A 2 year experience with the Axe Fx..

Sammetal91

Power User
It's been an interesting journey really. I bought my Axe Fx Standard back around this time 2 years ago and still remember how excited I was to own what was deemed "the end-all" guitar processor. Back in the days when there was no waitlist, very limited quantities, and sometimes even sold for $500+ for what they were originally priced for. F5 reigned supreme and people jumped on sellers like crazy. A simple, yet barbaric time.

Anyways, a little background: I've played a fair amount of modelers and software emulators mostly through headphones for such a good portion of my guitar playing time that tube amp "feeling" was never really something I have or will ever be overtly concerned with, even after playing good quality tube amps to a certain point. I grew accustomed to processed guitars from hearing a lot of modern metal albums and the few times I played good tube amps were in studio environments with me hearing what a 57 and 121 were picking up. So as a result of all this, I really never have had a concept of "amp in the room" tone or live tones and when I try to make a guitar tone when recording, sometimes it sounds processed already to a fault.

The Axe Fx was such (and still is) an unsual beast when I got to sit down and fiddle with it. There were so many things I could twist and turn and some of them I couldn't tell what it was really doing. I read the manual, look at the wiki, and fiddled away. I liked what I heard, but I still didn't understand how to work it. I was still thinking and limiting myself to how I was accustomed to. I was still thinking and hearing like how I would do things with the other stuff I've used to the point of frustration. I wanted to understand why big rig tube guys were absolutely crazy with this box if I couldn't get it to sound like anything I heard from all the cool kid tone snippets. So I just turned knobs, listened, read forum posts, turned some more knobs, etc. in hopes that I would get what I was looking for at the time tonally.

However over time I also considered looking at software emulators of late to see if there were more convenient ways of getting what I wanted all in one spot out laziness of reamping and just to see what was out there. I wasn't unhappy with the Axe Fx, I just wanted to see different options as a person who uses musical tools. I bounced around with the modelers I had used in the past and some new ones along with even buying a tube amp. I thought they sounded pretty radical so I started using them for some projects. Then things started happening...

On one occasion I went to Guitar Center to fiddle with a Telecaster and having never tried the tube/solid state hybrid designed by Bogner amp, I plugged in and started playing with cleans and crunch. The amp felt stiff and uninspiring to everything I did. I hadn't realized until then how much the Axe actually spoiled me in the feeling department. Considering feeling isn't a crazy factor for me and I've played questionable amps, this was an eye opener.

On another occasion I used a modeler at a practice at church and nothing I did would keep it afloat the other relentless frequencies everybody else was throwing around. Tried changing the mic models, nope. Tried changing cabs, nope. Tried different amp types, nope. Nothing worked and I ended up using the Axe Fx for the actual performance like I usually do.

Next, I tried using the modeler for reamping guitars. I went through the same issues I had with the live dilemma and then some as for some reason I couldn't get a dirty clean or crunch I liked and in frustration said the cardinal sin of Audio Engineering: I'll fix it in the mix. That didn't turn out well at all. I tried another software modeler in hopes that I could lazy my way outta getting a couple of cables to connect the axe and digi 002. That didn't work either. So finally I threw my hands up in the air and decided to delazify (<-- ???) myself and reamped with the Standard. Not only was it relatively painless, I got what I wanted and all was well without the hassle of hoping to fix it with a 10 band parametric eq.

Finally, I use a tube amp for practices with the band I'm in. I like the amp, but I don't like the fact that amps are finicky, partially sentient beings and decide when to sound nice or not. I also wanted more flexibility without having a pedalboard like my bandmate. Yes I am aware that I can use the Axe as an fx unit, but I didn't like having both units out at once for simplicity/laziness reasons. So I gigged and practiced with a tube amp until I decided to use the Axe Fx as the tone shaper. I bought an EHX .44 Magnum power amp pedal and basically winged tone shaping on the spot for practice. I got what I wanted quickly, practice went very well and now I have so much more flexibility at my control than before. I'm still keeping the amp, but the axe is the star now.

I could keep going but I just wanted to list a couple of little things that made me realize why this black box is sought after and why I come back to it. It is not only a tool, but to me it opened up a lot of possibilities. I get to use amp models I will never be able to afford or probably play in the comfort of my room. I can (and have!) use it direct to PA, direct in for recordings, or with a cab live and it performs well in all these aspects. I can make a rig as simple or complicated as I want as long as I have cpu room for it of course. I am no longer bound by the rules of my wallet, limited signal flow, trying, selling and buying different pieces of equipment. The only thing that restricts me from what tone I desire is time and creativity.

All of this didn't come without the price of learning however. Things like picking the right cab for the job really go unsaid for a very good reason. Overdoing by using multiple para eqs and graphic eqs without really knowing what you're really after or turning too many knobs you most likely never need to turn is a fault of mine. Hell I've done a lot of dumb things. However I have learned to get more of what I want without much or any hassle with the Axe Fx by keeping it down to a simple order of operations. It doesn't mean I don't make mistakes or won't have a bad tone day anymore. I still have those, I just have less of an excuse to have them.

I dunno how Cliff and his staff continues to do what they do, but I'm glad they do and hope they continue to operate as done for as long as possible. Because of them, I've found the tool that lets me enjoy myself as a musician and as a hack audio engineer. It is the tool I will keep using to try to answer the age old question: what is a good guitar tone?
 
Sammetal91, that was a hell of a review. Thank you!
it was something I had been wanting to do for a while but I had trouble organizing my thoughts. I hope I can show others that even people with no experience (or at least experience with questionable amp modelers) like me can hopefully find the ultimate tool in the Axe Fx.

Thank you all for reading :D
 
Really enjoyed reading your story. There are a lot of good lessons to learn in there.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 
Good review

It often helps to try and get your thoughts down into a presentable form of words - it really helps clarify your own perspective and understanding :encouragement:
 
Great story, Yup in the 3 years I've had an axe i've learned to turn a lot of knobs :D mostly with good effect,some time bad but thats how you learn. The speaker cab is probably the #1 in a great tone.FW 10 has been a great update. I'm liking a lot more amps now. I'll mention I've discovered the speaker tab in the amp block.Playing with that, with some of the higher gain amp really helps me get my tone.And of course ,with delay,reverb,pitch.I've been using 2 delay lately.FAT tone :D
 
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