Axe Fx III vs. vintage 80s Rack

I love the sound of the big '80s racks. This was my Bradshaw rig that I used prior to my introduction to Fractal Audio Systems. I miss this rig (my back doesn't), but with the Axe-FX, I have the absolute best sound I've ever had.
 

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Here's my vanity rack. I've got a lot of old rack gear but these units are my favourite ones.

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There's often a lot of discussion about vintage rack units sounding "lush" and "pristine", whereas I find it's the lack of precision, bandwidth and the general quirks which make these fun to play. Playing certain presets on the Eventide units has definitely inspired me to look at existing blocks available on the Axe-Fx in new ways.
 
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Here's my vanity rack. I've got a lot of old rack gear but these units are my favourite ones.

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There's often a lot of discussion about vintage rack units sounding "lush" and "pristine", whereas I find it's the lack of precision, bandwidth and the general quirks which make these fun to play. Playing certain presets on the Eventide units has definitely inspired me to look at existing blocks available on the Axe-Fx in new ways.

The H3500! I had the H3000, before I replaced it with the Eclipse.

I don't know who is the brute that designed the user interface, but at that time there were synthesizers that were much easier to program than the Eventides.

This is the only pic of the H3000 I keep. Together with my favorite combination of these two decades: JMP1 + GX-700
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@Piing yeah it's DENSE. Anyone who complains that the Axe-Fx is hard to use should be left alone with an old Eventide for an hour in a padded cell.

I've been keeping my eye out for the GX-700 funnily enough!
I'd recommend considering a Roland GP-100 over the Boss GX-700. The effects on the GP-100 are quite a bit better than the GX-700, and even pretty good by today's standards. The GX-700 was basically a stripped down GP-100, but these days the used prices are pretty similar.
 
@Piing yeah it's DENSE. Anyone who complains that the Axe-Fx is hard to use should be left alone with an old Eventide for an hour in a padded cell.

I've been keeping my eye out for the GX-700 funnily enough!
Oddly enough, when I replaced the Boss GX-700 with the Boss GT-Pro I entered into a spiral of dissatisfaction. I spent several gears happily gigging FRFR with only 3 pieces of gear: JMP-1+GX700+VG8. But with the GT-Pro I never stopped tweaking, and buying tons of other gear.

I think the cause is that at the GX-700 I found a SP.SIM (speaker simulator) that had a sweet spot. I always used that one for all the presets, and I could not find the equivalent at the GT-Pro. I even bought the ADA MicroCAB, but it was a fart.
 
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Oddly enough, when I replaced the Boss GX-700 with the Boss GT-Pro I entered into a spiral of dissatisfaction. I spent several gears happily gigging FRFR with only 3 pieces of gear: JMP-1+GX700+VG8. But with the GT-Pro I never stopped tweaking, and buying tons of other gear.

I think the cause is that at the GX-700 I found a SP.SIM (speaker simulator) that had a sweet spot. I always used that one for all the presets, and I could not find the equivalent at the GT-Pro. I even bought the ADA MicroCAB, but it was a fart.
Man that was every Boss multi effect in the GT range.i always found the Boss multis to be the most uninspiring units. Fizzy high gain, the most sterile clean sounds and the only thing on the edge of breakup was my sanity.

I got on much better with the old Line6 XT and the like.

Actually I always found the Boss Stomps to be mostly garbage too.
 
Ah, can they model your 1210?? Lol If not, which chorus is closest to it? It definitely has its own sound. I'd love to build a rack, but A) it's way too expensive to buy the rack gear that is worth collecting and B) it all seems like a nightmare to route, using a mixer, etc.
now you have a 1210 type in the multitap delay block
 
Seeing a few VHT bits that would be hard to replace.

I never had rack gear til my 3 and never lustes for it either lol
 
There's still lots of interest and nostalgia for rack gear. I belong to a facebook group called "Huge Guitar Racks" - lots of activity there. Love to watch Leon Todd's rack gear segments. Never owned any myself (no reason to) except for my few Axefx related bits but for some reason I gas for a JMP-1 to put in that last space at the bottom 😁
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Fizzy high gain, the most sterile clean sounds and the only thing on the edge of breakup was my sanity.

This is the perfect description for my old Boss Dual Overdrive pedal. It also fits the Hyper Fuzz and Blues Driver. They all sounded like moldy mayonnaise. I wonder if the Boss GT units shared some circuitry with them....
 
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