Anyone rocking a Fryette Power Station?

Nerine

I'm becoming increasingly lazy and hauling about heavy cabs and combos and stuff is becoming a bind.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Sloth or anything, but you know how it is...

Anyway. Exploring the possibilities of a lighter lower wattage head such as an Atma or Pink Taco, to pair up with a nice 1x12 cab.

Issue being the two aforementioned amps will very likely have too little headroom for me. So to keep things light and simple ish, I was thinking about adding a Power Station into the mix to bolster the oomph of a smaller amp.

Anyone used one much?

Seems like a good version of the Bad Cat Unleash?

It also means the potential rig would be pretty portable and light, yet loud enough too. Yes, there's more elements, but you could do the head and cab in one trip. One in each hand due to the reduced weight.

Seems the way forward IMO.

My Diezel Einstein, as much as I like the way it sounds, as it does sound bloody good, is a fairly hefty beast in combo form, and I have to carry it 20-30 meters negotiating gates and doors etc when rehearsing. It's a PITA.

SunDevil

They are great for attenuation - hands down better than any of the actual attenuators I've tried sound-wise

My only real criticisms would be that

1)they are pretty loud / vicious on the volume knob at home levels (not an issue for you)
2) the speaker cable jacks on the back are not the most robust and I could see them failing with prolonged use.
3) The PCB that the valves sit on is mounted vertically with the valves horizontal and the board is only held in place via two small screws at one end into the chassis - that might not survive the proverbial fall down the stairs

Aidanspaghetti

@SunDevil , were any of these issues addressed with V2 of the Fryette PS? Is that the model you've used? I'm interested myself in a PS...

Cheers!

johnonguitar

Aidanspaghetti;1061544" said:

@SunDevil , were any of these issues addressed with V2 of the Fryette PS? Is that the model you've used? I'm interested myself in a PS...Cheers!

V2 isn't out yet is it?

SunDevil

I've got the V1
The pics of the v2 show the same jacks, but can't speak for the guts
For my purposes, I've put an ECC82 in the noval slot, to take down the gain a bit - looks like the v2 has a hi/low sensitivity

drwiddly

I've had one for about 6 months and tbh it's been a bumpy ride so far. I bought the PS to mainly use as a lightweight, valve power amp for my Axe 2. I have a Matrix GT1000FX and it's very good but a little sterile. I also have a Mesa 2:90 which sounds amazing but it's soooo heavy! I thought the PS would be a good middle ground giving me that valve punch but less weight than the Mesa.

At the first rehearsal, I was really impressed with the sound. Plenty of power but lots of clarity too. At the first gig however, I was a bit disappointed as the rig didn't sing the way it usually does with the Mesa and seemed a bit bland and sterile. Shortly after the gig, I was using the rig at home and it started making a loud crackling sound. After a bit of testing, lead checking, etc. I narrowed it down to the PS. It seemed that about 5 minutes after switch on, the crackling noise would start. I contacted Guitar Guitar who asked me to make a video of the problem which I did. They asked me to send the PS back but after a week or so I received an email saying they couldn't reproduce the fault and attaching their own video. They sent the PS back me and when I plugged it in and waited 5 minutes, I was greeted with the crackling!!

Clearly the warranty wasn't going to help me so I took the top off, removed the valves, cleaned the contacts and re-seated them. The crackling stopped! Seems I may have solved the problem but I have no idea why the PS didn't crackle when GG had it.

So, I still have the PS, I think it's a really useful bit of kit it doesn't compete with my Mesa tonally but it it a helluva lot lighter. It hasn't started crackling again but I'm not trusting it at a gig yet. Apologies for the lengthy post but thought my story might be of interest.

Blacksheep

I agree wth @SunDevil. Attenuation is great but the PS itself is not exactly robust. If you plan to gig one I'd mount it in a 2u rack case for protection.

timmysoft

The problem being, you get a small head, a power station and a 112 cab, then you've ended up carrying more gear than with a single combo, more trips back to the car and the volume thing is still a compromise.

Adamski

I've made enquiries and will be getting V2 when it's out in June. I need it to do 3 things -

1. Attenuate down my Bogner Shiva for home use and gigs.

2. Attenuate up my Pink Taco for gigs and down (although it's fine anyway) for home use.

3. Power the Helix.

The thing about it is that it does so much. I am happy to accept some compromise.

When I get the Helix I'm hoping to gig it with the PS and a lightweight 1x12. I'm wondering whether getting the Helix in rack form would be more beneficial as I can take it and the PS in as 'one unit'. Of course I'd then have to separately buy the foot controller and that doesn't come with an expression pedal........

Why can't companies just make things perfectly for our needs? Lol

johnonguitar

drwiddly;1061784" said:

I've had one for about 6 months and tbh it's been a bumpy ride so far. I bought the PS to mainly use as a lightweight, valve power amp for my Axe 2. I have a Matrix GT1000FX and it's very good but a little sterile. I also have a Mesa 2:90 which sounds amazing but it's soooo heavy! I thought the PS would be a good middle ground giving me that valve punch but less weight than the Mesa.

At the first rehearsal, I was really impressed with the sound. Plenty of power but lots of clarity too. At the first gig however, I was a bit disappointed as the rig didn't sing the way it usually does with the Mesa and seemed a bit bland and sterile. Shortly after the gig, I was using the rig at home and it started making a loud crackling sound. After a bit of testing, lead checking, etc. I narrowed it down to the PS. It seemed that about 5 minutes after switch on, the crackling noise would start. I contacted Guitar Guitar who asked me to make a video of the problem which I did. They asked me to send the PS back but after a week or so I received an email saying they couldn't reproduce the fault and attaching their own video. They sent the PS back me and when I plugged it in and waited 5 minutes, I was greeted with the crackling!!

Clearly the warranty wasn't going to help me so I took the top off, removed the valves, cleaned the contacts and re-seated them. The crackling stopped! Seems I may have solved the problem but I have no idea why the PS didn't crackle when GG had it.

So, I still have the PS, I think it's a really useful bit of kit it doesn't compete with my Mesa tonally but it it a helluva lot lighter. It hasn't started crackling again but I'm not trusting it at a gig yet. Apologies for the lengthy post but thought my story might be of interest.

Are you using full amp models through the PS?

Or just preamp?

Is it even possible to do that?

Nerine

To those that are using it to boost the power of a lower wattage amp, do you find that it does that job amply?

drwiddly

johnonguitar said:

drwiddly;1061784" said:

I've had one for about 6 months and tbh it's been a bumpy ride so far. I bought the PS to mainly use as a lightweight, valve power amp for my Axe 2. I have a Matrix GT1000FX and it's very good but a little sterile. I also have a Mesa 2:90 which sounds amazing but it's soooo heavy! I thought the PS would be a good middle ground giving me that valve punch but less weight than the Mesa.

At the first rehearsal, I was really impressed with the sound. Plenty of power but lots of clarity too. At the first gig however, I was a bit disappointed as the rig didn't sing the way it usually does with the Mesa and seemed a bit bland and sterile. Shortly after the gig, I was using the rig at home and it started making a loud crackling sound. After a bit of testing, lead checking, etc. I narrowed it down to the PS. It seemed that about 5 minutes after switch on, the crackling noise would start. I contacted Guitar Guitar who asked me to make a video of the problem which I did. They asked me to send the PS back but after a week or so I received an email saying they couldn't reproduce the fault and attaching their own video. They sent the PS back me and when I plugged it in and waited 5 minutes, I was greeted with the crackling!!

Clearly the warranty wasn't going to help me so I took the top off, removed the valves, cleaned the contacts and re-seated them. The crackling stopped! Seems I may have solved the problem but I have no idea why the PS didn't crackle when GG had it.

So, I still have the PS, I think it's a really useful bit of kit it doesn't compete with my Mesa tonally but it it a helluva lot lighter. It hasn't started crackling again but I'm not trusting it at a gig yet. Apologies for the lengthy post but thought my story might be of interest.

Are you using full amp models through the PS?

Or just preamp?

Is it even possible to do that?

I'm using it as a power amp so using full amp and fx modelling through it into a cab but I have tried it as an attenuator for a normal amp head as well and it works very well. Not sure what you mean by just preamp?

Adamski

drwiddly said:

johnonguitar said:

drwiddly;1061784" said:

I've had one for about 6 months and tbh it's been a bumpy ride so far. I bought the PS to mainly use as a lightweight, valve power amp for my Axe 2. I have a Matrix GT1000FX and it's very good but a little sterile. I also have a Mesa 2:90 which sounds amazing but it's soooo heavy! I thought the PS would be a good middle ground giving me that valve punch but less weight than the Mesa.

At the first rehearsal, I was really impressed with the sound. Plenty of power but lots of clarity too. At the first gig however, I was a bit disappointed as the rig didn't sing the way it usually does with the Mesa and seemed a bit bland and sterile. Shortly after the gig, I was using the rig at home and it started making a loud crackling sound. After a bit of testing, lead checking, etc. I narrowed it down to the PS. It seemed that about 5 minutes after switch on, the crackling noise would start. I contacted Guitar Guitar who asked me to make a video of the problem which I did. They asked me to send the PS back but after a week or so I received an email saying they couldn't reproduce the fault and attaching their own video. They sent the PS back me and when I plugged it in and waited 5 minutes, I was greeted with the crackling!!

Clearly the warranty wasn't going to help me so I took the top off, removed the valves, cleaned the contacts and re-seated them. The crackling stopped! Seems I may have solved the problem but I have no idea why the PS didn't crackle when GG had it.

So, I still have the PS, I think it's a really useful bit of kit it doesn't compete with my Mesa tonally but it it a helluva lot lighter. It hasn't started crackling again but I'm not trusting it at a gig yet. Apologies for the lengthy post but thought my story might be of interest.

Are you using full amp models through the PS?

Or just preamp?

Is it even possible to do that?

I'm using it as a power amp so using full amp and fx modelling through it into a cab but I have tried it as an attenuator for a normal amp head as well and it works very well. Not sure what you mean by just preamp

he means are you using cabinet models/impulses or just the modelled pre-amp section. Normally if you are using an actual cabinet, you won't need or want the full amp/matching cab model. 

drwiddly

Ah, I see! No, I'm using it to drive guitar cabs so cabinet emulation is off. I prefer the sound of guitar cabs as my on stage monitors but I'm happy to use an emulated feed to the PA. I've not tried the Power Station into FRFR cabs.

paulmapp8306

SunDevil said:

I've got the V1
The pics of the v2 show the same jacks, but can't speak for the guts
For my purposes, I've put an ECC82 in the noval slot, to take down the gain a bit - looks like the v2 has a hi/low sensitivity

I believe the V2 adds a switch-able high pass filter.  One US user wanted more high end than the V1 offered.

I use my PS with an AFX as well - Ive had no issues at all at present, and my Matrix has gone (I would have kept it as a backup, but  I really needed the funds back).  

There are 3 aspects of modelling - not 2.  First is the pre-amp modelling (like a rack pre would be).  The second is the Power Amp  modelling - the AFX allows you can disable the power amp side in the AFX, which some users do with a valve power amp like the Mesa mentioned above.  With flat response amps  - so most Solid State amps (like the matrix) BUT also the Power Station (as the power side is flat like a valve hi fi amp  NOT like a traditional guitar valve amp - or the re-amping wouldnt be true to the reference amp), you leave the power amp sims on.  Thirdly is the cab sims.  These should be OFF if you plug into a real guitar cab, and ON if its going to an FRFR cab/monitor, desk or recording interface.

So - using the AFX with the PS, Im powering a real cab.  So no cab sims, but both pre and power amp sims are on.

The PS should drive FRFR cabs fine - as long as their passive cabs obviously, because as I say - its a flat response power section.  This is also why the PS/AFX combo didnt sing for drwiddly as much as his mesa amp.   It rea cts more like the Matrix (though with a little more dynamics I found - almost certainly due to the interaction between output transformer and cab that is missing using the Matrix).   You need to tune you AFX patches to provide the "sing" with the PS provides the amp/cab interaction and volume. 

drwiddly

paulmapp8306 said:

You need to tune you AFX patches to provide the "sing" with the PS provides the amp/cab interaction and volume. 

I thought about doing that after the gig with the Power Station but then it started playing up so I never got round to it. You're right about the power amp modelling in the AF2 Paul but, I've tried the AF2 through all my power amps and a couple of (valve) amp heads and in every case I preferred the power amp sims switched on.

Cabicular

Were you going in The line input or thre fx return?

drwiddly

On the PS I tried both and it didn't seem to make a massive amount of difference to me. I think I had a (very) slight preference for the return input IIRC.

clarkefan

Great box. I currently only use it at home but I can crank my Marshall 50w at low volume, it sounds better than any OD/distortion I've ever previously used

Not sure about the comments about gig reliability obviously, but lots of guys buy a camera case to protect it in transport, and after that it just sits on your amp like an outboard reverb unit. It looks and feels pretty sturdy to me?

Support at Fryette addressed the jacks in a post on TGP, he said they were specifically chosen to allow some minor movement so they wouldn't get damaged, they're not actually loose or poor quality, they're designed for some movement.

V2 will apparently address a personal pain; I use my V1 cranking an effin loud amp at bedroom volumes and the volume pot on the PS is touchy as all hell like that. Not a problem at gig levels though

Looking forward to my finances improving at some point where I can finally afford a small Fender amp and can enjoy it's many tones at whatever volume I like, bedroom or gig

Cabicular

Cabicular

My current live rig

It sounds tremendous

I run that with a 1x12 either side of the stage and XLRs Straight out from the Helix to FOH

The Signal is split in the Helix so that the 1/4 outputs have no cab modelling and the XLRs have 2 cabs

The Volume knob is set to control the 1/4 only so I can nudge the whole backline up without affecting out front

I can't emphasise just how big a sound this is for a fairly light and portable rig

The Atomic Amps Amplifire is my backup rig