Analog Drive Pedals in front of Axe III to get better FEEL, who else is doing this?

Mark Al

Inspired
I have been using 4~5 drive pedals in front of my Axe III for late night practice with headphone for a while now, e.g. treating a Fender tone patch in Axe III as the pedal platform.

I found I really like how things feels with analog pedals in front, i.e. it feels more real.

I have A/B compared a bunch of real analog pedals with the one modeled in Axe III, tone-wise, they can be dialed quite close, but feel wise, the real pedal clearly impart their own characters which is often lost in the digital model. The pedals I compared includes Timmy (V2 and V3), OCD (V2 and GE), Fulldrive V2, Prince of Tone, etc.
 
Use what gives you the feel you want. I haven't felt the need to use anything other than what's in the Axe III when it comes to drives. I've bought, sold, made and used more than my fair share of OD and distortion pedals and have replicated a few of my favorites in the Axe III. I can't say that I've found anything lacking with Fractal's models when it comes to tone, gain structure or feel. Not everyone will draw the same conclusion or have the same experience.
 
It's been so long since I have even plugged in a pedal ... but they are all sitting there in the closet maybe I will pull some out and give this a shot! Would be interesting to see. All I know is I love the ease of setup and control with just the III and the FC6/12..wouldn't want to add more unless necessary for a gig.
 
It's been so long since I have even plugged in a pedal ... but they are all sitting there in the closet maybe I will pull some out and give this a shot! Would be interesting to see. All I know is I love the ease of setup and control with just the III and the FC6/12..wouldn't want to add more unless necessary for a gig.
Certainly, give it a try, you may or may care the difference, all-in-one setup is absolute great.

But I find I get something extra when using real pedals that is missing from the digital world...
 
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I know a bunch of people who do this because they like the pedals into cleanish amp thing. But personally, one of the biggest reasons I switched to digital is so that I can toggle the amp drive up and down because in my experience no pedal overdrive sounds or feels as nice as a cranked amp.
 
I have been using 4~5 drive pedals in front of my Axe III for late night practice with headphone for a while now, e.g. treating a Fender tone patch in Axe III as the pedal platform.

I found I really like how things feels with analog pedals in front, i.e. it feels more real.

I have A/B compared a bunch of real analog pedals with the one modeled in Axe III, tone-wise, they can be dialed quite close, but feel wise, the real pedal clearly impart their own characters which is often lost in the digital model. The pedals I compared includes Timmy (V2 and V3), OCD (V2 and GE), Fulldrive V2, Prince of Tone, etc.
Yes! I run an full, real pedal, pedalboard into the Axe III, using the Fractal for stereo amps and cabs only. I like the way the real pedals hit the amps and the feel you get from the pedals.
I know a bunch of people who do this because they like the pedals into cleanish amp thing. But personally, one of the biggest reasons I switched to digital is so that I can toggle the amp drive up and down because in my experience no pedal overdrive sounds or feels as nice as a cranked amp.
Like me! :blush:
 
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I know a bunch of people who do this because they like the pedals into cleanish amp thing. But personally, one of the biggest reasons I switched to digital is so that I can toggle the amp drive up and down because in my experience no pedal overdrive sounds or feels as nice as a cranked amp.
Interestingly, I compared a bunch of cranked amp in Axe III with my pedal drive overdrive tones, I like the latter. Again, largely due to the familiar feel I get from the pedals.
 
Yes! I run an full, real pedal, pedalboard into the Axe III, using the Fractal for stereo amps and cabs only. I like the way the real pedals hit the amps and the feel you get from the pedals.

:blush:
Interestingly, I compared a bunch of cranked amp in Axe III with my pedal drive overdrive tones, I like the latter. Again, largely due to the familiar feel I get from the pedals.

To each his own! 🤣
 
I dont see how plugging anything into a guitar can change how it feels, in the literal definition. And in terms of responsiveness, the axefx has latency, and putting another piece of gear in front wont change that. So Im not understanding both the "problem" or the "solution" here.
 
Don't know about feel changes unless you mean impedance, but I'll be running my Greer Lightspeed in front until it's modeled by Cliff. 🤘
 
None of these matter much for recording, as the FEEL your fingertips perceives in real-time playing doesn't translate into recordings. However, often when an amp or pedal inspires me, it's not only the tonal characteristics, but how they feels at my fingertips.

I use my Axe III setup mainly for recording and late night practice, otherwise whenever I can, for personal indulgence, I fire up my tube combos, as they feel MUCH better.
 
None of these matter much for recording, as the FEEL your fingertips perceives in real-time playing doesn't translate into recordings. However, often when an amp or pedal inspires me, it's not only the tonal characteristics, but how they feels at my fingertips.

I use my Axe III setup mainly for recording and late night practice, otherwise whenever I can, for personal indulgence, I fire up my tube combos, as they feel MUCH better.
Do you think you could identify in a blind test if you couldnt hear the sound? Im curious what you are "feeling". I dont follow at all. Where are you located? Id love to setup a test. Honestly.
 
THIS:

0A0541FA-CB11-4493-8962-BFE2D8E35328.jpeg

The one in the Axe is pretty close, but not there. (For @yek guide) the one modeled is something in between the clean and the OD mode so at full gain it doesn’t reach the full gain in the real one. Plus I miss the higher gain option, it is something that should be added, maybe I’ll post in the wish section.
 
Man, I went back to my pedals and tube amp platform after using Fractal
for nearly an entire year non-stop and hated the drive tones especially. YUK!

We are all different, but the only real question for me is why did I ever think it
sounded good??? ;)
 
I tried that at some point.

It kind of made me hate my drive pedals and seriously consider selling all of them. So, yes....to each their own.

I seriously might get a little pedaltrain and put together a general use, "just in case" board and then sell everything else.
 
The secret about stomp drives is that they existed to fix problems the amps had and they are useless when the amp is perfect.
Like when you have an amp that doesn't filter out the lows in it's input circuit, you need a tube screamer to do that. But if the amp already filters out the lows in it's input circuit, you don't want a tube screamer in front.

The point then in the digital world is to not dial in a perfect amp that needs no drive anyway.

Dial in the the Marshall 1959 without any low cut in front, so it can't handle loud and bassy content from your guitar. Now add the tube screamer to fix that. Now that drive block starts to sound good.
 
I tried this with a Strymon Sunset recently and ended up taking in back off the board and selling it. The drive blocks are just as good in my opinion and by having the added complexity of audio, midi cabling and power to the pedal seems like a disaster waiting to happen (to me anyway).

The other thing is the EQ on the drive blocks are way better than the EQ on the Strymon Sunset and much easier to see what's going on in the editor.

Just my experience ...
 
It's been so long since I have even plugged in a pedal ... but they are all sitting there in the closet maybe I will pull some out and give this a shot! Would be interesting to see. All I know is I love the ease of setup and control with just the III and the FC6/12..wouldn't want to add more unless necessary for a gig.
This... Unless the pedal did something that was very unique, I do not use any pedals, just adds noise\extra cables.
 
I don't miss pedals at all. I think something(s) a lot of people don't consider is that the models are 1v1 to their real world counterparts so it takes some tweaking, and that we typically run the amps in the Fractal much hotter than we would real world because there are no volume limitations. Guys will dial up a fender no master and the volume on 7 and not be happy with the results, when real world you'd be deaf.

Not saying that's the OP's experience, or @boyce89976 , but something I've seen time and time again
 
I know a bunch of people who do this because they like the pedals into cleanish amp thing. But personally, one of the biggest reasons I switched to digital is so that I can toggle the amp drive up and down because in my experience no pedal overdrive sounds or feels as nice as a cranked amp.
Agree
 
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