Any Sydney Guitarists with Matrix NL12 Cabs?

[ether]

Is anyone playing live in Sydney with these yet? Or rehearsing somewhere? Or have them at home even?

http://matrixguitaramplification.com/pr ... light-cab/

I'd love the chance to hear them in action before I bet the farm and change my entire rig around.

According to the marketing hype they're "approaching FRFR" - so are suited for the Axe FX and similar modellers - while retaining the punch of traditional guitar cabs, and are extremely light.

I'd love to buy someone a beer and kick their tyres for a while...

[jkhuri44]

whats frfr?

[Chinagraf]

Free range, feather reduced?

[tunetown]

Full Range, Flat Response.

They are designed for amp modellers that use speaker ir's. Good studio speakers are generally FRFR.

I haven't tried the Matrix NL12 but I do own their FX800GT FRFR amp. I use it to power the AXE-fx2 into a Marshall Cab. I turn off the Speaker IR's in the AXE-FX. Works extremely well.

[ether]

I'm possibly going to have 3 distinct setups:

Awesome FRFR #1 : Axe FX II -> Matrix GT1000FX 2U -> Matrix NL12s (1 or 2 as needed)

or

Awesome FRFR #2 : Macbook Air / Apogee GiO -> Matrix GT1000FX 2U -> Matrix NL12s (1 or 2 as needed)

or

Old School Mini Rig : 1 or 2 pedals -> Mesa TA-15 -> Matrix NL12 (1 only)

Very hard letting go of the pedal collection and various amps and cabs though...

[Manning]

AJ - I keep saying I will use my cabs and pedals again, but I never do.

Axe II at the main studio, Axe I at home...

[ether]

I hear you Manning, and I'm 95% sold.

I've got all these lovely Strymon pedals though. Such a shame.

Can't have everything though, so I'll probably just keep 1 or 2.

[jkhuri44]

FRFR...
would just make that a $500 ported speaker....
you could use any 100-200-300 watt speaker or PA.....
whats the frequency response on the speaker? i take it they dont have one, and what driver does it use?

[ether]

The topic you're alluding to my friend has been argued to death on many a guitarist's forum these past years.

Essentially the new breed of modellers (the Axe FX II being the main one) are capable of producing audio that covers the full frequency spectrum, and traditional guitar cabs don't really suit. What's coming out of the cab - and what you are hearing or sending to FOH - is NOT what the modeller is actually producing, as the cab is colouring it. (I'm simplifying here.) Many players choose to use FRFR or FRFR-ish PA monitors and amps as a result, but the general complaint is that the "feel" is different. Less "thump" or "oomph" to use typical guitarist phrases.

The NL12s (that my original post is about) seeks to address this, giving a near-FRFR sound, but also retaining more of the feel of what a guitarists expects, while being extremely light.

For variations on the theme have a look at:

The Atomic CLRs (very highly regarded, but they weigh a ton)
http://www.atomicamps.com/products.htm

Line 6 StageSource L3T (meh)
http://line6.com/stagesource-l3t/

You can argue that these are all expensive versions on simple PA monitors, but there's enough real world experience now that backs up the claims of the FRFR crowd and (as far as the Matrix and Atomic cabs go) the specific capabilities of these units.

From memory. the Atomic CLRs are approaching studio monitor frequency response. The NL12s less so, but certainly flatter than a normal guitar cab,

I've played some modellers (hardware and software) through various nearfields and PA monitors, and have definitely been let down as far as on stage feel goes. I'm too used to big beefy combos blasting away at my knees So it's the NL12s or the Atomics for me, but I'm after something as light as possible, so the NL12s win.

As Manning keeps reminding me, resistance is futile!, but I was hoping someone in Sydney had some NL12s I could play with before I pull the trigger.

[Manning]

And as AJ alludes, I will ask Rick for a moratorium on any discussion of "what constitutes a true 'FRFR' speaker?".

It has ruined every guitar forum in the world already, let's not sully Trock as well.

[jkhuri44]

im playing devils advocate

[ether]

My own personal FRFR pointless argument moratorium has been in place for a while now!

Still open for actually useful FRFR discussions for the "modern guitarist" of course.

Vaguely interesting that there's no t'rock Recording Guitar / Live Guitar forum... and I don't recall too many guitar-specific threads here either.

Probably for the best

[jkhuri44]

FRFR....just means...."full range speaker"...
anything other than that is marketing...seriously?
a 2 or 3 way ported speaker would give you better live performance than 1 full range driver as well.

[Ausrock]

a 2 or 3 way ported speaker would give you better live performance than 1 full range driver as well.

Hopefully you're not implying that such a speaker would cause someone to play (perform) better

[jkhuri44]

lol, it certainly came out that way...hahaha i meant the speaker itself would perform better ina live setting...since it could be designed to be more efficient.

[ether]

It's all about tradeoffs.

Accuracy, quality, cost, weight, "traditional amp feel"...

With no budget constraints I could get a pair of Barefoots and be done with it. And a pair each for all the other band members on stage.

High end PA cabs maybe... but actual guitarist experience seems to indicate that these suffer from a piercing high end, a certain "boxiness", and a lack of "thump". People seem to EQ the heck out of them (in their modellers), or learn to live with a different experience.

Even if FRFR is mostly marketing smoke and mirrors, guitarist consensus seems to be the Atomic CLRs, the new Matrix NL12s, and certain PA cabs (QSC K12s, some Yamahas) are the best solution, striking the right balance with all the tradeoffs.