After years of dreaming, I've finally got my hands on one of these. Now how the hell do I use it?

plyall said:
Someone transferring 'knowledge' to someone asking for help should actually provide real help, and possess such knowledge instead of the detritus that was offered ("Wing it. There's no secret to AFX goodness. It just comes down to fucking with it until things start to sing how you like").
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It read like empathy to me... I am so happy I've had the time to twirl the knobs in private and get comfortable, mainly because I remember how lost I was when I first got my Ultra. Everybody has been there, and nobody wants to go back, lol.

What I DO know tho, is my tones got better as soon as I started with just an amp block and a cab block, and polished that up as much as possible.

If OP wants specific advice, I'd say try the "Null Mic" in the cab block, so you can work with proximity effect on IR's you get. I'd also suggest hunting down the "motor drive" setting in the cab block, higher settings simulate a speaker working harder, and can give you compression when you need it but don't want to actually hear compression. Truthfully, most of the advice I feel I can give happens at the cab block... Find an amp you like, and live on the cab block screen of axe edit until you know it well. I bet you could make a usable patch out of every amp model if all you knew was the cab block, and the basic B/M/T/P settings of the amp.
 
Well, if I read the OP correctly - he borrowed an AxeFx. As in... it's temporary. It's not his, and he gets to play with it and give it back (unless of course it hooks him, and he buys one... which is pretty likely).

OP, you don't have to get into advanced parameters. In fact... don't. Get a tone, and play. The "bad advice" you were given wasn't that bad really. If your brand new to Axe FX, keep it simple, and you certainly do not have to spend hours in tutorials and video's to use this thing and use it well. Sure, in time you can and should explore the power user side of things, but at first just find some solid tonal goodness in the basics. Hell, the presets are a great place to start.

I use mine as a gigging player, and do some advanced things with it, but even at that, you can in fact grab an amp, a cab, a couple of effects (I always toss on a reverb and delay right off the bat) and go to town. Basic amp controls, and just flipping through the collection of IR's (Cabs) will keep you very busy, and get you very close (if not all the way) where you want to be.

After time, when you decide "you know, I love this tone, but I want it to cut more, or... I just need to get the flub out of the bottom... or "I wish the middle strings were more clear and separated " or something like that... then to me at that point I start tweaking deeper. (Mostly, because at that point it's faster than starting to search though amps and IR's all over to get something closer.) You can chase bloom and swirls and crap like that, and you can get into expression pedals morphing amps, and scene controllers, and all that fun stuff. For now, I'd keep it simple, or you might end up doing more studying than playing. My 1.99 cents...
 
My Axe-FX II XL+, MFC-101, and 2 EV pedals shipped today. Also, my Matrix GT1000 amp and 2 FR212 cabs shipped as well. I had both an original Vetta 1 combo, and for a few years a Vetta II head with 2 x12 Line 6 cabs. Sold the Vetta II head and cabs years ago. Kept the Vetta 1 combo, because I thought it sounded better. I said when my Vetta 1 died, I would upgrade to an Axe-Fx system. Well the Vetta 1 died in Dec. 2015. Looking forward to working with an Axe-Fx, but I know there will be a steep learning curve. However, I am hoping this forum, along with others will to share, will help reduce the curve.
 
I'm very new to Axeology as well. First and foremost, don't get frustrated. It really isn't that complicated, once you grasp how it works. What I did was first read the manual, or at least grazed through it. This way I understood the beast. I sampled all the presets, found a few I liked and started removing effect and parameters I didn't want (rotary or flanger, chorus or detune, etc), and added or changed other effects and parameters I wanted in the preset. Coming from all analog, tube amp, rack and pedals, I kept thinking that way. It helped me keep my processor overhead down and also, IMHO, made my presets sound better. The boys at Fractal really designed the software intelligently. I use the editor to add, turn on and off, move or remove effects, amps, etc., and I use the AXE controls to tweak and save them. I find that works best for me.
 
I've had over two years of fun with it just twirling the big knob in the middle. Yeah, people can get some great sounds by making all sorts of tweaks from diving into the advanced parameters, but you don't have to do that to get a good sound and have some fun.

If you have more fun not reading manuals, then I'd spend more time twirling through the presets and playing than I would trying to understand it. If reading manuals and understanding the guts and capabilities is your thing, then you can lose yourself for about 6 weeks of poking around.

Don't overthink it while you have it. Enjoy it and know that it's deep enough to qualify for one of Alice's rabbit holes :)
 
plyall said:
H13 -

Wow.

What an uneducated response. What a stupid response. What a moronic response. Are you a drummer?

RTFM, and in case you don't know what that means (and apparently you have no issues with language): Read The Fucking Manual.

And if you're too lazy to read the manual, see some of Chris's tutorials:

http://axefxtutorials.com

- or as suggested above, Cooper Carter's video(s).

The last thing you should be doing is 'helping' someone else with what is obviously an extremely poor grasp of the Fractal family.

Do you know about SAG? Do you know about speaker delays in the millisecond range? Do you know about how to manage Input Trim, or what the BOOST switch does? Do you know about the secret of running a 1x6" speaker in parallel with a 4x12 that sounds huge?

I'm betting 'no' to all of the above. You should be asking, and not telling. Where's a good 'noise gate' when you need one?
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This is one of the rudest and inappropriate responses I've seen in a long time. Not only was his response correct in that he should experiment with his device but it inspired looseness and not taking it too seriously when you start navigating the axefx. I read every word about the axefx before I purchased it because I'm that kind of guy and I want to know what this thing is capable of and I'm OCD at times, but rolling through presets and turning knobs is equally important too, dude.

The next time you feel the need to say something like this, don't. You're a prick. I hope your drummer slaps you for your infantile and snarky sense of commentary, ya jackass.
 
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Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

plyall said:
H13 -

Wow.

What an uneducated response. What a stupid response. What a moronic response. Are you a drummer?
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Yup. I run my electronic kit through SSD then into the AFX. It sounds brutals.I love how the Ford Dumble HMR* sounds on the snare.

Do you know about SAG? Do you know about speaker delays in the millisecond range? Do you know about how to manage Input Trim, or what the BOOST switch does? Do you know about the secret of running a 1x6" speaker in parallel with a 4x12 that sounds huge?

I'm betting 'no' to all of the above. You should be asking, and not telling. Where's a good 'noise gate' when you need one?
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Good on ya mate! Hope all that knowledge keeps you warm and fluffy and safe at night. Some people don't need to know all that stuff in order to get a great sound out of an AFX, but apparently you do. You keep rockin' over there buddy!

*Typo left in on purpose, specifically to shit you.
 
LearnedHand said:
My Axe-FX II XL+, MFC-101, and 2 EV pedals shipped today. Also, my Matrix GT1000 amp and 2 FR212 cabs shipped as well. I had both an original Vetta 1 combo, and for a few years a Vetta II head with 2 x12 Line 6 cabs. Sold the Vetta II head and cabs years ago. Kept the Vetta 1 combo, because I thought it sounded better. I said when my Vetta 1 died, I would upgrade to an Axe-Fx system. Well the Vetta 1 died in Dec. 2015. Looking forward to working with an Axe-Fx, but I know there will be a steep learning curve. However, I am hoping this forum, along with others will to share, will help reduce the curve.
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Holy smokes Batman!! You dove right in.

I had Vetta and Vetta II a long time ago and thought they were fun, but my love/hate relationship with Line 6 is over. I'm waiting for the AX8 but am also cruising EBay for AX FXs and have been intimidated by the depth of detail and all that possible tweaking. I'm not sure I want to spend most of the upcoming good summer weather here in VT in front of my computer flailing away trying to dial in good tones. :confused: But I must admit I am tempted by all that stuff and am easily hypnotized by lights and buttons and clever techie stuff. I've considered the Kemper w/ foot controller as it seems easier to navigate and the MBritt profiles sound pretty good but there is less room to move, so to speak in Christophe's unit. And its about 6 years old so I wouldn't be surprised to see something new from Kemper.

I am impressed by the helpfulness on these forums and in the community in general. It seems anyone can throw a rope to a drowning guitarist here, of any skill set.

Best of luck.
 
I knew nothing. I read what I wanted from the manual but nothing beats turning knobs. Some of my fav knobs are in advanced parameters. Don't be afraid!
 
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