I'm not watching those videos because it is really simple
If you are going into a emulated amp directly into a poweramp into a speaker cab and want it to sound like an amp head plugged into that speaker... use that cab and an amp with NO speaker IR. If you are using Speaker IR in your emulation, go into an "FRFR" speaker if you want it to sound like intended the emulated cab. That is equivalent to you RECORDING the emulated speaker IR and playing it back, but live. That is pretty much it. Also, in the 25+ years of working in Live Sound, Recording, and Broadcast I have never heard anyone use the term "FRFR" until today and it is pretty silly to me. People are really over thinking this shit. There is an argument on Youtube and elsewhere about "Proper Gain staging for Plugin guitar rigs and it's absurd how bunched up people are getting about it.

Full range flat response. Yes, it's essentially a PA speaker, but aestheticly a guitar amp. With a DI out to send to the house, though you can do that in other ways. The cost? Roughly the same, unless you want some extra options for whatever reason. Most FRFR cabs seem very compact and lightweight, fitting into the whole idea of not having heavy gear. So, it's not entirely outrageous.

In those videos, the guy suggests using PA speakers. The content is largely around EQing a modeler for an FRFR or PA speaker. Lots of people in the modeling communities suggest PA speakers, specifically the QSC K10s or K12s.

Just seems like marketing BS to still have something to sell. Just get a used Eon on CL for $150.

That speaker ever once going to sit in a club/room that was actually designed with utterly pristine sound quality in mind?

Kniferide wrote: Thu Mar 27, 2025 6:30 pmAlso, in the 25+ years of working in Live Sound, Recording, and Broadcast I have never heard anyone use the term "FRFR" until today and it is pretty silly to me. People are really over thinking this shit.

Yeah, it seems like this world kinda propped up overnight and passed me by in the years I've been less active. But then the guy from the video referenced his Church Gig and ah, that tracks.

(churches can afford to have modern PA systems but not have to pay taxes? COOL.)

penningtron wrote: Fri Mar 28, 2025 6:55 am

Kniferide wrote: Thu Mar 27, 2025 6:30 pmAlso, in the 25+ years of working in Live Sound, Recording, and Broadcast I have never heard anyone use the term "FRFR" until today and it is pretty silly to me. People are really over thinking this shit.

Yeah, it seems like this world kinda propped up overnight and passed me by in the years I've been less active. But then the guy from the video referenced his Church Gig and ah, that tracks.

(churches can afford to have modern PA systems but not have to pay taxes? COOL.)

I think modelers have been most popular with church musicians and metal guitarists.

Not knowing what FRFR is isn't a flex anywhere but Boomerville. For REAL for real


That said, unless you are Eric Clapton (he uses Kemper profiling amps, isn't that funny?) fuck buying a thousand dollar Fender FRFR because there are so many affordable portable powered PA speaker options that you can still use for vocals once you decide to go back to using a real amp again. And yes it does seem to make more sense to just use a real amp and turn the amp/cab modeling off, but people wanna have a Fender for cleans and a Bogner for leads, and the cheapest way to do that is with a modeler.

Well, this spurred a really interesting technical topic, really. Learn to EQ your modeler for a PA, if you go direct or use an FRFR/PA speaker. Very relevant to the original question.

Personally, I use a class D power amp into a 2x12. Works great for my taste. Whatever your tastes are and whatever works for you is good enough, IMO. Quality is subjective here.

ChudFusk wrote: Fri Mar 28, 2025 9:33 pm Not knowing what FRFR is isn't a flex anywhere but Boomerville. For REAL for real

I'm not trying to flex, just pointing out how dumb of a marketing term it is and that it means pretty much nothing interesting. It's basically a way to sell a powered PA speaker to guitar players that want their PA speakers to look like the types of amps Boomers used. I get it though, they gotta sell something to people.

Honestly, this a very silly argument to be a curmudgeon with. We all care about aesthetics. We just have different ideas of what that means. Not everyone wants a PA speaker standing behind them. People who have modelers want to use speakers live, often times just for their own monitoring. This is just another option. I will say, the newer entries into the market are offering some new features that are starting to set them apart from just PA speakers.