what to use with the axe.amp? clr? matrix?

nameskarlo

Member
just bought an axe fx 2 xl. i play in a metal band. i was wondering what to use. matrix, CLR, Amp.
what is the best sounding if i play with the band and then live. anyone......
 
Welcome and congrats with the purchase!
There are several ways to go actually. You can go with an active floor monitor (CLR), or you can buy a power amp and forget about troubles with connecting in different situations. I have GTX1000 Matrix PA and a passive floor monitor. When going live I usually go direct AND connect a PA to the Cab on stage.
The easiest setup (if you can be sure that you will only go direct on live shows) is a simple active floor monitor.
If you can afford buying a PA and a passive monitor – well, this is indeed the ultimate setup.
Cheers!
 
just bought an axe fx 2 xl. i play in a metal band. i was wondering what to use. matrix, CLR, Amp.
what is the best sounding if i play with the band and then live. anyone......
I recommend going with the FRFR solution for a few reasons. I started with a Matrix power amp and an orange cab. It sounded great, but was also annoying to carry around. I decided to go with a couple of JBL Eon 612's and haven't looked back since. My reasons for doing so are as follows:
1. Much lighter and easier to carry around. The JBL's weigh 30 ish lbs a piece versus a cab that typically weighs 50-100 lbs.
2. Sound guys will love you and your tone will be consistent. No more worrying about mic placement or having some mediocre local sound guy mic'ing your cab with the worst technique possible. You get to bypass all of that unnecessary stuff.
3. The JBL's or whatever speaker you decide to go with are 1000 watts and can very easily be used as a backline if you're going through a mediocre PA. I used mine as a "cab" in front of a crowd of 300+ people and i cut through much better than I ever did with a traditional cab
4. You get the full potential out of the unit because you can implement cab IR's into your tone.
5. You get your own personal monitor mix with your JBL(s), so you can always hear yourself.
6. Your tone will cut through a mix like a knife. All of my tones live through a large PA sound phenomenal and can be heard with crystal clear definition.
To sum it up, Andy from Matrix said to me when I was discussing it with him: "Using an axe fx into a cab is like driving a Ferrari with old shitty tires". and in my personal experience, Andy was absolutely correct. Not to knock guys who use power amps and cabs. If it works for you it works for you, but FRFR is much better for me.
 
Whilst Andy is kinda right, for anyone starting out I'd always say to stick with something that you know and are familiar with, namely a standard guitar cab. Once you're then used to dialing in the Fractal then move onto FRFR if you want.
 
Welcome and congrats with the purchase!
There are several ways to go actually. You can go with an active floor monitor (CLR), or you can buy a power amp and forget about troubles with connecting in different situations. I have GTX1000 Matrix PA and a passive floor monitor. When going live I usually go direct AND connect a PA to the Cab on stage.
The easiest setup (if you can be sure that you will only go direct on live shows) is a simple active floor monitor.
If you can afford buying a PA and a passive monitor – well, this is indeed the ultimate setup.
Cheers!
thank you for your feedback. if i understand the best is to by lets say matrix PA and an FRFR unpowered.....? right
 
I recommend going with the FRFR solution for a few reasons. I started with a Matrix power amp and an orange cab. It sounded great, but was also annoying to carry around. I decided to go with a couple of JBL Eon 612's and haven't looked back since. My reasons for doing so are as follows:
1. Much lighter and easier to carry around. The JBL's weigh 30 ish lbs a piece versus a cab that typically weighs 50-100 lbs.
2. Sound guys will love you and your tone will be consistent. No more worrying about mic placement or having some mediocre local sound guy mic'ing your cab with the worst technique possible. You get to bypass all of that unnecessary stuff.
3. The JBL's or whatever speaker you decide to go with are 1000 watts and can very easily be used as a backline if you're going through a mediocre PA. I used mine as a "cab" in front of a crowd of 300+ people and i cut through much better than I ever did with a traditional cab
4. You get the full potential out of the unit because you can implement cab IR's into your tone.
5. You get your own personal monitor mix with your JBL(s), so you can always hear yourself.
6. Your tone will cut through a mix like a knife. All of my tones live through a large PA sound phenomenal and can be heard with crystal clear definition.
To sum it up, Andy from Matrix said to me when I was discussing it with him: "Using an axe fx into a cab is like driving a Ferrari with old ****ty tires". and in my personal experience, Andy was absolutely correct. Not to knock guys who use power amps and cabs. If it works for you it works for you, but FRFR is much better for me.
very interesting point of view.thanks. i always thought these kind of speakers were for music and not individual instruments.specialy not for distortion guitar.
 
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I thought i'd chime. First of all, welcome in the amazing fractal world. You'll notice quickly that the community here is awesome. Very helpful and instructive. Take advantage of the forum.

Now,I think the easiest way to get started is to use a FRFR. Don't overthink your patches. I suggest starting out with the basics and the basics are GOOD. What I mean is treat the unit like its real hardware counterpart. Download Yek's guide to amps and drive. From there ( just to get you started quickly ), chose amps and match it to it's respective real-life cab ( it's all in Yek's guide ). Also, you'll notice that there are way more parameters on the axe than on the actual amp. Tweak only the real amp parameters ( at first ). Next is the Cab Mic. It has a huge impact on the overall tone and feel. I personally like to start my presets by removing the mic out of the equation. It also gives a more ''real cab feel'' . Then when you've tweaked it the best you could, chose your mic, re-adjust your amp. Now when your ''rough mix'' is done, its time to start tweaking the advanced parameters. Some are self-explanatory and with some experimenting and reading ( Forum ) you'll get to figure out which ones work for you.

Now for FRFR vs Cab. I think to make your decision you gotta know or figure out if you like the FRFR feel on stage. The dispersion is wider on FRFR and gives more of a ''final product/ CD tones. If you're not sure, rent one for a week or so. Might cost you a bit but at least you'll know. I still think everyone should have a FRFR of some sort. Maybe some studio monitors or CLR to tweak the fully processed signal to send to the FOH.

If you really only play metal and have a good cab, maybe that's all you need. You can actually connect 2 cabs with the Matrix and still send a fully processed signal ( with cab simulators ) to the FOH. My next move is actually buying a few cabs ( will be testing 1x12s ) to complement my set-up. For the moment i have 2x12s that I use with the Matrix and love it but they only give one flavour each and its big. So I'm shopping for smaller cabs. If I have a specific genre gig, I know that i can do it with 1 or 2 cabs and do it with style. For top 40 I use the CLR.

Hope that helps and imho those little tweaking tips are good guidelines for beginners ( or anyone really ). It's just so easy to get lost in parameters and trying amps with different cabs. Start easy, dial the tones you USE mimicking the gear you use. The rest will come naturally...

Enjoy the ride!
 
I decided to go with a couple of JBL Eon 612's and haven't looked back since.

Chase, I have a question about the JBLs. I bought a Mackie SRM550 to use with my AX8. Compared to what comes out of our FOH, the Mackie sounds muffled. Almost no highs in the range of 4K and up. Even though it has a titanium HF driver, it sounds like a guitar cab. The exact same signal goes to our FOH and it sounds awesome! A nice full range of frequencies. I can't adjust my settings because it will screw up the FOH sound.

What about your JBLs? Do they produce a full range of frequencies? If the Mackie is the issue I am ready to replace it. Thanks.
 
What about your JBLs? Do they produce a full range of frequencies? If the Mackie is the issue I am ready to replace it. Thanks.

I've bought one 612 Eon, a few weeks back. I first thought it would be an "inbetweener" until availability of clr's in europe, but I must say I'm not dissapointed.

Every FRFR speaker will sound different, so "true" FRFR is more marketing than anything, IMHO. But the eons do a good job. I own a Matrix Q12, and I like the eon a little more. Not muffled at all.
 
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