lqdsnddist
Axe-Master
I've been back and forth with the drive block for years, finding I can nicely emulate some pedals, not emulate others, I've been critical of it, and I've praised it. Overall though with the II and my AX8 there was a modest collection of what I considered more unique hardware pedals, mainly fuzz, as the drive block does a pretty darn good tube screamer and similar.
Well, after a lot of time spent tweaking and probably darn near wearing out the B/fx bypass button (Really need to get my FC!) I can say that at least to my ears, and for my needs, I can get along without any of my hardware fuzz pedals.
Maestro F1Za clone, Shin-El FY2 Companion fuzz, Shin-El FY-6 Super Fuzz clone, Buffalo FX Patriot civil war muff, EHX Bubble Font Green Russian, EHX V5 op-amp muff, Catalinbread Octapussy Octavia style fuzz, Roger Mayer Axis, Chase Tone Red Stardust Germanium, and even my Analogman NKT Red Dot germanium. All going up for sale or having already been sold.
Now for some things, the basic drive block settings really do pretty spot on with default settings. the Maestro drive setting sounds great, as does the octvaia, the Pi isn't bad, but others need a good bit of tweaking, or, running several blocks
Take the classic Super Fuzz for example. Its a 6 transitor fuzz with a hint of octava up, and its really aggressive and gated sounding. Your simply not going to get that with any one single drive block.
But, you can get it with a parallel blend of blocks. One being a slight octave up fuzz, the other being a Pi fuzz, with a good bit of bit reduction to give that gated/velcro sound, and then some parametic EQ to really get that famous mid-scoop 2nd toggle position. Sounds darn near identical to my Black Cat Super Fuzz to where I couldn't tell you which is which.
Others, take a bit of an uncommon approach. My Roger Mayer Axis for example, a unique PNP/NPN silicon fuzz, that was based off the mixing desk at Olympic Studio's and that has that really bright and cutting late era Hendrix tone I actually used a cranked FET Preamp, changed to silicon, with some bias tweaks and again a PEQ block to really shape the tone. Secret on that one ??? Run it at about 50% or less mix, and into a breaking up Plexi, just like Jimi was running.
It pushes the amp into a fuzzy searing lead, but stays punchy, with great dynamics, just like those famous Band of Gypsy's tracks. In reality the pedal is called a fuzz, and can get fuzz dimed, BUT, with the guitar volume rolled off a bit its actually something of an OD/Boost.
Other pedals like a germnaium fuzz require some channel switching, and aren't going to clean-up with just the volume knob alone, at least as is. My Sunface goes from over the top wooly at 10, to just fuzzy at like 9.5, and by the time you roll back to 7 its spanking clean, with that great punchy tone of a rolled back fuzz. As we all know by know, can't roll back the volume pot on a drive block fuzz and have it clean up. Sure, by the time you get to 3 on the volume knob its clean, but its also barely audible.
Trick there is you need to utilize the input block, and the variable impedance. You can change the channel of the block and with it change the impedance which is going to affect the tone and feel of the fuzz. As you roll your guitar volume pot back (this still does make a difference) your going to want to change the channel on the input, with the impedance as well as the output, and also change the drive and level and mix in the drive blocks (yes blocks, I use 2 which can be stacked) so you can in effect have everything from the raging wooly fuzz, to sparkling clean boost, over a few different scenes. Its not perfect at the moment but it will be a lot easier with the FC when it finally ships. Again, not exactly like just rolling the volume pot back and having a totally different tone, but the whole range of fuzz tones is in there at the change of a scene.
Couple other pedals, like my Centrua Klon clone aren't even fully done with a drive block, but instead using a scene controller on the amp block boosting the input trim among other things, depending if I want the "clean" boost, gain rolled back Klon sound, or if the sound of the Klon OD, which is actually an inversely blended sound with the clean boost, and the drive pot on the Klon is actually a dual gang control so when one goes up, the other goes down. Like the germanium fuzz, you can't do this with just one drive knob, but you can set up a couple of scenes that have different levels of drive. So its like having 3 Klon's, each set differently.
Basically, all the sounds you could want are in the box I'm now pretty confident to say! Its already replaced my need for any hardware wah, reverb pedal, delay pedal, and flanger. With the III we also gain some amazing chorus, and great pitch effects where I was able to get rid of my SubN'Up and whammy.
The "secret" is just that your not always going to turn a knob and have a perfect emulation of a pedal. You may need to run 2 or more parallel blocks and blend them to taste, etc, to match what a given pedal does, but the III is awesome for this because we can do things like have 4 drive blocks per patch (plus boost style OD pedals in the amp block now) so you have the resources to spare. Only pedal I'm running anymore, is my FreqOut for feeback generation.
So for all those times I've said over the past few years that a certain tone of pedal couldn't be achieved without the extra hardware, I officially admit I was wrong lol
Well, after a lot of time spent tweaking and probably darn near wearing out the B/fx bypass button (Really need to get my FC!) I can say that at least to my ears, and for my needs, I can get along without any of my hardware fuzz pedals.
Maestro F1Za clone, Shin-El FY2 Companion fuzz, Shin-El FY-6 Super Fuzz clone, Buffalo FX Patriot civil war muff, EHX Bubble Font Green Russian, EHX V5 op-amp muff, Catalinbread Octapussy Octavia style fuzz, Roger Mayer Axis, Chase Tone Red Stardust Germanium, and even my Analogman NKT Red Dot germanium. All going up for sale or having already been sold.
Now for some things, the basic drive block settings really do pretty spot on with default settings. the Maestro drive setting sounds great, as does the octvaia, the Pi isn't bad, but others need a good bit of tweaking, or, running several blocks
Take the classic Super Fuzz for example. Its a 6 transitor fuzz with a hint of octava up, and its really aggressive and gated sounding. Your simply not going to get that with any one single drive block.
But, you can get it with a parallel blend of blocks. One being a slight octave up fuzz, the other being a Pi fuzz, with a good bit of bit reduction to give that gated/velcro sound, and then some parametic EQ to really get that famous mid-scoop 2nd toggle position. Sounds darn near identical to my Black Cat Super Fuzz to where I couldn't tell you which is which.
Others, take a bit of an uncommon approach. My Roger Mayer Axis for example, a unique PNP/NPN silicon fuzz, that was based off the mixing desk at Olympic Studio's and that has that really bright and cutting late era Hendrix tone I actually used a cranked FET Preamp, changed to silicon, with some bias tweaks and again a PEQ block to really shape the tone. Secret on that one ??? Run it at about 50% or less mix, and into a breaking up Plexi, just like Jimi was running.
It pushes the amp into a fuzzy searing lead, but stays punchy, with great dynamics, just like those famous Band of Gypsy's tracks. In reality the pedal is called a fuzz, and can get fuzz dimed, BUT, with the guitar volume rolled off a bit its actually something of an OD/Boost.
Other pedals like a germnaium fuzz require some channel switching, and aren't going to clean-up with just the volume knob alone, at least as is. My Sunface goes from over the top wooly at 10, to just fuzzy at like 9.5, and by the time you roll back to 7 its spanking clean, with that great punchy tone of a rolled back fuzz. As we all know by know, can't roll back the volume pot on a drive block fuzz and have it clean up. Sure, by the time you get to 3 on the volume knob its clean, but its also barely audible.
Trick there is you need to utilize the input block, and the variable impedance. You can change the channel of the block and with it change the impedance which is going to affect the tone and feel of the fuzz. As you roll your guitar volume pot back (this still does make a difference) your going to want to change the channel on the input, with the impedance as well as the output, and also change the drive and level and mix in the drive blocks (yes blocks, I use 2 which can be stacked) so you can in effect have everything from the raging wooly fuzz, to sparkling clean boost, over a few different scenes. Its not perfect at the moment but it will be a lot easier with the FC when it finally ships. Again, not exactly like just rolling the volume pot back and having a totally different tone, but the whole range of fuzz tones is in there at the change of a scene.
Couple other pedals, like my Centrua Klon clone aren't even fully done with a drive block, but instead using a scene controller on the amp block boosting the input trim among other things, depending if I want the "clean" boost, gain rolled back Klon sound, or if the sound of the Klon OD, which is actually an inversely blended sound with the clean boost, and the drive pot on the Klon is actually a dual gang control so when one goes up, the other goes down. Like the germanium fuzz, you can't do this with just one drive knob, but you can set up a couple of scenes that have different levels of drive. So its like having 3 Klon's, each set differently.
Basically, all the sounds you could want are in the box I'm now pretty confident to say! Its already replaced my need for any hardware wah, reverb pedal, delay pedal, and flanger. With the III we also gain some amazing chorus, and great pitch effects where I was able to get rid of my SubN'Up and whammy.
The "secret" is just that your not always going to turn a knob and have a perfect emulation of a pedal. You may need to run 2 or more parallel blocks and blend them to taste, etc, to match what a given pedal does, but the III is awesome for this because we can do things like have 4 drive blocks per patch (plus boost style OD pedals in the amp block now) so you have the resources to spare. Only pedal I'm running anymore, is my FreqOut for feeback generation.
So for all those times I've said over the past few years that a certain tone of pedal couldn't be achieved without the extra hardware, I officially admit I was wrong lol
