G3 FW18 mini review

Gamedojo said:
It would be great for you to post a recording of your real plexi. reference clips to what one is saying can be a great help for achieving a better result on the AxeFx. It would also be good to see if the more "pleasing" sound is the axe vs real amp or just a result of how your plexi sounds in the room off-axis.
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I don't have the means to record the 'real' Plexi, unfortunately. No mics and no mixer available...
But you may be right, it could have to do with nobody staying right in front of a 4x12 at full volume with ears in a distance of 5 cm from the speaker... ;-) Usually, when the cab is mic'ed it is done off-axis too.
However, why is that harshness so prominent in the model? If you listen to records (think of early Angus Young) you hear it, too, but it is rather pleasing instead of being nasty and grinding. When I get back home I'll look for some early AC/DC record and post the relevant part. Maybe this could help?
 
New to the forum, though i've been reading & learning since i got my axe 5 months ago (& CLR) - thanks to everyone for all the helpful posts / tips - great forum.
Anyway, although the axe for me is pretty great and fairly easily dialable at low levels, i'm still not quite there at gig levels (tweaking at gig levels). I'm always thinking it's because i need to tweak advanced parameters; but the truth is i don't because i don't really understand them - it's a lot of work and i always feel like i shouldn't have to when i have the basic amp controls & eq. For me a product of this type needs to operate in this order:

1. Dial a great, realistic amp + cab using basic controls as per actual amp.
2. Shape your own sound adding fx inc eq
3. Advanced controls for those who understand them for other tonal possibilities as can be added in a digital unit (probably a low % of users would bother with these and kept separate somehow as was suggested by someone previously).

I am only interested in 1 & 2. I suspect in the future we'll get to that situation and we'll see an even greater rise in usage of this type of product - i'm sure that ultimately manufacturers know they need to make dialling as easy as possible. Needing to understand advanced stuff may scare potential owners off.
Anyway, regarding G3, hearing that less advanced controls are needed sounds fantastic to me! If more and more advanced parameters were eradicated over time by making amps more easily dialable with basic parameters i'd be more than happy with regular updates of that nature in the future. Really hoping G3 will help me get my gig sounds together, looking forward to it.
 
guitardoc said:
I don't have the means to record the 'real' Plexi, unfortunately. No mics and no mixer available...
But you may be right, it could have to do with nobody staying right in front of a 4x12 at full volume with ears in a distance of 5 cm from the speaker... ;-) Usually, when the cab is mic'ed it is done off-axis too.
However, why is that harshness so prominent in the model? If you listen to records (think of early Angus Young) you hear it, too, but it is rather pleasing instead of being nasty and grinding. When I get back home I'll look for some early AC/DC record and post the relevant part. Maybe this could help?
Click to expand...

There is a lot of kit between the microphone and final master recording that changes the transients, for the better :) Tape, transformer based preamps, analog eq, analog compression, maybe even some analog tube gear in there somewhere.

Standing in the room with the speaker cabs while tracking would not sound like the finished record.
 
guitardoc said:
I don't have the means to record the 'real' Plexi, unfortunately. No mics and no mixer available...
But you may be right, it could have to do with nobody staying right in front of a 4x12 at full volume with ears in a distance of 5 cm from the speaker... ;-) Usually, when the cab is mic'ed it is done off-axis too.
However, why is that harshness so prominent in the model? If you listen to records (think of early Angus Young) you hear it, too, but it is rather pleasing instead of being nasty and grinding. When I get back home I'll look for some early AC/DC record and post the relevant part. Maybe this could help?
Click to expand...

IMO could be many things ,New strings, how the tone controls are set , the Room verb chosen could be bright , single coil pickups over humbuckers pick up more of that ,There is some ACDC that has that almost brittle sound to me but in a mix sounds great . His other gainer clip of the HBE does not have it IMO.
 
I know there have been a few things mentioned specifically that will disappear with this FW- like the character EQ in the amp block- but what about things like transformer match, bright cap value and sag? Will they still be there?
 
DrHee said:
New to the forum, though i've been reading & learning since i got my axe 5 months ago (& CLR) - thanks to everyone for all the helpful posts / tips - great forum.
Anyway, although the axe for me is pretty great and fairly easily dialable at low levels, i'm still not quite there at gig levels (tweaking at gig levels). I'm always thinking it's because i need to tweak advanced parameters; but the truth is i don't because i don't really understand them
Click to expand...

Given that you find the Axe easy to dial in at low levels, this most likely has nothing to do with needing to adjust the advanced parameters (they are completely unnecessary to get a great tone) and more to do with the Fletcher Munson effect.
 
barhrecords said:
There is a lot of kit between the microphone and final master recording that changes the transients, for the better :) Tape, transformer based preamps, analog eq, analog compression, maybe even some analog tube gear in there somewhere. Standing in the room with the speaker cabs while tracking would not sound like the finished record.
Click to expand...

That's correct. But still... If I compare the rough unmastered sound of my 'real' plexi to the model I don't hear that much grind. I'll look for some examples when I'm back home tomorrow - hopefully I still have some single unmastered guitar tracks backed up. It will have the mics baked in though - maybe that's what makes it smoother?
 
many so called "advanced paramentres" are actually some modding to the stock amp that you can see IRL (say... tube swap... resistors added or removed... and some soldering iron work here and there)
 
Randalljax said:
IMO could be many things ,New strings, how the tone controls are set , the Room verb chosen could be bright , single coil pickups over humbuckers pick up more of that ,There is some ACDC that has that almost brittle sound to me but in a mix sounds great . His other gainer clip of the HBE does not have it IMO.
Click to expand...

Do you mean the wrecker clip? Yes, in it the grinding harshness is gone. Hmm, interesting. Could it be that the model still provides it but it is lost in the mix? It'd be very interesting to hear the guitar track on its own.
Or do you mean some other HBE clip which I missed?
 
GuttaLaser said:
many so called "advanced paramentres" are actually some modding to the stock amp that you can see IRL (say... tube swap... resistors added or removed... and some soldering iron work here and there)
Click to expand...

Yes, before I bought an axefx I had many tube amps that I'd tweak old school with a soldering iron before I got what I wanted from them... I hope that there will always be room for advanced parameters in the axefx.
 
DrHee said:
New to the forum, though i've been reading & learning since i got my axe 5 months ago (& CLR) - thanks to everyone for all the helpful posts / tips - great forum.
Anyway, although the axe for me is pretty great and fairly easily dialable at low levels, i'm still not quite there at gig levels (tweaking at gig levels). I'm always thinking it's because i need to tweak advanced parameters; but the truth is i don't because i don't really understand them - it's a lot of work and i always feel like i shouldn't have to when i have the basic amp controls & eq. For me a product of this type needs to operate in this order:

1. Dial a great, realistic amp + cab using basic controls as per actual amp.
2. Shape your own sound adding fx inc eq
3. Advanced controls for those who understand them for other tonal possibilities as can be added in a digital unit (probably a low % of users would bother with these and kept separate somehow as was suggested by someone previously).

I am only interested in 1 & 2. I suspect in the future we'll get to that situation and we'll see an even greater rise in usage of this type of product - i'm sure that ultimately manufacturers know they need to make dialling as easy as possible. Needing to understand advanced stuff may scare potential owners off.
Anyway, regarding G3, hearing that less advanced controls are needed sounds fantastic to me! If more and more advanced parameters were eradicated over time by making amps more easily dialable with basic parameters i'd be more than happy with regular updates of that nature in the future. Really hoping G3 will help me get my gig sounds together, looking forward to it.
Click to expand...

One thing that goes for any amp regarding low volume and gig levels is for gigs you lift the mids and drop the bass and treble.
 
I still dont know how Mark Day has gotten all his amazing tone from FW negative 50, that's all I ask for ! I mean really with no ultra res cabs no countless fw tweeks changes and updates, I still try to go back to his original HBE sounds and get what I loved when I first heard this machine :) (not that I dont like prgress, but Im still chasing the same tone!)
 
Harper, you have G3 and you didn't call me to come hear it?!! You SOB!!!

For anyone who is wondering who jharpersj is...he's a guy who spends his time playing Instead of surfing the forum. He's a monster player, and has some of the best tube amps and tone that you will ever hear.
And that is the first and only compliment he will ever get from me...ha.
 
symphx said:
I still dont know how Mark Day has gotten all his amazing tone from FW negative 50, that's all I ask for ! I mean really with no ultra res cabs no countless fw tweeks changes and updates, I still try to go back to his original HBE sounds and get what I loved when I first heard this machine :) (not that I dont like prgress, but Im still chasing the same tone!)
Click to expand...
I think his tone is consistent because of the mids! Mark's tone has usually a tube sceamer boosting the amp thus giving it even more mids. It cuts well in the mix and still sounds huge on it's own! And don't forget the fingers! Mark's playing is so fluid and gracefull! I enjoy seeing his hands moves around the neck as much as earing his wall of sound tone!!
 
Gamedojo said:
It would be great for you to post a recording of your real plexi. reference clips to what one is saying can be a great help for achieving a better result on the AxeFx.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I did not back up unmastered single guitar tracks - at least I could not find them on my computer.

However, I extracted two snippets from your mp3 where the scratching is most noticeable: plexifw18_1.31.15.grind.mp3

You hear it when the tone rings out - it does not sound as harmonic as I am pretty sure my real plexi's unmastered records sounded. Shame I cannot record it at the moment - but our studio guy will get back from touring next week so I hope I can make some new records then.
 
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