Axe_FX II Rigs, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Digital Modelling.

Drew_TNBD

I actually don't like the Bassman. It gets fuzzy and horrible. Generally I find all of the lower-gain amps tend to do that, just as they do in real life. The sound of a Vox AC30 with the gain cranked sounds like utter cack to me. Just my preferences I suppose.

Also I wouldn't exactly call the 5153 Blue and JCM800 'low gain' the 5153 Blue is Van Halen territory, and all of the metal bands use JCM800's with tubescreamers in front of them. Checkout Pelican for an example of the later... in fact...



Great album btw

I've got a rough plan to get the JCM800 (possibly the modded version) and dial it in to sound like a Laney VH100r, which I have at home, so I can a/b between them until I've got it close.

Clarky

ok.. I get your point.. by considering the Blue and the JCM as 'cleaner' I'm cmoparing them with the more full-on Herbert ch3 / VH4ch4 and 5153Red.. which are far hotter..

the thing with the 65 Bassman and Tucana3 is that when they're as dirty as they'll sensibly go, they blend very well with hotter amps [recording rather than live].. their crispy mids and highs can blend in with the hotter amps pretty well, but their cleaner lows can add a nice thumb.. think of it not as the main event, but mixed low in addition with the main part as a 'fattener'..

imagine for example you have a VH4 to the left in the mix, and blended it with a 65 Bassman [MV=10, boost / sat on, drive set to prevent the lows from flubbing].. the Bassman part though is reamped from the same dry guitar as the VH4 so it's tight with it.. and then on the right if you had a 5153Red or Blue and similarly blended this with a Tucana3 [from the same dry guitar used for the 5153], the next result should be smoking hot mids and highs with tight and thick lows.. you'd eq them [in Logic] such that the dryier amps handle the bulk of the lows and the hotter amps handle the mids and highs.... so they work together as a unit

Drew_TNBD

Yeah I hear you.

BTW, the Axe does very cool Adam Jones tonez when you mix the Superlead and the VH4 together. Sounds feckin' killer!

Clarky

now that's a tone I'm interested in goofing with

Clarky

on the DC album I'm blending the Dual Rec with the Herbert ch3 and the VH4ch3 with the 5153Red, the Dual Rec and the VH4ch3 providing the cleaner gainy tones, and the Herbert ch3 and 5153Red being the hi-gain tones...

tones wise, the DC Band music is not as metal as Tool / Periphery etc.. so all though hi gain is required, it can't be as massive and as thumpnig as some of the more modern tones.. this band's music is prog-rock.. but you could say it's at the heavier end [down to me I guess].... that said.. although it'll dip a toe into the metal pool on occasion, it'll never quite dive right in.. so tone wise, I need to be pretty aggressive and energetic, but I cannot consume the entire soundscape in the way that full-on metal tones do.. because there are keys and DC's Zeta 5-string violin to consider.. and of course vocals that actually sing notes and stuff... lol..

Drew_TNBD

Notes and stuff?

Fuck dat.

Clarky

lmao....

as much as I love the song, I somehowI couldn't imagine DC doing a cover of People=Shit.. lmao

chrispy108

Drew_fx said:

Here is a very rough demo, featuring Axe on guitars and bass.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4nut6h2al2ok6ts/Plus2Degrees_Bass.mp3

Das Metall yet again - I think it's my favourite amp on the thing! Cleans were the Super Verb. Light crunch was Das Metall with gain at something like 1.2 with boost and saturation both turned off.

Bass was Orange Thunderverb 200, TS pedal and two SVT cabs. Few timing issues, but as I said... only a demo!

Bit late to this, but wows! Really liking the tones, especially the bass.

Are you playing everything on this?

Drew_TNBD

chrispy108 said:

Drew_fx said:

Here is a very rough demo, featuring Axe on guitars and bass.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4nut6h2al2ok6ts/Plus2Degrees_Bass.mp3

Das Metall yet again - I think it's my favourite amp on the thing! Cleans were the Super Verb. Light crunch was Das Metall with gain at something like 1.2 with boost and saturation both turned off.

Bass was Orange Thunderverb 200, TS pedal and two SVT cabs. Few timing issues, but as I said... only a demo!

Bit late to this, but wows! Really liking the tones, especially the bass.

Are you playing everything on this?

Everything but the drums. It's just a rough demo though, so a few errors.

Clarky

Drew_fx said:

So latest development for me... the GuitarHack ultrares impulses are WAY better than any of the others I've tried. I think these are my defaults. I just wish they didn't go all phasey when you try to use the two cab blocks at once.

I tried some of theres last night... yeah some seem really nice.. trouble is.. it really depends on the amp.. I tried some with the VH4 and they were a bit dull.. tried some others and they sounded pretty nice...

then I tried them with the DualRec, the ones that worked with the VH4 sounded shite, and the ones that didn't were great.. lmao..

the prob with all this is, before you decide certain cab IR's are bad, you need to have tried them with all your main amp choices.. which takes time.. right now I have all 100user cab slots filled.. I need to start cleaning these out so I only have those that I need in there..

Drew_TNBD

I'm using them with Das Metall and Dizzy models without too much fuss. Just seems to work for me.

Clarky

which ones did you like....

I liked the Friedman Angle in particular

Drew_TNBD

Between 1 and half
Centre0
Fredman Angled
Fredman Straight

Clarky

I found the Fred Straighta little thin, even with the mic set to 'null'

Centre0 was nice too

Clarky

apparently, the next fw drop [15.00] will have some new 'mix' U-Res IR's

looking forward to this greatly.. I really hope the 4x12 TV is in there.. love this cab

Roland

 I'm pleased to you guys getting as excited over IRs and software grades (which cost you nothing) as you used to over expensive amps and speakers. For me the benefits of the box of tricks are this price performance and, as @Drew_fx said, its configurability

Clarky

to be honest, configurability and control is the first thing I look at when considering a new multi-fx unit..

I'm new that worried about tone because I've generally found that it's always possible to dial in something that hits the spot

Si_

Got my GT1000 back from Matrix this morning.. fantastic service as always.. rather than spend the time of find out what the issue was, and knowing I was a past customer (and their main guy was away in America which would have delayed the repair), they just replaced it.

Leemac

Just received word that G66's next Mark II shipment is mid August now, at least they've allowed me to upgrade my order to the XL which should be ready in just under 2 weeks.

What are you guys running the Axe through at home? I have a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770's for late night use and was thinking about getting a low-ish end set of studio monitors for recording/general low volume use.

Any Recommendations?

octatonic

I use Dynaudio Bm6a's with a sub. Be careful with really cheap monitors.