Toowoombaus
Member
O.K., newbie here.
I had a revalation after getting the Axe FX II. It seems super obvious now, but I didn't see it coming...
Basically if you look at each major amp category or family, the various amps in that category are all almost the same thing with minor differences. Just a variation on a theme.
I’m not trying to be a downer, this is just an observation.
In the last five years I went nuts on a boutique/vintage amp odyssey.
I started studying and I spent a lot of time on The Gear Page. I would hear about an amp, look it up online, read up on it in the forums, do an image search and look at pictures, watch videos etc.
Then I would get one, play it, record it, gig with it and I would say "O.K., I got it..."
Then I would do it all over again.
It was fun and I learned a lot. I know exactly what I like and I can articulate it. It was an education.
Some of my favorites were: TopHat Emplexador, Handwired Vox AC30, Budda Stringmaster, Matchless Independence, Roccaforte Custom 80, Fargen Olde 800, David Bray modded 1987x etc.
They all had a magical aura about them.
So... when I got the Fractal with three hundred amps at my fingertips I would play a note or chord and click through the presets as it rang out.
I would hear it would go "eee, ahhh, oooh, rrrr" and my world just shrunk... Some of the magic seemed to fade...
The amps in any given category are almost all the same thing with just some subtle differences!
When 300 amps are a click away there is a perspective I now have that I didn't before.
I know... DUH! "You just figured that out"?!
I knew it before, but not like I know it now.
It's fun trying the different modeled amps but I find myself saying "oh yeah, another Marshall with a different midrange focus, a little more gain and a little different texture to the breakup in the low end".
I guess there is a lot of marketing hype and myth making surrounding many of these amps that I fell for.
I still love them but, what to do...?
I guess make the best presets I can, learn more about what makes a particular amp special, but more importantly get to work and use them to make some great inspired music.
Anybody else have a similar experience after getting an Axe Fx?
I had a revalation after getting the Axe FX II. It seems super obvious now, but I didn't see it coming...
Basically if you look at each major amp category or family, the various amps in that category are all almost the same thing with minor differences. Just a variation on a theme.
I’m not trying to be a downer, this is just an observation.
In the last five years I went nuts on a boutique/vintage amp odyssey.
I started studying and I spent a lot of time on The Gear Page. I would hear about an amp, look it up online, read up on it in the forums, do an image search and look at pictures, watch videos etc.
Then I would get one, play it, record it, gig with it and I would say "O.K., I got it..."
Then I would do it all over again.
It was fun and I learned a lot. I know exactly what I like and I can articulate it. It was an education.
Some of my favorites were: TopHat Emplexador, Handwired Vox AC30, Budda Stringmaster, Matchless Independence, Roccaforte Custom 80, Fargen Olde 800, David Bray modded 1987x etc.
They all had a magical aura about them.
So... when I got the Fractal with three hundred amps at my fingertips I would play a note or chord and click through the presets as it rang out.
I would hear it would go "eee, ahhh, oooh, rrrr" and my world just shrunk... Some of the magic seemed to fade...
The amps in any given category are almost all the same thing with just some subtle differences!
When 300 amps are a click away there is a perspective I now have that I didn't before.
I know... DUH! "You just figured that out"?!
I knew it before, but not like I know it now.
It's fun trying the different modeled amps but I find myself saying "oh yeah, another Marshall with a different midrange focus, a little more gain and a little different texture to the breakup in the low end".
I guess there is a lot of marketing hype and myth making surrounding many of these amps that I fell for.
I still love them but, what to do...?
I guess make the best presets I can, learn more about what makes a particular amp special, but more importantly get to work and use them to make some great inspired music.
Anybody else have a similar experience after getting an Axe Fx?
Last edited: