After the first night of fiddling

DrDeaf

Member
Hi All,

Well, today my Axe FX II arrived. Have done a few hours of fiddling around with the factory presets. I used it with both headphones and my 2x12 V30 cab (in stereo).

Im both impressed and underwelmed...if that's possible :)

Impressed: The sound quality is excellent! I'm sure that, if I put some time into it, I can get a great tone. Flexibility and the featureset is just awesome.
Used it with USB as an audio interface to improvise on some backing tracks. Works like a charm. Axe Edit (after a little messing around to get Windows 8 drivers installed) looks like a great tool.

Underwhelmed: There a alot of amps that to me sound almost the same. I recon that not having good FRFR (my headphones are not up to par) gets in the way of hearing the nuances.
I can hear and feel that the modeling of the AFX is better than anything I've heard in that area sofar. I understand speakers and gtr are a huge part of your sound. But, for instance, the Mesa Boogies didn't sound like boogies to me in my setup.

Does anybody recognize this? any tips?

Thanks!
 
The cab is 50% of your sound. Mesa sound requires a Mesa cab sadly... So the Petrucci cab/Cali/Recto2 etc. Try those with headphones.
 
Thanks for the reply Clark,

It's not just the Mesa amps, overal I find the differences very subtle. (in my setup)
I tried the factory presets, so I expect the cabs to be suitable, right?
 
Thanks for the reply Clark,

It's not just the Mesa amps, overal I find the differences very subtle. (in my setup)
I tried the factory presets, so I expect the cabs to be suitable, right?
A lot of people are underwhelmed after using the factory presets. Make your own presets, start from scratch!
 
welcome to the club..
maybe your forum name explains why you are not hearing properly... just kidding.
as mentioned, imho also, the presets are meant to be starting blocks for new users.
each of us hears the same thing differently anyways.
by all means play around with the cabs... they're great!
i do what scott (peterson) suggested, combine two different cabs in stereo but panned to the middle for newer tones..
 
Indeed, making your own presets is the way to go. And, when you do, spend some serious time researching ir's. Loading user ir's is the Axe strongest feature!
 
maybe your forum name explains why you are not hearing properly... just kidding.

:lol Indeed!

I'll try some cabs, for sure.

My live situation is going to be with a guitar cab, so that is going to be my main focus.

Tonight I'll try and make a few patches. Going to be your basic cln, drive, lead combo.
 
Thanks for the reply Clark,

It's not just the Mesa amps, overal I find the differences very subtle. (in my setup)
I tried the factory presets, so I expect the cabs to be suitable, right?

It's still the cab. It's very close to realism... you'd be surprised at how similar most amps sound. IMO the cab is more important than the amp. If you're using your cab you can't make it sound like another cab. But basically... just make your own presets and you'll love it. I would suggest frfr if you want the full versatility.
 
I completely hear you as far as going thru a real cab . I find a lot of the high gain models sound very similar thru a power amp->cab. I find much more
"individuality" with the lower gain amps (for some reason they all sound more unique).
that's not to say I have't dialed in some great sounding patches thru my Matrix ->2X12, but a lot of the Higher gain amp models do sound similar when not FRFR.
 
I completely hear you as far as going thru a real cab . I find a lot of the high gain models sound very similar thru a power amp->cab. I find much more
"individuality" with the lower gain amps (for some reason they all sound more unique).
that's not to say I have't dialed in some great sounding patches thru my Matrix ->2X12, but a lot of the Higher gain amp models do sound similar when not FRFR.

Thanks for the reassurance.....maybe not Deaf after all lol
 
A lot of amp models will sound similar if you're using the same cab. That's just the way it is. The cab or IR is the greatest contributing factor in terms of tone that there is. It's funny to see so many guys fussing over "amp" tone on this forum, when in all actuality the cab is most likely the primary issue.

If you're not hearing the differences when using headphones then you're headphones are too "colored". Find some better headphones with a flatter response.
 
As everybody just said-there is a learning curve with the Axe II.
I felt the same after a night or two. But after 40 days with the Axe-I can honestly say it has been the best guitar Gear I've ever purchased.
I mostly rig it thru the FOH and floor monitors and I'm blown away by it every nite. I have a Recto and I can say that the Axe II is pretty darn close-sound wise-especially the vintage settings which is my fav.-and about a thousand pounds lighter!
The IR's are diffently the key to the treasure box IMO. It's in there just give it some work.
 
When I first got the Ultra, I dialed everything in through my PC speakers (not studio monitors) and I couldn't hear the subtleties of some of the controls. Some appeared to do next to nothing. Then I got a set of the first Atomic Wedges and when I plugged in I was blown away by how much each control affected the tone. I think the amp models are very different and react to the same cab very differently. For instance, the Energyball sounds much different than the Fryette 60m, which sounds drastically different than the VH4.
 
What are you using for headphones? Cheap headphones produce cheap sound. Also, what everyone else mentioned - dial your own tones. Select an amp, and double click the bypass button to reset the amp to default, select a cab that's close to what you want, then start fuckin with the controls to dial in your sound. For now, leave the advance paramters alone and keep it simple. Turn off all effects until you're close to the tones your after.
Follow Scott's advice from his video on keeping it simple' atleast for now: Scott's shizzle
 
Thanks for all the input guys!

The headphones I use are ar least cheap in sound. I bought them for the noise cancellation on plane rides.
Of course when using it on the AFX, cancellation is off.

I'm planning on getting a Sony 7606 (if i remember correctly) any time soon. FRFR speakers is for later. I'm almost bankrupt :)

Night 2 was better. I played a little more. Tried making my basic presets, using the model of the amp I used before the Axe. (JVM410H)
Which after a while started to sound pretty familiar. I also went through some of Fremen's patches, some of which i really liked.

I have few days until a practice session. But i also have to get my new Little Giant up and running.....going to be tight :)
 
Thanks for all the input guys!

The headphones I use are ar least cheap in sound. I bought them for the noise cancellation on plane rides.
Of course when using it on the AFX, cancellation is off.

I'm planning on getting a Sony 7606 (if i remember correctly) any time soon. FRFR speakers is for later. I'm almost bankrupt :)

Night 2 was better. I played a little more. Tried making my basic presets, using the model of the amp I used before the Axe. (JVM410H)
Which after a while started to sound pretty familiar. I also went through some of Fremen's patches, some of which i really liked.

I have few days until a practice session. But i also have to get my new Little Giant up and running.....going to be tight :)
I ran the Sony MDR 7506 phones for a while but never really liked them. On the recommendation of a friend, I bought a set of Audio Technica ATH-M50's and couldn't be happier. Waaaaay mo betta. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
like most have said, a lot the amps will sound very similar because they are very simlar. you've basicially got fenders, marshalls, boogies and vox and their variants. sure a hot rodded marshall (like the marsha hbe) sounds different than a normal marshall, but it's still going to have similarities because its just a VERSION of the original.
 
After 5-6 months I'm doin pretty good with axe, there's still things I'm learning how to do and there's still a lot to learn.
Even a genius can not master the AXEFX2 in a few days!
 
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