Are we wrapped up in the tech of the axe fx

kevrock

kevrock

Experienced
My question is are we wrapped up in all the tech of the axe fx. We have all these threads about how to achieve great sound and what to do this and that etc. I plugged into a Epiphone shitty Les Paul into a Blackstar HT 40 and achieved a super cool hair metal tone. That easy. No discussion no tweaking no nothing.
And then I went home and played on my axe fx and it sounded great as well very close. But not quite there. But that's not my bitch. My concern is that we spend so much time talking about the ENDLESS things that the Axe fx can do that we lose sight of just playing and enjoying The great tones that are already inside it. Without deep editing
 
Didn't Juliana Hatfield say 'Simplicity is beautiful?' I used to tweak advanced parameters and go through countless tweaks and mixes or IRs...I've found that I'm happiest now when I stick to basic controls and an IR that I know will work for me. Not to say that the advanced parameters don't have a purpose b/c I appreciate the flexibility, but with each firmware release they are less and less essential for me to craft a great tone.

That being said, I am by nature and profession a nerd, so the endless talk of tweaking and advanced parameters never get old to me. If it is something too far out there I simply skip the thread and move along to another thread where I can get a tech chubby and be happy.
 
I agree ^^^^^ but I guess my point is I miss just plugging into a amp and getting great tone. Not saying I'm done with the axe fx. It's WAY to
Versital for me. Just posing a question
 
I find with the latest firmware even 17 was like this, I don't have to do much advanced setting if at all and I prefer it like that. But I do like having the options to do it so yeah I think simple is better, I prefer to spend more time playing:)
 
kevrock said:
My question is are we wrapped up in all the tech of the axe fx. We have all these threads about how to achieve great sound and what to do this and that etc. I plugged into a Epiphone shitty Les Paul into a Blackstar HT 40 and achieved a super cool hair metal tone. That easy. No discussion no tweaking no nothing.
And then I went home and played on my axe fx and it sounded great as well very close. But not quite there. But that's not my bitch. My concern is that we spend so much time talking about the ENDLESS things that the Axe fx can do that we lose sight of just playing and enjoying The great tones that are already inside it. Without deep editing
Click to expand...

I get your point. But most famous players doing a lot of recording use heaps of different amps, guitars etc almost song to song. I always think of Jimmy Page & Hendrix using any bit of gear they could get there hands on to build a sonic landscape. The Axe gives us all these great tones in the one box that we can play with at 3 in the morning. Nice to just plug into an amp and let rip, but that's were that finishes. If that's all you want to do then that's all you need. I love exploring the possibilities as so many others here on the forum do too.
 
I had been hunting gear for many years until that stopped (or slowed a lot to be honest) when I got my Axe-Fx. I don't look back. It's far better now, at least cheaper and I don't need to turn my whole setup anymore just to get 5 percent more highs or something like that.
 
I dunno, I pretty much do that with the axe now. I have my standard go-to IR's, so a lot of times, I'll load up a new amp, paste in my normal cab block, and then just play. Most of the time it sounds great. Any tweaking I do, 99% of the time, its basic EQ only.

In fact, since FW18 dropped (and possibly since some point during 17), I have exactly one patch that has any advanced parameter tweaking - I turned up the low cut frequency in the dynamic EQ page to clean up some of the bottom end on one of my recto patches.


I think we get a skewed view from the forum. People come here to chat about amp functions, how other people are tweaking, to ask questions, etc (its the whole point of the forum, after all). Not often do we get people making threads about how they aren't tweaking things.
 
I think it's super easy to get an awesome sound with my axe fx since the last year of updates, and I do not have to tweak but maybe 1-2 minutes tops to get a sound that put a big grin on my face. It can happen when I switch guitar that I need to spend a few more minutes.

I think it's great that we have this depth in the machine, if you want to explore or bring out special qualities in the sound. I understand your point of view, but I think if you (or I or anyone ) where to go back to an amp and just plug it in, it would be but a few weeks at the most before we started adding external stuff like pedals, eq's etc etc .. and before long you would have a bunch of stuff again, and find yourself chasing the sound and versatility we have today, and we would end up selling it all again and go back to axe fx again ..

For me it would be like driving a mustang and then replace it with a focus .. :)

But we all have different preferences, and I know this machine is not for all .. but personally I will
buy and use fractal audios products as long as I can afford to .. I cannot see myself without an axe fx xx
until they close the lid above me ..

Maybe I'll take that and my no 1 with me .. heheheh .. lol

:)
 
The great thing about the Axe is that you can tweak as little or much as you want to get a great tone.
It caters to the entire spectrum of tweakers.
Therefore it has the widest possible appeal.
As someone said earlier, this forum generally tends attract the mucho tweeko crowd.
 
Guys with hardware rigs spend just as much, if not more, time talking tech about all the amps they own, mods they pay to get done to them, various NOS tubes they swap out etc.

Exact same thing with pedals.... I probably spent more time on TGP talking about pedals, on Ebay searching for pedals etc, than I did playing a given pedal

I spend way more time actually PLAYING music now with my Axe than I did with hardware gear.

It really just comes down to human nature and some people who enjoy the tech as much as they do playing. Nothing wrong with a guy who's happy to just plug in and jam, but likewise, nothing wrong with a guy who loves to "sniff cork" and debate such things on the internet, be it about diode types in pedals, tubes, speakers, pups in guitars etc.

Go to camera forums, home stereo forums, wine forums, you name it; and there will also be someone complaining that there is too much tech talk and people should just get out and enjoy the stuff. BUT...... sitting around discussing tech online is exactly how some people do ENJOY their hobby
 
lqdsnddist said:
Guys with hardware rigs spend just as much, if not more, time talking tech about all the amps they own, mods they pay to get done to them, various NOS tubes they swap out etc.
Click to expand...

People seem to forget this. When I was on TGP, Voxtalks, a number of others, the sheer amount of talk around mods, speakers, new versions, etc is dizzying.

lqdsnddist said:
Go to camera forums, home stereo forums, wine forums, you name it; and there will also be someone complaining that there is too much tech talk and people should just get out and enjoy the stuff. BUT...... sitting around discussing tech online is exactly how some people do ENJOY their hobby
Click to expand...

AND this. I believe that pleasure is derived from the simple act of talking about what you have...I don't know how many questions I've seen on this board that weren't about the Axe, but more of a reason to start a conversation about something they love.

I see musicians as an interesting dichotomy. One one hand, there is supposed to be an impulse to create something new, something unique, but on the other hand, you'll hear incredibly entrenched opinions about what gear is the 'RIGHT' one to get, the RIGHT way of doing this...and even pointing out how WRONG someone else is.

But back to the subject. It's a slippery slope. The Axe sounds fantastic at defaults, but that creative instinct does kick in, and we believe it can be even better...to our detriment. My example is the drive pedals, I tinker with them endlessly, but 90% of the time, I drop it back to defaults and leave it alone.

R
 
With regards to some styles of music, particularly some electronic styles, an interesting contrast in how the "enthusiast" actively shun using things like the factory presets in a synth.

To say you took some factory sounds, sat down and created a song is somewhat less respected than simply sharing this incredibly complex sound you were able to program. Patching together a huge modular system that takes up 2 full rack is kind of the pinnacle of cool, regardless of if you actually turned those bloops and blips into a real song.

Its intresting how on those type of forums, no one would ever think to say "you guys are too into the tech and programming, why not just make music?"

With guitarist though, there always seems to be a subset who is of the 1 guitar, 1 cord, 1 amp Angus Young mentality of guitar. To them that is all you need, and therefore all anyone should use. Change tone with your volume pot. Anything else takes away from the purity of music I guess you could say.....

Not saying those guys are wrong in their beliefs, but, just that its odd you don't see that type of thinking in other styles. I guess some other forums of music are more deeply connected in technology, while guitar playing has traditionally been kind of rooted in the past.

Our gold standards are 59 burst, old tweed and BF amps etc still. 1950's NOS tubes, pre-Rola speakers. Older it is, "better" it is.
 
It's a bell curve - some people on the extremes do get caught up and overwhelmed with the tech. On the other extreme, some people just ignore all of it and play and have fun.

Remember the majority - the vast majority - fall in the middle somewhere and of that majority the greater number of people do NOT post on forums.

I've seen people get frustrated with just an amp and a pedal in thier rig; I've seen guys run massive refrigerator rigs and use them like second nature what nary a thought.

Don't get caught up in the particulars - play and have fun.
 
I agree with all above. I just get sick of having to explain everyone that it's not a line 6 and then I have to listen to there shit about tubes vs digital then I find myself in a super techy debate trying to defend my axe fx. It gets annoying. Lol
 
laughyouraxeoff said:
I find with the latest firmware even 17 was like this, I don't have to do much advanced setting if at all and I prefer it like that. But I do like having the options to do it so yeah I think simple is better, I prefer to spend more time playing:)
Click to expand...

To be honest, I hit this point even before 17. I'm still on 15 and waiting to finish recording a couple songs then will upgrade to 18. But at least by FW 15, if i wasn't getting good tone with very simple settings and leaving the advanced params alone, it was an indicator I was doing something wrong. Cool to have the options, and I'm sure I'll get back to the advanced params at some point to do some fine tweaking and experimentation. But for now, I'm really enjoying dialing new patches in 20 seconds that sound just like the real thing... and then playing the hell out of those patches.
 
I generally just plug in and go, myself. Maybe tweak a thing or two here and there, but really, I have some factory presets I love, some presets I love from AxeChange and these forums and few I made myself (which took very little time) and that's it. I don't have much time to tweak. It's maybe 95% playing and 5% tweaking and I LOVE the tones I have and get.
 
lqdsnddist said:
Go to camera forums, home stereo forums, wine forums, you name it; and there will also be someone complaining that there is too much tech talk and people should just get out and enjoy the stuff. BUT...... sitting around discussing tech online is exactly how some people do ENJOY their hobby
Click to expand...

Just to speak to this a bit, I also fly RC Helicopters and spend MUCH more time in discussion forums than I do actually flying. Mostly because all the stars have to align to have an awesome day to fly for me. There is some much to know in that hobby and a bunch of us who love to talk about all kinds of things around the hobby, mostly because most of us don't do it as a job, and have to immerse ourselves any way we can.
 
kevrock said:
I agree with all above. I just get sick of having to explain everyone that it's not a line 6 and then I have to listen to there shit about tubes vs digital then I find myself in a super techy debate trying to defend my axe fx. It gets annoying. Lol
Click to expand...

The only way to prove them wrong is to have better tone than them with your Axe Fx. That's how I get everyone to shut up.
 
kevrock said:
I agree with all above. I just get sick of having to explain everyone that it's not a line 6 and then I have to listen to there shit about tubes vs digital then I find myself in a super techy debate trying to defend my axe fx. It gets annoying. Lol
Click to expand...

Those same people will have a "debate" with you regardless of your gear. Come with a tube amp with JJ's and they will tell you how you should use Telefunken or some other NOS. With some people its about forcing their opinions or feeling smarter, regardless of what the actual debate is about.

Or you can always just say "totally agree, I've got a few ______ amps I'm watching on Ebay, and can't wait to get to back real tube goodness" Should shut them right up

The Axe isn't your mother, and has no feeling. It doesn't need anyone to "defend" its virtue after all
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom