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Comments
I'm another who always finds the clean/crunch stuff the most tricky to model, but completely agree with @monquixote. I couldn't tell a 98%-good metal tone from a 96%-good metal if they were signposted and lit with neon...
I've a Power station plus 2x12s, and a 4x12 so really debating getting one for przctice, recording etc....
Van Halen, Rainbow, Zeppelin, G&R, Def Leppard
You get the idea
I use the line 6 modded 2204 with the Klon in the front and it is glorious
I could mic up my 5150 and set the blue channel up to sound like a mid-gain tone, and then post it as a Helix clip and loads of people would say "see, told you it sounds shit for mid-gain toanz!"
beautiful and awesome
Hard to put your finger on exactly why. I tried my amplifire into the fx return and it's just not the same. Something in the compression, harmonic overtones, touch responsiveness and feel that is just impossible to match.
The new modellers are brilliant. I love them for their simplicity of set up, the quality of the sound, their range of effects and flexibility.
For now a great valve amp still wins, but the margins are getting smaller.
They are all so close it's far more about workflow, fun and creativity.
I'm not actually all that bothered about 'how real' the modelling is..
if it sounds 60% real or 99.999% real, I don't particularly care..
that fact that the Axe-II is supposed to be impossibly close to the real thing is kinda cool I guess
all I care about is that I can get tones that I really like and that have all the real-time control capabilities to enable me to do my thing exactly the way I need to do it..
in addition to what you sound like and can do live, a killer bonus is what you sound like and can do in the studio…
I know without any doubt that I could never make guitar recordings to such a high standard without the Axe-II in my humble lil' studio..
not even remotely close..
I'm sure I'd also enjoy valve amp + loadbox + impulses but to get all the amps I like and use would be more expensive than using the Axe FX 2, plus it'd take up a lot of room.
It's simply that I've always gone both-feet into whatever setup I'm going to use. I spend a bit of time comparing options (mostly on paper) and then get on with what I've got.
I am a bit curious how much two amps of the same model sound alike - my suspicion is that component tolerances, valve age, how the speaker's been treated and so on probably create differences.
And I couldn't pick a favourite for RAW amp tones. I really couldn't.
But I kept falling down the rabbit hole of comparing my modellers to my real amps, and I had some sick amps at the time - Diezel D-Moll was the main one I remember.
I took a load of profiles of that amp, and would try and dial in the Dizzy models and the VH4 models on the Axe FX to be as close to the amp as possible. I was never happy, I always preferred the real amp. This was through monitors as well as a real cab btw.
But none of it was blind testing, and obviously there is the emotional aspects to it - look at this big manly back breaking valve amp!! It just HAS to be better...!!
In reality?? I just don't know... there are too many variables. Signal level differences, schematic differences, speaker differences... etc... and when you use a looper to nullify the differences in performance, and when you use the same power-amp and cab ... you start get snow blindness.
@Guitarfishbay and I are mates and we've spent a lot of time sending recordings back and forth with each other, debating the ins and outs of tone - even down to string choice and plectrum choice!! I think he'd agree that none of it has really helped us write any music!
It can be a bit of a distraction is what I'm getting at. There is no doubt in my mind that if I had an Axe FX II again or a Kemper and compared it with the Helix, I would be happy with the amp tones across the board.
I've tried to embrace differences with gear and not obsess too much. Because most of the time it just prevents me from writing choonz!
tldr; It doesn't matter. But I still prefer my amps