Recently I’ve been using the QC direct to FOH as well as running a second path to a Seymour Duncan PowerStage into a cab on stage. I’ve struggled to get the cab on stage to sound right. There is a low end resonance and some low mids that always get lost.
Today my bud Andrew (you may know him as @VaiSatchAtrucci ) popped over to help me dial it in. We tried a few different EQs and it still wasn’t right. As a last ditch effort he thought outside of the box and added one of the CA PA-Sim290 power amps to the path that goes to the PowerStage. I know that in theory there are now 3 power amps in the chain (1 in my capture, the 290, and the PS) but it friggin worked. We A/B tested it against the actual head and a matching cab and it was 90% there. I would’ve never thought it so many thanks to Andrew.
Just throwing it out there as it’s worth a shot to anyone struggling with this situation. We did have to cycle thru the different versions of the power amps to find the right one but it’s a great hack.
This is a cool trick. I’ll try it. I have a similar setup live, and even got the Power Stage 700 (powering a 412 and 212) to try and make up for the low end headroom that gets lost with the lower wattage solid state stuff.
I’m running into a Mathers ported 2x12 with Vintage 30s. Let me also say it didn’t sound bad before. It was just missing some low end punch and low mids.
This makes sense. The Power Stage is pretty clean, and I always find myself boosting the low end EQ on the power amp itself. I have friends who swear by sending the QC through a tube power amp, and their live sound is amazing. I realize there power amp modeling on the amp models, but something does always feel a little strange with the solid state stuff
This makes a huge difference in low end projection. I’m happy you found a solution. But I would also encourage you to try your rig with a closed-back cab.
I tried using my Fryette Power Station and I didn’t care for it. Both solid and tube sounded “off”. Not bad but not right. I’m happy with the solution I found. So many ways to find a solution using this gear and there are so many tips and tricks.
We were trying to get my on stage 212 cab to sound closer to the sound that my real tube amp puts out. The QC without this hack seemed flat and lacked resonance/punch.
My buddy @VaiSatchAtrucci is a wizard at this stuff. He came over and we tried multiple EQ adjustments and it never got close. In the middle of it he said “I’ve seen this done before” and dropped the power amp before the out to my cab. It was instantly way closer to what I was looking for. We had to cycle thru the options and settled on the one we thought felt the best.
A little experience and luck combined I guess. In essence it’s just an EQ curve in that position and that’s probably why it worked. In a million years I would never had tried it because I think in tube amp terms. In the digital world anything is possible I guess.
It may not work for everyone but for me it fixed my issues with a live cab.
Interesting! I just tried it, went through all the 290s and settled on version #15. Had to trim the output by 2db and the treble about 2.5db. I’m not sure if it’s a placebo “effect” (pardon the pun) but it does seem to add a little something to the 2 presets I tried it on. Could be that it would sound to shrill and/or woofy at stage volume but I’m going to play with it. Thanks for introducing another rabbit hole, Rizzo.
