Hendrix Style Axis Fuzz

lqdsnddist

Axe-Master
Cross posting, but though this was a good place to share as well...

This is the Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz. Its not a traditional fuzz face circuit at all really, based more on a recording console channel strip than anything. Similar circuit as the KR Musical Gypsy Fuzz, which was then de-gooped and cloned by Basic Audio in their Gypsy, but not to be mistaken for the Dunlop Gypsy Fuzz which is an octave up fuzz minus the octave up (and much darker sounding)

The Axis is really bright and cutting, and doesn't really have a ton of fuzz, but sounds great into an already loud amp. I've always thought of it as a fuzzy OD. The pot used has a really weird taper so all the gain comes on at the very end of the travel, which made it tricky to dial in as it was kind of all or nothing. Lot of people bought the pedal, which isn't cheap, based on reputation and the cool space ship housing, but then didn't like the tone at all. Sounds pretty bad into a Fender style amp, needs to be thought of more as a boost for a Marshall style amp. I used a Dirty Shirley but plenty of other options you can switch it to.

Kicked in, it should sound "loud", and it should also be pretty bright and cutting. Later era Jimi live tones at proper stage volumes. Its not a subtle fuzz, BUT, I tried to dial it in for a bit of a more useful range. When you really dimed it the pedal had some much gain and some weird design quirks where you could get some strange crackle on the note decay, and just an over the top not very musical sound, IMO. This patch is set up where you should be able to keep the fuzz engaged, and rolling the guitar volume pot between 7 and 10 go from pretty clean-ish, to a nice fuzzy tone at 10, with some nice variety in-between. Its not a germanium fuzz so its not going to clean up totally mind you.

I like the neck pickup on my strat, low output CS69. The tone should sound big, and loud, and punchy, with the speakers not quite blown, but for sure being driven hard and the Marshall head close to exploding. I love getting that percussive low end that really thumps you in the chest, and that sounds "live", not a polished studio tone, ala late 69/70's shows. Its not exactly that, as I made some tweaks for my own taste, but that was the inspiration. If you listen to those tracks you'll find that Jimi's tone wasn't all that fuzzy. I guess we don't know technically what he was using, but I think it sounds close to an Axis style fuzz, or some variations of which.

This patch also has a univibe on scene 2, which isn't fully dialed in, but its getting in the ballpark, with that nice low throbbing low end, and kind of pyschadelic swirl on the highs. I'd attach a modifier for exp controlling speed if I was you, fun pedal to play dynamically. Again its not quite perfect, but goal was "Machine Gun", with the throbbing lows and then that really distinct punch on the mutes, with the vibe giving that unique coloration to the sound.

Otherwise this is pretty plain Jane, with just a basic reverb. Obviously a wah and octavia would complete it, but I for one haven't got that far lol, so feel free to improve upon it and add what you need. Its using next to no CPU so the sky is the limit.

I'll be curious to hear how it sounds through other people's rigs. I know most fuzz or "Hendrix" style presets I download never sound anything like Jimi at all when I play them, so curious to see if this one hits the mark for other guitars. Thanks for checking it out.
 

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Big fan of Jimi's sounds and will check this out, thanks for sharing!

Be real curious to hear your thoughts on it. It’s certainly a bit different tone than your 67 preset. That one sounds really good, but a lot earlier AYE era tones. Nice wooly dual fuzzes too. Great germanium sound. I was going for something along the lines of Lover Man, Ezy Rider et al, style tracks 69/70.

The vibe is tricky too. I’ve had a love hate relationship with the vibe. Thinking it sounds nothing like the tones I’m after, so I buy a retro vibe, drybell vibe etc, and find I can match those in the box, so I sell them, then end up unhappy with the block and start over again.

Often times I don’t find it has enough phases swirl, other times doesn’t have that living/breathing throbbing low end pulse. machine gun being an ideal example of my ideal vibe sound, and the vibe really is so much an element of that track.

I tried to get a bit of darkness, which works well with the bright fuzz, and then a big low end. Not perfect but it’s coming along, at least to my taste.

Haven’t done it yet but I usually like to inverse the depth and rate, just a little, so that as it gets faster with the exp pedal the depth goes down a little then when you slow it down it gets really thick and heavy. Little damping for a ramp up/down helps make it feel a bit more dynamic too
 
Cross posting, but though this was a good place to share as well...

This is the Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz. Its not a traditional fuzz face circuit at all really, based more on a recording console channel strip than anything. Similar circuit as the KR Musical Gypsy Fuzz, which was then de-gooped and cloned by Basic Audio in their Gypsy, but not to be mistaken for the Dunlop Gypsy Fuzz which is an octave up fuzz minus the octave up (and much darker sounding)

The Axis is really bright and cutting, and doesn't really have a ton of fuzz, but sounds great into an already loud amp. I've always thought of it as a fuzzy OD. The pot used has a really weird taper so all the gain comes on at the very end of the travel, which made it tricky to dial in as it was kind of all or nothing. Lot of people bought the pedal, which isn't cheap, based on reputation and the cool space ship housing, but then didn't like the tone at all. Sounds pretty bad into a Fender style amp, needs to be thought of more as a boost for a Marshall style amp. I used a Dirty Shirley but plenty of other options you can switch it to.

Kicked in, it should sound "loud", and it should also be pretty bright and cutting. Later era Jimi live tones at proper stage volumes. Its not a subtle fuzz, BUT, I tried to dial it in for a bit of a more useful range. When you really dimed it the pedal had some much gain and some weird design quirks where you could get some strange crackle on the note decay, and just an over the top not very musical sound, IMO. This patch is set up where you should be able to keep the fuzz engaged, and rolling the guitar volume pot between 7 and 10 go from pretty clean-ish, to a nice fuzzy tone at 10, with some nice variety in-between. Its not a germanium fuzz so its not going to clean up totally mind you.

I like the neck pickup on my strat, low output CS69. The tone should sound big, and loud, and punchy, with the speakers not quite blown, but for sure being driven hard and the Marshall head close to exploding. I love getting that percussive low end that really thumps you in the chest, and that sounds "live", not a polished studio tone, ala late 69/70's shows. Its not exactly that, as I made some tweaks for my own taste, but that was the inspiration. If you listen to those tracks you'll find that Jimi's tone wasn't all that fuzzy. I guess we don't know technically what he was using, but I think it sounds close to an Axis style fuzz, or some variations of which.

This patch also has a univibe on scene 2, which isn't fully dialed in, but its getting in the ballpark, with that nice low throbbing low end, and kind of pyschadelic swirl on the highs. I'd attach a modifier for exp controlling speed if I was you, fun pedal to play dynamically. Again its not quite perfect, but goal was "Machine Gun", with the throbbing lows and then that really distinct punch on the mutes, with the vibe giving that unique coloration to the sound.

Otherwise this is pretty plain Jane, with just a basic reverb. Obviously a wah and octavia would complete it, but I for one haven't got that far lol, so feel free to improve upon it and add what you need. Its using next to no CPU so the sky is the limit.

I'll be curious to hear how it sounds through other people's rigs. I know most fuzz or "Hendrix" style presets I download never sound anything like Jimi at all when I play them, so curious to see if this one hits the mark for other guitars. Thanks for checking it out.

Sounds great. Thank you.
 
When I open the preset for conversion to AX8 with FracTool 2.74, FracTool crashes. Has anyone successfully ported this preset over to AX8?
 
When I open the preset for conversion to AX8 with FracTool 2.74, FracTool crashes. Has anyone successfully ported this preset over to AX8?

I don't think that feature has been added to FracTool yet. I think there is like a menu option, but it doesn't work. I don't know if Al even has his hands on a III yet to work with. I think its one of those "soon" things lol.

There are some different parameters in the amp block, thousands more factory cabs and the ability to blend 4 cabs together, channels of each block etc, that likely will make conversion difficult. Going from a II to a AX8 is basically all the same parameters, but when a III patch has cabs that aren't in the AX8, knobs that don't exist in the AX8, may use channels that don't exist etc, I think its going to be hard to get a really good conversion.

Just my guess but it seems like converting II or AX8 patches to the III would be easier, taking a III patch backwards would be hard.


Thanks for trying to check out the preset though, hopefully it may port over in time
 
OK thanks - I'm just a newbie - didn't realise that AFX III conversions weren't possible (yet). Thanks for clarifying.
 
I finally remembered to try this one out! Also a huge fan of Jimi...

It's excellent. Never tried the real pedal, but it's definitely not the same as Fuzz Face or the Gypsy Fuzz. Gotta fiddle more with it, many thanks!

@lqdsnddist did you end up using this or was it just an experiment?
 
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