Axe-Fx III 16.00 Beta 4 "Cygnus" Firmware - Public Beta

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Took me all of 6 minutes to throw this Cali Leggy preset together. I realized after reading the post clarifying which Legacy was which that I initially only tried the model they made of Vai's head, not the original Legacy. The Cali Leggy is pretty dead on with how I remember the original sounding/feeling.



Here ya go Mud, enjoy. I even used a stock cab.

(Edit- that's a Digitech Freqout doing the feedback notes. There's a loop for it built into the preset but won't affect anything else about the signal chain. Also, I'm using an Ibanez JEM with Evolutions, which are VERY midrangey and VERY Vai-ish all their own)
 

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seeu22 said:
Dude! What kind of SPLs are you recording that at. The video is shaking from the volume! Love it!
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Not really sure. Just enough to get those speakers pumping. Speakers are about 3 ft apart pointed at my chair. Had the phone a stand in between them I still need to get some recording type stuff figured out but I like where this is going.
 
a quick comparison of a Jet City 100 ( Slo 100 clone by Soldano) Vs the Solo 100 Lead Cygnus firmware, used a Torpedo reload box as reactive load box, into Ableton Live 11 same IR on both axe and jet, both inside of Live 11, and used a ABY box to record the my 8 string Schecter Banshee Elite 8 ( with stock passive pickups, Schecter supercharger mach 8), I matched them as close as I could, once again, not saying which is which
 
I've owned a few Legacies and more than a dozen JEMS over the years. The Legacies are generally dark amps and the JEMs are generally bright guitars. Dialing in the real Legacy amps often means setting the treble control higher than you'd expect - around 3 o'clock is a turning point. Probably boost the presence a good bit on the lead channel too. Drop the bass to like 9 o'clock. Sweep the mids to find what works. Don't be afraid to adjust the amp controls!

Don't forget that the Legacy cabs were all loaded with V30s so look for those IRs.

The real Legacies took pedals well. The last time I messed with the models in the Axe they did as well. In addition to the DS1 and Tube Screamer like Vai uses, you can try a treble booster, tube preamps pedals mostly for tone shaping, etc.
 
I want to thank Cliff and the entire staff for the chance to play on this beta. I was a little apprehensive at first on the 16 but after I have had the chance to play around with it for a few days it just keeps getting better and better for me. I think part of my problem with it was I was so used to the cheat mode of playing on something digital that I forgot what it was like to play through a real tube amp. I fired up my modded Marshall JCM 800 that Tony from Krank amps modded for me and played for a couple hours this weekend and it reminded me of how much harder it is to sound consistent on a tube amp. To me you have to really focus on the right hand technique, as far as pick attack and consistency other wise it just doesn't sound as tight. To my ears this new FW seems to capture that better than any digital stuff I've used, Neural, JST, AXFX etc. To me you guys have knocked it out of the park and then some, so thank you so much for letting us have this opportunity to test this beta. I look forward to the final product as always.
On a side note, I re-tracked my guitar parts on a song I've been working on and it became so clear to me how much better sounding this FW is to my ears. It's very raw but incredible in the mix. I can't sing the praises of the 5153 50 W blue model enough now.
 
hippietim said:
I've owned a few Legacies and more than a dozen JEMS over the years. The Legacies are generally dark amps and the JEMs are generally bright guitars. Dialing in the real Legacy amps often means setting the treble control higher than you'd expect - around 3 o'clock is a turning point. Probably boost the presence a good bit on the lead channel too. Drop the bass to like 9 o'clock. Sweep the mids to find what works. Don't be afraid to adjust the amp controls!

Don't forget that the Legacy cabs were all loaded with V30s so look for those IRs.

The real Legacies took pedals well. The last time I messed with the models in the Axe they did as well. In addition to the DS1 and Tube Screamer like Vai uses, you can try a treble booster, tube preamps pedals mostly for tone shaping, etc.
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The very first Legacy cabs came with Greenbacks. They switched to V30's after Vai finished the Ultra Zone tour. ;)

Agreed 100% with everything else!
 
ESW said:
You didn't even need the Whizzer!
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You can individually dial up all of the great tones in a 5E3 just by plugging in, possibly jumpering inputs, and dialing all 3 knobs - no Whizzer needed.

This nails one of the possible combinations - jumpered.

There are two more ways to use the amp: go in the Micrpohone input or go in the Instrument input. Using all 3 knobs in either case nets a plethora of great tones.

One of my favorite clean sounds is had by going into the Instrument channel, cranking the Microphone volume up most if the way (9/12, or so, or 3 o'clock), then upping the Instrument channel volume and tone to where you want them. Better than BF Fender clean, in my opinion....
 
unix-guy said:
Just to chime in on the Vai amp discussions, about 2 years ago I attended Vai Academy (as well as a number of regulars here such as @fremen, @hippietim, @Larry Mitchell, @Admin M@ etc).

I got to hear Vai many times from a very close proximity in various scenarios both with and without the PA involved. It was fucking glorious! His tone in person is ridiculous... So, so good!

I also was able to jam with Steve face to face on stage with the band (Jeremy Coulson, Phil Bynoe, Dave Weiner). What an great experience (this was my 2nd Vai Academy).

Anyway, as of that time, Steve's rig was as follows:

Guitar -> Carvin VLD preamp pedal -> Axe Fx II for effects -> effects Return of 2 Legacy heads -> 2 Legacy cabs

There are some other things like Wah/Whammy in there, too... But that's the core setup.

This was the same rig he used 18 months before at the previous Vai Academy.

I'm pretty sure he's moved on to the next thing from the VLD / Legacy combo but not certain.

In any case, the Legacy head's preamp was not in use...
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I think you missed one key part of his rig : his Synergy system. He had two SYN-2 racks, each with two modules, and one was his signature Synergy Vai module (which I also have, with 11 other modules). The whole system was powered by the Synergy SYN 5050 poweramp, not by Legacy heads effect returns. At some point, he compared the sound from his Synergy signature preamp to the one from the Carvin VLD preamp, and there was no difference. I recorded the whole demo (not allowed to share it with someone not attending this academy) and took notes, to make my version of a Vai preset ;)

Picture : Steve with our own Matt, talking about his effects settings. You can see the two SYN 2 (with his green signature model top left), and at the bottom, the SYN 5050 poweramp

68786526_10156066289887245_6118320770172059648_o.jpg
 
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