Why the Obsession with FRFR Solutions?

Hugomack said:
I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with.... My conclusion is that you need subs if playing bass through monitors. I couldn't see how Scott could play bass through a 12 inch monitor without wrecking it. I tried with a JBL powered EON 15 inch, which even at very low volume didn't like it one bit.
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I've owned and used Gen 1 EON and Gen 3 EON speakers... and I am extremely negative in opinion of them.

The RCF and CLR are not ideal for monitoring bass; but they do the job relatively well enough for me that I've done gigs with them both in that capacity and the experience was fine. Perfect? No. Ideal? No. Preferable to a real bass rig? No. But satisfactory. (*I really only infrequently sub on bass out of necessity; it's not something I do often or pursue). I do not consider myself a bass player of any stature - I am a full blown fill-in hamfisted bassist at best.

I will personally attest to the fact, IMHO, that either the RCF NX 12SMA or CLR will perform better than ANY JBL EON at ANY task other than costing less. Just my opinion; but man... I disliked the EON experience and owning/using them was a very unhappy period for me in terms of FRFR. I mainly used the EON's at the time to do acoustic guitar and felt the Gen3 version was a more practical (ie. portable, logistical) solution compared to the Fishman Loudbox and SWR Blonde and Strawberry Blonde acoustic amps I was using for that task... but I was never very happy with the EON's for electric guitar FRFR duties.
 
I've used and am down on the Eon's too.

Our drummer has one and we have used it here and there mostly out of desparation lol. It requires massive EQ to use it as a general purpose wedge IMO.
 
The EON g1 and g2 are extremely bright to me. The plastic/metal enclosure makes the bass frequencies unpredictable and not smooth.

The g3 and latest versions have a much smoother bass tone and a sweeter top end as well, but lacks the raw power and punch of the previous versions.

Definitely gets the job done. I gigged with g2 then g3 versions as my speaker for many years. Recent speakers such as the Yamaha DXR and QSC K series have become more popular. And of course the RCF and CLR take it to another level.

But I'd use EONs again if I had to. You do have to know a bit about EQ to make it do what you want sometimes!
 
Fro said:
If you rely on an Aux channel used as a monitor send, then you are at the mercy of anything being applied to the monitor send that will be necessary for things like preventing feedback, etc. These things aren't applied to just the vocal channel specifically, but rather the entire send to the monitor. A sound engineer, or monitor engineer specifically, is in essence running a whole separate second mix that the audience isn't hearing. It's all to essentially make the stage not feedback, and make it easiest on the vocalist first. Instruments can suffer greatly because of this. Running your own monitor for guitar only bypasses all of those problems. A monitor send can be very far from flat. Anyone who is not experienced in running sound may not realize how much can possibly be done to the signal running to a monitor that can have a very negative effect on the overall guitar tone.
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This ^

When they ring out the wedges your guitar tone goes to shite :)

But it's not the end of the world either, the show must go on! Bad monitors or no. Sometimes when you don't complain about the wedge mix, they have mercy on you and it actually gets better lol

Ideally have your own portable monitor gives the most reproducible results gig after gig.
 
Thanks Scott.

I agree about the EONs, which I use purely for vocals pa - with a powered sub for larger venues. I try to keep other instruments out of the mix...

WHen I dep on bass, I use some JBL E120's (two 2x12s) and if I need a bit of twang (for funky stuff), add and 15" passive monitor, all powered by my Matrix.

There've been various debates several years ago like this, and it was clear then that you had to use top of the range FRFR monitors to get results. As these are £1000+ here in UK, the guitar cab movement was spawned - hence the setup I use (below). I'm looking at whether there's a compression driver and passive crossover to match the EVMs, to add as a less expensive enhancement (a screw-in to the 1x12 even). SOme cab sims do sound good even with the EVMs on their own, so this might be an option. MAtrix' cabs seems a bit expensive for the drivers they're using.
 
LVC said:
If the Axe is most often used FOH or plugged into your PA (live) -- then why do you need an expensive FRFR speaker if you intend to use the Axe live and not in a studio or home setting?

Unless you are using the FRFR speaker as you source of amplification at a gig -- nobody is going to hear it.

Wouldn't be better (and cheaper) -- just to either plug into your PA or one of your PA speakers to dial in your Axe?

Just wondering folks that is all.
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I have a experienced an example of why I feel the need to have a good FRFR setup last night. I was at rehearsal last night and everything I did sounded bad, I was hating it, and in hating my sound I didn't enjoy playing. Not enjoying playing led me to play poorly out of lack of excitement. I just wanted the songs to be over as soon as they started. I'm pretty sure it is just my old strings that is producing the problem, but my point is that if I sound "good" to my ears I enjoy playing 1000 times more, which I think leads me to play "better" and sound "better" to others.

So I go for the best sound to my ears, and if it is expensive, well that is just how it worked out.

On a side note, I didn't spend all my money on my guitar, Axe II and MFC just to play outta some "OK" speaker. Seems illogical to me. IMHO
 
Chris@KatsuKuriMedia said:
The EON g1 and g2 are extremely bright to me. The plastic/metal enclosure makes the bass frequencies unpredictable and not smooth.

The g3 and latest versions have a much smoother bass tone and a sweeter top end as well, but lacks the raw power and punch of the previous versions.

Definitely gets the job done. I gigged with g2 then g3 versions as my speaker for many years. Recent speakers such as the Yamaha DXR and QSC K series have become more popular. And of course the RCF and CLR take it to another level.

But I'd use EONs again if I had to. You do have to know a bit about EQ to make it do what you want sometimes!
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I'll add that my criticism of the EON series is specific to the task of FRFR for direct guitar; as a general PA speaker/monitor they are still serviceable and useful. I'm just expressing my opinion; nothing more or less. I don't like posting negative opinions; but I feel strongly about this one and stand behind it.
 
Hugomack said:
I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with.... My conclusion is that you need subs if playing bass through monitors. I couldn't see how Scott could play bass through a 12 inch monitor without wrecking it. I tried with a JBL powered EON 15 inch, which even at very low volume didn't like it one bit.
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Because my monitor has no sub. It is a single cab, 3-way FRFR unit. And the 'big' driver is a 12" (though there are models with 15"s)
 
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