AXE-FX only as an FX unit?

T

tubiux

New Member
Hi everybody!

I've read through a bunch of posts and Jdurso has some very good and detailed things to say about my question. I'll post it here anyway to see if I get some more input.

I don't care too much for modelling as I get really nice sounds from my Fender, Lone Star & Stiletto. I'm much more interested in the FX part of the unit. I understand that the modelling is quite unique but what I need/want is a unit to replace a suitcase full of pedals (Memory man etc.). I tried a few of those multieffect units some years ago but I thought they're all pretty lame so I forgot about them until I stumbled across this unit. I realize that it's a very expensive multi FX unit and that perhaps in some sense Eclipse might be better suited to my needs but I'd like you guys to elaborate somewhat on the FX part and forget about amps and cabs for a second. Please.

Happy new year!
 
If its good enough for Vai as a complete touring FX unit what else needs to be said..if you can afford it, you will be blown away!!

:)
 
For FX only it's about as good as an Eclipse. But with a couple of advantages. The Eclipse doesn't really have some of the blocks that are staples for some guitar players. It's missing things like Drives, Wah, compressors etc. Also the lag on switching presets with the eclipse can be annoyingly long.

The Axe FX is better than that in all respects. It switches in an eyeblink.

I originally used mine for FX only.... later on I decided that the amp models were useful to me.

Even without using any amp models it's the best guitar unit out there.
 
Tedge said:
For FX only it's about as good as an Eclipse. But with a couple of advantages. The Eclipse doesn't really have some of the blocks that are staples for some guitar players. It's missing things like Drives, Wah, compressors etc. Also the lag on switching presets with the eclipse can be annoyingly long.

The Axe FX is better than that in all respects. It switches in an eyeblink.

I originally used mine for FX only.... later on I decided that the amp models were useful to me.

Even without using any amp models it's the best guitar unit out there.
Click to expand...

+1. I sell my eclipse after six month axefx joined my rack.
 
As they said, however, for the record i felt the same way at first. I planned to use my Mark IV with the axe as an effects unit, but after hearing it through a good full range system I found myself more fond of the axe than I anticipated. I generally stayed away from modelers in the past, all of them felt lacking to me, but this one I really like. Plus the portability of a 2U rack unit was really nice. Not saying you should give up on your amps by any means, but i would play around with the axe's amps, at least give it a shot. If nothing else its great fun having access to all the amps in that little box to play with every once in a while.
 
adweiss said:
As they said, however, for the record i felt the same way at first. I planned to use my Mark IV with the axe as an effects unit, but after hearing it through a good full range system I found myself more fond of the axe than I anticipated.
Click to expand...

+1

I have a 10U rack with multieffects, custo preamp, looper, switcher and so on.

The Axe-Fx was bought to replace a faulty Lexicon MPX-G2, actually I'm using only the Axe live (to a guitar cab on stage, and to FOH) and I'm using it a lot recording.


BTW the effects and the routing are top notch they worth the expense.
 
tubiux said:
Hi everybody!

I've read through a bunch of posts and Jdurso has some very good and detailed things to say about my question. I'll post it here anyway to see if I get some more input.

I don't care too much for modelling as I get really nice sounds from my Fender, Lone Star & Stiletto. I'm much more interested in the FX part of the unit. I understand that the modelling is quite unique but what I need/want is a unit to replace a suitcase full of pedals (Memory man etc.). I tried a few of those multieffect units some years ago but I thought they're all pretty lame so I forgot about them until I stumbled across this unit. I realize that it's a very expensive multi FX unit and that perhaps in some sense Eclipse might be better suited to my needs but I'd like you guys to elaborate somewhat on the FX part and forget about amps and cabs for a second. Please.

Happy new year!
Click to expand...

It's got really all fx you could want, at a very high quality level. You can use it:
- before your amp (as a pedalboard)
- as a fx processor after the preamp (in your amp's fx loop)
- or both by using the 4-Cable-Method (4CM).\

But: 4CM doesn't work problem-free with all amps. Your amp needs to have a good quality series fx loop. There may be an instrument/line level mismatch. And 4CM can create ground hum.
http://axefxwiki.guitarlogic.org/index. ... 8pre.29amp

Great thing about 4CM is that you can also use and experiment with the Axe-Fx's amp models, using your own speaker cabinet.
 
I'll add that even if you are using the AFX for FX only, you can create some patches around your FX settings with an amp and cab, and essentially have a FRFR backup rig in case you have a problem with your amp at a gig.
 
Many thanks for all the input. You've pretty much sold me one. Before reading into it I was planning to get a BB preamp and then only use the axe fx for time based fx and some modulation but then I noticed that there's a BB drive mode. How's that compared to the real thing? I have only read a little about it.

Really, from my point of view I'm less interested in something trying to emulate everything else, then I'd rather have the real thing but if the unit becomes its own entity and can stand on its own regardless of the emulations it really becomes interesting. I might be wrong but it seems as the AXE FX isn't just a copy cat but also brings something of its own to the table.
 
Well you MAY want to hold on to your lone-star a little...it's one of the very few amps that isn't in the axe YET and i've yet to hear a good user sim of it. The fender and stiletto should be covered pretty convincingly tho. The FX in the are are stellar! And I'm an analog guy...my pedal board is worth more than an axe-fx! But the axe does all the fx exceedingly well and you don't have to go re-arranging your pedal board all the time when you want to try something....the 'effect bypass' in the axe is also one of the most used buttons by me....I keep checking to make sure I'm helping and not hurting the tone...and that's somethings you can't do with most pedals, not even some of the true bypass ones.
 
I noticed that we lost a few posts when the forum moved. I read them and thanks to all of you guys. I'm getting ready to buy one but Fractal doesn't seem to eager to sell me one. We'll see if they wake up :)

/T
 
I usually use the Axe Ultra for FX only with a custom built 50W RM2 and modified Egnater/MTS modules. The Axe is fantastic for FX, with the industry's finest routing scheme! I use it 4CM with the tube gear in my bigger rig (4U, 30lbs), and sometimes via it's Amp Sims with a tube pre and a low-power tube power amp in it's FX Loop (3U, 20lbs).

The BB Drive Sim is good, and though the Axe in general feels a little different than a analog/tube front end it works great. I don't use the BB, but rather the AC which I can duplicate with a little bit of the BB Drive Sim's EQ. This makes it where I don't need to run audio to the front of the stage which saves that setup hassle (just MIDI and power for the Floor Controller etc).

The Axe RAWKS!

tubiux said:
Many thanks for all the input. You've pretty much sold me one. Before reading into it I was planning to get a BB preamp and then only use the axe fx for time based fx and some modulation but then I noticed that there's a BB drive mode. How's that compared to the real thing? I have only read a little about it.

Really, from my point of view I'm less interested in something trying to emulate everything else, then I'd rather have the real thing but if the unit becomes its own entity and can stand on its own regardless of the emulations it really becomes interesting. I might be wrong but it seems as the AXE FX isn't just a copy cat but also brings something of its own to the table.
Click to expand...
 
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I received mine 4 days ago and i have the eclipse in the FX loop. That way i have the best of both world but if i had to choose between the two, i would definitely go for the Axe! Don't take me wrong, Eclipse is an awesome unit but it's an harmonizer so it wasn't made with just guitars in mind.

If you're mainly a guitar player then the Axe-Fx is it! You're not gonna find something similar anywhere on the planet! The sound coming out of this thing is something to behold! Even if you want to use this just as a FX unit, you'll find yourself using the cabs and amps modelers just because they sound soooo good! You can set your patches to sound almost exactly as the cover songs that you have set in your play list. That makes a gig sound even better IMO! :)

BTW: I got version 10.04 and i haven't see the firmware upgrade to 10.04. Am i mistaken or is it really so?
 
DJD100 said:
I don't use the BB, but rather the AC which I can duplicate with a little bit of the BB Drive Sim's EQ
Click to expand...

Some users here would like to know how you're dialing in the BB to get an AC tone. Please tell.
 
tubiux said:
Hi everybody!

I've read through a bunch of posts and Jdurso has some very good and detailed things to say about my question. I'll post it here anyway to see if I get some more input.

I don't care too much for modelling as I get really nice sounds from my Fender, Lone Star & Stiletto. I'm much more interested in the FX part of the unit. I understand that the modelling is quite unique but what I need/want is a unit to replace a suitcase full of pedals (Memory man etc.). I tried a few of those multieffect units some years ago but I thought they're all pretty lame so I forgot about them until I stumbled across this unit. I realize that it's a very expensive multi FX unit and that perhaps in some sense Eclipse might be better suited to my needs but I'd like you guys to elaborate somewhat on the FX part and forget about amps and cabs for a second. Please.

Happy new year!
Click to expand...

Hi!
had the same question: I wanted to get rid of my stompboxes in front of my Diezel VH4. tried 4-C-M but wasnt happy with it. my prob (besides hum, later stopped by ebtech..) was that using high gain sounds the rise of the noise floor was too much for me (cleans were good). I endet up splitting the guitar: one way direcct in the VH4, the other in the Axe. Then VH4-send in AXE-input-2 and AXE-output-1 back into VH4-return. No I got two possible signal chains: (git-VH4preamp-axefx-VH4-cab) or (git-axefx-VH4poweramp-cab). works nice for me!
cheers!
 
Well, it's not perfect but I usually run the analog AC or BB with near minimum gain using them to hit V1 hard etc, so to match my AC I simply scooped some mids out of the Axe's BB drive model, and added some bass and treble via the Drive Block's EQ, plus I seem to set the Drive Block's Tone to around 6 or so. Again, not perfect, but closer to the AC than it originally was without the EQ.

yek said:
Some users here would like to know how you're dialing in the BB to get an AC tone. Please tell.
Click to expand...
 
Sure, it'll work just fine...for a while....

Then one day you'll be bored and play with the amp sims....

Just sayin'.

And yes, Big Kudos to the BB Preamp. I agree it's a great go to drive for many reasons. Now I'm starting to push a fuzz with it. Fun. I started turning the BB level up a bit with an expression pedal or a button as I dial down the drive parameter on that other drive sim to keep levels consistent. That works too.
 
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