Tested out some FRFR/active speakers with a Helix today

Jonathanthomas83

@cbellanga let us know how the gig goes

cbellanga

Jonathanthomas83 said:

@cbellanga let us know how the gig goes

Will do mate.. looking forward to it!

Vibetronic

imalrightjack said:

@Vibetronic - verdict on the Laney?

Embarrassed to say that I still haven't turned it up much! I shall do so this afternoon and see what's what. Had the ax8 through the PA at band last night, so the sound is still pretty fresh in my ears for a comparison - will post later.

cbellanga

Just back from my gig and wow.. everything sounded great! Took my QSC K8, guitar and AX8.

Plugged everything and in 2 minutes everything was sorted! The monitor worked as my main amp, just in front of me and the ax8.

the sound was clear and balanced, could hear the whole band + myself perfectly and the guys in the front said it sounded very good!

the other band's guitarist brought the traditional amp and pedals and it sounded muffled + he was always bending down to hear himself, the classic thing.

I'm impressed. I understand there's a learning curve but it definitely pays off!

Wazmeister

Ive had an hour with the new DXR 10 tonight, and I am very very impressed. Tried a couple of Thorpy pedals in front of the Kemper, and the Big Sky too... sounded great.

DXR handled everything thrown at it so far.

@cbellanga - it sound like its really working for you mate.

Roland

Really glad it's worked for you

Vibetronic

imalrightjack said:

@Vibetronic - verdict on the Laney?

finally turned it up a bit yesterday. Sounds really good to my ears, pretty much the same sort of sound we get through the PA with maybe a little more life to it. I think a few things will need dialling back a bit if I do use it at volume - i.e. reverb, gain - as you can't really tell too much at low (home-use) levels, but otherwise it's more than good enough for me. Loudness-wise, I got to just below half-way before I had to go and do something else, but in my opinion it'd easily be good enough as a stand-alone amp for small gigs when you're not running a Helix/Axe-FX through a PA (and if you are, then a very decent monitor). I haven't tried any of the higher-end stuff for comparison, but for what I need it for it's more than good enough.

Jonathanthomas83

Three very positive reviews! Amazing news guys and glad the gig went well @cbellanga !!

were living in a great time to be a guitarist with all this cool stuff available. 

fretmeister

Anyone tried the Yamahas with a bass yet?

I think I'm sold on the idea of selling my Zilla and going down the FRFR route for guitar use. The Zilla is a stunning cab and I really like the Creambacks in it, but there's also no doubt the Creambacks work great with Marshall and Mesa high gain tones but not so great for Fender type cleans. So cab sims may well be the way to go.

But if I can also use a FRFR unit for bass as well, that would be amazing.

I was looking at the specs on the Yamaha DXR10 and the DXR12 and the freq range is the same (DXR15 is too big) but I'm wondering if the bigger enclosure would still be useful.

All thoughts welcome!

fretmeister

Also - are the Yamaha cooling fans Always-On or reactive?

How loud are they? I hate fans!

simonk

@fretmeister The fans are always on yes. I don't find them intrusive though - certainly on stage you wouldn't notice them. The DXR12 is pretty boomy for guitar, the 10 being far preferable. I've only tried bass through my 10 very briefly and at at low volume... it was fine for the studio but not representative for live use.

TimmyO

fretmeister said:

Also - are the Yamaha cooling fans Always-On or reactive?

How loud are they? I hate fans!

Always on but very quiet imo 

fretmeister

simonk said:

@fretmeister The fans are always on yes. I don't find them intrusive though - certainly on stage you wouldn't notice them. The DXR12 is pretty boomy for guitar, the 10 being far preferable. I've only tried bass through my 10 very briefly and at at low volume... it was fine for the studio but not representative for live use.

Boomy would be annoying.

Cabicular

Danny1969 said:

I haven't gigged an AxeFX or Helix or Kemper but I have used a Bose L1 with a GT10 straight into it. Now I don't recommend these Bose systems for full on band work but they do a job of anything in the 100Hz to 10K region so fine for guitar and have a dispersion pattern far beyond your typical QSC or HK top. 

Would be a bit expensive but very portable backline for a Helix \ Axe \ Kemper ... I wonder if anyone's doing it ?

my B-Rig PA is a pair of Turbosound Ip2000s and the Helix sounds great through it
its also very nice for vocals
needs a bit more grunt for anything low endy
also quite hi-fi which is disconcerting for us singers ...

TimmyO

fretmeister said:

Anyone tried the Yamahas with a bass yet?

I think I'm sold on the idea of selling my Zilla and going down the FRFR route for guitar use. The Zilla is a stunning cab and I really like the Creambacks in it, but there's also no doubt the Creambacks work great with Marshall and Mesa high gain tones but not so great for Fender type cleans. So cab sims may well be the way to go.

But if I can also use a FRFR unit for bass as well, that would be amazing.

I was looking at the specs on the Yamaha DXR10 and the DXR12 and the freq range is the same (DXR15 is too big) but I'm wondering if the bigger enclosure would still be useful.

All thoughts welcome!

You're self-employed right? 

Skive off on Wednesday and join Mick and I in Swindon - you can try it out 

fretmeister

That would have been lovely, thank you.

I'm already skiving the day to take the family out.

fretmeister

In other news, I completely forgot I had a Mackie SM150

Its a bit bass light - I used it for vocal only during magic shows- but it will give me an idea. It's a good quality unit.

I haven't performed magic since I had a load of surgery last year so I had packed it away.

fretmeister

@TimmyO ;

You tried that DXR with a bass yet?

John_A

fretmeister said:

@TimmyO ;

You tried that DXR with a bass yet?

I can give mine a try tomorrow 

fretmeister

That would be excellent!