Helix LT with QSC CP8 problems?!?

[mchome25]

I made the jump into the HELIX LT and absolutely love it.  I went with the FRFR speaker QSC CP8 because it was recommended, it was there at guitar center when I purchased the Helix and QSC is a well known brand.  Problem is I think the QSC CP8 has a "sound" to it...too bassy and muffled if that makes sense (it's hard describing what you hear sometimes) and yes, it's set to the flat setting.  Has anyone else had this experience (the bassy, muddy, tone?) with these or is it just me or something I'm doing?

 

I know the net is full of recommendation for speakers but the net also highly praises these QSC CP8s!  I'm looking at the EV ZXa1s?  DBRs?

[DunedinDragon]

I've had great performance with my CP8 and it's very comparable to what I get from my Yamaha DXR12.  I have mine set to flat but that's because I keep it on a half height pole placed behind me.  If you have it placed on the floor as a monitor you should use the monitor DSP voicing selection to eliminate the bass coupling you would naturally get with the speaker on the floor.

That could explain the "bassy" tone, but the muffled tone is one of two things, you either have too much in the way of EQ cuts in you preset, or there's something wrong with your CP8.  I'm more prone to thinking you've done too much in the way of EQ cuts in your presets.  If you're new to this type of configuration that's an easy thing to do because you're trying to get your sound to emulate what you hear from a traditional guitar cabinet.  But traditional guitar cabinets will sound different depending on where you're standing relative to it, which is not the case with the CP8.  The CP8 will have much more articulation and clarity that will be consistent regardless of where you're standing relative to the speaker just as it would were it being used on a PA system.  By doing drastic EQ cuts to sound like a normal guitar cabinet which you would normally hear from off-axis from the center of a guitar speaker you've basically eliminated all of that natural clarity of tone from getting to the CP8.

[mchome25]

Thanks for the great reply and yes I'm using it as a floor monitor so maybe the DSP settings to eliminate some of the bass is the way to go. I didn't try that originally because I was worried about affecting the tone even worse by selecting something other than the flat. 

 

It seemed to me when reading about the DSPs that most increased the bass response.  I know there are only a few DSPs so I can just experiment but is there one or two you'd recommend to eliminate that bass coupling?

[DunedinDragon]

The Floor Monitor selection is specifically designed to address bass coupling and would be the logical choice.  I'm not sure any of the others are going to do much for you other than possibly exacerbate the problem.  As I said before I use the default setting but that's because I have mine mounted on a half-height pole behind me in the backline so it's very accurate.  The other thing you sacrifice when using it as a floor monitor is you don't have a very wide sound field.  All of these speakers are designed to have a very wide sound field and a limited vertical sound field when setup vertically like on a pole.  When setup horizontally the sound field is just the opposite with a limited width and a lot of height.  The problem you can end up with is the rest of the band may not get the benefit from the monitor that you're getting as compared to when it's mounted on a pole in the backline.  Also if you're playing a smaller venue without PA support for the instruments, the CP8 will have similar projection characteristics to a PA for the audience.

[jbuhajla]

make sure global EQ is turned off on the Helix. If it's on, eq settings will be affecting the sound at the speaker