rmbaylin
Inspired
Just when I feel like I've gotten comfy with my rig, along comes a player with an amp and pedal board, and the cycle starts over.
Let me be clear, in that I've been an AXE guy for many years now and know my way around the unit and most of the do/don't to dialing in my tone. The chain is a AXE-II ---> Matrix GT1000---> Port City 1x12+ Port City 2x12 and a direct out to PA running QSC HPR122i (2). Cab sims off on the Port City, cab block direct to the PA (when I use a direct feed). I love the AxeFX-II, the versatility, the possibilities, etc. Not planning on changing anytime soon.
Overall I feel pretty happy with my tone, and then I play with another player using a tube amp and I start to hear all that is missing in the tone compared to the amp. I'm not a tube amp snob, never really owned a tube amp long enough to make it 'my rig'. But there is a certain something that is just missing.
For example - my fellow player had a crappy Fender Squire into a Kustom Defender 30W 1x12 with 6L6 tubes in it - it sounded so warm and chimey. I dialed in my Deluxe Verb amp setting in the the 1x12 and could get close, but that warm and chimey was not there. There was that 'blanket' everyone talks about. Not as much of a blanket, but there was something in the sound of my rig I just couldn't get to articulate. Both of our cabs are closed back.
Example II - Hot country. The other player used a Mesa/Boogie Stiletto 100W into a 4x12 cab. It has so much punch and jump off the strings as he played. I used my single Port 1x12 (not the same thing I know!) and I had it driven hard to keep up. The other guys complimented on my tone of the Dr Z patch, but when we jumped over to a Marshall sounding patch (Plexi maybe?) and hit the Drive1 it just sounded distorted with no warmth or clarity. His driven crunch sound was just so 'there'
So... maybe its just 'Amp Envy' and I need to spend more time working on patches. Perhaps its the cabinet, or hell even my guitar, but I find that I often hear other rigs and I think they sound better, despite costing 1/5th of my rig. This is probably why I need to go to an Axe-Fest---to hear other rigs. To date after almost 5 years in Fractal-Land I have yet to hear another AXE-FX unit!
</end_rant>
Let me be clear, in that I've been an AXE guy for many years now and know my way around the unit and most of the do/don't to dialing in my tone. The chain is a AXE-II ---> Matrix GT1000---> Port City 1x12+ Port City 2x12 and a direct out to PA running QSC HPR122i (2). Cab sims off on the Port City, cab block direct to the PA (when I use a direct feed). I love the AxeFX-II, the versatility, the possibilities, etc. Not planning on changing anytime soon.
Overall I feel pretty happy with my tone, and then I play with another player using a tube amp and I start to hear all that is missing in the tone compared to the amp. I'm not a tube amp snob, never really owned a tube amp long enough to make it 'my rig'. But there is a certain something that is just missing.
For example - my fellow player had a crappy Fender Squire into a Kustom Defender 30W 1x12 with 6L6 tubes in it - it sounded so warm and chimey. I dialed in my Deluxe Verb amp setting in the the 1x12 and could get close, but that warm and chimey was not there. There was that 'blanket' everyone talks about. Not as much of a blanket, but there was something in the sound of my rig I just couldn't get to articulate. Both of our cabs are closed back.
Example II - Hot country. The other player used a Mesa/Boogie Stiletto 100W into a 4x12 cab. It has so much punch and jump off the strings as he played. I used my single Port 1x12 (not the same thing I know!) and I had it driven hard to keep up. The other guys complimented on my tone of the Dr Z patch, but when we jumped over to a Marshall sounding patch (Plexi maybe?) and hit the Drive1 it just sounded distorted with no warmth or clarity. His driven crunch sound was just so 'there'
So... maybe its just 'Amp Envy' and I need to spend more time working on patches. Perhaps its the cabinet, or hell even my guitar, but I find that I often hear other rigs and I think they sound better, despite costing 1/5th of my rig. This is probably why I need to go to an Axe-Fest---to hear other rigs. To date after almost 5 years in Fractal-Land I have yet to hear another AXE-FX unit!
</end_rant>