AX8 Drives

I have experimented with various drives in front of my Axe FX2 Mark2 and also AX8. I have tried the following drives Ibanez TS808HW, Fulltone OCD V4, Archer Rockett, and Ibanez TS9. While I did not try to recreate the exact tones of each drive pedal, I was not able to get enough of an improvement, using any of these pedals, to warrant not using the internal drives. I cant wait to hear it with the improved drives.

Edit: Sorry for the run-on sentence. I must work on my Engrish.
 
bdrepko said:
I have experimented with various drives in front of my Axe FX2 Mark2 and also AX8. I have tried the following drives Ibanez TS808HW, Fulltone OCD V4, Archer Rockett, and Ibanez TS9. While I did not try to recreate the exact tones of each drive pedal, I was not able to get enough of an improvement, using any of these pedals, to warrant not using the internal drives. I cant wait to hear it with the improved drives.

Edit: Sorry for the run-on sentence. I must work on my Engrish.
Click to expand...

Hey, another Gilbert guy! :)

I had the same results. I had a lot of OD pedals that I thought about keeping, but I was able to dial in enough good sounding tones with the internal drives (not exactly the same as my pedal tone, but plenty good sounding on their own) that is it wasn't worth the hassle of carrying around the extra pedals.

Also looking forward to the new update... although it will probably mean a lot more tweaking to re-dial in my tones. #firstworldproblems
 
brokenvail said:
Post # 87 "I love the amp tones it always seemed like they were so far ahead of the effects and get all of the attention. I'm one of those guys that uses a lot of the effects so this is awesome news thanks Cliff"

I am def not picking on him, there have been many people say comments like that.
Click to expand...

I think it's more about the amp models being so good by comparison that it looks like the effects lag behind a bit. Honestly, I love the Fractal effects...except for maybe a couple of the drive models. And they're drive models I wish worked more like the real thing. Love my AX8's and FX8....but I sure wish the Suhr Riot and the 4 knob Tube Driver were better. It's not saying I can't get great sounds from others.
 
jonny gardiner said:
Thanks Danny. You are a wealth of information. Im looking forward to trying out all of your suggestions when I got off the road and back into the studio. I need to spend more time with the AX8 so I can really find some great go to sounds. As you mentioned in your first post there is definitely some overload going on. I like the way you think about these things.
Click to expand...


You're welcome, Jonny. Thanks for the kind words. Hey man, if I made you a little video sort of explaining what I'm talking about, would you be interested? For free of course as I think this might help a few other guys as well. As I was sitting here reading waiting for my next client, I picked one of my favorite studio sounds that I use, which is pretty much hard rock/metal sound, and I just went through some of the drive blocks without touching much of anything.

To my astonishment, whew...if you know what to touch, you can grab quite a few cool sounds all in one patch. I'm using a Carvin DC 400 custom at the moment with active and passive pups with single coil and phase switch etc....the different sounds I can get using that one patch and changing drives is insane with very little tweaking. Let me know if you're interested and I'll see if I can get it done by tonight if possible but definitely by Friday sometime. Entering some busy waters, but I can pull it off for you in a little at a time. Let me know.
 
Danny Danzi said:
You're welcome, Jonny. Thanks for the kind words. Hey man, if I made you a little video sort of explaining what I'm talking about, would you be interested? For free of course as I think this might help a few other guys as well. As I was sitting here reading waiting for my next client, I picked one of my favorite studio sounds that I use, which is pretty much hard rock/metal sound, and I just went through some of the drive blocks without touching much of anything.

To my astonishment, whew...if you know what to touch, you can grab quite a few cool sounds all in one patch. I'm using a Carvin DC 400 custom at the moment with active and passive pups with single coil and phase switch etc....the different sounds I can get using that one patch and changing drives is insane with very little tweaking. Let me know if you're interested and I'll see if I can get it done by tonight if possible but definitely by Friday sometime. Entering some busy waters, but I can pull it off for you in a little at a time. Let me know.
Click to expand...
That would be so cool. Don't hurt yourself though! I'm on the road for the next couple of weeks so won't be able to plug into studio monitors. But I do have time to learn more about this unit so any help would be a blessing.
What you said about overload in your first post it's very accurate. The reason why I want accurate overdrives is so I can buy time using overdrives and real amps whilst I try out ffm options and sort my way through all the available amp and cab options so I can use this thing live.
Thanks again for any help.
Cheers Jonny
 
biskitboy said:
Slightly off subject. I wish @Danny Danzi was my neighbor.
Click to expand...

Aww man, you're too kind! Incidentally, the house next to me is for sale. :) Just cut the trees down if you move in? Lol!

jonny gardiner said:
That would be so cool. Don't hurt yourself though! I'm on the road for the next couple of weeks so won't be able to plug into studio monitors. But I do have time to learn more about this unit so any help would be a blessing.
What you said about overload in your first post it's very accurate. The reason why I want accurate overdrives is so I can buy time using overdrives and real amps whilst I try out ffm options and sort my way through all the available amp and cab options so I can use this thing live.
Thanks again for any help.
Cheers Jonny
Click to expand...

Cool, I'll post a little something for you. I just want to show you some of the stuff I do as well as how just by tweaking very minimally, how you can get a few cool tones out of the same sound. What type of music are you into? I hope my rock/metal thing doesn't annoy you. But you'll see what I mean when you hear it. I'll be in touch.
 
FractalAudio said:
Release Notes:
*******************************************************************************

5.00

Improved preamp tube modeling for tubes driving cathode followers. In models that use cathode followers this results in warmer distortion with smoother decay. The shape of the cathode follower distortion can be adjusted with the new “CF Hardness” parameter found on the Advanced tab in the Amp block.

...

Improved diode clipping algorithms in Drive block. As a result the following Drive models have been rematched:

o Rat Dist
o Super OD
o T808 OD
o T808 MOD
o Plus Dist
o Esoteric ACB
o Esoteric RCB
o Zen Master
Click to expand...

I can't wait to try it on AX8! :)
I hope Cliff had an epiphany on the fuzz too... a way to emulate the effect of pickup load or something...
 
DLC86 said:
Yes, I feel the same about that cab and I think it's because that mix has some room baked in. I have the Legends pack which contains the same mix without room and it doesn't have that problem.
Dephase also attenuate that but I use it mainly to get a more open sound, it almost seems an un-miked cab and it matches better the sound of that particular recording (live in Gdansk).

Hope you enjoy it, I consider that one of the best patches I've made ;)
Click to expand...

Great patch!! I've only had to low the gain in the Tube Driver a bit for my tastes but otherwise it sounds great. Thanks Again.
 
Josetxu said:
Great patch!! I've only had to low the gain in the Tube Driver a bit for my tastes but otherwise it sounds great. Thanks Again.
Click to expand...
Glad you like it. For the gain on the tube driver I tried to match it looking at where Gilmour keeps his guitar volume knob in the video, but probably there are other variables like pickup height for example.
Also, I don't know if you already caught it, but go to scene 5 and move external 1 controller ;)
 
Smilzo said:
I can't wait to try it on AX8! :)
I hope Cliff had an epiphany on the fuzz too... a way to emulate the effect of pickup load or something...
Click to expand...

That's a small subset of the drives and only one clipping type. I was hoping that this was going to be an update across all drive models.
 
I've understand that diode clipping algorithms have been improved in all models and those from that list have been completely remade, isn't it?
 
Josetxu said:
I've understand that diode clipping algorithms have been improved in all models and those from that list have been completely remade, isn't it?
Click to expand...
Those are the models that have diode in the circuit. They are the same, but with new diode modeling algos. Hope it helps... :)
 
They have been rematched after the new diode algo was implemented. I guess that means something like, maybe the new diode algo has a slightly lower output, then the level knob has been re-adjusted to better match the real pedal.

The model is the same, a new diode clipping algorithm has been applied, and the model parameters have been updated (re-matched) to fit the new algorithm. At least that is how I understand it.
 
Had a run through the re-matched drives, and they sound like the real ones, no doubt!
I can tell, because I owned a lot of them: Rat, SD-1 (Super OD), TS, AC Booster, RC Booster.

Just like the real ones, the settings or amps matter. For example, I've found the Rat to sound best with Vox-type amps. The AC Booster sound best (to me) with a low Drive setting. Etc.

Can't wait to see which other drives will be matched in the upcoming firmware!
 
yek said:
Had a run through the re-matched drives, and they sound like the real ones, no doubt!
I can tell, because I owned a lot of them: Rat, SD-1 (Super OD), TS, AC Booster, RC Booster.

Just like the real ones, the settings or amps matter. For example, I've found the Rat to sound best with Vox-type amps. The AC Booster sound best (to me) with a low Drive setting. Etc.

Can't wait to see which other drives will be matched in the upcoming firmware!
Click to expand...

Wow. Now your talking. Ask and you shall receive. When and how do we get to all of this goodness. Is this beta update just for the Axe fx?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom