Anyone try using UA Ox Stomp for their cabs?

[jimmynorrisjr]

Sure the AF3 and FM9 don't benefit from the Ox, but the FM3 certainly can. The Ox Stomp provides an off-board Cab Block (saves some 4-5% +- CPU), Reverb (saves a lot!), Compressor, EQ's and it's high quality Room Sim etc.

So Cliff, with regards to interfacing the Ox Stomp with the FM3, should all Amp Block Speaker Tab params be left at default as they effect the FM3's Amp Model (Speaker Compliance, Time Constant, Thump, Speaker Breakup, Speaker Compression and Speaker Drive etc), or...???

The Qx Stomp has it's own Speaker Drive control, so likely not good to have the FM3's Speaker Drive and the Ox's on together I would think?

TIA for any advice as I'm going to use the Ox Stomp with my FM3 primarily to save CPU, though the Ox Stomp while limited in scope and sporting a lousy editor, it does sound quite good with the FM3 while saving precious CPU.

Then you end up with a bigger footprint pedal board. Why not just get the FM9? I started my FAS journey with the FM3. It sounded great, but I need too many effects for all the different bands I gig with. I started adding pedals to save CPU and ended up spending more than if I had just bought the FM9, and had too big of a board to boot. Just my personal experience and my own two cents.

 

[My name is mud]

The response would vary depending upon volume. I'm not about to spoon-feed my secrets but anyone with a little tech savvy can probably figure it out.

So if I understand well, the axe got more dynamic and change with volume than an head with a Loadbox ? That’s it?

 

[DJD100]

Then you end up with a bigger footprint pedal board. Why not just get the FM9? I started my FAS journey with the FM3. It sounded great, but I need too many effects for all the different bands I gig with. I started adding pedals to save CPU and ended up spending more than if I had just bought the FM9, and had too big of a board to boot. Just my personal experience and my own two cents.

Yeah, though I'm happy with the FM3 footprint which I also use alone with tube amps/tube preamps for some things, as well as alone in the silent stage automated gig with the small pedalboard.

I started with the Ultra, and still have a Axe II with various tube preamps in a 4U rolling rack as a B-Rig at the studio (along with a OX Load box for use with tube gear).

I would buy a FM3 sized box with FM9 like power if one ever gets done, though otherwise will be sticking with the smaller footprint, i.e. nothing bigger than the little board in the previous post.

The OX Stomp sounds great with the FM3 and provides some useful knobs for quick virtual mic'ing adjustments at sound check without needing to hit the Performance Pages, so that's a nice thing as well, plus it's powered via the FAS Link and a 12V to 9V Buck Transformer, so clean integration with one power switch for everything etc.

The Ox Stomp has its own Speaker Drive control that the Ox Load does not have, so, so far IMO it seems to sound best with the FM3's Speaker Drive + Compression + Thump off, and all of the other FAS Speaker Tab params on at their default values (while utilizing the OX Stomp's Speaker Drive).

Cheers...

P.S. Getting some minor digital noise using the Fas Link power stepped down, bummer, will need to use isolated power for it if I keep it on the FM3's board. FYI, a cheap Joyo iso gizmo cured the noise issue. Note that I just use it for Cab/Mics, Mic'd Room Sim (Excellent!), and Reverb which saves a boat load of CPU on the FM3 (5% saved for the Cab Block, and lots more than that for the Reverb Block, though the OX Stomp's Reverb does not approach the FM3's being only a generic Plate). The OX Stomp does sound very good, and I don't feel I'm missing anything compared to the Cab Block and IR's).

 

[slinky005]

Here is my 2c from the persective of a pretty average Fractal user demographic, I suspect (ie: mainly a bedroom/home studio player)....

Firstly, for context, I have owned AxeFx itterations for a long time and absolutely love them. They output to Atomic CLRs and sound great. I then wondered what all the noise was about "real" amps being "better" than modellers, so I was fortunate enough to be able buy a Two Rock CRS (and shortly complemented it with a Marshall SV20).

The Two Rock and Marshall are also wonderful and, as has been debated endlessly with no need to conflate here, a tube amp into a cab does feel different than a modeller into a FRFR. I acknowledge and appreciate the reasons why.

I have improved as a player, in terms of technique, by the inspiration afforded by both the AxeFX and the traditional amps in their different ways.

But.....

Purely as a result of my own inability to effectively use the plethora of paramaters provided in my AxeFX by the genius of Cliff, I had noticed that I reached mostly to the real amps more and more. This because I just couldn't seem to find "the right cab" in the Axe, or tweak the controls to voice any IR - including dynacabs - to something I liked more. I stress this wasn't an apples and oranges unfair comparison between a "miked FRFR" sound and an "cab in the room sound", because I know they will always be different in that respect to a certain degree. Again, like most people in my user demographic, I play my amps attenuated and not pushing much air......but still I began to prefer the sound of them over the sound that I could achieve myself from my AxeFX.

This, I have no doubt, is a failing on my part to be able to leverage the paramaters, and not because the Axe can't achieve it.

I confess frustration at the feeling I was wasting all these potential fantasic modelled amps because of what I felt was the missing piece of the sound (due to my own inability to dial it in) lying somewhere in the cab block.

Enter the UA Ox Stomp!

My gosh, I haven't turned my AxeFx off all week!!

It has literally transformed what I already knew was a masterpiece product into something that an AVERAGE USER LIKE ME could get to sound like the masterpiece product I knew it always was!

And there, I believe, is the point : the combination of the two technologies, irrespective of their independent approaches, simply sounds great and that great sound is very easy and intuitive to achieve by someone like me!

@FractalAudio, if I had to give reasons, I could probably settle on just one major player :

• Room mics - primarily one simple mix knob on the UA unit being easy and a powerfully transformative blend control to the post-amp sound.

....if I turn this dial to zero, I'm back to feeling "something is missing - I don't like it". I've had so much fun this week trying every type of amp in the Axe with suitable cab pairings in the Ox Stomp. Within minimal time, in every case, I had a smile on my face at the new sounds coming out of my Atomic CLRs as I blended in the room mike parameter!

Conclusion :

I'm selling the real amps.

For me, the UA £380 pedal has transformed my ability to use Cliffs masterpiece and extract out the goodness that lurks inside it.

Just got a BOSS IR 200 as a backup for my Axe III,
Really love it. For $400 CDN on reverb its exactly what I was looking for.
As I go thru the sounds I am of course always looking to get to the level of the Axe as close as possible (using a TC G Major 2 as my BU effects).
Coming across a YouTube demo of the OX pedal made my jaw drop. That doesn't happen easily.
The room sound/mic blend is indeed the secret sauce to my ears.
Now I need to justify the very high price tag relative to my backup rig.
Sounds like you feel the same and may have convinced me to take the plunge.
Wasn't even thinking about the Axe initially in my calculation pf potential purchase.

How do you integrate the OX into your rig if you are playing live? Looks that's the only drawback as I think I would need to step on 2 pedals (FC and OX) if a new preset required a different cab.

 

[DJD100]

How do you integrate the OX into your rig if you are playing live? Looks that's the only drawback as I think I would need to step on 2 pedals (FC and OX) if a new preset required a different cab.

I use mine with the FM3 just like I would a real cab, one cab and mic'ing setup for the whole show (which keeps FOH happy LOL!).

You can set the Ox Stomp up to have up to four presets available via it's two FS's as desired.

 

[slinky005]

I use mine with the FM3 just like I would a real cab, one cab and mic'ing setup for the whole show (which keeps FOH happy LOL!).

You can set the Ox Stomp up to have up to four presets available via it's two FS's as desired.

Thx. In my set I have lots of different setups for different songs. Would require a bit of tap dancing for me. But still interested!

 

[sundancer50]

I have the OX box and love it with my amp. And I love my AX FX. But the two things have been separate in my studio for years - I switch between real amps through the OX box and then back to the Ax FX. I was excited to read some of the comments here about integrating the OX stomp and Ax. I tried the OX stomp - bypassed the ax cabs in global settings - but couldnt get a good sound, it was tinny/shrill as if no cabs. After a good while experimenting I found the problem. I still had a spidf connected in addition to the outs to the OX stomp. It was simply the blend of the two that was causing the issue. So make sure to disable any other outs and leave it as just the Ox Stomp.

I agree with the other comments, it sounds great. I love the AX and I love my UA gear - combining the two finally gives me a lot of great options. Complementing technologies not competing in my opinion.