Off Topic Axe-Fx: Anyone using one?
- Thread starter jeffrey
- Start date
Jimmyb
Well-known member
Personally, I've no problems with either the gamechanger, or the Axe FX. However, they are two completely different things. The Axe-FX is a way of 'modelling' different amplifiers, with a load of great effects thrown in as well. The Game changer is a new type of switching system for pickups, opening up a whole new variety of different pickup wiring combinations. There isn't (as far as I'm aware from reading the info posted to date) any form of processing built into the gamechanger.
After 6 month i stop to use the FRFRcabs with axe not really good for live
at hight level hight mediums are everywhere
i've found 2 custom audio 1x12 cabs yesterday
and WTB a VHT or MESA power amplifier
i've tried this configuration and it's a good way to have cleans and crunch
with more "scoop" and warmth
at hight level hight mediums are everywhere
i've found 2 custom audio 1x12 cabs yesterday
and WTB a VHT or MESA power amplifier
i've tried this configuration and it's a good way to have cleans and crunch
with more "scoop" and warmth
Jimmyb
Well-known member
Just because you can program the gamechanger, doesn't mean that you have to. I'd imagine that those people would either buy a guitar without it, or just whatever the factory defaults were.
aleclee
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2004
- Messages
- 252
How does that argument not apply to the AxeFx?
agt
Well-known member
Tweaking the Axe FX can be as basic or as involved as you want it to be. Shortly after I got mine, I backed up and deleted all the presets and went to work creating a variety of about a dozen sounds personally suited to my needs. That took a few days. I have not really dug in to deep parameter editing since, nor have I felt the need to. The basic parameters that one might adjust on the fly (low/mid/hi/presence, gain, fx amounts) are fairly straightforward to adjust.
All my EBMM guitars and my one EBMM bass work very well with the unit.
All my EBMM guitars and my one EBMM bass work very well with the unit.
Ventanaman
Well-known member
My AxeFx is the single best gear purchase I have ever made ... period.
ScreaminFloyd
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2010
- Messages
- 712
I was thinking the same thing
richb
Well-known member
Yeah i got a ultra and the MFC-101 by Fractal as well.killer,killer Company! Richb
Took a huge leap of faith and sold off my pedal board and amp to fund the Ultra. I've been using modelers and stuff for years and they never really cut it. The AxeFX is the single best purchase of anything that I've ever made...period. That's my personal opinion and my application so results may vary.
The thing about the AxeFX in terms of tweaking it is that it can get really involved if you want it to. But I've spent LESS time tweaking the AxeFX than anyother piece of gear because in a matter of minutes I can dial in a tone that sounds and more importantly feels like I want it to.
I've been playing for years now (far too long for as poor as I am) and I thought that I'd gotten beyond the point where my fingers hurt from playing years ago. Not true. After buying the AxeFX I get sore fingers again because I'm playing more than ever because I enjoy it and I don't have to dork with it.
I've got about 20 patches that I probably gravitate to and honestly probably 3 or 4 that I use all the time. It isn't about how much it can do, it's about doing what you want, whatever that is, the way you want it to and doing it better than anything else out there in a single unit. And it's nice having the ability to decide one day that you want to try out a completely different rig without having to buy a new amp.
I won't lie about the fact that I can't speak about how exact the models are because I haven't played 90% of the real amps that are modeled in there. I think that these online comparisons about "pick which one is the real tube amp" is kind of silly because at the end of the day if it sounds good in both clips I really don't see the problem. It's about making music and getting a good tone, not about spending hours trying to mimic another tone exactly for whatever reason.
The thing about the AxeFX in terms of tweaking it is that it can get really involved if you want it to. But I've spent LESS time tweaking the AxeFX than anyother piece of gear because in a matter of minutes I can dial in a tone that sounds and more importantly feels like I want it to.
I've been playing for years now (far too long for as poor as I am) and I thought that I'd gotten beyond the point where my fingers hurt from playing years ago. Not true. After buying the AxeFX I get sore fingers again because I'm playing more than ever because I enjoy it and I don't have to dork with it.
I've got about 20 patches that I probably gravitate to and honestly probably 3 or 4 that I use all the time. It isn't about how much it can do, it's about doing what you want, whatever that is, the way you want it to and doing it better than anything else out there in a single unit. And it's nice having the ability to decide one day that you want to try out a completely different rig without having to buy a new amp.
I won't lie about the fact that I can't speak about how exact the models are because I haven't played 90% of the real amps that are modeled in there. I think that these online comparisons about "pick which one is the real tube amp" is kind of silly because at the end of the day if it sounds good in both clips I really don't see the problem. It's about making music and getting a good tone, not about spending hours trying to mimic another tone exactly for whatever reason.
jeffrey
Well-known member
So I guess I should follow up on this...
I borrowed an AxeFx Ultra from a buddy of mine for about three weeks. I spent an inordinate amount of time creating patches, tweaking them, getting patches of the 'net from other people who's tones I liked, etc. I really went through every freaking thing you can ponder, although I will admit I didn't spend a ton of time on the effects. Enough to know they were good and probably on par with my G-Force, although I was mostly interested in it as a preamp.
I also used it for three weeks worth of rehearsals through a Mesa 2:100 and a Mesa 2:90 (both with different tubes, one EL34's and one 6L6's; I'm typically more a fan of EL34's) through my 2 Mesa straight front 4x12's with 30w Celstions.
So at first, I liked it. At practice volume in my jam room at home it sounds good, a little processed, but not too bad. As I was using it in a live situation through a power amp and cabinets, I disabled all of the simulation stuff for speaker cabinets (although I did mess around with that through some FRFR cabinets and it was interesting for sure). The Mark IIC+ turned out to be the sound I kept going back to (no surprise there since I own a Mark IIC+). While it was a good tone at a lower volume, in a live situation it the unit just didn't have the meat or punch or presence of a well-sorted high quality tube amp (which I have). The final day I had it my buddy showed up at the room with my amp (he borrowed mine while I had his AxeFx), a Rivera TBR1-SL, and we had already played the set list once. So I swapped my head back in and play the set list again. Everyone in my band notice a difference right away. Much fuller, thicker, more presence and a much better lead tone.
So after three weeks of rehearsals and (literally) 3 dozen or more hours of working with the thing, I've come to this conclusion:
The AxeFx is a very well thought out piece of gear, definitely the best "modeling" anything I've played with to date. However, if you do own a high quality tube amp (which I consider to be probably less than 5% of the amps on the market), the AxeFx in the end will just not quite sound as good. It just won't have the true feel and meat and vibe of a tube amp. It gets close, but when it comes down to it it's just not there. However, for 95% of the amps out there, this is a definite improvement, but at $2500 it's not as attractive as I'd hoped it would be.
At this point if I used it, it would be only for the effects and it doesn't really do anything in that area that my G-Force doesn't already do.
So in the end, it was fun to play with, but I'll keep my tube amp. It just plain sounds better.
I borrowed an AxeFx Ultra from a buddy of mine for about three weeks. I spent an inordinate amount of time creating patches, tweaking them, getting patches of the 'net from other people who's tones I liked, etc. I really went through every freaking thing you can ponder, although I will admit I didn't spend a ton of time on the effects. Enough to know they were good and probably on par with my G-Force, although I was mostly interested in it as a preamp.
I also used it for three weeks worth of rehearsals through a Mesa 2:100 and a Mesa 2:90 (both with different tubes, one EL34's and one 6L6's; I'm typically more a fan of EL34's) through my 2 Mesa straight front 4x12's with 30w Celstions.
So at first, I liked it. At practice volume in my jam room at home it sounds good, a little processed, but not too bad. As I was using it in a live situation through a power amp and cabinets, I disabled all of the simulation stuff for speaker cabinets (although I did mess around with that through some FRFR cabinets and it was interesting for sure). The Mark IIC+ turned out to be the sound I kept going back to (no surprise there since I own a Mark IIC+). While it was a good tone at a lower volume, in a live situation it the unit just didn't have the meat or punch or presence of a well-sorted high quality tube amp (which I have). The final day I had it my buddy showed up at the room with my amp (he borrowed mine while I had his AxeFx), a Rivera TBR1-SL, and we had already played the set list once. So I swapped my head back in and play the set list again. Everyone in my band notice a difference right away. Much fuller, thicker, more presence and a much better lead tone.
So after three weeks of rehearsals and (literally) 3 dozen or more hours of working with the thing, I've come to this conclusion:
The AxeFx is a very well thought out piece of gear, definitely the best "modeling" anything I've played with to date. However, if you do own a high quality tube amp (which I consider to be probably less than 5% of the amps on the market), the AxeFx in the end will just not quite sound as good. It just won't have the true feel and meat and vibe of a tube amp. It gets close, but when it comes down to it it's just not there. However, for 95% of the amps out there, this is a definite improvement, but at $2500 it's not as attractive as I'd hoped it would be.
At this point if I used it, it would be only for the effects and it doesn't really do anything in that area that my G-Force doesn't already do.
So in the end, it was fun to play with, but I'll keep my tube amp. It just plain sounds better.
PaoloGilberto
Well-known member
I've tried the AXE FX ultra last week at a friend's rehearsal room:
JP6 > AXE FX > mixer > 2 loudspeakers (400 W each I think)
I was very impressed with the sound and feel(very close to tube amp), the tones had my friend tweaked for himself were amazing, but the stock ones were nice too.
He had also a mesa dual rectifier + mesa 2 X 12 cab - V 30's which I did not like at all honestly - it had a "plastic" sound
Although I am not a pro player I hope I will not upset anyone with my opinion stated bellow
jeffrey , the sound from the AXE may not be "the same" with the one from your amp, but we can not tell for sure the reason why:
- is AXE FX the reason, and is not yet "perfect" enough to replace a tube amp in tone and feel ?
or
- and is a scientific based point of view: your hearing is used with that tube amp sound and when comparing AXE FX with your amp the reference is for sure the "sound in your head from that tube amp".
so even this processing of information may not be conscious and we may not be aware of it, for sure influences a lot our perception on sound from different gear
thus the reasonable point of view as you mentioned is to say "I like better the tube amp that the AXE FX, in my opinion is suites me better, or it sound better", even though we can not know for sure the "truth"
best luck with your gear and tube amp sound
Paul
JP6 > AXE FX > mixer > 2 loudspeakers (400 W each I think)
I was very impressed with the sound and feel(very close to tube amp), the tones had my friend tweaked for himself were amazing, but the stock ones were nice too.
He had also a mesa dual rectifier + mesa 2 X 12 cab - V 30's which I did not like at all honestly - it had a "plastic" sound
Although I am not a pro player I hope I will not upset anyone with my opinion stated bellow
jeffrey , the sound from the AXE may not be "the same" with the one from your amp, but we can not tell for sure the reason why:
- is AXE FX the reason, and is not yet "perfect" enough to replace a tube amp in tone and feel ?
or
- and is a scientific based point of view: your hearing is used with that tube amp sound and when comparing AXE FX with your amp the reference is for sure the "sound in your head from that tube amp".
so even this processing of information may not be conscious and we may not be aware of it, for sure influences a lot our perception on sound from different gear
thus the reasonable point of view as you mentioned is to say "I like better the tube amp that the AXE FX, in my opinion is suites me better, or it sound better", even though we can not know for sure the "truth"
best luck with your gear and tube amp sound
Paul
I'm an AxeFX fanboy, but I've heard this kind of thing before and don't believe in doing the hurt feelings because you don't like it as much as me thing.So I guess I should follow up on this...
I borrowed an AxeFx Ultra from a buddy of mine for about three weeks. I spent an inordinate amount of time creating patches, tweaking them, getting patches of the 'net from other people who's tones I liked, etc. I really went through every freaking thing you can ponder, although I will admit I didn't spend a ton of time on the effects. Enough to know they were good and probably on par with my G-Force, although I was mostly interested in it as a preamp.
I also used it for three weeks worth of rehearsals through a Mesa 2:100 and a Mesa 2:90 (both with different tubes, one EL34's and one 6L6's; I'm typically more a fan of EL34's) through my 2 Mesa straight front 4x12's with 30w Celstions.
So at first, I liked it. At practice volume in my jam room at home it sounds good, a little processed, but not too bad. As I was using it in a live situation through a power amp and cabinets, I disabled all of the simulation stuff for speaker cabinets (although I did mess around with that through some FRFR cabinets and it was interesting for sure). The Mark IIC+ turned out to be the sound I kept going back to (no surprise there since I own a Mark IIC+). While it was a good tone at a lower volume, in a live situation it the unit just didn't have the meat or punch or presence of a well-sorted high quality tube amp (which I have). The final day I had it my buddy showed up at the room with my amp (he borrowed mine while I had his AxeFx), a Rivera TBR1-SL, and we had already played the set list once. So I swapped my head back in and play the set list again. Everyone in my band notice a difference right away. Much fuller, thicker, more presence and a much better lead tone.
So after three weeks of rehearsals and (literally) 3 dozen or more hours of working with the thing, I've come to this conclusion:
The AxeFx is a very well thought out piece of gear, definitely the best "modeling" anything I've played with to date. However, if you do own a high quality tube amp (which I consider to be probably less than 5% of the amps on the market), the AxeFx in the end will just not quite sound as good. It just won't have the true feel and meat and vibe of a tube amp. It gets close, but when it comes down to it it's just not there. However, for 95% of the amps out there, this is a definite improvement, but at $2500 it's not as attractive as I'd hoped it would be.
At this point if I used it, it would be only for the effects and it doesn't really do anything in that area that my G-Force doesn't already do.
So in the end, it was fun to play with, but I'll keep my tube amp. It just plain sounds better.
There's a lot of gear out there to choose from and I will readily admit that if I had some great tube amps and stuff at my disposal and volume wasn't a concern I would probably look at the AxeFX in a different light. I think that the gigging musicians tend to have the biggest issue with getting the same kind of in your face punch as they get with a tube amp. You know, if your pants aren't flapping than it ain't working right.
For my application which is just jamming at home and recording direct it's absolutely ideal for my situation. I think that the live aspect requires a considerable amount of trial and error and experimentation to get a wide variety of results with a lot of differing opinions that usually result in a lot of non-productive hurtful stuff being said.
If you've got an amp that you love it's really going to be hard to replace it with anything else, including the AxeFX or even other tube amps. I don't see how there's anything wrong with that.
jeffrey
Well-known member
I agree with you. For a home recording rig-in-a-box it's pretty amazing, especially since you can warm it up a lot with tube preamps and whatnot.
Although I am surprised that for the cost there is no direct audio interface (via USB or Firewire or something). Kind of shocking.
Although I am surprised that for the cost there is no direct audio interface (via USB or Firewire or something). Kind of shocking.
evolvedmb
Active member
I own an Ultra that has only been played for less than 3 hrs. I've gone through
a crazy past 6 months health-wise, and really haven't had the time to sit down
with the unit and tweak anything. I also bought a Behringer FCB1010 midi foot pedal
that is unused with cables. I'm seriously considering selling my Ultra on the Bay, or
making a trade for a guitar. I would be looking for a mint condition Luke or Axis sport
with pictures to document the condition and a little cash from the new owner.
PM me with an offer if interested.
a crazy past 6 months health-wise, and really haven't had the time to sit down
with the unit and tweak anything. I also bought a Behringer FCB1010 midi foot pedal
that is unused with cables. I'm seriously considering selling my Ultra on the Bay, or
making a trade for a guitar. I would be looking for a mint condition Luke or Axis sport
with pictures to document the condition and a little cash from the new owner.
PM me with an offer if interested.
jeffrey
Well-known member
Not interested, thanks though.
These discussions can go into not-too-useful territory quickly. I own several amps (2 Boogies a Marshall and a Cornford). I own an Axe-FX Ultra. I own lots of stuff. Buying one "new cool latest hip" item just doesn't change the game for me, this is a business of incremental progress. I remember when I had only a Les Paul and a crap solid state amp and an MXR Phase 90 and somehow I was able to get great sounds out of it (OK I'm old). The Axe FX is cool, I really like having one, especially when I get up early and no one is up and I feel like recording something. But it didn't make me sell my amps, and I don't think I ever will. Kind of like when I got a dog and it didn't make me sell my kids. There is room for everything in the toolbox.
CJ
CJ
