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Fractal FX II Combo

L

lwknives

May 6, 2012
332
2
#1
So, Im considering selling my guitar and bass amps and my pedal board and getting a Fractal FX II, a good quality floor monitor and doing some woodwork to create a Fractal Combo amp. The plan would be to create a rack mount tab on the floor monitor.
This system would give me a speaker aimed right at my head pointing away from the crowd and a line level signal to send FOH. It would cut down on setup time because I would only have to connect the midi control and my guitar vs my half fx loop half front of amp pedal board. It would also give me pretty much any tone I could ever want.
It would also mean I would only have to take care of one amp for acoustic guitar, electric guitar and bass. I think if I sell my guitar amp and pedal board I can use that to pay for the Fractal preamp and then I can sell my bass amp to pay for the floor monitor which I will then modify. This only leaves the need to purchase the midi controller which would be about the cost of a good acoustic amp (which I dont have).
I really think that this is the best solution to my amplification needs!

So my question is, what kind of powered floor monitors have a wide flat frequency response that will reproduce good bass tones?

Also, what do y'all think of this concept? Am I crazy?
 
#2
While I have heard good powered floor monitors, I don't know of one that will reproduce lows to the level that I would like in this application. Since you have abandoned the requirement that the speaker provide any FOH duty, or even stage volume for the band, why not go all the way and use in-ears?
 
#3
I think your nuts, but I think that is part of the appeal. I expect at least a couple fEARless responses, any time the words "flat response" are mentioned a beacon goes off and the fEAR team rolls out. There is a fEARless model that basically looks like a floor monitor but I would think you would have one odd box that might be pretty top (side, since it is on the floor) heavy once you mount a rack to it and stuff it with gear. Or is your plan to mount the rack on the top of the monitor so it would be on the end when the unit is on the floor.

Also, you must have one helluva guitar and pedal board collection to sell used for the cost of an Axe FX, those things are like $3500 with foot switch.
 
#4
Codger said:
While I have heard good powered floor monitors, I don't know of one that will reproduce lows to the level that I would like in this application. Since you have abandoned the requirement that the speaker provide any FOH duty, or even stage volume for the band, why not go all the way and use in-ears?
Click to expand...

In ear monitors will not allow me to hear the rest of the band. The bands I play in dont have PAs that will allow me to run my own IEM mix.
I am hoping some of the no-amp guys will come in with good floor monitor suggestions.
 
#5
lwknives said:
So my question is, what kind of powered floor monitors have a wide flat frequency response that will reproduce good bass tones?

Also, what do y'all think of this concept? Am I crazy?
Click to expand...

None. You need them crossed over to a sub for that.

That said a fEARless F112 would meet your needs perfectly. But its a full range bass cab. Just need to get a power amp to go between your FX unit and the cab.
 
#6
DiabolusInMusic said:
I think your nuts, but I think that is part of the appeal. I expect at least a couple fEARless responses, any time the words "flat response" are mentioned a beacon goes off and the fEAR team rolls out. There is a fEARless model that basically looks like a floor monitor but I would think you would have one odd box that might be pretty top (side, since it is on the floor) heavy once you mount a rack to it and stuff it with gear. Or is your plan to mount the rack on the top of the monitor so it would be on the end when the unit is on the floor.

I havent checked out fEARless, do they make PA quality sound reproduction?

Also, you must have one helluva guitar and pedal board collection to sell used for the cost of an Axe FX, those things are like $3500 with foot switch.
Click to expand...

I was thinking selling my amp would pay for the preamp only, not including the midi controller. I have seen the FX IIs going for $2400 and my amp was worth that new and I have about $1000 dollars in my board (buying everything used). So if I sell my amp for $1000 less than new cost and sell my board for what I payed for it I should be able to get at least close to the cost of the preamp.

As far as being crazy? That isnt the idea, I am just wanting to have a rig that is easy to carry in my car, will give me all the FX I want and will cover all the applications I need it to.
 
#7
lwknives said:
I was thinking selling my amp would pay for the preamp only, not including the midi controller. I have seen the FX IIs going for $2400 and my amp was worth that new and I have about $1000 dollars in my board (buying everything used). So if I sell my amp for $1000 less than new cost and sell my board for what I payed for it I should be able to get at least close to the cost of the preamp.

As far as being crazy? That isnt the idea, I am just wanting to have a rig that is easy to carry in my car, will give me all the FX I want and will cover all the applications I need it to.
Click to expand...

bawhahaha lol. I wish you the very best luck with your sale. I would wait until you have sold off your old rig before you start spending money on something new. Gives you a realistic budget.

Per greenboy fEARless products. Yeah they are pretty fantastic.
 
#8
CL400Peavey said:
None. You need them crossed over to a sub for that.

That said a fEARless F112 would meet your needs perfectly. But its a full range bass cab. Just need to get a power amp to go between your FX unit and the cab.
Click to expand...

I could also fit an amp into it if necessary, would the fEARless F112 be high enough quality to do vocals? In order for the Fractal FX II to work to its full potential it needs to go into a full range system. I will be using it for guitar as much as bass.
 
#10
CL400Peavey said:
bawhahaha lol. I wish you the very best luck with your sale. I would wait until you have sold off your old rig before you start spending money on something new. Gives you a realistic budget.

Per greenboy fEARless products. Yeah they are pretty fantastic.
Click to expand...

I am going off of what my gear is selling for on Ebay so I should be pretty well in the ball park.

I will be able to afford the new system without selling my old gear, it would just be a better financial decision. I think that having one high quality solution to all my amplification will be cheaper and easier than having a $2000 guitar tube amp a $2500 Bass tube amp and cab and two $1000 pedal boards.
 
#11
lwknives said:
I am going off of what my gear is selling for on Ebay so I should be pretty well in the ball park.

I will be able to afford the new system without selling my old gear, it would just be a better financial decision. I think that having one high quality solution to all my amplification will be cheaper and easier than having a $2000 guitar tube amp a $2500 Bass tube amp and cab and two $1000 pedal boards.
Click to expand...

In the bass world, the cab matters more than the amp. You can play a $10,000 dollar amp through a $30 budget cab and it will sound like @ss. You can play a $30 used amp through a high end cab and it will sound like a million bucks.

IMHO for the price/size/performance you can not do better than the F112 in terms of bass cabs. It is also amazingly full range that you can run guitar or anything else thorugh it.

If you are set on the FX (minimal use on bass with those IMHO) then you should look at a power amp. Something like the Crest ProLite 2.0 would be what I would pair with a F112. Bridge that sucker.
 
#12
Our band uses the Invalid Link Removed on subs for FOH. Surprisingly, it is spec'd at 45Hz-20kHz @-3dB (never tried it full range). [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] shows some curves. Composite, 37lb. Amps are switchers, 150W highs, 450W lows.

A test or good return policy would be in order I think.
 
#15
CL400Peavey said:
In the bass world, the cab matters more than the amp. You can play a $10,000 dollar amp through a $30 budget cab and it will sound like @ss. You can play a $30 used amp through a high end cab and it will sound like a million bucks.

IMHO for the price/size/performance you can not do better than the F112 in terms of bass cabs. It is also amazingly full range that you can run guitar or anything else thorugh it.

If you are set on the FX (minimal use on bass with those IMHO) then you should look at a power amp. Something like the Crest ProLite 2.0 would be what I would pair with a F112. Bridge that sucker.
Click to expand...

Im not really set on the FX but it seems to be the best thing out there for what I need. It has an SVT preset already which is the bass amp I want and with the tone matching feature and the depth of modification the system has I could create my own presets for bass. Im mostly going with the FX because of the quality of the guitar amp simulation though. I just want to make sure that the monitoring system I use can handle bass as well.

Does anybody make micro PA amps? I dont think I need more than 500W and would really like to keep size to a minimum to make transportation easier. That is the reason I wanted to go with a powered monitor.
 
#16
lwknives said:
Does anybody make micro PA amps? I dont think I need more than 500W and would really like to keep size to a minimum to make transportation easier. That is the reason I wanted to go with a powered monitor.
Click to expand...

There are a few smaller power amps out there, but IMHO they are an expensive gimmick. I would just pick up a micro like the Ampeg PF-800 and run through the power amp in on it.
 
#17
Codger said:
Our band uses the Invalid Link Removed on subs for FOH. Surprisingly, it is spec'd at 45Hz-20kHz @-3dB (never tried it full range). [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] shows some curves. Composite, 37lb. Amps are switchers, 150W highs, 450W lows.

A test or good return policy would be in order I think.
Click to expand...

I like the specs on that one but its composite construction would make it difficult for me to mod it into a combo and keep it neat and small.
 

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