Powercab or laney vs yamahah dxr 10

I have a DXR 10 and helix floor.   It's been about 6-7 years since I've gigged.  And I'm trying to get a sound I like

Any views on whether a powercab/laney/Fender  would give a "better" more amp-y sound?  should I sell the DXR 10 and buy something else - or have I just got GAS

Also - when using the powercab/laney/fender etc -  which I think have cab moddeling (is this correct) do you drop the cab sims within the helix and just take the amp sim into the cab (like a legit old fashioned rig).  The alternative is a clean power amp and buy myself a marshall 2 x 12 cab I guess.....

discuss - or tell me to stop....and just play 

thank you

I really like the Laney LFR 112 I own. I've been running it as the FRFR output for a Tonex. Sounds great and a bit better (to me) than running the Tonex into a mixer and my inexpensive near-field monitors (Behringer Truth). The Laney may not be as transaparent as a proper monitor, but electric and acoustc guitars sound good coming through it. I've never taken it out of the house, but it seems pretty loud to me.

I don't like IRs, but I've just realised that there probably is a 4x12 IR and a 1x12 IR inside the Laney. The manual is a bit unclear about what the switch selecting them actually activates and I've never tried it, but I probably will in the next few days - using a RevivalDrive as the AIAB. Just because I'm curious. 

The Fender FRs don`t have cab sim in, so you use the cab sim in the modeller. Not sure on the Laney, and I think on the powercab you have the choice? 

bloodandtears said:

The Laney does have a switch whereby you can choose FRFR or emulate a 1x12 / 4x12... I use mine in FRFR given the HELIX has already applied a cab model in my presets. I have done over 150 gigs and have no issues... 

I will be trying the lighter Fender FR-10 soon though..  in an attempt to lighten my load, and I am attracted to the control panel options...

I'm not an owner but having heard and tried a few over the years and in the studio, the Fender FRFR10 is really good.

I understand that the Laney's are good and if you want it to handle bass, too, they're a good option, but they're heavy-ish in comparison to others.

I've been in the digital camp for a while and currently using either an HX Stomp or Fractal FM9. I've tried a variety of FRFR solutions over the years and the DXR10 was my preferred option (still have it) ....until I tried a Fender FR-10.
I think it's a great solution and it's what I use now. You need to use the IR's in your modeller as it is FRFR.
I've not tried the Laney, which many seem to like, but the weight put me off. The Fender has a couple of features which I find useful -
1) a pass through XLR which is unaffected by anything you do with the onboard tone or volume controls and
2) tone controls which allow for handy adjustments without messing with your patches.

I've given up on IRs when playing through speakers and have reverted to power amp and guitar speakers. They just seem to feel better. Absolutely love IRs when playing through IEMs though.

normula1 said:

I've given up on IRs when playing through speakers and have reverted to power amp and guitar speakers. They just seem to feel better. Absolutely love IRs when playing through IEMs though.

I’m the same, I use a small bass head (Warwick gnome) which is basically the same as the Seymour Duncan power stage but cheaper. It is flat when the eq is at all 12:00. Then I put that through a Marshall 2x12 and have zero complaints. 

I always find the power amp > real cab method sounds harsh and I don’t like it. I’ve tried a few power amps and didn’t like any of them. Latest thing I tried was using 4CM with my valve amp and using a two notes captor to get a feed for IEMs and FoH…but that just didn’t sound great. For me, the best sounds with a modelller are FRFR. I’m looking to pick up the Laney if I can find one. I have a Headrush 108 but my modeller sounds much better into our PA, which is an older style wooden cab type thing. I’m hoping the Laney will sound similar to that. 

Decided in the end to try the fender.   It gets good reviews despite the logic in my head about the Powercab and using the Powercab modelling (without any microphones).   Coming tomorrow so we shall see.  The. I will sell the Yamaha if it works out :)

nickp said:

Decided in the end to try the fender.   It gets good reviews despite the logic in my head about the Powercab and using the Powercab modelling (without any microphones).   Coming tomorrow so we shall see.  The. I will sell the Yamaha if it works out :)

FR-10?

Laney is the best FRFR I’ve used, tried everything apart from the Fender options.