Axe-FX with Mesa ED

I do. (primal from the boogie board)

I have not spent too much time using the Axe FX as strictly an effects unit for the ED. The little I have though has sounded exceptional, though there was a little more noise then I would have liked. I am thinking though that this may be more the ED loop then the Axe FX since noise is a common problem reported on the boogie board when it comes to the ED loop.

Using the ED as strictly a power amp, I was not very impressed. The ED, when having only a cable going into the effects return was very noisy. A lot of hum. Even with the ED and the Axe FX both plugged into the Furman. Now at high volumes you don't notice that hum. It's not like the hum gets louder when you turn it up. It doesn't.

But I do think the ED power section definitely colors the tone if you are running it strictly as a power amp. This coloration sounds incredible for the ED itself (as you already know), but not so much when you are going for a variety of different amp sims.

Where I felt the ED sounded probably the absolute best with the Axe FX was silent recording.

I went ahead and hooked up my hotplate to the speaker out of the ED and set the hotplate to load so no sound was coming out.

I then went and took the line out of the ED, and ran it through the cabinet simulators and reverb of the Axe FX. Sounded better then I could ever get micing the amp to sound. Since I rarely play live this is primarily how I run my ED when the family is home. Hopefully in the next few weeks I can get some recording together running it this way.

I also plan to sit down and work with it as a dedicated effects unit for the ED and setup a few presets specifically for that.

It's just there are so many things this unit does (and does extremely well) that I just haven't had a chance to get to it yet since I am still learning the unit.
 
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