Modelling Amplification Question

[Slartibartfarst42]

OK, so a while ago I made the move to modelling technology with the Atomic AmpliFire and I have no regrets. For the first time I have NO desire at all to ever get another valve amp but I am in a bit of a quandary about amplification and I need some advice from those who know more about modelling, amps and speakers than me.

I bought the Atomic just before I left the country to move to the Falklands so I had little choice but to use it with my current rig so at the moment the Atomic goes into the F/X return of a BluGuitar AMP1 and then into an Orange 1X12 loaded with a Vintage 30. It sounds really good and I did a few gigs with it before I left so I don't have many complaints at all but now I'm in the Falklands, I spend most of my time playing through headphones and the Atomic sounds equally awesome with a couple of the patches sounding even better. As I didn't set these patches up for an FRFR system, I'm tempted to think that with some patch tweaking I might be able to get them to sound even better so would it be a good move to stop using an amp and cabinet designed for guitars and move to a different setup. The obvious possibility would be to go with a powered PA speaker but I'm not sure if that actually is a good idea or if there are other options I'm not considering or perhaps the whole idea is daft and I'm better off with what I have now. I don't play in a band now I'm in the Falklands but you never know what the future may hold so I'm looking for something (assuming I change my rig at all) that can be used at home and at small gigs. I imagine that if I were to play any gigs again I'd end up using this speaker as my monitor and also route the Atomic through the PA. The only idea I have so far is a Mackie SRM450V3 as years ago I tried a Digitech GNX3000 (shows you how long ago it was) through an earlier version of this speaker and it was the only speaker I tried that impressed me.

Any thoughts, ideas and advice would be gratefully received.

[gwEm]

I used to use a modeller direct into studio monitors for quite some time. In that case it was various different Sansamp things.

The last few years I switched to running everything through guitar cabs. Just because I had them around and wanted to use them.

Honestly I think that the FRFR and the guitar cab route for modellers offer only slight advantages for each case.

I think PA speakers can be lighter than a guitar cab, and you have the advantage you can set different speaker models on your modeller. I also think the FRFR route sounds better when you want to play at low volumes.

Listening through PA speakers gives more the feeling that you are listening to a recording of a guitar than an actual live guitar. I felt the coupling between the guitar and speaker was a lot less in the case of an FRFR speaker which made it harder to get harmonic feedback.

But honestly, I think you can get good sounds either way. I'm not a fan of huge lowend in my tone, so the full response of an FRFR speaker for emulating a 4x12 or whatever doesn't interest me. So I am happy to play my modellers through my 1x12 guitar cabs.

[Slartibartfarst42]

Mmmmm, interesting.

I'm not a fan of a huge low end to my tone either, which is probably why I never end up using models of Dual Rectifiers etc. and why I suppose the Vintage 30 speaker in my Orange 1X12 seems to suit me. The weight of my cabinet really isn't an issue as it's just the speaker cabinet with the power amp coming from my BluGuitar AMP1, which is so small that it's sat permanently on my pedalboard. It is a very compact system and does sound good but the great tones I also get from my headphones made me start to think that a FRFR system might be even better. I was intrigued by the Laney IRT-X but the only clip I could find on You Tube where it's being used with a modeller made the patches sound too bassy and a bit muffled. That might have just been due to the quality of a You Tube recording of course. The Mackie I mentioned seems to get a mixed response so I was also looking at an EV ELX112P.

Perhaps I'm chasing an improvement that won't be there and it will just be 'different' as opposed to 'better', in which case I'll be spending money for nothing other than freeing up space on my pedalboard, which will inevitably lead to me spending even more money! If people turned around and told me 'Yeah, your rig is good but if you switch to this or that FRFR system it will be better' then I'd do it but if the consensus is that any gain will be either marginal or non-existent then I won't bother.

[gwEm]

if you have a hifi system (thats an increasingly rare thing these days) you could try and plug your amplifire into that to get a flavour of what it might sound like.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I had expected most people with experience of modellers to advocate an FRFR system as I was under the impression that this was the way modellers were supposed to work but apparently not. That being the case, I think I'll just save my money, especially as I'm no longer in a band since I moved to the Falklands. I've just bought an audio interface for home recording so I think I might just invest in some better speakers for my laptop instead. One further question does leap to mind that I never even stopped to think about until the other day. My AmpliFire goes into the F/X return of a BluGuitar AMP1, which is 100w and from there to the Orange 1X12 with a Vintage 30 speaker and I've used that setup before at both home and at gigs without any trouble but isn't a 100w amp too much for a single Vintage 30 speaker? I apologise if that's a dumb question but I have no idea about electronics.

Out of interest, even though I'm going into a proper guitar cabinet, I still always select the matched cabinets on the Atomic because it gives such a huge tone that is so much more 3-dimensional than when the cabinet sims are turned off. In comparison, the Orange 1X12 by itself sounds quite weedy. At first I thought this was just me but I've found quite a few Atomic users who seem to do the same thing.

[richard]

Slarti, not what you're talking about but take a look at this. I just got one and it's amazing AND it's 169 squid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYfTgI6YZ-A