Real cabs versus FRFR?

  • I own and have used Atomic and Xitione FRFR's over the years but I still tend toward real cabs and staying away from the IR rabbit hole. How many of you all are using a power amp and a real cab with your modeler? Is matrix still top dog for power amps?

  • I have a 1x12 " Cab with a celestion Creamback NEO which Sounds Glorious with most Profiles, even Studio Profiles

    and i have a Kemper Cab, these two are all that i need, depends on what i prefer sound wise

    which cab i use

    both are great solutions

  • I went back to standard guitar cabs, Although the redsound RS LG12 neo sounds marvelous (for sale btw) my thoughts were why bother mimicking a V30 while you can play the real deal. I thought I needed FRFR or GRFR because we all wanted, but in the end as long as the FOH get's a sound incl IR it's all good. I have a powered kemper but use a TC electronic BAM200 with a Helix stomp to drive a 4ohm 2x12 zilla cab. Love it !


    Raf

    Kemper stage with 2 mission pedals (in a Thon line 6 FBV case) and a Zilla 212 (K-100/V30) , SD powerstage 700 poweramp

  • guitarguy316 I see most are using this as an attenuator, will this be a better solution than the solid state Matrix? I had the 800 many years ago and thought it was ok, but not great.

    It does both so it's a jack of all trades and it's a cool piece of gear to have for your digital modelers as a power amp (heck anything that has an ouput, like a mp3 player, etc.) plus the full loadbox (100% attenuation).

  • guitarguy316 it must be pretty new and in high demand (just about everyone is sold out and there are no used). Did it just come out this year? What is new from t he v-1?


    I owned the very popular Waza TAE, but it makes you use cab setting on the front that do not sound anything like my real cab.

  • guitarguy316 it must be pretty new and in high demand (just about everyone is sold out and there are no used). Did it just come out this year? What is new from t he v-1?


    I owned the very popular Waza TAE, but it makes you use cab setting on the front that do not sound anything like my real cab.

    No, they've been out for a number of years, maybe 5 years or so. Fryette's plant closed earlier this year due to the Pandemic and just reopened in August. I think they're handmade so maybe they can't keep up with demand yet since so many people are at home and want things like this to power digital devices or attenuate?


    Guitar Center (MF), American Musical, Zsounds, etc. I don't think Sweetwater is a dealer. There's some smaller non-big box dealers in USA if you check the Fryette site that might have them.

  • I have a Seymour Duncan Powerstage 170 that I run into an Avatar 2x12 V30 cab. The Powerstage is great, small, loud, and affordable (especially used). I personally don't see the value in paying 2x more for the fancy Matrix stuff, especially since it's really just for practice and my own stage monitoring (the audience will hear your DI output). But of course, this is just my personal opinion and is in no way a judgement on what other people like.