If you’re considering a modeler, you should probably read this first

paisleywookiee said:
In summary, a massive part of the sound of a modeler, and no one’s truly solved it yet. Powercabs are liked by some, but are by no means a slam dunk. CLR are amazing, with occasional reliability and resulting service issues.
This is why modelers are frustrating.
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This, for me.

I’ll never forget the first time, (soon after I bought it), that I realized that my Flextone 1x12 amp did not sound like a roaring JCM800 through a 4x12, and I was very disappointed 😂
 
Stratzrus said:
I couldn't agree more.

Unfortunately, where I'm living at the moment doesn't allow instruments to be played so the only way I can practice is through headphones.

I dislike them so much I actually stopped playing. For months. The longest I'd laid off since I was 15.

But recently I realized that if I didn't start playing again my chops would deteriorate significantly so I started practicing again a few weeks ago using a crappy pair of headphones I had given to a friend who had been in the hospital and needed a pair to watch TV late at night.

They're fine for that but suck for playing music so I'm looking for something better but don't want to pay hundreds for something I'll only use sporadically once I move in a month or so.

Necessity is a mother.
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I have been that guy who had to wear them in the past. Roommates suck! Ok, I probably sucked as a
roommate. I couldn't imagine living with someone who would noodle endlessly like I did.... and do. :crazy
 
I’m still scarred from the one attempt I made using "FRFR". I used the ME Gemeni 212 and I pretty much hated every minute of it. You could crank it until your ears bled and it never got any more immersive. A pair of studio speakers 1/3 the price provided more enjoyment. At this point if I’m not wanting to use studio monitors (which I love for the wide stereo field) I just use a cab, as God intended.
 
As far as recorded tones: I’ve LOVED a boatload of them over the years, but two problems with that:

1. As said in the article, along with dual amps, several mics, that room, that guitar player, and the amp not sounding much like the recording, etc, trying to cop a recorded tone is a fools errand, and:
2. As good as those recorded tones sound, in their mixes, when it comes to ME playing, next to other musicians with their raw live amps and raw drums, I prefer a raw amplifier. It just sits in the mix better by the time it hits my ears, and a mic on an amp, in a bar =/= automatic bad tone.
 
Whizzinby said:
I’m still scarred from the one attempt I made using "FRFR". I used the ME Gemeni 212 and I pretty much hated every minute of it. You could crank it until your ears bled and it never got any more immersive. A pair of studio speakers 1/3 the price provided more enjoyment. At this point if I’m not wanting to use studio monitors (which I love for the wide stereo field) I just use a cab, as God intended.
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I think the bad experiences players have had using "FRFR" monitors outweigh the good but not all are created equal.

I've gotten great results with my pair of pole mounted Atomic CLRs. My dyed in the wool tube loving band mates thought they were great and commented on how good they sounded without prompting. They were used to hearing me play using a '65 Super Reverb or my Sig:X so they had a good frame of reference for comparison.

I was fortunate that the only FRFRs I've ever used were the CLRs but I've read many posts about players not liking the results they got using other models. Haven't read a lot of complaints about the CLRs.
 
Ok. In that case, do it! :beer

It has that tunable crossover so you can really dial it in to suit your room, and not become too dominant
and woofy. Unless you want that sort of thing. I love it. Took my monitoring pleasuredome to new heights! :LOL:
 
la szum said:
Ok. In that case, do it! :beer

It has that tunable crossover so you can really dial it in to suit your room, and not become too dominant
and woofy. Unless you want that sort of thing. I love it. Took my monitoring pleasuredome to new heights! :LOL:
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Does it give you an accurate representation of your sound? It that makes sense? Or does it boost the bass and more so just fun to play on your own vs in a mix
 
la szum said:
Pretty sure Cliff/Fractal has recommended them in the past.
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I didn't know that. I bought a pair of Eris 4.5s based on multiple recommendations I saw at the other place and they immediately replaced my JBL 305s. Truly remarkable performance for the price.


la szum said:
I ended up buying that Eris Sub because of those. $199 for the Sub was a no-brainer. :banana
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la szum said:
Depending on where your son's Room is I would think twice about a Sub. :LOL:
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Mongillo19 said:
Does it give you an accurate representation of your sound? It that makes sense? Or does it boost the bass and more so just fun to play on your own vs in a mix
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I picked up a QSC KSub for my Atomic CLR modeler/home theater rig. While the sub dramatically improved performance when watching films I felt that the sub added an artificial bottom end to the guitar's signal from the Axe FX so I bypassed it for guitar. The CLRs sounded wonderful without the sub but what it added to the Axe FX's tone was unlike anything that I'd ever gotten from a guitar amp.

Sub is on the far left under the Revox.

28641609805_cc702869b5_b.jpg



Interestingly, it was different when I added a Rivera LosLowbottom Sub 1 to my Triple Crown 50 bedroom rig. When dialed in so that you could barely hear it, then using the bass knob on the TC-50, the sub filled out the bottom end nicely at late night bedroom volumes where the amp produced little bottom end.

51238840010_dbc8336cb4_b.jpg


In my experience, a sub doesn't really help at normal volumes but is useful once the volume gets so low that the amp sounds anemic.
 
la szum said:
I have been that guy who had to wear them in the past. Roommates suck! Ok, I probably sucked as a
roommate. I couldn't imagine living with someone who would noodle endlessly like I did.... and do. :crazy
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Hahahah my last roommmate was my best friend since the 4th grade, my SZ has that big crack in the top below the tone knob because he came out of his room bitching that I was noodling unplugged on the couch so I threw the guitar across the apartment into my room while calling him a bitch. :rofl
 
Jarick said:
At the end of the day for guitar, as fun as it is hearing effects in super wide stereo, headphones tend to be very unsatisfying. They seem to exaggerate frequencies that make guitar less exciting and more annoying, and seem to encourage me to spend a lot of time tweaking tones instead of playing.
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Each set of headphones can sound drastically different. Some require a lot of correction to be anywhere near flat.

Atm I have:
  • Sennheiser HD6XX. Relatively neutral out of the box so works well. I use these with my Axe-Fx 3. The HD6XX is an actual model number, a variant of the HD650 sold by Drop.com.
  • Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro 250 Ohm. These are super comfortable but have way overhyped highs. They absolutely need correction to work. Due to the comfort I use these with my Mac and PC for everyday listening with correction from EqualizerAPO/Peace (Windows) or SoundSource (MacOS).
  • Jabra Elite 85H. I use these just for work, my workplace got them for me because my old Intel Macbook Pro was making too much fan noise for people to hear me during meetings with its built in mic.
  • AKG K-271 Mk2 or something like that.
  • AKG K-400.
The Jabra sucks for guitar and the AKGs are noticeably worse than the HD6XX or DT990. All are fine for listening to music.

What you lose with headphones is the interaction between the guitar and speakers. Fractal can emulate this with the "Gain Enhancer" in the Amp block Output compression section. On top of that not having space for sound to reverberate makes cab sims sound weird unless you add a room reverb, or mix in room IRs.
 
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