AX8...It's a keeper.

Bones43x

Member
I got my AX8 about 10 days ago. I play at church so I figured I better not try something completely new for Easter! It's making an appearance tomorrow.

I ordered a JBL eon610 to use as a monitor/amp substitute at church, and to jam at home. I'm really satisfied with it, but I don't have a point of reference, other than my actual amps...currently, a Splawn Quick Rod 50w and a Mesa MkV:25. BTW, the AX8 model of the QR is spot on.

I gotta say...after all the talk of gaps and amp switching, it's not an issue for me at all. So far, I've found that a GEQ before the amp works great for a high gain preset. I've mainly tried it with the Bogner Ecstacy and 6505+. I can use it to reduce the gain, and tweak the EQ for a better clean-ish sound. I don't normally play a squeaky clean...I like a dirty, edge-of-breakup sound. This, and a drive pedal are about all I need in a preset.

Also, I couldn't help but want to weigh my options so I picked up a Helix LT. I just wanted to be sure, and not have any questions about whether I made the right choice.

I'm sure there are lots of great sounds in the Helix, but I can't find or create them as quickly as I can with the AX8. It takes so much more tweaking, and I still can't get a Marshall sound I'm happy with out of the Helix. I finally got the Mesa Mark IV to sound good, but it took forever. The factory presets are useless, too. Sure they demonstrate what the unit can do, but they offer little help of creating useful tones.

The cleans and low gain sounds are good in the Helix...I liked the Fender, Dr Z, Divided by 13, and Matchless models, but that's about it for me. The pretty colors and UI aren't enough to win me over. The AX8 is functional. I like being able to program scenes to footswitches, which is something the Helix doesn't do, and Axe-Edit basically renders the UI a moot point, unless you're not prepared for a gig.

In the end, the AX8 just does it for me, and I've found a few sounds that I just fell in love with and I can't let them go...especially the Bogner Shiva clean and Ecstacy.

Here are some pics of the board I built today...
 

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I got my AX8 about 10 days ago. I play at church so I figured I better not try something completely new for Easter! It's making an appearance tomorrow.

I ordered a JBL eon610 to use as a monitor/amp substitute at church, and to jam at home. I'm really satisfied with it, but I don't have a point of reference, other than my actual amps...currently, a Splawn Quick Rod 50w and a Mesa MkV:25. BTW, the AX8 model of the QR is spot on.

I gotta say...after all the talk of gaps and amp switching, it's not an issue for me at all. So far, I've found that a GEQ before the amp works great for a high gain preset. I've mainly tried it with the Bogner Ecstacy and 6505+. I can use it to reduce the gain, and tweak the EQ for a better clean-ish sound. I don't normally play a squeaky clean...I like a dirty, edge-of-breakup sound. This, and a drive pedal are about all I need in a preset.

Also, I couldn't help but want to weigh my options so I picked up a Helix LT. I just wanted to be sure, and not have any questions about whether I made the right choice.

I'm sure there are lots of great sounds in the Helix, but I can't find or create them as quickly as I can with the AX8. It takes so much more tweaking, and I still can't get a Marshall sound I'm happy with out of the Helix. I finally got the Mesa Mark IV to sound good, but it took forever. The factory presets are useless, too. Sure they demonstrate what the unit can do, but they offer little help of creating useful tones.

The cleans and low gain sounds are good in the Helix...I liked the Fender, Dr Z, Divided by 13, and Matchless models, but that's about it for me. The pretty colors and UI aren't enough to win me over. The AX8 is functional. I like being able to program scenes to footswitches, which is something the Helix doesn't do, and Axe-Edit basically renders the UI a moot point, unless you're not prepared for a gig.

In the end, the AX8 just does it for me, and I've found a few sounds that I just fell in love with and I can't let them go...especially the Bogner Shiva clean and Ecstacy.

Here are some pics of the board I built today...

My AX8 is the single best non-guitar thing I've bought in 27 years of playing guitar

Any tips on building a board like that as I'm about to build my own
 
Thanks, guys!

My AX8 is the single best non-guitar thing I've bought in 27 years of playing guitar

Any tips on building a board like that as I'm about to build my own

The base is from my Blackbird 1224 pedalboard. I really wanted to be able to use the same case with either rig. The black part you see is basically just 2 pieces of 1/2" birch plywood, wrapped in black microsuede. I had to cut the suede out for the patches of Velcro to mount the pedals. The board just barely fits into the base, which measures 12.5x25, but I needed every square inch for the AX8 and 2 exp pedals.

Eventually, I'm going to change the cables coming out of the VP Jr because it's a tight squeeze. I'm probably going to swap it out some time in the near future.
 

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I got my AX8 about 10 days ago. I play at church so I figured I better not try something completely new for Easter! It's making an appearance tomorrow.

I ordered a JBL eon610 to use as a monitor/amp substitute at church, and to jam at home. I'm really satisfied with it, but I don't have a point of reference, other than my actual amps...currently, a Splawn Quick Rod 50w and a Mesa MkV:25. BTW, the AX8 model of the QR is spot on.

I gotta say...after all the talk of gaps and amp switching, it's not an issue for me at all. So far, I've found that a GEQ before the amp works great for a high gain preset. I've mainly tried it with the Bogner Ecstacy and 6505+. I can use it to reduce the gain, and tweak the EQ for a better clean-ish sound. I don't normally play a squeaky clean...I like a dirty, edge-of-breakup sound. This, and a drive pedal are about all I need in a preset.

Also, I couldn't help but want to weigh my options so I picked up a Helix LT. I just wanted to be sure, and not have any questions about whether I made the right choice.

I'm sure there are lots of great sounds in the Helix, but I can't find or create them as quickly as I can with the AX8. It takes so much more tweaking, and I still can't get a Marshall sound I'm happy with out of the Helix. I finally got the Mesa Mark IV to sound good, but it took forever. The factory presets are useless, too. Sure they demonstrate what the unit can do, but they offer little help of creating useful tones.

The cleans and low gain sounds are good in the Helix...I liked the Fender, Dr Z, Divided by 13, and Matchless models, but that's about it for me. The pretty colors and UI aren't enough to win me over. The AX8 is functional. I like being able to program scenes to footswitches, which is something the Helix doesn't do, and Axe-Edit basically renders the UI a moot point, unless you're not prepared for a gig.

In the end, the AX8 just does it for me, and I've found a few sounds that I just fell in love with and I can't let them go...especially the Bogner Shiva clean and Ecstacy.

Here are some pics of the board I built today...


Great Board. I'm trying to find a board like that..
 
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