gigawatt
Experienced
Sorry I left out customer service and updates, but still think it's a good sell...
Sure, always happy to talk Axe FX, hope ya got a few minutes...
As far as other components I use with it; 1st a Carvin Poweramp for about $600, then about another $100 to retube it cuz the tubes it came with were horrible. Then it's just a matter of whatever 412 cabs you like. I used V30's for quite a while but got sick of the spikey highs and lack of bottom end in comparison. I added a couple GT12-75 and that was better, but after trying the Heritage 30's I was sold on that combo. The 75's help on stage for bottom end and fullness, and miking the H30's works well for the sound guy fitting nicely in the mix. I also have a 412 with Celestion Centuries that move a ton of air, it's mostly for larger stages and is the bottom cab in a full stack.
Back to the Axe FX, there's two models, the Standard ($1400) and the Ultra ($2000). If you don't use a lot of effects the Standard will do fine, if you like guitar synth, or running long chains of effects together you'll need the Ultra cuz the Standard will run out of processing power. I went with the Ultra and although I don't usually run long chains, I wanted this to be the end all of any gear I would need, besides power amp and speakers.
It does take much getting used to however, and since buying the Axe I also bought several other amps for simplicity and trying to beat it's sound. I have an Egnater 4100 head that sounds awesome and an old Soldano X99 preamp that nothing beats for dynamics. Also had an Engl E580 midi preamp that was the best sounding pre I've ever heard, but there was a delay when switching patches that was totally unacceptable for a $3000 preamp.
One of the best features about the Axe is something I'm not using at the moment, but just haven't had the time to tweak. Mostly cuz my PA is not at my house anymore (divorce), it's now at the other guitar player's house. It was fun for a while tho especially when the wife was out of town and I had a 10,000 watt PA at the time in my basement. The clarity was to die for...
You really don't need a cab or power amp at all. It will do all that for you direct to the PA 10 times better than any POD/Line6 modeler. My only prob with that is trusting the sound guy. For Steve in Romeos, it's prolly not a problem cuz they always have good sound guys. I'd be scared to use it with the guy that brings his PA to a venue he's never done sound for and doesn't have his shit dialed in eq wise. I really hope I don't have to do anymore shows like that, but our female singer likes some of these smaller venues that don't have sound because she knows the owner and can get a good draw. She's a really good singer but has never played with anyone that's any good, so most importantly she has no ego, but also no sense for a good sound guy. She's so serious tho that she went out and bought a $700 Neuman mic, (not wireless) but probably the best stage mic in existence. We all had to bite our tongues when the sound guy said to us, "who uses a condenser mic live?" Well we played the show, and sound guy convinced her to use one of his mics, an EV 767, and the feedback was still horrible. He sucked but the crowd still loved us.
The Axe FX is best for cover bands, if you are looking for many different sounds to cover a ton of different material, it's all in there.
If you just need one sound, my fav is the Bogner Ecstacy. If you have never been to Makin Music downtown, go check them out. You'll need that Bogner cab too tho if you want that sound. The Diezel VH4 was disappointing, very noisy and again a one trick pony. Both good for tribute bands but not great for many different covers.
That's where the Axe FX is so great, it does everything very well. But it takes a lot of time getting used to. If you're familiar with how damping, sag, and master volume affect your tone, you'll love it's flexibility. If you don't care about such things, most of this is done for you by its maker. It's hard to go wrong, and there are loads of great people on their forum to help. Geez, sounding like an add campaign, sorry...
Sure, always happy to talk Axe FX, hope ya got a few minutes...
As far as other components I use with it; 1st a Carvin Poweramp for about $600, then about another $100 to retube it cuz the tubes it came with were horrible. Then it's just a matter of whatever 412 cabs you like. I used V30's for quite a while but got sick of the spikey highs and lack of bottom end in comparison. I added a couple GT12-75 and that was better, but after trying the Heritage 30's I was sold on that combo. The 75's help on stage for bottom end and fullness, and miking the H30's works well for the sound guy fitting nicely in the mix. I also have a 412 with Celestion Centuries that move a ton of air, it's mostly for larger stages and is the bottom cab in a full stack.
Back to the Axe FX, there's two models, the Standard ($1400) and the Ultra ($2000). If you don't use a lot of effects the Standard will do fine, if you like guitar synth, or running long chains of effects together you'll need the Ultra cuz the Standard will run out of processing power. I went with the Ultra and although I don't usually run long chains, I wanted this to be the end all of any gear I would need, besides power amp and speakers.
It does take much getting used to however, and since buying the Axe I also bought several other amps for simplicity and trying to beat it's sound. I have an Egnater 4100 head that sounds awesome and an old Soldano X99 preamp that nothing beats for dynamics. Also had an Engl E580 midi preamp that was the best sounding pre I've ever heard, but there was a delay when switching patches that was totally unacceptable for a $3000 preamp.
One of the best features about the Axe is something I'm not using at the moment, but just haven't had the time to tweak. Mostly cuz my PA is not at my house anymore (divorce), it's now at the other guitar player's house. It was fun for a while tho especially when the wife was out of town and I had a 10,000 watt PA at the time in my basement. The clarity was to die for...
You really don't need a cab or power amp at all. It will do all that for you direct to the PA 10 times better than any POD/Line6 modeler. My only prob with that is trusting the sound guy. For Steve in Romeos, it's prolly not a problem cuz they always have good sound guys. I'd be scared to use it with the guy that brings his PA to a venue he's never done sound for and doesn't have his shit dialed in eq wise. I really hope I don't have to do anymore shows like that, but our female singer likes some of these smaller venues that don't have sound because she knows the owner and can get a good draw. She's a really good singer but has never played with anyone that's any good, so most importantly she has no ego, but also no sense for a good sound guy. She's so serious tho that she went out and bought a $700 Neuman mic, (not wireless) but probably the best stage mic in existence. We all had to bite our tongues when the sound guy said to us, "who uses a condenser mic live?" Well we played the show, and sound guy convinced her to use one of his mics, an EV 767, and the feedback was still horrible. He sucked but the crowd still loved us.
The Axe FX is best for cover bands, if you are looking for many different sounds to cover a ton of different material, it's all in there.
If you just need one sound, my fav is the Bogner Ecstacy. If you have never been to Makin Music downtown, go check them out. You'll need that Bogner cab too tho if you want that sound. The Diezel VH4 was disappointing, very noisy and again a one trick pony. Both good for tribute bands but not great for many different covers.
That's where the Axe FX is so great, it does everything very well. But it takes a lot of time getting used to. If you're familiar with how damping, sag, and master volume affect your tone, you'll love it's flexibility. If you don't care about such things, most of this is done for you by its maker. It's hard to go wrong, and there are loads of great people on their forum to help. Geez, sounding like an add campaign, sorry...
