jeffinaustin
Inspired
The last two weekends I've had the chance to play in a couple of different situations that have really increased my appreciation for the tones I'm getting out the AxeFX. I'm like a lot of us on this board in that I'm constantly second guessing my sound, gear choices, wondering if it's only me that digs it, etc... I've had the Axe now for a couple of months and have created about 8 amps with my basic effects layouts and have what I consider to be some really good sounding rigs. I've accurately (to my ears) dialed in my Fuchs ODS30 in addition to what I think an AC30, JTM45, and Plexi sound and feel like in addition to a couple of cool dual amp setups. All that said, I'm still like most in that I wonder if it's all in my head sometimes.
So, back to the last two weekends. Last Sunday night got to sit in at a church in North Austin which has about a 2000 seat theatre/performance hall type building with a killer system and one of the best sound guys Austin has to offer running FOH. I was playing alongside a buddy of mine who is a bonafide tone snob (original Matchless DC30, Way Huge, Fulltone, ZVex, mid-70's Gibson 335, etc...). I had my rig along with my Hermida 1x12 sitting about 2 feet from his on the backline with my AC30 patches dialed up for the set. I honestly had convinced myself that I'd probably be driving home trying to figure out how to sell all this stuff and get back into a "normal" tube rig. As soon as we fired up I was no longer concerned. Our tones and the resonance in the room was darn near identical. Then once FOH had us both up in the house (I was running direct and just using my cab as my stage monitor) I actually thought mine sounded a wee bit better! Afterwards I went and talked to the soundguy and got his input. He showed me on the board what he had to do to our tones. The other guy's rig had some major eq happening on his to reproduce what his amp sounded like in the house. Mine had a dip at about 1K (narrow Q, down 2-3 db) and slight boost around 300-400 for about 2-3db. The soundguy was blown away at how well it sat in the mix and said how easy it was to work with. One down!
Last night I got to play an outdoor thing for a community event with about 4000 people. Great PA and another killer sound guy whom I've worked with a lot and knows my tone journey quite well. Used my rig the same way (direct to FOH, 1x12 Hermida for stage volume) and the tone was just killer! Bounced around between my JTM45, Fuchs ODS30, and a combo of an AC30 and Trainwrech that I dialed in. Sounded and felt absolutely killer. And then this happened.... The guitarist for the band after us was running late and didn't have a chance to get his gear. We're buds so he asked if it would be ok if he used my rig. I obviously didn't care EXCEPT for the fact that I was afraid it would totally mess with his head since he had never played something like this (GC Pro switcher, expression pedals). He's a KILLER player and has a great old school rig. I told him ok and walked him through the setup. He played a tele through my AC30 patches with various delays and such. About 3 songs in you could see him get comfortable and he just BURNED! Cool thing was I actually got to stand at FOH and hear my rig being played by a great dynamic player with a great band and hear it in a great context.
Bottom line is I'm completely sold on this thing. The only weak spot I've found with it is my own ears from time to time. I'm convinced this thing really can hang in real world setting alongside the gear that it can, imho, replace.
So, back to the last two weekends. Last Sunday night got to sit in at a church in North Austin which has about a 2000 seat theatre/performance hall type building with a killer system and one of the best sound guys Austin has to offer running FOH. I was playing alongside a buddy of mine who is a bonafide tone snob (original Matchless DC30, Way Huge, Fulltone, ZVex, mid-70's Gibson 335, etc...). I had my rig along with my Hermida 1x12 sitting about 2 feet from his on the backline with my AC30 patches dialed up for the set. I honestly had convinced myself that I'd probably be driving home trying to figure out how to sell all this stuff and get back into a "normal" tube rig. As soon as we fired up I was no longer concerned. Our tones and the resonance in the room was darn near identical. Then once FOH had us both up in the house (I was running direct and just using my cab as my stage monitor) I actually thought mine sounded a wee bit better! Afterwards I went and talked to the soundguy and got his input. He showed me on the board what he had to do to our tones. The other guy's rig had some major eq happening on his to reproduce what his amp sounded like in the house. Mine had a dip at about 1K (narrow Q, down 2-3 db) and slight boost around 300-400 for about 2-3db. The soundguy was blown away at how well it sat in the mix and said how easy it was to work with. One down!
Last night I got to play an outdoor thing for a community event with about 4000 people. Great PA and another killer sound guy whom I've worked with a lot and knows my tone journey quite well. Used my rig the same way (direct to FOH, 1x12 Hermida for stage volume) and the tone was just killer! Bounced around between my JTM45, Fuchs ODS30, and a combo of an AC30 and Trainwrech that I dialed in. Sounded and felt absolutely killer. And then this happened.... The guitarist for the band after us was running late and didn't have a chance to get his gear. We're buds so he asked if it would be ok if he used my rig. I obviously didn't care EXCEPT for the fact that I was afraid it would totally mess with his head since he had never played something like this (GC Pro switcher, expression pedals). He's a KILLER player and has a great old school rig. I told him ok and walked him through the setup. He played a tele through my AC30 patches with various delays and such. About 3 songs in you could see him get comfortable and he just BURNED! Cool thing was I actually got to stand at FOH and hear my rig being played by a great dynamic player with a great band and hear it in a great context.
Bottom line is I'm completely sold on this thing. The only weak spot I've found with it is my own ears from time to time. I'm convinced this thing really can hang in real world setting alongside the gear that it can, imho, replace.
