Axe-Fx GEN1 & GEN2 comparison clip request!

ML SOUND LAB

ML SOUND LAB

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Hey, guys.

There's been quite a lot of talk about the differences between GEN1 vs GEN2 and I'm sure there are lots of people out there (me among them) who are considering an upgrade from GEN1 to GEN2. Although there is a lot of talk there aren't many direct comparison clips. What I'd love to hear would be the tone difference with the same cabinet IR and just the amp.

So I know there are loads of people who own both GEN1 and GEN2 Axe-Fx units. Could you please give us a straight comparison with the same impulse... for the sake of being the thread starter I can give you guys an impulse in both GEN1 and GEN2 format. I'm looking forward to this and thanks in advance for everyone who spent time on this!

G1 for GEN1 and G2 for GEN2. :)
 

Attachments

  • Clark GEN1 GEN2 comparison IR G1.syx
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  • Clark GEN1 GEN2 comparison IR G2.syx
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Why not post a DI of yours and a patch chain you'd like to ear, then you'll be able to record it through your Gen1 and others would upload a Gen2 record ?
 
Yah Clark, record a dry signal, reamp it with your gen 1, and then post the dry signal and have someone run it through their Gen 2. I'll volunteer to reamp your signal chain the way you want it.
 
BORNintoMUSIC said:
Yah Clark, record a dry signal, reamp it with your gen 1, and then post the dry signal and have someone run it through their Gen 2. I'll volunteer to reamp your signal chain the way you want it.
Click to expand...

Cool! I'll get started... hell... I'll make reamps for that "I OwnHammer" song. :)
 
Let's use this Killswitch Engage reamp session for high gain: http://www.arcanarecordings.com/Jeff/Reamping/RoseOfSharynDI.zip

I guess the industry standard would be the Dual Rectifier and let's just use the impulses I put in the first post so it's all about the amp modeling... ofcourse impulse length will matter too.

For lower gain I guess we don't need a mix so I'll play something with my PRS on different pickup positions and once again let's use the same impulses.
 
I can handle the mixing etc. and create the comparison.. All you need to do is reamp the signal with the same amp sims through that same IR and send the tracks to me in WAV format. Thank you for making this possible!! Here's my clean guitar DI: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19579590/PRS RAW DI.wav

Let's make this a three amp comparison. The KsE song with Dual Rectifier and NO BOOSTS! Gain around noon and EQ to where it's balanced/sounds good... I know I'm leaving it pretty much everything at noon.

That RAW PRS clip through Fender and Marshall. DOUBLE VERB and JCM800!!! I'm sure well get a good picture of the differences through these three amps. :) Let's make this happen!!
 
Sorry for the noisy DI's but it's all I can do in such short notice... I'm sure they are good enough for the comparison though.

Okay I already did the Ultra versions for this comparisons! Waiting forward to the Axe-II versions.

My settings for DOUBLE VERB: Drive 5, Bass 3, Middle 2, Treble 5, Presence 5, Master 8.
My settings for BRIT 800: Drive 6, Bass 4, Middle 10, Treble 3, Presence 3, Master 6.
My settings for Recto New: Drive 5, Bass 2, Middle 6, Treble 6.5, Presence 3, Master 3.5.

You don't have to use the same settings if they sound bad with the Axe-II... middle on 10 on the 800 might be extreme for the II f.ex.

NO REVERB, JUST AMP AND CAB!
 
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And to make this a bit quicker let's just reamp the first riff until the drum break of that KsE song. No need in reamping the whole song. I'll show clips in a mix and soloed for comparison.
 
Clark Kent said:
As you might notice I'm not trying to "get the best out of my Ultra" but showing what I can come up with in 3min of tweaking. All I tweaked was the gain and EQ and here's how it sounds. :)
Click to expand...

For the AxeFXII you might want to set some ground rules for the settings.... e.g. what you can and can't modify. There are so many parameters just with the amp and cab that you can get radically different sounds that could be perceived as better or worse. Narrowing the settings people are able to tweak should be better for your comparison. It's much easier to compare between 2 consecutive firmwares but this is like comparing with 8 versions between... and on different hardware.

Note, I'm not discouraging the effort, but even the same person can hear things differently each time they listen. It may be difficult to identify differences that can really be attributed to the difference in "firmwares/hardware". Even some of the newer parameters can be "simulated" by adding eq, slight compression, and subtle dynamic modifiers here and there. Even so, I'm to the point where I'm fairly sure that I'm achieving much better sound than on an Ultra but a lot of it could be due to the experience gained since I parted with it. Also, hearing is not playing and I've been shocked over the last year how much different we perceive sound while more actively causing it (by playing a guitar) rather than just hitting play on a recording. So, while you might perceive the posted clips to be better one way or the other, I think you really need to play guitar through an AxeFXII to REALLY experience it...
 
Hmm. Probably be more meaningful if you can tweak the 2 yourself since the "good" tone we chase can be relative. Also, the "feel" of the 2 might not really be evident on sound files.
 
Did you speed up and pitch shift the KSE stuff you did? I remember the stem tracks being tuned to drop C? And a bit slower.
 
grape said:
For the AxeFXII you might want to set some ground rules for the settings.... e.g. what you can and can't modify. There are so many parameters just with the amp and cab that you can get radically different sounds that could be perceived as better or worse. Narrowing the settings people are able to tweak should be better for your comparison. It's much easier to compare between 2 consecutive firmwares but this is like comparing with 8 versions between... and on different hardware.

Note, I'm not discouraging the effort, but even the same person can hear things differently each time they listen. It may be difficult to identify differences that can really be attributed to the difference in "firmwares/hardware". Even some of the newer parameters can be "simulated" by adding eq, slight compression, and subtle dynamic modifiers here and there. Even so, I'm to the point where I'm fairly sure that I'm achieving much better sound than on an Ultra but a lot of it could be due to the experience gained since I parted with it. Also, hearing is not playing and I've been shocked over the last year how much different we perceive sound while more actively causing it (by playing a guitar) rather than just hitting play on a recording. So, while you might perceive the posted clips to be better one way or the other, I think you really need to play guitar through an AxeFXII to REALLY experience it...
Click to expand...

I get what you're saying. Ground rules would be... well just don't listen to my gen1 clips and tweak them until you get a "better tone". Do your own thing. Personally I just tweaked the EQ and drive. If the GEN2 could be limited to that also then I guess the comparison would be more fair. 3min patch vs. 3 week patch comparison isn't what we're going for here. :)
 
bammbamm said:
Hmm. Probably be more meaningful if you can tweak the 2 yourself since the "good" tone we chase can be relative. Also, the "feel" of the 2 might not really be evident on sound files.
Click to expand...

Yup I agree. About the feel thing, you are right, but if GEN1 users are content with the feel of their unit then why fix if it's not broken. Personally I mostly play real amps (Mesa Roadster, Orange Rockerverb, Marshall etc.) and I'm happy with the feel of the Axe-Fx compared to those real amps. Ofcourse I know that Axe-II technology is more advanced and the feel is most likely better but I never had a problem with the GEN1 feel either.
 
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