jimfist
Fractal Fanatic
I work with a lead guitarist who had been using an old (but pretty decent sounding) Lexicon MPX-G2 preamp/fx with the Signature 284 amp and 2x10 cabinet. It finally has been showing signs of crapping out for good, so I offered for him to try out my AxeFXII mk1 (17.x firmware) to use until he decides what to do. Our band does a pretty large dose of straight-ahead, hard rock and metal, with some classic rock mixed in.
Being a bassist, I've been using the AxeFx Ultra and II for quite a few years, so this is a first for me to actually be "hands-on" programming and auditioning the AxeFx in a 6 string guitar context.
As he is on the road much of the time, I set about the task or organizing presets and sounds using a spare Behringer FCB1010 as follows:
- top row switches: 6 thru 9 as preset "rig" switches; switch 0 as tuner/bypass mute
- bottom row switches: 1 thru 5 as scenes set up as 1 = cln rhythm; 2 = dirt rhythm; 3 = cln lead; 4 = dirt lead; 5 = wild card
- both clean and dirty tones were created using Scene modifiers attached to Input Trim, Gain, and Level in the amp block
- autoengaged wah set up on Exp 2 pedal
I had "rig" presets for:
- vintage/classic Fender Twin (TS drive pedal for leads)
- classic rock: Plexi 50 watt High
- hard rock/vintage metal: Marshall 800
- modern metal: Peavey 6160
All presets used UltraRes IRs in the Cab Block and the high res mode for the reverb (btw, the hi rez mode sounds exceptionally good IMO, leaps and bounds better than the normal rez mode previous). Reverb mix was set very low, around 10%+/-, but audible enough to matter.
Last week I spent an hour with the guitarist to go over the sounds and footpedal moves he'd need to make. He brought a Mackie HD112 powered cabinet, while I had my 2 CLRs there, which I used to monitor for the creation of the sounds. We spent a little time tweaking a few things, some level, tone and effects changes. As I mentioned in another post, we wound up switching to the CLR for about 5 minutes at the end of the session and this guitarist was doing his best to hide the fact that he was pretty much blown away by the clarity of the CLR. He wound up taking the CLR and the AxeFxII home with him, in preparation for this past weekend's gig.
At the gig, setup and sound check went flawlessly, using the CLR as a personal stage monitor. Venue was about 400+ capacity, large stage and dance floor and full complement house PA system of good quality and power. Sounded nice! During the show, it was as if the guitarist never missed a beat. All of the levels seemed pretty balanced from rhythm to lead (thanks to the new level Output Meter!!!), and I don't think anyone would have ever known that this was his virgin voyage with a brand new rig - other than, perhaps, his sounds were more varied and appropriate for the types of tunes we were playing, and IMHO his sounds were just a lot nicer in general.
So, to summarize, another WIN for the AxeFxII + Atomic CLR combination. I couldn't have been happier for the guitarist and for the band in general, as the rig worked great and sounded excellent. The question now is whether he's going to spring for an AxeFx rig of his own.
Being a bassist, I've been using the AxeFx Ultra and II for quite a few years, so this is a first for me to actually be "hands-on" programming and auditioning the AxeFx in a 6 string guitar context.
As he is on the road much of the time, I set about the task or organizing presets and sounds using a spare Behringer FCB1010 as follows:
- top row switches: 6 thru 9 as preset "rig" switches; switch 0 as tuner/bypass mute
- bottom row switches: 1 thru 5 as scenes set up as 1 = cln rhythm; 2 = dirt rhythm; 3 = cln lead; 4 = dirt lead; 5 = wild card
- both clean and dirty tones were created using Scene modifiers attached to Input Trim, Gain, and Level in the amp block
- autoengaged wah set up on Exp 2 pedal
I had "rig" presets for:
- vintage/classic Fender Twin (TS drive pedal for leads)
- classic rock: Plexi 50 watt High
- hard rock/vintage metal: Marshall 800
- modern metal: Peavey 6160
All presets used UltraRes IRs in the Cab Block and the high res mode for the reverb (btw, the hi rez mode sounds exceptionally good IMO, leaps and bounds better than the normal rez mode previous). Reverb mix was set very low, around 10%+/-, but audible enough to matter.
Last week I spent an hour with the guitarist to go over the sounds and footpedal moves he'd need to make. He brought a Mackie HD112 powered cabinet, while I had my 2 CLRs there, which I used to monitor for the creation of the sounds. We spent a little time tweaking a few things, some level, tone and effects changes. As I mentioned in another post, we wound up switching to the CLR for about 5 minutes at the end of the session and this guitarist was doing his best to hide the fact that he was pretty much blown away by the clarity of the CLR. He wound up taking the CLR and the AxeFxII home with him, in preparation for this past weekend's gig.
At the gig, setup and sound check went flawlessly, using the CLR as a personal stage monitor. Venue was about 400+ capacity, large stage and dance floor and full complement house PA system of good quality and power. Sounded nice! During the show, it was as if the guitarist never missed a beat. All of the levels seemed pretty balanced from rhythm to lead (thanks to the new level Output Meter!!!), and I don't think anyone would have ever known that this was his virgin voyage with a brand new rig - other than, perhaps, his sounds were more varied and appropriate for the types of tunes we were playing, and IMHO his sounds were just a lot nicer in general.
So, to summarize, another WIN for the AxeFxII + Atomic CLR combination. I couldn't have been happier for the guitarist and for the band in general, as the rig worked great and sounded excellent. The question now is whether he's going to spring for an AxeFx rig of his own.
