Assuming we're happy with the Axe then all we should need is a linear-as-can-be SS power amp and FRFR cabs. But some people have/want to use guitar cabs and this complicates matters.
On what basis do you make this claim?
How do guitar cabinets "complicate" matters when using a ss power amp?
Any interactions that a real tube power amp would have with a guitar cabinet are supposedly modelled in the Spkr page of the Amp Block.
Ostensibly then, if a ss power amp truly reproduces the signal that is being sent to it by the Axe (Cab Block off of course) then what comes out of a guitar speaker that is connected to that ss power amp should be almost indistinguishable from what we'd hear if the real amp being modelled were plugged directly into that same speaker.
And in my experience that's exactly what happens when you use a real good power amp into a guitar speaker.
Do you not believe that the features on the Spkr page of the Amp block are sufficient or that the Axe is incapable of truly reproducing the sounbd of a tube amp into a system with sufficient fidelity?
If so, then why bother using the Axe at all?
If all you want from the Axe is programmability and MIDI control then you should probably be using something like a Triaxis into a tube power amp, no?
A non-guitar-oriented FRFR tube power amp with enough headroom to do this properly, i.e. w/o being driven into clipping at gig levels, would need to be 200 watts RMS minimum and even more would be better.
And a tube power amp with that much power would weigh a LOT.
It's simply not practical to use most tube power amps with the Axe, including the ones that Fryette and Retro Channel make, unless you want to actually colour the signal to some degree either tone-wise or via distortion of the signal.
And that's not something that I want to do myself.
Guitar players have been using the gear that manufacturers have provided them with in all sorts of unorthodox ways since the beginnings of electric guitar.
So if someone wants to experiment with making the Axe sound different from the way Cliff programmed it to sound, that's all fine for them.
But they should at least be aware that that's what they're doing. IMO
What do I mean by "the way Cliff programmed it to sound"?
Well, Cliff sits around his lab with all sorts of test equipment that uses all sorts of well researched and tested standard benchmarks to tailor the signal of the Axe FX.
If you monitor your Axe FX through a power amp that deviates from those standard benchmarks then you'll be hearing something different than what Cliff was hearing.
Of course, anything you use will deviate somewhat from what Cliff was using, but the idea is to keep that deviation at a minimum as much as is possible.
So if, for instance, you run a Mesa amp sim with its default settings, which Cliff has programmed to very very closely match the output signal of the real-word Mesa amp being modelled, into a power amp that does not reproduce that signal w/o coloration then you are not really hearing what Cliff intended you to hear, at least not with the default settings of that amp sim.
Of course you're under no obligation to use the Axe that way at all.
But IMO you should be aware of how the decision to use that power amp is affecting the sound you're going to hear.
I was aware of all of this when I bought my own GT1000.
As I said before, my Bryston sounds noticeably better than the GT1000 and I would still be using it if it had more power and less weight.
I would have bought an XT1000 if it was 1U.
I would have bought nearly anything else I could find if it was 1U, around 300 watts into 8ohms and really light.
But the only thing out the right now that fits that form factor is the GT1000.
And it sounds good enough.
So I'm relatively happy.
To Laz
When you complain about how the Atomic stuff is overpriced and how much more you like the Matrix stuff, have you actually looked at Matrix's prices?
I was just thinking about buying a Matrix passive FRFR cab to AB with my CLRs and then I was going to decide which system worked better for me, but the Matrix passive cabs' prices are ridiculous.
