ToneLabRat
Experienced
So you've tried lots of IRs, different guitars with what I'm assuming have different pickups. You've tried tone matches and other people's tone matches. You've tweaked until your ears bleed and you aren't happy.
Have you ever gotten a recorded tone out of any other rig that you're happy with? Like - an amp and cab with an SM57 on it? Or a Pod? Or any other thing? Explain if you have, please. What guitars are you recording with? What pickups are you using? How old are your strings when you record your clips? Are you sure the guy in the clip you posted hasn't applied post processing to the guitars? Like a limiter, multi-band compression, tape saturation, console saturation, or even EQ?
But mostly, I'm interested in hearing any other recorded tones that you've done that you ARE happy with. If you've never recorded tones you are happy with, how do you know whether or not the Axe-fx II recording experience would differ?
EDIT: And for the record, I'm pretty sure what the guy has going in that clip is a drive pedal in front of an amp with very little gain and it's being pushed really hard, and he's probably got some air dialed in on the cab as well as (maybe) a dialed in amount of motor drive. Your clip has more gain, scooped mids (especially in the 700-1500 Hz region) and a lot more bottom end. I'm also guessing he's using really fresh strings and your are old, but that's a total spitball assessment.
Speculum - your posts are always very informative - you clearly know what you are talking about with metal guitar. Maybe a little off topic but definitely related - what are post processing effects you would recommend to nail that modern hi-gain highly saturated tone? I think in the end what MetalGarret and all of us care about is the tone that ends up on our recorded music.