Axe-Fx III for bass - you gotta be kidding me :-)

Todde3000

Todde3000

Member
Well, since my Axe Fx III produces killer guitar tones, that I really like, I thought it might also be able to chuck out some decent bass. I programmed a preset with an amp block with the two Ampegs and the two Boogies. Plus two cab blocks with assorted stock bass cab IRs I could find and thought would be useful.

Then I took my rig (Axe Fx III) and a Yamaha DXR10 (which I absolutely love, sold my ASM-12 for it ...) over to my buddies house, who is a great bass player and used to play in a band with me. Hooked it all up, and - what do you know ? - not at all that bad :) He was playing and I was switching amps and cabs back and forth until I finally saw the really big "I can't believe it" face on him. It was a Boogie paired with a 4x10 metal cone (Hartke ??) and a SV 15 with bass kick. An absolutely brilliant bass sound that had punch, lots of really clear bottom end and real definition over the whole frequency spectrum. And all that with my little 1x10 Yamaha DXR10 ...

"So, let's compare it to my standard "go to" bass rig", he said, which is a German high end and high power Glockenklang head with two high end 1x12 cabs - the really expensive stuff.

We both thought that the Axe Fx III was WAY better - the "in room" bass rig sounded mushy and dull against the Axe Fx III rig.

What did we learn ? - the Axe Fx III also does killer bass tones, which need not hide behind any high end "real" bass rigs ... and my buddy is seriously considering getting an Axe Fx III just for bass :cool:

Cheers, Todde
 
I use it for bass all the time too... very easy to do some great bi-amped tones.
Try adding some chorus just to the frequencies above 250 - 400.
Lovely without being muddy.
 
No need to share, you can dial up what I did in a few seconds:

Routing: Input1 - Amp1 - Cab1 - Output1

Amp = No. 238 USA Bass 400 1
Cabs = 1. Legacy no. 67 4x10 Aluminium Bass (RW)
2. Legacy no. 110 1x15 SV Bass Subkick

Both cabs selected, the other two muted. Stock settings, nothing changed eq wise on the amp or the cabs. My buddy did use a little eq on the bass guitar itself, he had a pot for more or less bottom end, but that did not affect the overall quality of the tone, just the bottom end volume. It sounded fantastic, a great sound with that small 1x10 DXR10 and enough for any small club gig.

Or a large gig/venue - output 1 into PA and output 2 to your own little monitor or in ears, whatever your preference is. And no more schlepping the big heads and cabs ... :cool:

Cheers, Todde
 
And this is without effects ... if you're into effects ... compressors, distortion ... what you got ... this could be bassist's Heaven !

(I'm a guitar player, I really should be talking about guitar here ... ;))

Cheers, Todde
 
Hey Todde,

That's a nice bass amp! - Thanks for sharing.
Pauly


Todde3000 said:
No need to share, you can dial up what I did in a few seconds:

Routing: Input1 - Amp1 - Cab1 - Output1

Amp = No. 238 USA Bass 400 1
Cabs = 1. Legacy no. 67 4x10 Aluminium Bass (RW)
2. Legacy no. 110 1x15 SV Bass Subkick

Both cabs selected, the other two muted. Stock settings, nothing changed eq wise on the amp or the cabs. My buddy did use a little eq on the bass guitar itself, he had a pot for more or less bottom end, but that did not affect the overall quality of the tone, just the bottom end volume. It sounded fantastic, a great sound with that small 1x10 DXR10 and enough for any small club gig.

Or a large gig/venue - output 1 into PA and output 2 to your own little monitor or in ears, whatever your preference is. And no more schlepping the big heads and cabs ... :cool:

Cheers, Todde
Click to expand...
 
Really nice work, @Todde3000 . I love the Fractal units for bass.

Once you start mixing some of the "guitar" amp models with the bass cabs, some real magic occurs for bassists too.

For modulation, reverb, and delay effects on bass, I highly recommend using the the low cuts in each effects block. It leaves your low end solid while opening up possibilities for your mids and treble frequencies to have fun.
 
This is my "starting point" Bass Patch which I modded with an idea @2112 recently highlighted in his 5 minute tones series. Essentially, you have a "bi-amped" bass rig where a split the signal and use a couple of filters (one low pass, the other high pass). Once split it is easy to keep the bottom end dryer, so as to not muddy up, while the higher frequencies can go through chorus, delay, reverb, etc. In this case, the Frequency envelope follower is used to adjust EQs on the bass amps, adjust compression ratio, add more delay and reverb as the frequency on the notes increases.

This is a quite basic example, but it can serve as a starting point to get you going.

Cheers!
 

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I am a bass player, I have AFX II for quite a time, for approximately 1 year I am using III - it is absolutely stunning. Gives killer tone for recording and live purposes. There could be little bit more amps (GK, SWR), but Ampeg and Mesa does the job...
 
What is the best option in the III for a bass octave? Something like the Boss OC-3, which is a much different sound than just a simple octave down effect.
 
strabes said:
What is the best option in the III for a bass octave? Something like the Boss OC-3, which is a much different sound than just a simple octave down effect.
Click to expand...

OC-3 is polyphonic. Kinda tough to replicate on axe afaik. I still use my OC-3 on my axe rig
 
strabes said:
What is the best option in the III for a bass octave? Something like the Boss OC-3, which is a much different sound than just a simple octave down effect.
Click to expand...

I can't speak to the polyphonic aspect but if you're looking to emulate the OC-2 mode the Ring Mod block will do nicely. Tracking on, frequency 0.5, high cut to taste (try 400 to start).
 
I use my III for all my bass recording as well. Still working on my ideal sound as I seem to have a harder time dialing in a bass tone with the III than I do a guitar tone. I don’t rely on any post-processing when I track guitars, but bass I’m finding I’m still loading up a few plug-ins to get the job done, namely RBass, SSL Channel and some kind of compressor, I’ll get there eventually.
 
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