AXFXII v18 - Dynamics, harmonics and exploding tubes? Pictorial/Tutorial Added!!!

Yup. Great, great pedal, Scott. I had to use it with the Emery Sound Superbaby. Works like a charm.

It was designed to help with the Boogie Mark I.

That is an excellent analogy.

You'll find that I'm really not that smart about all this stuff but I know what works for me and can figure out how to do these things with the AFX. :D That pedal opened up a whole world to me, I am primarily a humbucker guy and using it allowed me to harness a lot of different amps over the years and get them to really work well. My first 'real' tube amp was the Rivera TBR-2SL and it was a magnificent beast but balancing the Marshall SL side of it with the Fender side was a lesson in what Rivera called the "P-Comp". That taught me the value of this; the Smooth & Slim made it so I could do that with any number of other amps. That pedal as aimed at the Mesa stuff but it make Fender's and Marshalls work better for me (I am not a Mesa guy). In the Fractal toolbox, the PEQ is more sophisticated and a very good 'stand in' for that. I was doing this same sort of thing back with the Standard and Ultra too. Remember Cliff had a filter block suggestion for metal guys that did this interactively based on dynamics too; same basic premise.

My thought is that if you can "P-Comp" (Preamp compensate) the EQ *into* the amp, you can then use the bass EQ in the amp block as a useful tool and not be stuck with compromising (as much) between your preamp gain and the Bass EQ setting. I have found that you have to often strike a compromise in amps a lot of times between the level of the preamp gain and bass EQ setting. I use humbuckers and that was especially true when I used Matchless amps (I have owned Clubman, DC-30 and HC-30 Matchless amps). What's great about using a dedicated PEQ block is that it removes the 'per amp' thing and makes this much more universal - again, in my world using humbuckers and being a monster hamfisted luddite.

It just works. That's all that matters to me. I can play in a busy 6 piece band with another guitarist and a keyboardist and NOT have to crank up my volume levels to be heard or get sustain. It also allows for me to create a lot of subtle stuff via my touch on the amp at volume. Going from chords to single notes all blends perfectly without dropping volume because the sustain and gain is in the right frequency range. It's a 'clean' way to 'heavy' distortion that is totally dependant on your guitar's volume knob and touch on the strings. I value that *very* highly.

I have a car with a manual shift 6-speed and to me, that's *driving*. Automatic transmissions make me feel separated and more like I am just 'aiming' the car. That's not driving. I like to "drive the guitar". Same idea.
 
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Absolutely.

And yes, like you, I did begin using the S&S with other amps, after seeing what it could do. A brilliant device. It's particularly useful when using an attenuator to tame the volume of a cranked non-MV amp. I found that volume can help with muddy tone, to an extent (in other words, running an amp wide open at stage volume). But only to a point. To really clean up a tone and making fit in a mix better, I can definitely see how the PEQ method can accomplish the same thing as the S&S.

What would the difference be using the bass cut feature in the amp block? (or is that after the preamp? I can't remember.)

Now with all tools available in the Axe FX, we're only limited by our knowledge, creativity, and experience (or lack thereof, which is why the forum is so beneficial!).

I like your idea of using expression pedals in the way you describe. That is interesting for sure, and it does make sense.
 
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I actually use a GEQ for a preamp boost. (pause for effect)... but really.

I will have to do a little explaining on how/why but it won't make sense until you hear it. I use the 5-band Vari-Q with an expression pedal attached to the level output (ranging from a minimum of 0.0db to +10db) with it in a slightly frown EQ shape. Very simple to show and it works like incredibly well in a live situation. The amp saturates on the preamp without going into 'distroto' "I turned on a drive block!" type of gain. If that makes sense. I just get my sustain and gain from the amp block and use the GEQ as a drive block to INCREASE the level into the amp block and can do that in the moment as I want - a little or a lot - depending on how it feels at the moment/in the moment.

If anyone is following me along on a lot of this sort of description - I use expression pedals for these things a LOT - effects in the AXFXII world are not 'on/off' to me, they are interactive. That's one of the most powerful aspects of the box and one of the defining reasons I am so in love with it. It's an artist's tool that can be used in the moment over a range, not just a on/off tone generator.

That brings up a question for me. I use expression pedals for blending in effects all the time and love the organic feel it gives to playing and the control it allows me. I also use a pedal for Wah, and another for Volume. How may pedals do you use and how do you assign them?
 
That brings up a question for me. I use expression pedals for blending in effects all the time and love the organic feel it gives to playing and the control it allows me. I also use a pedal for Wah, and another for Volume. How may pedals do you use and how do you assign them?

Pandora's box.

I do a lot with them and most do double duty. I have 3 Mission SP1 with switches and a Mission XPB. The XPB controls reverb mix only.

Pedal one - Switch turns on wah; it's a wah expression pedal. I also use it to control the output gain for my pre-amp GEQ 'boost' block AND it controls the speed of the Rotary. NOTE: I only use one of these functions at a time in general (like 99.9% of the time)

Pedal two - Mix of the modulation effects. Switch changes X/Y on the Pitch block (octave vs. crystals) and also controls the output level of my GEQ block after the amp/cab that I use as a solo level boost.

Pedal three - controls mix of the delay; switch controls volume block on/off and then it is a volume pedal.

That will spin heads but in function it works very efficiently for me and seems very straightforward and simple. I grew into this setup over 8 years so it's like second nature to me.
 
Very creative setup Scott and the sound clip exhibits some really excellent tonal variations. Think I'm definitely gonna have to get CabLab. As I'm setting up something similar on my XL, I noticed a difference in the preamp tube options - on mine, I have Modern, Test and Vintage. There is no Long Plate on mine. I'm running 18.04 f/w and 3.19 AxeEdit.
 
Pandora's box.

I do a lot with them and most do double duty. I have 3 Mission SP1 with switches and a Mission XPB. The XPB controls reverb mix only.

Pedal one - Switch turns on wah; it's a wah expression pedal. I also use it to control the output gain for my pre-amp GEQ 'boost' block AND it controls the speed of the Rotary. NOTE: I only use one of these functions at a time in general (like 99.9% of the time)

Pedal two - Mix of the modulation effects. Switch changes X/Y on the Pitch block (octave vs. crystals) and also controls the output level of my GEQ block after the amp/cab that I use as a solo level boost.

Pedal three - controls mix of the delay; switch controls volume block on/off and then it is a volume pedal.

That will spin heads but in function it works very efficiently for me and seems very straightforward and simple. I grew into this setup over 8 years so it's like second nature to me.

Pretty smart. Thanks for the rundown. Very helpful.
 
Very creative setup Scott and the sound clip exhibits some really excellent tonal variations. Think I'm definitely gonna have to get CabLab. As I'm setting up something similar on my XL, I noticed a difference in the preamp tube options - on mine, I have Modern, Test and Vintage. There is no Long Plate on mine. I'm running 18.04 f/w and 3.19 AxeEdit.

Test is Long Plate. Use the "Refresh" in the editor to poll the settings from the AFXII. It'll update it.
 
Yeah, wondered about that. It polled all the settings when 3.19 first installed, then I just did again now. Still shows Test instead of Long Plate. I may need to reinstall 3.19.
 
Yeah, wondered about that. It polled all the settings when 3.19 first installed, then I just did again now. Still shows Test instead of Long Plate. I may need to reinstall 3.19.

Try that and re-poll it with the editor (make sure you have the most current editor too). Should work. Note that test=long plate. Same thing.
 
Not gonna get hung up on the displayed verbiage if I can't get it show Long Plate. Still sounds great. Also, for anyone not having CabLab or the Friedman cabs Scott was using, the patch sounds really good with a number of other factory 4x12's. The new 4x12 Fractal Gb M160 (UR) that came with 18.0x sounds killer with this setup - smooth but with just enough bite to give it some balls. And the variable output on the GEQ feeding the Amp block is brilliant.
 
Yeah, wondered about that. It polled all the settings when 3.19 first installed, then I just did again now. Still shows Test instead of Long Plate. I may need to reinstall 3.19.

Did you update from 18.04 beta to the final? That's where test changed to long plate.
 
I did, yes. And then a day or so after that, AxeEdit informed me there was a new version so I let it download and install 3.19. Everything else sounds and works great. I'll probably try a re-install of Axe Edit, but for now it's not a biggie as long as my ears are happy.
 
Maybe try settings/preferences/refresh and do the block definitions.

Maybe also check what it says on the Axe front panel display. If it's right there, then you know axe edit is likely the issue. But like you say if at the end of the day it works, it's kind of a first world problem hehe.
 
This is awesome Scott.
Tried your settings and they rock.
Never really cared for the 1959SLP models and now I'm preparing this weekend gig with a single preset based on your settings.
Don't know if it's the preamp magic the 1959SLP Jump model the fresh strings or the FW itself. This box has never sounded so good.

I'm having a hard time choosing a drive block for gain boost. They all seem to take something away from the tone.
My favorite method is the sat switch. However I don't think it's really that useful live. For it to work the preset should have it on or off.
The jump in volume is way too big.

Any suggestions for a drive block for gain boost?
Thanks.

Sat Swich (IDEAL) is great ! With 18.04 fw you can dial the amount of distortion , perfect ! You have just to put a Filter Block Null (lower the volume to taste -0.7 work for me) after your Amp(s) Block(s) , same CC on/off as Sat Switch . You have the possibility to equalize too , and no CPU lose !
 
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