It’s funny that

Recently I recorded for a project and the tone on the entire EP was recorded with the same patch, the 1987x jumpered model with justin's blackback TR capture. It's the best I've ever heard the unit and all I did was gain stage and BMT adjustments plus backed off the new speaker comp parameter. Its shocking how well it sat in the mix and how little I had to process it considering how easy it was to dial.
 
Yep.. I seldom go to the advanced tabs any more..

I usually end up messing something up, then not being able to figure out what I did..
Snapshots are your FRIEND !! :)
 
Same here. I use the same few presets for everything. I have a bank set up for single coil guitars and a bank of the same presets (in the same footswitch locations) eq'd for humbuckers. Simple rigs. I focus on my playing, not the pedal dance.
 
To illustrate:

My clean tone is Double Verb Vib.
Drive at 3.50, bass at 4, mids at 5.50. That's all.
I use this with all 3 guitars that I play (humbuckers as well as single coils, and through FRFR or traditional cab.

My dirty tones are all Friedman BE.
Mids at 6, negative feedback turned down, drive between 3 and 7.
Again, with all guitars, and through FRFR as well as traditional cab.

The mono cab block (stock cab #132) is where I do the most tinkering. Blocking under 150 and above 7k, some motor drive and proximity. That's it. Proximity is really great to get punch and "oomph" from a FRFR monitor.

On the AX8 it's just a single Brit 800 34 block, controlling it with guitar volume, with the same cab.
 
Same here. It makes sense though. When you go and test a real world amp and cab, you don't open it and start messing with caps and speaker resonance. You plug in, crank it up and punish anyone standing within 300 meters.
 
I also agree, and it (obviously) speaks to the huge strides made by FAS with regard to modeling not just the amps, but the effects as well. I recently got my hands on a vintage Electric Mistress, and--as great as it sounds--I have to admit that I actually prefer the sound of the modeled equivalent in the Axe. (And DAMN, that thing is noisy!).
 
I feel it's due to how well the amp modeling has come. I picked up my XL right as FW11 was released. While I was pleased with the versatility, I wasn't sold on my tones just yet. I tweaked a LOT more, and still used my Mesa live. It wasn't until around FW17 that I feel tones came easier to me. While I will always preach your IR is the most important part of the preset, everything just sounds better through the same IR I've been using for years from cab pack 7. I've been toying with the idea to upgrade my IR's, so I might just do that now since I have some downtime from shows.
 
It's funny, the only time I use two amp blocks in a preset now is when I bi-amp something for certain bass tones.

Pre Quantum I was always running two parallel amp blocks to embiggen my tone on a preset.

Post Quantum just one amp block and a few simple tweaks gives me some awesome tones on a preset.

I still find myself switching up amps a bit as I come from the Jimmy Page school of using a variety of different amps, depending upon the tracks, to paint a sonic picture.
 
ColemanEuclid said:
I feel it's due to how well the amp modeling has come. I picked up my XL right as FW11 was released. While I was pleased with the versatility, I wasn't sold on my tones just yet. I tweaked a LOT more, and still used my Mesa live. It wasn't until around FW17 that I feel tones came easier to me. While I will always preach your IR is the most important part of the preset, everything just sounds better through the same IR I've been using for years from cab pack 7. I've been toying with the idea to upgrade my IR's, so I might just do that now since I have some downtime from shows.
Click to expand...

Couldn’t agree more about the IR. Every time I read a post where someone raves about an amp sounding great, I always think, “great, but what’s the IR you’re using with it?”
 
yek said:
To illustrate:

My clean tone is Double Verb Vib.
Drive at 3.50, bass at 4, mids at 5.50. That's all.
I use this with all 3 guitars that I play (humbuckers as well as single coils, and through FRFR or traditional cab.

My dirty tones are all Friedman BE.
Mids at 6, negative feedback turned down, drive between 3 and 7.
Again, with all guitars, and through FRFR as well as traditional cab.

The mono cab block (stock cab #132) is where I do the most tinkering. Blocking under 150 and above 7k, some motor drive and proximity. That's it. Proximity is really great to get punch and "oomph" from a FRFR monitor.

On the AX8 it's just a single Brit 800 34 block, controlling it with guitar volume, with the same cab.
Click to expand...
Brilliantly simple. I've been looking for something like this to cover a variety of sonic colors and styles without a ton of blocks in the patch. Scene 1 is the Double Verb Vib as the X amp, scene 2 is the Friedman BE as the Y amp. Cab is the stock #132 using the high and low cuts you mentioned with 12db filter slope. Added the Optical 1 compressor, London Plate verb and Ambient Stereo delay. Also threw in an FX Loop for when I want to send it out to my FRFR. Works great with single coils and humbuckers. Simple and covers so many bases. Thanks Yek!

upload_2017-10-12_11-10-43.png
 
as mentioned above, if you are "forced" to tinker with many/any advanced amp settings, you probably have the "wrong" amp for what you want. always exceptions to this for the advanced guys. but for those starting out or even intermediate, it generally holds true.
 
yek said:
... after years and years of owning, using and tweaking the Axe-Fx, I’m happy just using very basic and almost default amp and cab settings.
Click to expand...

like when Sir Galahad returns from his quest for the Holy Grail
only to find that he left it in the lounge on the coffee table along with his car keys..
 
Generally my order of getting a sound I want is:

- Choose an amp
- Load up my favourite cab
- Set up Gain
- Set up B\M\T
- Tweak with GEQ.

If you've never messed with the GEQ, I would regard that as important as the B\M\T. It's really useful for getting the amp and the cab to play nicely together and to bring out the things you like in the guitar tone. I always like to find the cleanest part of the mids and push that forward so the guitar stands out a bit better in a mix.

I usually regard the advanced stuff as being more about feel and getting the amp to react to the note the way I want it to. That stuff doesn't really come out in a recording though, more of a playing thing which can get better performances but I'm used to how an AFX feels at this point so it's pretty minor.
 
H13 said:
Generally my order of getting a sound I want is:

- Choose an amp
- Load up my favourite cab
- Set up Gain
- Set up B\M\T
- Tweak with GEQ.

If you've never messed with the GEQ, I would regard that as important as the B\M\T. It's really useful for getting the amp and the cab to play nicely together and to bring out the things you like in the guitar tone. I always like to find the cleanest part of the mids and push that forward so the guitar stands out a bit better in a mix.

I usually regard the advanced stuff as being more about feel and getting the amp to react to the note the way I want it to. That stuff doesn't really come out in a recording though, more of a playing thing which can get better performances but I'm used to how an AFX feels at this point so it's pretty minor.
Click to expand...

Pretty much what I do. Personally I almost always use the 5-band Passive GEQ type. I feel it's the most "musical".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom