ragingplatypi
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Like it or hate it, I feel Line 6 deserves some kudos for trying to address a lot of complicated issues with the Powercab. I’ve never used one, so I’m not really familiar with why it’s not well regarded here.
It’s not the modeler…it’s something else that determines the endresult.
- Thread starter AFKAEjay(retired)
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creative360
Roadie
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- 158
All these years later, since getting the Kemper, my favorite room to track in is a small Chelsea studio where a composer I work with is still running a pair of vintage Genelec 1030a’s. At pleasing volumes, not crazy loud, those speakers sit in that sweet spot between “accuracy” and just sounding amazing. So warm, yet detailed. A little bit like an SM7b mic, they just give me back the thing I was thinking I was playing, instead of filling me with all kinds of doubts. If I tweak when I'm there, it's super minimal.
I've heard that your new speakers are one of the good options for replacing the 1030's..
I'll be curious to hear how off you believe your old tones are, or how different your new ones are, in terms of settings. It's true, your old speakers were tiny.
I'm not predicting any seismic alterations, instead, you just having a way more rich, pleasing day to day recording and mixing experience, which is great.
Elf
Roadie
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I would add maybe someone in the iconic band was struggling with a part so they brought a ghost session guy to do those parts quickly and getting it over with!
TSJMajesty
Rock Star
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Not really. But with an amp, the speaker choice is already selected for you if it's a combo, and if it's a head, you buy the matching cab and you're set. But with modelers, the choices are wide open, and they can be the deciding factor in whether a person even bonds with a modeler.
That said, back when I was much younger, we were all lusting after getting a Marshall. In my small group of guitar-playing buddies, the other guitarist in my band was the first to get one. He bought a used early 70's Super Lead 100 watt head, shows up the night of a gig with it, and proceeds to hook it up to the speakers in his Super Reverb combo, and it sounded like absolute azz! He thought something was wrong with it.
So he takes it back to the store, only to be informed if he wanted that "Marshall sound" he needed to be using Celestion speakers. So he bought a pair, put them into his Dual Showman cab, and there it was.
Dude has had a killer, yet slightly distinct, Marshall tone ever since.
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In fairness, if you read those forums (even Fractal) people chase the hippest/latest/greatest "FRFR"/Powered Speaker
option like a horny, male, teen chasing an hole.
You can go back and read threads about this great "FRFR" option, or this powered Cab, and how it is the one, and then
see that was 5 years ago, and they have been through 5 subsequent, and totally different, options since.
I agree, it gets asked way too much, and should be stickied. But then what would we talk about??
Sascha Franck
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I can *soo* much relate to that story. Wasn't exactly Marshall tones I was after, but I had *no* idea about the relevance of speakers for a pretty long time during my "career". And unlike your mate, in the town where I grew up there were no folks telling you that you needed a particular cab or speaker to get the most out of whatever amps (and that was quite some time before the internet was a thing for mere mortals), so I also built randomly sized cabs with randomly purchased speakers, most of them sounding horrible. Sometimes I accounted the not-too-shiny sound to the amps, so the amps were sold - just to find out the replacements would sound as horrible. But as they sounded horrible differently, I still didn't realize it was up to the speakers.
Fortunately, at one point in time, I bought a Boogie Caliber 50 and built a clone of their 2x12 half slanted cabs (those with the open back top and Thiele/Small ported bottoms, originals were more expensive than the amp...) with pretty similar sounding Celestion speakers in them (don't remember exactly, which ones they were but at least they sounded great and close to the Black Shadows in the original I had borrowed for the cloning thing and comparison). Still didn't exactly know how much my then great sound was about the speakers, but at least I could call it a day for some years - and all other cabs I bought ever since (and before aquiring more knowledge) have been lucky numbers.
My most drastic personal eye opener in terms of speaker importance happened quite some years later. I sort of blindly bought one of those red knob "The Twins" because I couldn't resist that offer (price was a joke). Clean sound was ok (sometimes great), anything else sounded completely like @ss. Always thought it was a bad buy, especially because I often heard comments such as "Ouch, the red knob Fender series, only complete tools would buy those!" Then fortunately someone recommended I should just connect my Mesa clone cab instead - and *WOO-f***ing-OOW*, I could hardly believe it. Turned that horribly gnarly, bite-y, speaker beaming, ear torturing mess into what I still think of being at least the second best pedal platform I ever owned. Really, I couldn't believe the difference. Plugged between the internal speakers and my cab like a hundred times, that's how stunned I was.
Finally slapped some decent speakers (an aged V30 and a Peavey Sheffield I had in the Mesa clone for whatever reasons) into that Fender and it was all glorious.
Only took me around 1.5 decades to understand the importance of speakers...
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Speakers are a very big piece of the puzzle. A buddy of mine decided he was going to learn to play guitar. He bought a hybrid Fender Champ and a made in China 335. And then found out playing guitar required work. He moved and left me his amp and guitar. That little amp was amusing and had some ok sounds. But plugged into my 412 V30 cab with a drive pedal it sounded legit.
creative360
Roadie
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- 158
Enjoy your speakers, and try and record more new music, Kemper, amps, direct whatever. I only wish it was a straight trajectory. My skills are better and my gear is better, and I’m writing a ton, but for some reason a series of mixes from five years ago is haunting me because even though they’re more primitive they’re dripping with some kinda intangible that .. is better? Whatever .. keeping everything the same wouldn’t guarantee more of those results …
Which is why, no matter what happens, new badass speakers is a good thing.
Which is why, no matter what happens, new badass speakers is a good thing.
Bob Zaod
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Honesty has gotten me fired a couple times. I refuse to talk in circles or coddle people.
fretworn
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Me too - maybe at least 6-8 times easy
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Hahahah I learned the hard way when and who to keep my mouth shut to at work. Several times. Funny thing about the restaurant business; you can call your manager a f*cking idiot to their face and still have a job after, but if you call out the fact they’re banging one of the servers or another manager and you’re done. 
Bob Zaod
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Every restaurant I ever worked at LOL. One place the bar downstairs (after closing) was practically the set of a porn movie a couple times a week. The manager was knockin boots with a few of the wait staff and he didn't even bother taking them out of the building most times.
TSJMajesty
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Whew, I had some crazy times back when I waited tables!
That's all I can say about that.
That's all I can say about that.
Bob Zaod
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About five for me and yeah.. I've been a dishwasher a busboy a line cook a fry cook and a sous chef at a gourmet restaurant in those 5 years lol oh and a server at Olive garden for 3 months or so.
Bob Zaod
Rock Star
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I guess I wont tell you what I did in a bucket of Minestrone once..
