernaut in the Bridge, Seymour Duncan lil'59 in the neck, Axe Fx 2 Mk2, ISP Stealth Power Amp, Liquid Foot Jr Plus, pair of expression pedal modded VP Jr's sitting on a Pedaltrain PT-2 board, rack is an SKB case.
 
Glad it went well for you. I went with IEMs years ago. I hated them at first, but finally got them dialed in.
 
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