n00b question about choosing amps

tysonlt

Power User
Hello.

I have a problem with the Axe FX 3. There are TOO MANY AWESOME AMPS!!! :)

I've played a modded Fender HRD for about 10 years, so having access to Marshall and Vox amps is a dream come true, but I don't have the experience with these amps to narrow down the list.

I have a 90's grunge gig in two weeks, and I just want to pick 3-4 amps to cover it. Here are some goals:

PJ - Alive
Soundgarden - highway
STP - interstate love song
Chillis - under the bridge.

I have a Fender Duo sonic and a 96 LP studio.

Heellpp!!!

I am loving @austinbuddy 's amp pack and have settled on the JTM45 for the Fender. I know this is a "do-my-homework" question, but does anyone have some recommendations for a few amps? So far I am loving the Marshall Silver for the Gibbie. I have also really been learning a lot from @2112 's 5-minute tone vids, and want to have a go at making my own patches.

Thanks...
 
Google the amps the bands used on those records, no need to settle at all, a variant of every single amp they would have recorded with is available in some form.

First though if you haven't already, take a run through Yek's amp guide to get a visual on what the names mean, it helps me a lot when I have (por ejemplo) skipped over one named 'boutique' for two years thinking it's yet another hipster tweed lunchbox, then seeing in parenthesis it's actuality a gawdam matchless...


Amp Guide:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8fvjvrqnryihp86/Yeks_Guide_to_the_Fractal_Audio_Amp_Models.pdf
 
Thanks folks... I have no idea how to dial these amps in so I will check them out and read the guide!
 
Thanks folks... I have no idea how to dial these amps in so I will check them out and read the guide!

You dial in all amps the same.

1. Master off, tone and gain knobs at noon
2. Crack master and bring it up to 'feels right' preference
3. Adjust gain knob(s) to 'feels right' preference
4. Adjust tone knobs to 'feels right' preference
5. (If applicable) Adjust output EQ to 'feels right' preference.

High end is like sugar, if you start by emptying the bottle of Aunt Jemima on the whole plate, anything less than that will be a disappointment. If you take a bite without sugar first, taste it, then drizzle the slightest bit of syrup on top, just enough to barely taste it, you can start drizzling little tiny bits in different places of the signal chain, and as long as you don't empty the bottle in any one place you can't screw it up. You can't have a bad dark tone, the only bad tone is too bright.
 
get in touch with them feels

if you start with the gain barely on, you can hear the guitar pickup giving it basically nothing as far as signal, everything after that with the amp is just breaking the signal somehow and then EQing it. just depends how much you want it to be broken...
 
Those sounds will sound great on most any amp, they aren’t that unique of tones. No one in the audience is going to care if the amp model isn’t exactly what the original artist used. Heck, half the time the actual artist change rigs over their careers and play the old songs on the new gear and it still sounds good.

Nothing wrong with making it as close as you can, but don’t sweat the small stuff.

I had a good buddy who played in a really popular cover band. Wide catalog and be used one amp and one guitar with like 3 pedals for all of it, 80s dance pop to country to hard rock stuff and no one complained he didn’t have 15 amps so he could have the “right” one for each song.

Again, nothing wrong with that approach, but it’s totally overkill most of the time.

Play the song well, with energy, and the audience will love it.
 
You dial in all amps the same.

1. Master off, tone and gain knobs at noon
2. Crack master and bring it up to 'feels right' preference
3. Adjust gain knob(s) to 'feels right' preference
4. Adjust tone knobs to 'feels right' preference
5. (If applicable) Adjust output EQ to 'feels right' preference.

High end is like sugar, if you start by emptying the bottle of Aunt Jemima on the whole plate, anything less than that will be a disappointment. If you take a bite without sugar first, taste it, then drizzle the slightest bit of syrup on top, just enough to barely taste it, you can start drizzling little tiny bits in different places of the signal chain, and as long as you don't empty the bottle in any one place you can't screw it up. You can't have a bad dark tone, the only bad tone is too bright.

Good analogy
 
Do a search in the forum for Yeks amp model guide. He goes through each amp model, lists a bunch of fun factoids, and gives recommendations on speaker types and sometimes settings.
 
Those sounds will sound great on most any amp, they aren’t that unique of tones. No one in the audience is going to care if the amp model isn’t exactly what the original artist used. Heck, half the time the actual artist change rigs over their careers and play the old songs on the new gear and it still sounds good.

Nothing wrong with making it as close as you can, but don’t sweat the small stuff.

I had a good buddy who played in a really popular cover band. Wide catalog and be used one amp and one guitar with like 3 pedals for all of it, 80s dance pop to country to hard rock stuff and no one complained he didn’t have 15 amps so he could have the “right” one for each song.

Again, nothing wrong with that approach, but it’s totally overkill most of the time.

Play the song well, with energy, and the audience will love it.

This is a good tip. I guess that’s why I’m looking for only 2-3 amps. I used only one amp for years myself.
 
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