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John Czajkowski

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Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
255
Axe FX Demo - dueling Marshall Rigs

Here is my first foray into the nefarious Axe FX underworld. Thanks, Cliff; I am now fully corrupted. J I am quickly trying to program an Ultra unit to cover the guitar side of my sounds for the Hectic Watermelon Warped Tour gig – or other things were I doubt I will want to haul around my twin towers ego rig. In the process of building several parallel twin-amp rigs within the Axe FX, I have steadily begun to realize just how powerful Cliff’s machine is. Of course, it totally deals with all the Eclipse stuff, but I am really impressed with what a tweaker’s delight it is all throughout the amp modeling signal chain – from tone stack, to power amp, to speaker cabs to mic options. I’ve used or had every modeler or whatever since I first took a Zoom box with me to Desert Storm back in the day. Granted, I have had to tweak on the ultra for a few days to really feel comfortable, I now think I am there on quite a few rig simulations for most of my own music.

This first sample is to check that I have my classic Steve Morse type rhythm and lead sounds ready which I use on about three tunes. It uses one present that A/B’s with pedal 1 between a punchier medium gain JCM 800 and a slightly more saturated JCM 900. The rhythm is really dry and the lead always comes in with dual delay tempo mapped L and R with a quarter and dotted quarter. Pedal two adds a slightly modulated delay tot eh lead at 32 ms with no feedback, so it is more like a mild chorus. It also adds a little more delay. So, in summary this first preset I made is a rhythm/lead A/B with a B’ state. This is from my tune, “Steve’s Stunt Double” from my last album with Jerry Goodman, which really puts these types of tones through their paces as you are all over the guitar in all the flattering and unflattering tone zones. I’m curious to hear what you think.

AXE FX Clip:

http://www.soundclick.com/util/downloadsong.cfm?id=6802703

TAB:

http://users.bandzoogle.com/hecticwatermelon/files/Steve_sStuntDouble_Score_TAB.pdf
 
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Dizzy

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Joined
Aug 18, 2006
Messages
2,948
Location
Perth, Western Australia
Bloody hell - how on earth did you manage to land one down under?!

Hehe, I know a guy, who knows these guys, who know a guy. :D

But they are now shipping direct to Australia, so I guess there's probably a few on their way here now.

Customs will be a biatch though.
 
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John Czajkowski

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Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
255
Thanks so much for checking out my first Axe FX preset. Had to start with the Morse sounds as they are home base to me. The guitar help too! On an aside, I'm starting to GAS for a Silhouette for better Strat sounds. :cool:
 

Slingy

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Joined
Aug 15, 2007
Messages
1,526
Location
Fair Oaks, CA
Hey John, I just spent some times listening to the samplers on the HWM website. Pretty awesome stuff. Is the band all instrumental?
 

Steel Edge

Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2008
Messages
17
First official Spanish Axe Fx Standar right here!!!!

Proud user of the Axe Fx Ultra now.

Amazing piece of gear....
 

acwild

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Joined
Jun 27, 2006
Messages
855
Location
Hillsborough, NJ
I lucked out and got one of the first Ultras. My number came up for the Standard when he announced the Ultra and I got lured by the promise of more power. :D Customer support is absolutely top-notch. It's almost cured me of amp/effects gas for the past year. Now I'm stricken with guitar gas, which is why I've come back to this forum. Hands down, of all the music sites that I go to, this place gives me the worst gas attacks. :eek:
 

John Czajkowski

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
255
Just got back from playing my first gig with my the Axe FX Ultra at the Vans Warped Tour this evening! I still can’t quite believe I actually did this as I usually haul out a truckload of gear – which is fine when I have help and time. However, I din’t have the later today as Warped Tour shows are super fast un-load and off-loads with only a 25-minute set or so depending on the stage. Instead of bringing this, plus controller board and speakers, all I bought was a 4-space rack loaded with the Axe FX, an RJM Mastermind controller (which ingeniously fits inside- thanks Ron), a Roland expression pedal and a latching pedal. Oh yeah, I also had my guitar and a big parachute bag full of merch. Since I didn’t even bring a power amp and speakers today, I just had the sound crew put two big monitor wedges behind me stood up on their sides with 100% Axe FX and it was instant guitar rig. It felt good, and the sound was comfortable onstage. Afterwards, people who really know my sounds live told me it was huge out in the crowd, but just drier –as I always keep the wets lower if in doubt. The only thing that I was not totally comfortable with was not having my synth and piezo, but we only did the heavier numbers this evening so it was cool. So, in the final analysis, instead of having to burn 1 Phelps unit (the amount of energy MP burns in one hour during training) to move my rig, today, I used about 0.1 at most.

Slingy, yes...well almost all. I have been writing lots of vocal tunes lately, but we don't normally do them in this band. We cover some AIC and other stuff on rare occasions.
 
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