Axe-Fx 3 worth to use only for bass?

Yea, again I was speaking of effects too. and no GK? But the Mesa is good to see. I've never met a bassist who uses orange, but they do make some nice guitar stuff so I'm sure it could be good.

Regarding the built in helix cabs - they can sound great, but yes out of the box they need a little work. What is great is they are much lighter in the DSP department, so you can push the box much further without CAB IRs, once you do get the tone you want from the built in cabs.

Anyhow - as noted.. that's a big improvement over the older fractal setups for bass.
 
And the distortions? Besides the b7k block. Are there other ones?
Is it possible to achieve any sansamp distortion effect on axe 3?

One of the presets I found on the exchange is "Metalcore bass" - it includes the scenes "SANSAMP" and "SANSANP DRIVE" that sound just like my BassFlyRig. The miracle of modern technology: for just two grand you can own a device capable of mimicking a $300 stomp box. :p

I've never gotten cleaner, punchier tones with whatever rigs I've used since the mid 1980s (well, maybe my SVT+810 was louder).

It's also very flexible - for example, I buiit a single preset to let me jam along with a friend. Whoever was playing guitar had access to a wide variety of amps using the 4 available channels in the amp+cab blocks (I just copied/pasted channels from presets I already liked) as well as a separate piezo path for "faux-coustic" strumming. The bass player had a single channel amp/cab combo with a clean SV Bass.
 
Oh, I forgot about Sheehan's contribution: The Helix has a model of the Ashly® CLX-52, a product created in conjunction with Billy Sheehan

Anyhow - still somewhat more than the axe... more amps, fx. But not by nearly as much as searching online had suggested. YAY!

Note: I always find that right out of the box, fractal gives the best tone... others can get there, but it's the one right off the bat to make music with.
 
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Yea, again I was speaking of effects too. and no GK? But the Mesa is good to see. I've never met a bassist who uses orange, but they do make some nice guitar stuff so I'm sure it could be good.

Regarding the built in helix cabs - they can sound great, but yes out of the box they need a little work. What is great is they are much lighter in the DSP department, so you can push the box much further without CAB IRs, once you do get the tone you want from the built in cabs.

Anyhow - as noted.. that's a big improvement over the older fractal setups for bass.

When I had my AX8, the Orange was my favorite bass amp. I really hope they add a GK RB series at some point, but I won't hold my breath.
 
Pretty sure there's a wish for it, gotta add that +1. If enough people ask, it'll probably get added in.

Yes there was, it was my wish. (At least on the FM3 side) But, that said I have (2) GK amps at home now, so if I want that sound I can just use the real thing. I do find it odd that it's not already in the FAS arsenal. I would say far more people use GK RB series compared to the Orange AD200. That said, I do really like the Orange in the Fractal.
 
Yes there was, it was my wish. (At least on the FM3 side) But, that said I have (2) GK amps at home now, so if I want that sound I can just use the real thing. I do find it odd that it's not already in the FAS arsenal. I would say far more people use GK RB series compared to the Orange AD200. That said, I do really like the Orange in the Fractal.
yea.... GK is one of the main amps for bassists. You see them everywhere, and have for eons. Orange? Well, I saw one in a live video of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Side note: I couldn't recall his name for this post, so I googled:

great american working class rock star who died.

It was the answer that was default-previewed at the top of the page LoL. I guess that sums him up pretty well!
 
Axe Fx III is fantastic for bass. I have it, and use it daily. I recommend the III over the FM3 if you are planning to run two amp blocks in parallel, which I use all the time. (Think Ampeg SVT reasonably clean covering the low end, with a high-passed Guitar amp + distortion mixed in for flavor).

I have often spoke of the limitations in terms of amps, which I hope is someday fixed. No GK, no Ashdown, no Aguilar, no Trace Elliot, no Markbass...
The Helix offers more variety. Having played through both, I like the sound quality of Fractal better. You just have to work with a more limited set of amps.

The default IRs are very usable. Dr. Bonkers makes some phenomenal ones as well, as do other 3rd party providers.
 
^^^ As a new owner this is great to hear...I'm looking at the bass feature as a bonus...I had been tracking bass by going into my Focusrite pre, then into the PC/DAW and just using some vst's to shape the sound.
 
Although I’m not primarily a bass player, the FX 3 has made me play more bass. The number of bass amps is small compared to guitar amps, but I think the amount of flexibility and sound quality makes up for any short comings in that department. The fact you can get a great bass tone without rattling the household is a nice touch too
 
Any experiences with running the FM3 to a traditional Bass Amp and Cab? Perhaps that could be a little defeatist...or not/results I assume vary/depend. I do have a Powered MAS28 ...but I'm thinking I'll prob still need a pre amp, as when I connected the FM3 to Out 1 to it, I got no sound. I do have a bib nice rig...which I may ween off of for gigs...once they return. Our drummer is loud and I do like feeling my bass thru my 2x15 Dully. Powerful. Have always worn custom ear plugs with this band (w/o any monitoring in them)...so I'm quite used to wearing them. I may look into doing IEM and maybe the Backbeat, so that I get that feeling of the bass if I do ever go amp less.
 
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