Does anyone here started on a diff. Box before using axefx? Is it too much at first?

A

August_caras@yahoo.com

Inspired
I just recently purchased an xl. I was playing through a podhd500x before and loved it. I decided to upgrade to axe and i noticed that the amount of possibilities are endless. Too much power in your hands i guess.
 
No such thing as too much power! It is a very powerful box, Pod to AxFx is like going from a Yugo to a Porche, It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it, The AxFx will fulfill whatever needs you have! Just approach it a step at a time ( page at a time)as you explore and all will be good!! Welcome and enjoy the ride!!! Everyone needs adventure!!
 
I went from a Digitech 2120, which was as close an attempt at a 'one-box-does-all' situation as you could get back in 1998, then very briefly to a GSP1101 (truly awful I thought), then Axe-Fx standard which blew me away, then Ultra, and finally II.
The leap from the 2120 to the Axe-Standard was very easy. Anyone who is used to dealing with multi-fx units could get their head around the AFX. The only overwhelming aspect is the quality of sound which is enough to make you giddy with excitement. Any programming issues etc. I have had were all solved by the good folk here on the forum.

Thinking back to 1998, before wide use of the internet and forums etc, those of us old enough to remember realise how easy it is now, compared to then. The downside to all this easy-to-access stuff is, the listeners are harder to impress, and expect so much more.
 
Honestly, i never thought i would end up using any of these digital box. I always loved playing through a tube amp not because their better but it's just where i am comfortable. I bought a podhd500x just to try that digital sound and honestly i dig it. Upgraded to axe to widen all my options and minimize the gear i have. I think the axe replaced half of what i had before lol
 
Does anyone here started on a diff. Box before using axefx? Is it too much at...

With great power comes great responsibility.

I've been in all manner of digital gear from the GT5 up to the eleven rack before I got the Axe. The one thing I learnt is when everything sounds good, you spend less time fighting with your gear and more timing figuring out what you happen to like and getting on with it. The possibilities for good tone are now almost infinite, it's more a question of what you feel like "here and now" than the quest for "the one".

Edit: Some days I know what I want and I set about recreating it piece by piece by researching (e.g. What amp was that? What speakers? Was there a drive pedal?). Other days I feel like I've been given the keys to the warehouse I dreamed of as a child, where every imaginable piece of gear was strewn about and I can keep plugging into stuff until I feel inspired to play/write/record. Whichever direction I approach it from, I'm a happy camper, because either way, I'm inspired and playing more than ever.
 
True! Once you get " the tone " you want, what's next? Do explore more? So it's like buying a good amp and setting your tone and be done with it. Is it the same in the axe?
 
If you're a "one amp" guy, maybe that IS it! I have some core tones I always go back to (it seems I'm a Marshall-and-its-derivativesguy at heart), but given the broad range of stuff I like to play and listen to, and also how different guitars react, and also how my mood changes from day to day...

There is no destination, just an endless road with pitstops along the way.
 
After I gave up slaving 4 heads to line level, moving two 22 space racks and three 4x12s, I went "down" to this prior to the Axe Fx:

MyRig_zps27859b6f.jpg


Drop the keyboard and I can do it all in four spaces.
 
I have had several rigs before the Axe-FX. Tube amps + pedals, tube amps + rack, Solid State amps, Rack preamp processors, all rack setup, half rack setup, only playing into a computer with software setups, floor processors, etc....


I definitely think it helps having that experience with the Axe-FX. It is easy for me to build a virtual rig when I have built a real one several times.

I definitely would NOT recommend an Axe-FX to an absolute beginner. For one, they need to learn how to play first! For two, I think it is too overwhelming. Plus, I dont think they would appreciate the fine details in the tone that an Axe-FX has over say a POD or Digitech unit.
 
Does anyone here started on a diff. Box before using axefx? Is it too much at...

I used an ADA MP1 for 19 years because it was MIDI switchable, with an Alesis Quadraverb and a Tom Scholz 1/2 rack chorus.
Then I switched to an ElevenRack with a 3rd Power Stereo tube power amp, still using my ADA Split stack with 50 watt Celestians.
I got the Axe FX II a year or so later, but didn't gig with it for 6 monts and decided to go FRFR.
I love it - sold the 11R and 3rd power amp. Have Matrix CFR 12s and their 1000 single space rack amp. Along with the MFC, I am done buying gear for the foreseeable future.
 
I used a Line 6 M13 for effects in the four cable setup with my Mark IV for a number of years. Sounded pretty great, but a lot of the stombox models had uneven levels. The chorus for example would always boost my level when I kicked it on. Very annoying. Not a problem with the Axe II, since everything is adjustable. Axe II models are much better across the board as well. There's definitely a much bigger learning curve with the Axe II. There no way around that. I do wish that the Axe II had more model specific effects though. We have so many meticulously replicated amps to choose from, but the effects are mostly setup as generic versions that can be tweaked to sound like real pedals. I'd like to see more device specific effects models and maybe some MIMIC action on the effects as well so the knobs respond like the real pedals. That would make the transistion from a real rig with an amp and pedalboard to the Axe II much easier for beginners.

Do yourself a favor and start from scratch when building presets. It takes more work, but the end result is almost always better for me. Once you get the right amp and cab picked, the rest is just icing on the cake.
 
It's all relative, if you are well versed in multi FX over the course of years, you should be able to pick up the Axe fairly quickly.

If you're coming from an amp and a stompbox, maybe less so.

Also Axe edit will help you out with it's friendly GUI, I strongly recommend you use it to get familiar with parameters and layout.
 
I have a Pod HD500 that now serves as the MIDI foot controller to my Axe. Yes the Axe is a bit overwhelming at first due to having so many more options. The good news is you won't need to know them all for general-purpose use. I usually adjust bass/mid/treb, presence, depth & bright. Occasionally I'll go to the amp block's EQ if I can't get what I want through a regular EQ block. Most of the rest of my tone tweaking is playing mix-and-match with heads and cabs.

If you want to feel better about your Axe purchase, come up with the best sounding JCM 800 patch you can on the Pod. Record an MP3, then do the same thing on the Axe and compare.

Night & day.
 
I think a really good way to learn about the Axe-Fx II is to download a bunch of presets from AxeChange. When you find some that you like, try to reverse engineer the patches; scroll through the various parameters to see what makes them tick, maybe try to recreate some from scratch as an exercise in getting from point A to B. Scott Peterson, Mark Day and Yek have lots of great presets out there to get you started.
 
Shask said:
I have had several rigs before the Axe-FX. Tube amps + pedals, tube amps + rack, Solid State amps, Rack preamp processors, all rack setup, half rack setup, only playing into a computer with software setups, floor processors, etc....


I definitely think it helps having that experience with the Axe-FX. It is easy for me to build a virtual rig when I have built a real one several times.

I definitely would NOT recommend an Axe-FX to an absolute beginner. For one, they need to learn how to play first! For two, I think it is too overwhelming. Plus, I dont think they would appreciate the fine details in the tone that an Axe-FX has over say a POD or Digitech unit.
Click to expand...

Shask speaks the truth. Trust me, we have known each other for years on another forum and both of us went thru gear like Skittles before the Axe-FX. :)
 
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