Drive Block Status

different experiences and needs for each individual. I've been paying professionally for just as long and enjoy pedals. Plenty of rig rundowns of A list players with huge pedalboards that include drive pedals.

there's no right way, just want works. as Scott used to say, horses for courses....
I agree. That’s why I do it my way. As I said, it always felt better to ME going straight in...
Folks are free to do what ever they prefer. I dabbled in pedals until I found the right amp... for me. Then I saw no need for them. The one exception being a solid Wah.

My comment wasn’t a judgement just a preference being stated.
 
I used to keep a preset on my II call "Oh God It Sounds Like High School" with the Metal Zone model and a bunch of effects all strung out in series into the JC120 model. I made it to try to remind myself how bad I used to have it when I was a kid, and all I had was a bottom shelf Peavey SS amp and a couple crappy effects. The thing is, no matter how bad I tried to make it, I'm pretty sure it still sounded better through the Axe than it did through my old high school rig! I think I should revive that preset the next time I am on the sauce.

If there was a Crate GX Series amp in the Axe-Fx, I could do the same thing. I still have my Crate GX60. Before I sold my MXR distortion+ and Marshall Shred Master pedals, I plugged them into my Crate and pulled out my first guitar which is an Epiphone Les Paul Custom from the late 80's with a Carvin MS22SD bridge pickup and my Korg AX30G pedal. I don't have any regrets selling those 2 pedals.
 
So I've encountered a couple I like: BB Preamp and Timmy. The BB is more of a clean boost though it's just pushing the amp (model).
Interesting... To my ears, the BB has more drive than most of the other Boost pedals. Definitely more than the ACB or TS808.

How were you setting it?
 
Can't wait to get the III now (shipped today!), the BB was my favorite with the amps I used. I would classify the BB as a mid gain pedal but in the AX8 it seems to have less gain, like the Barber LTD - more of the clean boost FractalAudio describes.
 
I agree. That’s why I do it my way. As I said, it always felt better to ME going straight in...
Folks are free to do what ever they prefer. I dabbled in pedals until I found the right amp... for me. Then I saw no need for them. The one exception being a solid Wah.

My comment wasn’t a judgement just a preference being stated.
I meant to multi quote you and Cliff, wasn't just directed at you. But I knew you were stating preference, I was just giving counter-point
 
Can't wait to get the III now (shipped today!), the BB was my favorite with the amps I used. I would classify the BB as a mid gain pedal but in the AX8 it seems to have less gain, like the Barber LTD - more of the clean boost FractalAudio describes.
I just haven't had that experience. I used the real pedal back in the day and gain wise it's very close to me
 
I meant to multi quote you and Cliff, wasn't just directed at you. But I knew you were stating preference, I was just giving counter-point
All good Amigo. Thanks for setting me straight. Funny thing is when I first started out I was pedal crazy.

Then I veered in to rack technology in the early and mid-nineties. Hardware pickings were thin back then and required a serious dive in engineering and producing to achieve the desires tones as far as I was concerned.

They offered all tones in one or two units. I spent way too much time tuning those systems. Always a compromise.

I am extraordinarily grateful of what has been developed since those painful days. In between those days and having acquired my beloved Axe FX III... I rebelled and played strictly straight in to tube amps.

I have no ragrets. The days of plugging right in to the real thing and making that work... shaped me.
Fortunately, it grew me in other ways and I can now fully apreciate what Fractal Audio has done.

All of my tricks... available. Most of the amps I could desire.... present. Cabs? IR’s? Miccer please.

I would loved to have learned guitar from the beginning with this incredible tool.
 
I completely agree. I used to own a room full of very nice amps (cabs too, of course), and tons of pedals. My favorite tones (clean, break-up, drive, etc.) always came from the actual amp. No pedal replicates that fully. The only thing that came really close were the Kingsley pedals. They are my pinnacle for drive pedals. Other than my AX8, I'm down to a ADA Rocket amp with a prototype of the Ethos pedal. That actually does a nice job too.

I still prefer getting my distortion from the amp. I played professionally for 25 years and never in that time did I ever use a distortion/fuzz/drive/etc. pedal.
 
All good Amigo. Thanks for setting me straight. Funny thing is when I first started out I was pedal crazy.

Then I veered in to rack technology in the early and mid-nineties. Hardware pickings were thin back then and required a serious dive in engineering and producing to achieve the desires tones as far as I was concerned.

They offered all tones in one or two units. I spent way too much time tuning those systems. Always a compromise.

I am extraordinarily grateful of what has been developed since those painful days. In between those days and having acquired my beloved Axe FX III... I rebelled and played strictly straight in to tube amps.

I have no ragrets. The days of plugging right in to the real thing and making that work... shaped me.
Fortunately, it grew me in other ways and I can now fully apreciate what Fractal Audio has done.

All of my tricks... available. Most of the amps I could desire.... present. Cabs? IR’s? Miccer please.

I would loved to have learned guitar from the beginning with this incredible tool.
It still could stand for a few personalized tricks though.
 
I use drive pedals and love 'em. Virtual ones as well as real ones. Many great tones were created with the additional help of pedals.

This is the minimal pedalboard I sometimes use, in front of a Fryette GPDI, Axe-Fx or AX8:

IMG_0847.jpeg
 
I used to keep a preset on my II call "Oh God It Sounds Like High School" with the Metal Zone model and a bunch of effects all strung out in series into the JC120 model. I made it to try to remind myself how bad I used to have it when I was a kid, and all I had was a bottom shelf Peavey SS amp and a couple crappy effects. The thing is, no matter how bad I tried to make it, I'm pretty sure it still sounded better through the Axe than it did through my old high school rig! I think I should revive that preset the next time I am on the sauce.

LOL, I just had flashbacks to my first "piggyback amp" rig (ca. high school in the mid-'70s). A Harmony Rocket plugged into the Maestro Fuzz Tone and EHX Small Stone phaser, running into an Acoustic 150B solid state bass amp, into a homemade cab with two Heathkit 12" speakers. I liked it better than my silverface Fender Deluxe, because it was "bigger". I was the loudest kid in school, too.
 
I'm still holding out hope that Cliff will model the "Melter" from Steel Panther. Double points if he makes the drive block turn pink when it is selected!
 
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