Happy Monday all! I have some more to share so let’s get right to it. I’m going to start off with what I found challenging about the Axe FX so far.
The front panel. For me the front panel of the Axe FX 2 Mark 2 is useless. Its design reminds me of some of the modelers from 10 years ago. It’s hard for me to navigate. Thank god they have Axe Edit. If I had to use the front panel the Axe would be on eBay right now.
I am unable to get the midi implementation to work. My unit doesn’t seem to be receiving any midi commands from my Helix. This is a bummer as I would love to be able to switch presets and scenes from the Helix. I have verified that the Axe is on MIDI channel 1 and so is the Helix. I am know that I am sending out a MIDI CC #34 value 0-7 for the 8 scenes. The Midi receive light never comes on the Axe. Tried two cables that I know work. I could use some of you Axe FX guru’s help.
Dudes and dudettes! I am in love with the enhance block. It’s like instance rock and roll love juice on a tone. I mean whenever it’s on one of Fremen’s tones they become f-ing magic.
There are some amps in this little box that the lord of rock must have invented himself. I am finding that I really like the rectifier and hi-gain amps. One tone, called the Modern Savage, uses a Angle Severe and a FAS Modern. Hard rock voodoo comes out of my speakers. I can hit a power cord and fall in love!
I’m also loving the Shiver Clean, and apparently I like Mesa Boogie amps as the USA Pre Ld2 Ylw and the USA IIC+2 Brt/DP unite to make sonic nirvana on the Dual Mesa RTM tone. The tone is so hard and clear it’s unbelievable. Other favorites are the Recto2 Red Mdr, and the FAS Modern III.
Oh and to those who gave me the great advice of trying other guitars besides my variax I’m glad to say I did not listen one bit! When I take “The Girlfriend” change the tuning to two steps down and play through the Axe with the Les Paul setting on her I feel like I could rock anyone.
I plan on examining the clean tones next as I actually use those for one group I play with. We do a very little bit of jazz and modern music “acoustically”. I say it that way because I use my variax for all the acoustic parts. My Seagull S6 has been crying but with the variax I am carrying around an arsenal of acoustic guitars that I can change tunings of in an instant.
So as of now I must begrudging accept that I like the tone of the Axe FX a bit more than my beloved Helix. There is something about the tone that is clearer coming from the Axe. But I would not have gotten here if it weren’t for some third party presets. This week I will be programing both up with similar amps and running them head to head. There will be sound clips.
Speaking of soundclips I learned that my ASIO drivers for my Helix, Axe FX and Focusrite 18i20 don’t like to play well together. I have to turn of the Helix and Axe to record through the 18i20. So the recording’s this week will all be through that interface and not through the USB of the Axe or Helix.
I am planning on doing a head to head comparison of the Fender Twin Reverb Channel on the Axe FX, Helix and Hd500x. Yes I am so damn lucky to have all three! Yes I will be posting up pictures of my rig soon!
I know some of you want my thoughts of Axe vs Helix. Well about three weeks in it’s not cut and dry but I will tell you how I am feeling.
My Helix is better at routing signals by far than the Axe. I really understand how the Helix works and creating basic tones is still faster on the Helix on the unit. It’s a shame that the Helix editor isn’t out yet as I’d like to compare that to the Axe edit. Now I totally understand the basics of Axe Edit and setting up a basic tone on that is flawless. I have not gotten into the advance configurations yet.
Obviously the Helix takes the prize on form factor. The Axe FX is a rack unit and all of the pain that entails. The ability to quickly assign effects and amps on footswitches is awesome on the Helix. I do not own the footswitch with the Axe. If I do I will be reevaluating this form factor thought. And as of this writing it has been said that the first Fractal AX8’s are shipping. That may change things too.
I came into this fully expecting to like the Helix tones better. I did all kinds of research on the Axe FX before I purchased it and listened to tone of clips. This little black box is pure unadulterated f-ing magic. That’s the best way to put it. It sounds so fantastic. Look I don’t know if it’s the most accurate amp modeler in the world but it does make the tone of the gods. I can’t tell you exactly why I like it better than the Helix. I think I should at this point call shenanigans on Fractal Audio because they have made their basic amp tone sound great upon initial setup. So if you drop an amp and cab block in it sounds great with no work. On my Helix I have to make it sound the way I want. The Axe FX “knows” what I want the amp to sound like at the start. This is different approaches to modeling. But I have to say I like the Fractal approach a bit more.
Well that’s all I have for today. I’ll post more soon!
Thanks for reading.
The front panel. For me the front panel of the Axe FX 2 Mark 2 is useless. Its design reminds me of some of the modelers from 10 years ago. It’s hard for me to navigate. Thank god they have Axe Edit. If I had to use the front panel the Axe would be on eBay right now.
I am unable to get the midi implementation to work. My unit doesn’t seem to be receiving any midi commands from my Helix. This is a bummer as I would love to be able to switch presets and scenes from the Helix. I have verified that the Axe is on MIDI channel 1 and so is the Helix. I am know that I am sending out a MIDI CC #34 value 0-7 for the 8 scenes. The Midi receive light never comes on the Axe. Tried two cables that I know work. I could use some of you Axe FX guru’s help.
Dudes and dudettes! I am in love with the enhance block. It’s like instance rock and roll love juice on a tone. I mean whenever it’s on one of Fremen’s tones they become f-ing magic.
There are some amps in this little box that the lord of rock must have invented himself. I am finding that I really like the rectifier and hi-gain amps. One tone, called the Modern Savage, uses a Angle Severe and a FAS Modern. Hard rock voodoo comes out of my speakers. I can hit a power cord and fall in love!
I’m also loving the Shiver Clean, and apparently I like Mesa Boogie amps as the USA Pre Ld2 Ylw and the USA IIC+2 Brt/DP unite to make sonic nirvana on the Dual Mesa RTM tone. The tone is so hard and clear it’s unbelievable. Other favorites are the Recto2 Red Mdr, and the FAS Modern III.
Oh and to those who gave me the great advice of trying other guitars besides my variax I’m glad to say I did not listen one bit! When I take “The Girlfriend” change the tuning to two steps down and play through the Axe with the Les Paul setting on her I feel like I could rock anyone.
I plan on examining the clean tones next as I actually use those for one group I play with. We do a very little bit of jazz and modern music “acoustically”. I say it that way because I use my variax for all the acoustic parts. My Seagull S6 has been crying but with the variax I am carrying around an arsenal of acoustic guitars that I can change tunings of in an instant.
So as of now I must begrudging accept that I like the tone of the Axe FX a bit more than my beloved Helix. There is something about the tone that is clearer coming from the Axe. But I would not have gotten here if it weren’t for some third party presets. This week I will be programing both up with similar amps and running them head to head. There will be sound clips.
Speaking of soundclips I learned that my ASIO drivers for my Helix, Axe FX and Focusrite 18i20 don’t like to play well together. I have to turn of the Helix and Axe to record through the 18i20. So the recording’s this week will all be through that interface and not through the USB of the Axe or Helix.
I am planning on doing a head to head comparison of the Fender Twin Reverb Channel on the Axe FX, Helix and Hd500x. Yes I am so damn lucky to have all three! Yes I will be posting up pictures of my rig soon!
I know some of you want my thoughts of Axe vs Helix. Well about three weeks in it’s not cut and dry but I will tell you how I am feeling.
My Helix is better at routing signals by far than the Axe. I really understand how the Helix works and creating basic tones is still faster on the Helix on the unit. It’s a shame that the Helix editor isn’t out yet as I’d like to compare that to the Axe edit. Now I totally understand the basics of Axe Edit and setting up a basic tone on that is flawless. I have not gotten into the advance configurations yet.
Obviously the Helix takes the prize on form factor. The Axe FX is a rack unit and all of the pain that entails. The ability to quickly assign effects and amps on footswitches is awesome on the Helix. I do not own the footswitch with the Axe. If I do I will be reevaluating this form factor thought. And as of this writing it has been said that the first Fractal AX8’s are shipping. That may change things too.
I came into this fully expecting to like the Helix tones better. I did all kinds of research on the Axe FX before I purchased it and listened to tone of clips. This little black box is pure unadulterated f-ing magic. That’s the best way to put it. It sounds so fantastic. Look I don’t know if it’s the most accurate amp modeler in the world but it does make the tone of the gods. I can’t tell you exactly why I like it better than the Helix. I think I should at this point call shenanigans on Fractal Audio because they have made their basic amp tone sound great upon initial setup. So if you drop an amp and cab block in it sounds great with no work. On my Helix I have to make it sound the way I want. The Axe FX “knows” what I want the amp to sound like at the start. This is different approaches to modeling. But I have to say I like the Fractal approach a bit more.
Well that’s all I have for today. I’ll post more soon!
Thanks for reading.
