The Elusive "Tube-ry Feel" of Axe-Fx III

Well it's good but it is not like my Diezel VH4 or any other amps I've ab tested it against. FR FR or VHT and 4x12.
 
Well it's good but it is not like my Diezel VH4 or any other amps I've ab tested it against. FR FR or VHT and 4x12.
S8rVo3b.gif
 
By the way, I am getting more familiar and better dialing tones, Axe III provides so much more effective tools to sculpture tones and feels, I am loving it :)

Tonight, I focused on dialing the "Room/Air" part of the patch, man, with some "room sound", my patch no longer sounds like recorded out of a anechoic chamber, and it sounds much better. I find myself liking to set the room mix between 15%~30% and put mic spacing around 30%, then the tone sounds way more nature and AITR.

So much fun, playing and tweaking the III!
 
By the way, I am getting more familiar and better dialing tones, Axe III provides so much more effective tools to sculpture tones and feels, I am loving it :)

Tonight, I focused on dialing the "Room/Air" part of the patch, man, with some "room sound", my patch no longer sounds like recorded out of a anechoic chamber, and it sounds much better. I find myself liking to set the room mix between 15%~30% and put mic spacing around 30%, then the tone sounds way more nature and AITR.

So much fun, playing and tweaking the III!
I've found you don't have to stray very far from the stock values for it to sound great!
 
I will say as a new Axe FX III owner I am happy with the "feel" and the dynamics. I have a room full of Mesas that I rarely play because people complain, I am doing pretty well finding my tones with the Axe FX and playing again now.
 
I'm a little bit of an oddball in this group because I run a stereo pedalboard into the Axe III (using two inputs on the Axe). I've had Helix, Kemper and a bunch of great amps (BadCat, Two Rock, Matchless & Welagen - still have the Matchless and Welagen).

I completely agree with you in regards to feel... Helix felt least like an amp to me, Kemper was better, but every amp had a similar feel. Axe III is the only one I've used that feels like the real thing. It's dynamic, responsive and touch sensitive, and best of all takes pedals as well as the real thing.

I posted this in another thread, but this was my first shot a some Dumble SSS type tones. The best clip where I think you can even "hear the feel" is the last of the three starting at about 1:27. I'm not a huge John Mayer fan, so don't expect the playing to be right, or very good, haha.

Hi @boyce89976 have you shared that patch anywhere? I love that last sound...
 
@Mark Al I had the Helix and subsequently sold it when I got my Axe-FX III.

The Helix reminded me of my old DigiTech GSP 21 in two ways:
1. The feel was very stiff and felt like it had training wheels on in terms of a very stiff feel and non chaotic distortion in terms of getting the bloom.
2. The routing on the Helix also hinders creativity in a similar way. If you like parallel drives or compression, you need to make certain compromises to make that happen. If you want to mix dry signal in with your drive pedals, you need to make certain routing compromises to make that happen. If you want want to EQ your modulation, delay, or reverb effects, again you need to do compromises to make that happen as their blocks do not have powerful EQ in them.

The other thing that disappointed me with the Helix was the bizarre series of steps you needed to take to update the firmware and the amount of people that ended up bricking their units. It's 2021, that really shouldn't be a danger and more than a two step process.

I do not miss my Helix at all.

But if it works for you as a tool and you do not experience these shortcomings, then I am not sure what you really need to experience with the Axe-FX III to make you think that a purchase is a good move.
 
I've developed what sounds and feels to me like playing through actual tube amps (especially my old Marshall) through experimenting with the many amp parameters in my Axe 3. And I've not yet switched to Cygnus.
 
Hey! I don’t think so.l, but I haven’t checked since Cygnus Beta came out. I’ll check it this weekend and post it. Keep in mind it’s just input, amp, cab, output since I run a pedalboard into the Axe.
Yeah perfect, or even just a screenshot would be awesome
 
The obvious way I can really feel the tube in Axe FX III, it's just you have to play loud. Trust me, you will feel that tube in AXE FX.

Never miss my helix.
 
Yeah perfect, or even just a screenshot would be awesome
Hey man... wow, Cygnus really changed the Ford Dumbles! This is really close to the preset in that recording, and the touch sensitivity is off the charts now, even with an 808 and a boost pushing the amp.
 

Attachments

  • Ford Dumble Pushed 57121 III_20210307_183746.syx
    48.2 KB · Views: 13
Hey man... wow, Cygnus really changed the Ford Dumbles! This is really close to the preset in that recording, and the touch sensitivity is off the charts now, even with an 808 and a boost pushing the amp.
Awesome thanks man, can’t wait to try it. I’m so excited about this FW, who knew it could get better? I guess Cliff did.
 
When I first got the Axe Ultra and subsequent FW updates I was captivated by the tones and elimination of all the frustration, burdensome, annoying problems and maintenance issues with my tube amp
I love my FM3 too, but what's all this “frustration, burdensome, annoying problems” with your tube amp? Was it a cheap one? Seems exaggerated.

I can't say I've ever been frustrated or annoyed with any of my tube amps, which have been Marshall, Mesa, Orange, Dr Z. They've all been very reliable and enjoyable.
 
Go watch Leon Todd and communicate with him, he knows more about this than anyone. It was one of the things I was concerned about when acquiring. Also he uses a solid state amp with Marshall 4 x 12 which he has modelled also. For me if you want the best advice he is the man to talk with.
 
I love my FM3 too, but what's all this “frustration, burdensome, annoying problems” with your tube amp? Was it a cheap one? Seems exaggerated.

I can't say I've ever been frustrated or annoyed with any of my tube amps, which have been Marshall, Mesa, Orange, Dr Z. They've all been very reliable and enjoyable.
Having spent many years lugging a heavy, stupidly loud (if you want it to sound good), somewhat unreliable AC30 around to various gigs and rehearsal rooms, I can concur on all their points. I remember a fun time where the rectifier shorted and a HT fuse blew before going on stage. The only way to replace it is to literally take the chassis out.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom