Axe II with all sims off into amp & cab..how does it compare to tube preamps?

L

Luca9583

Inspired
Any of you folks running your Axe through a tube power amp and typical guitar cabs with all sims off? Just curious to see how you guys think it compares to tube preamps in terms of tone shaping and eq.

I'm running an Axe II into a Marshall EL34 50/50..going into a Marshall 4x12 and a Mesa 2x12.

It's a good setup but the presence control is a little strange. As Cliff has stated, the presence control becomes a shelving control when power amp sim is off, but i find that despite the suggestion of putting it on 5 to remain neutral, i find i need to keep it close to zero on several amp blocks to make it sound good, like the Brit 800 and Das Metal models. When i set it like that though i get some very warm tones with really musical feedback, and high gain patches don't sound harsh, but it seems a little extreme to have to set it like that, especially with presence set low on my power amp.

Also, the bass control seems to have very little effect with amp sims off, is this normal? Seems strange compared to a preamp like a Marshall JMP 1 which has much more response in the eq controls.

Another strange thing is that several amps like the Plexi blocks seem to have no gain whatsoever with the sims off, meaning they're not usable as standalone preamps.

Any thoughts?
 
My former rig was JMP-1 into Marshall 100/100 (6L6's) into Mesa 4x12 cab....
Have you tried the Brit-Pre model? That is the JMP-1 sim. And it has plenty of gain....more than the JMP-1.
I can get the Axe to sound identical to the JMP-1........except...then I can take it another 20 steps with other tone shaping options with the Axe.
I find the Axe to be an absolutely amazing pre-amp into a Tube Power Amp and 4x12 cab (of course with all Sims off, like you mentioned).

If I was a lot younger, that is what I would gig out with (instead my current FRFR rig).

I still keep the Marshall 100/100 and Mesa 4x12's hooked up in the basement for when I feel like plugging the Axe into that set up and feeling a sonic punch in the face when I play some Pantera riffs.
 
Luca9583 said:
Cool but what about the bass control having little effect with the sims off?
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Parametric EQ. Or a dedicated graphic EQ block. Or the amp block's built in graphic EQ block. Or you could adjust one of the handful of options in the Amp block's advanced pages that add more bass (or mids, or treble, whatever) to the signal throughout the amp's various gain stages. Or the speaker resonance control. Alot of the advanced controls still work whether the power amp sim is on or not.

But besides all that, um, the bass control has little effect with the sims off? I think that's probably on a per-amp basis. A Twin's bass knob isn't going to do anywhere close to the same thing as a Recto's bass knob, etc.
 
I tried my AXE FX II into the effects loop of my Mesa Boogie F50 (1X12) combo.

Tried it with AMP sims on/off.
With CABS on/off.
Combinations of both.

Mixed results. Generally liked it better with the AMP sims ON and CABS ON.
I did experience volume and gain loss issues with CABS or AMP SIMS off as you state.
I do not recall this being the case as much with the Ultra I had.

I am sure with some tweaking of each preset or some Global EQ that I could have gotten a better sound.

I decided to try and active flat monitor instead so I picked up a FBT Verve 12ma used and sold my Mesa.

Will see how this goes.

I just did not want to have to have one set of patches for my Studio monitors and one set for the Mesa.
I mostly play thorough my Studio Monitors and only sued the Mesa when I wanted to get loud.
Not in a band nor do I play out much.
 
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Luca9583 said:
Cool but what about the bass control having little effect with the sims off?
Click to expand...

I don't experience this. I seem to have plenty of Bass control with both the Bass knob as well as the Graphic EQ on the Amp Block.
 
I currently play thru a Mosvalve MV-962 solid state power amp into two Marshall 4x12 cabs and it sounds amazing. With that said, I want to get a better power amp to play thru eventually like a Matrix, etc. I just don't know if I would like going FRFR.
 
I recently just played an out of town gig in vegas sending output 1 to FOH and Output 2 (fx send) to the return of a Marshall TSL 100 mainly for on stage levels. My normal rig is 4cm with an orange rockerverb 50 but since we rented gear I made sure I could go direct with my axe if they gave me an amp I couldn’t do 4cm with. Thank god I did cuz going direct sounded phenomal. Used the cab sim on the FOH signal.

I put the power amp sims on though. To me, like some of you have said, it just sounds way fuller and closer to my real orange with the power amp sims on. Plus if you are sending a signal to FOH too then you need the PA sims on for that so I didn’t have a choice. All in all though it has made me realize that maybe I should just commit to going direct again. The little guitar they fed to me back through the monitors sounded wonderful too.

Decisions Decisions.
 
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