Metropoulos Forum

All, I have a very positive report using these two pieces of gear to quiet down a variety of my tube amps. I am not handy enough with a microphone and a DAW to give sound samples, but this is a great combination. I plugged guitar straight into amp into a 4 x 12 with 25watt greenbacks. Got a good feel for the tone, responsiveness, all that. Then, all I changed was to take the speaker cable out to the input of the Suhr reactive load and used it as a dummy load, then directly into the Matrix, and then ran it back through the same 4 x 12 cabinet. I had to bump up the volume a little bit, and add just a touch of EQ here and there, but it was extremely close. It was maybe a tad bit brighter through the Suhr and Matrix. I tried this combo based upon the rave reviews and my own experience with the Matrix amps. Very neutral and quiet. I took Pete Thorn's advice that the Suhr reactive load spec'd out closest to the response of an actual 4 x 12 cabinet (that man has really cost me a lot of money). Anyway, I hope some of the members here try this combination and report back. For years, I did the hotplate into a Peavey Classic. I was never happy with the results, the tone was off and I always felt I was losing some real pop on the low "E" string. That has been my ongoing complaint with all modelers and attenuators (although I haven't tried them all). But the Suhr / Matrix combination was really marvelous. It was the tone of my amp directly into a 4 x 12, excepting that I now have excellent control over the volume and can get a nice cranked tube amp sound at less than club level volumes.

Please give it a try and let me know what you think. I have no affiliation with any company, I was just pleased with the result and thought you guys might want to give it a try.

What about amplifying a good 'low bedroom volume amp tone setting' through the suhr + matrix. does it retain the tone and amplify it to loud volumes?

That is a pretty interesting question. If I am understanding you, I would think the best avenue would be to use the thru output on the Suhr and then use the line level out to feed the Matrix. The Matrix has a single bridged output which should provide plenty of amplification to a single cabinet. I did find that using the internal load on the Suhr lowered the volume on my line out signal -- which allows you to turn up the master volume on your tube amp if that is what you are wanting. But if you are not interested in using the internal load, I would recommend instead the Suhr Iso line out or the David Bray LO-1 line out box. I have both and I think they are very good.