A Vintage Guy And The Axe-FX 2

What would you recommend for a powered solution?

At the moment I do not have the cabbage to go spend $1,200 plus on a monitor. It is just not in the cards. I know (based on reading this forum) the NX 12-SMA along with the new Atomic CLR series are the flavors of the month (I am sure for very good reasons) -- any thing else out there for a "poor" vintage guy who wants to keep his rig as simple as possible?

Personally I like the Verve -- have no issues at the moment and it sounds really good to my ears in my home (have not gigged it yet powering the new Axe). My old vintage ears cannot pickup any of the stuff people talk on this forum with respect to it - especially with the simple setup I plan to use.

In any event -- the Verve is one of our floor monitors and eventually it has to be returned to its "PA" duties.





Dpoirier said:
The problem with Verves is that they have a honky sound that is nowhere near natural, and does not match the "average" FOH system. Therefore, you will tweak your presets so that they sound ok on the Verves, and then when you hook up these same presets into a natural-sounding system or a recording rig, the resulting sound will be all screwed up because these natural sounding systems do *not* need all that fake compensation. I made the mistake of trusting those old raving reviews of the Verves back at the time, and bought two. I regretted it ever since. More recently I ditched them, and bought a pair of RCFs and am happier than I've ever been. I had to retweak my patches, but now they're properly tweaked for everything (my RCFs, my recording rig, and the vast variety of FOH systems I plug into for rehearsals and gigs).
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If you're on a tight budget try the LD Systems Mon121a, it's not the loudest and a bit shy on the low bass and high treble, but otherwise pretty flat.

To see what's wrong with the Verve search for my old thread about it.
AFAIR my corrective EQ IR is in that thread, too (otherwise contact me and I'll send it to you).
If you want to use the Verve do yourself a favour and use that IR in a cab block at the end of your chain that goes to the Verve. Route it so that the other output (for PA use) does not go through it.
You may be surprised how different the Verve will sound through that IR, but that only shows how far off it is WITHOUT the corrective EQ.

BTW: If you use the Verve as a PA monitor the same applies: it needs heavy EQing to be useful.
 
I have a gig next Friday --

Kind of scary for me to be even considering not taking a tube amp to a gig.

The gig is at a pretty popular Irish Pub in NJ and the place the band sets up is pretty tight (can't believe I have been playing there with a vintage twin ) -- I should not even think about and just do it.

I will at least have my old pedalboard (no controller) to help me with the transition.
 
I used to be a Tube only kind of guy, but ever since Axe FX II, I never looked back.
Enjoy your Axe! :)
 
Dpoirier said:
The problem with Verves is that they have a honky sound that is nowhere near natural, and does not match the "average" FOH system. Therefore, you will tweak your presets so that they sound ok on the Verves, and then when you hook up these same presets into a natural-sounding system or a recording rig, the resulting sound will be all screwed up because these natural sounding systems do *not* need all that fake compensation. I made the mistake of trusting those old raving reviews of the Verves back at the time, and bought two. I regretted it ever since. More recently I ditched them, and bought a pair of RCFs and am happier than I've ever been. I had to retweak my patches, but now they're properly tweaked for everything (my RCFs, my recording rig, and the vast variety of FOH systems I plug into for rehearsals and gigs).
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Thanks for the explanation. I use them only at home for goofing around. So far they do the trick. I actually miss the 4x12 sound and I may go back to that route unless Cliff and company blow my socks with the new IRs they are cooking.
 
hussamd said:
Sorry if I missed the intention behind this graph. Are you suggesting an EQ that looks like the figure above to correct the sound if using the Verve?
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Yes.
That's the curve of my corrective EQ...

BTW: The .syx I just posted is in AXE-II format, but it's converted from the gen1-syx, so lores.
I'll be doing a hires version in the next days from the original wav.
Nevertheless it should work fine as it is.
 
Friend, I love vintage amps as much as you do and frankly without them and the magic of Fractal none of this new era of tone would be possible. I have a vintage 63 Vibroverb and it still sounds so amazing, but back issues as well and the fragile nature of these museum and extremely valuable pieces have me putting my beloved Vibroverb for sale. You will not be disappointed with your new toy. I am selling the 63 on ebay soon. It should be in a museum
 
merlin17 said:
Yes.
That's the curve of my corrective EQ...

BTW: The .syx I just posted is in AXE-II format, but it's converted from the gen1-syx, so lores.
I'll be doing a hires version in the next days from the original wav.
Nevertheless it should work fine as it is.
Click to expand...

Tried loading it and it could not be recognized as Axe II format. Any one have the same issue?
 
Bro -- I am back and this time for good!!!!

I have the other amp I told you about that was sent to me to "try out".

I have it side by side with the Axe with the Verve ..... and the Axe just sounds better for what I want.

Dude you of all people know how many times I almost put my head through the wall trying to make the axe work for me several years ago ---

I am telling you all I did was pull up one preset (the twin) on the Mark 2 and adjusted like any amp -- and it kills --

Running my board in front of it -- it kills

the zendrive hitting the amp -- it kills.

I like the amp that was sent to me to try out -- but I can't believe I am saying this -- the Axe has a better Twin tone than this hand built tube amp professes to have.

there you have it.

You know me Galo so for me to say that -- it is a big deal.



Galo said:
;) love it
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pa they r killing it at Fractal...after i move to my new place in a fiew weeks ill be joining you...have fun.
 
Load the IR as you would load any other speaker IR.
Right now I'd use a Midi Sysex app (although Axe-Edit may work).
Select the User Cab slot in the Axe's cab block you want to have the IR in and then send it from the app, that should be it.

Then:

use it last in the chain that goes to your Verve.

If you use Output 1 to your Verve and Output 2 (mono or stereo) to FOH: put the FX Send block second last, then the cab block with the corrEQ IR behind it last in the grid.
If you use Output 2 to your Verve and Output 1 (mono or stereo) to FOH: put the cab block with the corrEQ IR in a parallel row in the third last slot in the grid followed directly by the FX Send block. Do NOT connect the FX Send block to the Output Tab!
The parallel row gets connected to the Output Tab.

Hint: If you use the corrEQ IR hires in a mono cab block your previous stereo FX get summed to mono on the way to your Verve.
If you want just one mono side of the stereo signal you have to use the Cab block stereo and put the corrEQ in the side you use the Verve (or just put it in both L&R slots). Of course don't use Mic sims, Room level, Air in that Cab block!

Switch OFF "copy output 1->2" in the Global I/O page!

Still questions? Ask...

Best, Peter
 
What if you are not going to FOH? Do I still need this? Most of my gigs are in small clubs and I never mike up my amp (larger clubs that is a different story).
I was not planning to run in the rig in stereo (nor going into our PA) -- so for now it will be one Verve -- so I need to do turn on copy output 1 >2

Will it still work in that situation?

I am very curious to see what the fuss is all about -- seriously I think the Verve FBT sounds pretty damn good. I did EQ the amp to my tastes.

I can see if you are running to FOH you need to have a the same sound FOH as coming out of the Verve ... but in reality isn't going to sound different anyway (depending on the speakers being used with the PA system - if if you set every flat on the board?

I am not a sound guy -- I just dial my amp in to the room and play -- LOL

I am going to take her out on the first gig this Friday (little nervous about not using a tube amp). It is a very small club. Since I don't have my controller yet -- I was going to bring my smaller pedalboard for delay, OD (zendrive) and a couple effects I use on a couple of tunes --

Like I said it is a small room - just the verve. Band has keyboards(horns etc) /bass/drums and two up front singers

Should be interesting -- no tubes that night :eek:



merlin17 said:
Load the IR as you would load any other speaker IR.
Right now I'd use a Midi Sysex app (although Axe-Edit may work).
Select the User Cab slot in the Axe's cab block you want to have the IR in and then send it from the app, that should be it.

Then:

use it last in the chain that goes to your Verve.

If you use Output 1 to your Verve and Output 2 (mono or stereo) to FOH: put the FX Send block second last, then the cab block with the corrEQ IR behind it last in the grid.
If you use Output 2 to your Verve and Output 1 (mono or stereo) to FOH: put the cab block with the corrEQ IR in a parallel row in the third last slot in the grid followed directly by the FX Send block. Do NOT connect the FX Send block to the Output Tab!
The parallel row gets connected to the Output Tab.

Hint: If you use the corrEQ IR hires in a mono cab block your previous stereo FX get summed to mono on the way to your Verve.
If you want just one mono side of the stereo signal you have to use the Cab block stereo and put the corrEQ in the side you use the Verve (or just put it in both L&R slots). Of course don't use Mic sims, Room level, Air in that Cab block!

Switch OFF "copy output 1->2" in the Global I/O page!

Still questions? Ask...

Best, Peter
Click to expand...
 
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If you're using JUST the Verve, put the Cab block with the corrective EQ last in the grid and use whatever output you want (if you use Output 2 then switch on "copy out 1->2").
 
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