The Axe Fx III remains!

Tremonti

Fractal Fanatic
  1. Suhr PT100 Head with midi(3 channels with a FET boost)
  2. GFI Systems Specular Tempus (Reverb and Delay)
  3. GFI Systems Synethesia Dual Channel Modulation (Modulation)
  4. Origin Effects Cali 76 Comp
  5. Digitech Whammy DT
  6. Electro Harmonix Super Switcher
  7. Dunlop Joe Bonamassa Wah
Very recently bought all this stuff above and thought I'd try something else to do what I need but with midi tube amp and pedals. After trying to hook everything up with DIY cables to length and power too, setting levels on everything, having to mic up and mix at board, deal with noise suppression issues and a slew of others things I gave up. Yes the Suhr PT100 amp sounded great and had that something that Cliff is getting close to nailing, but what a PITA for something that was extremely more difficult to set up, maintain and was not nearly as flexible and easy to do what you want. Nominal gain in touch sensitivity for a loss in almost every area.

I use to do this with Android phones every year, trying to get away from Apple. But I always come back to the Apple because it does what I need better than Android and the gains are not worth the vast amount of things I need to set up on Android that I always took for granted with Apple. Maybe I have finally come to that realization with Fractal and real amps.

Live and learn ......
 
Yeah I get you. I only use my real amps when it’s just the guitar and the amp. Anything else gets noisy, cumbersome and impractical.
For gigs, I have an ENGL e606 I can just bring everywhere and hook up to whatever cab is available. It’s lighter than the Furman+Axe+Matrix combo, and less bulky.

I’m waiting for the FM3. That’s gonna be the ultimate solution.

Btw what’s that “thing” Cliff is about to nail? How would you describe it?
I usually play my Axe through a cab and tbh It feels just like any of my tube amps. Switching to the Axe feels like if I was plugging my guitar into a different amp.
 
Every time I plug into the amps and analog pedals, I play for about 10-15 minutes and start missing my modelers in this order:

1. Axe FX III
2. Helix Floor
3. Kemper Stage

2 and 3 are about a tie.
Axe 3 is my current gigging rig...
 
I own and use a PT100. Great amp no doubt and very well designed. But as great as the PT100 is, I still end up gigging, doing studio work etc with the AxeFX 3. Too many reasons to count, but I can get so close to the PT100 with the III it's kind of a moot point, add in all the effects, other amps and the fact that it is a third of the weight and you can't deny the AxeFX III is the way to go.

As of now, my PT100 remains basically a practice and studio amp in my home studio. The AxeFXIII is racked and ready to go for any stage and session thrown my way.
 
I now have a good-sized pile of patch cables and guitar cables that I no longer need. I'd sell them online, but the postage would kill me. Think I'll donate them to a local school. I'll keep one in case my wireless rig dies.
 
About once a year, I get the hankering for a Tube amp. I go to the store, I plug in, most likely it sounds great (Wildwood had a PRS MT-15.)

After about 20 minutes, I've exhausted my hankering. It sounds excellent, but it's...limited. And nothing I cannot recreate in the III.

And you also forget all the other crap that you need with all that rig you bought. After too many experiences gigging, I had a backup of almost everything. Cables (speaker, guitar, patch, MIDI), batteries (these came in HUGE for bassists or guitars with active PUP's...I even hooked up co-headliners...) tubes, fuses, etc.

I'm pretty happy to be done with all that.
 
About once a year, I get the hankering for a Tube amp. I go to the store, I plug in, most likely it sounds great (Wildwood had a PRS MT-15.)

After about 20 minutes, I've exhausted my hankering. It sounds excellent, but it's...limited. And nothing I cannot recreate in the III.

And you also forget all the other crap that you need with all that rig you bought. After too many experiences gigging, I had a backup of almost everything. Cables (speaker, guitar, patch, MIDI), batteries (these came in HUGE for bassists or guitars with active PUP's...I even hooked up co-headliners...) tubes, fuses, etc.

I'm pretty happy to be done with all that.

Yeah, my backup for the Axe III rig is either the Helix or the Kemper Stage in a backpack... one backpack... LoL!!!
Never had to use the backup, either... gigged Helix and a Kemper Rack without having to use the backup before that.
 
Yeah I get you. I only use my real amps when it’s just the guitar and the amp. Anything else gets noisy, cumbersome and impractical.
For gigs, I have an ENGL e606 I can just bring everywhere and hook up to whatever cab is available. It’s lighter than the Furman+Axe+Matrix combo, and less bulky.

I’m waiting for the FM3. That’s gonna be the ultimate solution.

Btw what’s that “thing” Cliff is about to nail? How would you describe it?
I usually play my Axe through a cab and tbh It feels just like any of my tube amps. Switching to the Axe feels like if I was plugging my guitar into a different amp.
To me it is a super immediacy. The tactile feel of the notes and the way they harmonically blend in a smooth curve. It is small but the difference is there to my ears. But again it is not saying the Fractal is worse.....just different slightly. I've run the AFX3 with same cab using a Mesa 2:90 as well. Obviously amp models can vary and not comparing FRFR to amp/cab.
 
1. Axe FX III
2. Helix Floor
3. Kemper Stage

2 and 3 are about a tie.
Axe 3 is my current gigging rig...

for me is the other way
1.Kemper
2.Axe 3
Helix is not even close to the Kemper or the Axe 3,good effects on the Helix but his amps are ok,for me is a tie between the kemper and axe.
 
Just face it dude you have incurable G.A.S. Since I joined the club in Nov 2016 I have noticed you go from this Boogie to that Boogie form this amp and cab combo to another. Ive seen videos of your band and thought your sound has always been great. I'm in the same boat, I have a room full of racks, stands, speakers, cabinets amps its freaking ridiculous. I keep buying shit but never seem to sell anything cause I'm too damn lazy to deal with people or pack and ship. Plus there is no way I will recoup 2/3 of what I have spent, will be lucky to get half in Florida's market.
 
This is exactly why I refuse to sell my trusty old Marshall tube amp (even though my wife keeps pressuring me to). About once every 18 months I get this weird feeling that a real tube amp will somehow feel even better than the Axe-FX, so I plug into the old Marshall and last about 5 mins before going back to my Axe-FX again!! (Note I do give it a fair chance to warm up a little).

This way I save a LOT of money of potential amp purchases that I would end up regretting. :D
 
Every time I plug into the amps and analog pedals, I play for about 10-15 minutes and start missing my modelers in this order:

1. Axe FX III
2. Helix Floor
3. Kemper Stage

2 and 3 are about a tie.
Axe 3 is my current gigging rig...

Maybe this is a silly question, but I ask out of curiosity. Why multiple modelers? Do they provide different flavors just as different amps do?
 
I'm a firm believer that if you have good ears, you can make anything sound good. I'm a huge fan of the Fractal stuff, I've had the Axe FX II, the FX8 and now have the Axe FX 3. My friend has an ultra and a Helix and he has made them sound stellar - even the Ultra sounds miles better than most guitarists who play locally around here, because he knows what he is listening for.

We have 2 studio mastering engineers in my band and, using their advise and learning from them has made my gear sound absolutely awesome live, through small Pioneer XPRS systems, to the big Martin Audio rig we use and the line arrays we hook up to in theatres. You can make the Axe FX as simple or as complicated as you like, but in my experience, less is always more and the danger is, ending up after hours on end tweaking, all your amps sound the same. The reason I guess, is because people haven't actually heard an "XYZ" amp live in the first place, so don't know what they are listening for ?

I learned a long time ago (when I ran a G System with 2 Mesa Mark Vs and before that with 2 x Genz Benz El Diablo 100's) that not only do amps sound different depending on model, manufacturer, configuration etc, they also sound different even between the same models*.

The Axe 3 is super simple now to get a great tone. I find myself hardly ever using low and high cuts in the cab blocks or messing around with Input Trim, Hardness, Pick Attack like I used to on the II XL+, just bass, mid, treble, gain, level and thats about it. When I compare the Axe 3 to my G System + Stereo Amp setup, its digital routing has made the impossible, possible. No more 300 feet of cabling in 5 cable method (or even 7 cable method), ISP Decimator noise suppression, hum eliminators, input buffers, line drivers (that suck the tone) and my back is thankful for it.

I suppose the moral to my story is when dialling in a preset is "do not make perfection the enemy of the good"... most of the time just a few minor adjustments are needed to get killer tone and learn to stop fiddling. If you don't like what you hear after about half an hour of tinkering, you most likely wouldn't buy that amp anyway if you demo'd it in a shop.

* I remember a thread on here about John Petrucci's amp and people dialling in his Mesa EQ curve and complaining it didn't sound quite right. My Mesa Mark V's (both of them) were EQ'd different to each other get them to sound the same and my friends Mark V is EQ'd different to both of mine to sound like mine. In the analogue world nothing is identical, similar yes but not identical. Components vary in amp manufacturing I guess where software doesn't ?

Anyway, I'm rambling, have a great day everyone.
 
It's nice to have a few setups. My favorites are a champ pointing into the woods, or a small board into a deluxe reverb. Some things just work better in certain situations than others. The Fractal products have the widest range of uses IMO. Great if you have a new baby or want to play at low volume, perfect for gigs, and contains every guitar effect you could ask for plus synthesis. We are spoiled.
 
Just face it dude you have incurable G.A.S. Since I joined the club in Nov 2016 I have noticed you go from this Boogie to that Boogie form this amp and cab combo to another. Ive seen videos of your band and thought your sound has always been great. I'm in the same boat, I have a room full of racks, stands, speakers, cabinets amps its freaking ridiculous. I keep buying shit but never seem to sell anything cause I'm too damn lazy to deal with people or pack and ship. Plus there is no way I will recoup 2/3 of what I have spent, will be lucky to get half in Florida's market.
Ha well I tried a EVH 100 watt and a Mesa TC50. That is about it, except for this latest urge. But I think for my sanity I always need a Fractal around to feel at home.
 
+1 to OP. Last night tried to go direct to EFX loop in amp bypassing Cab sims, WOW what a PITA! The noise alone is enough to send me right back to my Fractal!
 
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