Asking for your TRUTH

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Yzaviv

Member
So you probably ran into this topic a million time before, but for god sake I had to try and ask this one for my self and for the other guys feeling the same. When I first heard about the axe i could wait for day that I will have it, the thought I can own those bunch of amps and cabs in a single black box , I will pay what it takes to have it all in one.

Well guess what, I did it, bought it, and now I'm in the process of struggling to sound like my mesa boogie mark v. Well I found my self sitting for a few days not playing but tweaking again and again . After I got some nice tones that I liked, I switched over to my mark v and suddenly it fet much more right , true, rich and fully tone. Again I was so disappointed after all the time I invested in tweaking the axe, it's all wrong again.

Now I know some of you will say, hey that's not the point to see if the axe can sound like your amp, the point is it can sound much better, well first I respect any opinion you guys say, but before we talk in terms of the next level of my amp tone , let's talk about THE level of my amp tone.

I have to say I watched some videos on YouTube that compare the axe to real amp, I found most of the videos if not all come close to the tone at almost 95%, but that 5% was missing, especially for a guy like me who plays at home and want to feel "amp in the room" .

I really really really like NOT to sell my axe II , but I would like you guys to help me, especially those of you that have the experience with real tube amp , and I love to hear your TRUTH about this and help me decided which way to go . Thanks.
 
here's what i did to help me get over the tonal hump:

first:
hookup the axe-fx into your amp's effects return, then and switch back and forth between amp and axe-fx while tweaking to get a tone that is close to your amp's tone. i found that i could get right on the money this way. heck, even the eleven rack works well this way, the axe-fx plain out smokes.

if that doesn't get you close enough:
use Tonematch block to get the final eq touch on the tone. watch Cliff's video and learn how to do that with best precision.

now for the real problem, cabinet tone. it's one thing to make the axe-fx sound perfect through the same cabinet as your amp, but it's something different to make your studio monitors/headphones sound like your cabinet.

your options are:

find a cabinet that sounds close to yours and roll off some highs and lows until it sounds close. normally, this is when i discover that the axe-fx cabs sound better than my junk cabs, and i'm done.

make a cabinet IR based on your cabinet. it will almost never sound like your real cabinet in the room, mostly because you will have to mic it to make an IR....which means that your IR is a mic and cabinet combo instead of just the cabinet sound. many people get bogged down here and never pass this point. a few brave souls that have access to great studio mics manage to capture a decent approximation of their cab.

buy some cab IR's and fish around until you find your cab tone. again, i doubt you will find the exact tone you are looking for....if your goal is to sound like your cabinet in the room. now if you want to sound like your mic'd cabinet, that's fairly easy to do.
 
Are u comparing axe frfr to your mark v real cab sound....if u are after amp in the room sound, frfr will never satisfy u especialy if u a/b it to a real cab...

If its the case, get an amp like matrix gt1000fx and hook up your cab...thats when i truely realised axe sounds better than the amps...

And frfr is great for recording, or huge stages but rest...i dont believe in it, a good acoustic guitar sounds best without mics....so a good cab sounds good also itself :)
 
Use the Mark for daytime stuff and the Axe II for night practice and recording. Best of both! I have a Mark V too and I don't think it's possible to get anything to sound like it.
 
In the room vs close mic. It took me a while to get used to hearing my guitar through a close micd IR but once it clicked, I'll never go back to an amp. Try recording yourself dry into your DAW, reamp it back out, and dial in the thump/tone you're looking for. Then put on a track that you jam to and tweak until it sits well in the mix. You'll notice that what sounds good in a mix is much different than what you're used to hearing in your room. Get used to the difference and I think you'll start to really enjoy the axe.
 
TheGoatLord said:
In the room vs close mic. It took me a while to get used to hearing my guitar through a close micd IR but once it clicked, I'll never go back to an amp. Try recording yourself dry into your DAW, reamp it back out, and dial in the thump/tone you're looking for. Then put on a track that you jam to and tweak until it sits well in the mix. You'll notice that what sounds good in a mix is much different than what you're used to hearing in your room. Get used to the difference and I think you'll start to really enjoy the axe.
Click to expand...

Exactly. If you just want to jam by yourself then keep the amp. If you want to fit into a mix with a band, live or recorded, or just jam along to songs, then use the AxeFx. I still love cranking out a real amp now and then, but the tone is totally inappropriate for a mix.
 
Put a mic in front of your Mesa. Compare that tone to your Axe tone. There is your fair comparison. As others have said...you'll probably never get that "amp/cab in the room sound" spot on. But that's not really what the Axe's end point is either.

My truth....I've played through a ton of gear. My recent rig was a 5150III. That happens to be my primary amp model now too....I just know how to make it sound good (to me). The Axe has helped downsize my footprint, have better recording capabilities, and have an easier way to change my overall sound/effects chain all together.

And for what it's worth....I DO "feel" a bit of difference. The "push" of my sound isn't there....but it's something that I have accepted. Because what I hear is what the FOH gets. I'm over having a good sounding rig only to have it sound like a hot mess once the sound guy mics and puts it through the house. No excuses anymore.
 
A few Days ago I was in the rehearsal room of my Guitar teacher. Just curious about his opinion i Set up my Axe2 with my FlexsysFM12 and made a Preset, consisting only of a Dual Rectifier in Vintage orange Mode and the 1960 TV Mix IR.

This Guy is playing boogies now for over 20 years and Never played an Axe 2 before. He was always missing the Special Dynamic, feeling and behaviour of real Tube Amps when trying Out modellers.....till that day. He plugged in his Pre-CBS-Strat...

5 Minutes of Setup via axe Edit .... 20 minutes of Wonderful Blues,Funk,Rock ...followed by a Look in his Face that even the OMG-Cat would Not be able to Beat.

You're missing something? work on your Sound. My Guitar teacher is an Amp-Geek....and he wasn't missin' anything at all...
I was there. Won't forget it.
 
For me, playing a real amp in the room sounds worse 99% of the time, because I have to keep it so quiet, use attenuator etc.

If you live in the country and can crank a 100 watter and rock out, more power to ya, (and your quickly going hearing) but its not really practical for city dwellers, like myself.


Also have to ask yourself what is the point of a great amp tone in your room. Do you invite people over to listen to you play ? Its well and good, don't get me wrong, but you can't share that sound with anyone else.

I'd honestly rather have a tone that sounds good in clips I upload, through the PA in any venue, through my monitors, when I listen in my car etc, than I would a great tone that only works in my room or as I hear it on stage.
 
Cliff should consider putting a pre-purchase agreement on the sales page that says "I understand that my Axe-fx II will never sound like an amp in the room through an FRFR system. The only way I can get my Axe-fx II to sound like an amp in the room is if I play it through an amp and cabinet... in the room".

I think we'd still see threads like this popping up though.

Le sigh.
 
I have amps and they sound fine. I like 'em. But I also love the Axe. I just plugged up the monitors and I only play the Axe. If I compare it A/B can I tell the difference? Maybe. Do I care? No. As others have said, it doesn't have to be an all or nothing proposition. You can have both. You don't have to be exclusive to the Axe like me and you don't have to love it to death above all amps. I doubt there is only one guitar that sounds good to you, thus there are probably multiple amp devices you like as well. Use them in the situations that work best for you. If you cannot find a situation where you prefer the Axe, sell it and move on. You won't be the first or last musician to sell equipment :) Just don't fret over it. That's the worst feeling. See, for me, 99% of my playing is bedroom volume in my house, so the Axe is the perfect musical tool. I can record direct to my PC and get great sounds with and without distortion at low volume. For you it could be totally different, and that is totally fine.
 
A) don't turn your Preset Level up too much....
B) use a Mix IR and Not Just One closemic IR
C) use a FRFR-System that can handle a Lot of Peak and power...
.....enjoy.
 
Unfortunately, I this kind of topic all the time. In fact, recently posted one myself discussing the same sort of thing. It's a magnificent machine for lots of tones...High gain (for me)...not yet. Obviously that's subjective and only base that on my own personal experience. You name it... I've tried it and am still spinning my wheels. I undoubtedly spend more time tweaking than recording/creating music. It should be the complete opposite and is frustrating to be honest. No plans to throw in the towel just yet. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
 
The feel is there in the Axe but FRFR/headphones might sound/feel funny when you're used to a guitar cab.

Have you tried plugging the Axe into the FX return on your Mark V (turn off Cab sim in the Axe when you do this)? This way you can compare the Axe with the Mark V, get the Amp block settings down then move on to finding the right cab IR for you. There are Tone Matches in the forum and a couple on Axe-Change of Mark V's.

In the end it could be you really like the Axe with a real guitar cab - no problem, use a power amp and guitar cab. It's about what satisfies you.
 
Agree 100%. I'm lucky enough to be able to keep and use my amps, put the axe II through the loop and use it's awesome fx and easy programmability along with my conventional amp heads, and be able to mess around with the hundreds of amp sims. Regular speaker cab, mic'd up if I want, sim cabs too, though not too crazy about them. Funny your experience mirrored mine exactly, with the same amp - the Mark V.
 
Speculum Speculorum said:
Cliff should consider putting a pre-purchase agreement on the sales page that says "I understand that my Axe-fx II will never sound like an amp in the room through an FRFR system. The only way I can get my Axe-fx II to sound like an amp in the room is if I play it through an amp and cabinet... in the room".
Click to expand...

Cliff quote: "You will never get an FRFR solution to sound the same as an amp through a guitar cab. If you put your Axe-Fx through a neutral power amp and a guitar cab I bet I could fool you in a blind test."

http://forum.fractalaudio.com/amps-cabs/69805-best-neutral-power-amp-choices.html
 
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