Back in the saddle at last (Finally loving my Axe-FX again)

funny_polymath

Fractal Fanatic
I've been an Axe-FX user since the Ultra first came out. I now own an original II (i.e. a MKI).

I haven't been in a band of late, and had.. sorta drifted into playing my Princeton (and even my Champ), instead of my Axe. It just didn't sound as good as a real amp to me anymore. Guess my ears changed. I was on 6 something firmware, hadn't played with new amps or cabs, and was just... not into it.

Today, I upgraded to the newest firmware, downloaded the stock patches (which, I must admit, I am still mostly underwhelmed by), and started playing.

I'd played a Blues JR sitting in at a club recently, and really liked it. So, I started with that. WHAM! Within 5 minutes, I was getting the kind of open, clean-to-break sound I love (yeah. I use high gain sounds too, but my bread and butter is a good Fender amp - and I've often felt that the 'open-ness' of these amps was more of a challenge to model successfully than some super high gain monster).

The new firmware is light years beyond what I knew. Axe-Edit is too. And the cabs are too (the basketweave 4X12's are my faves right now). I honestly don't know why people purchase cabs. I'm not knocking it, but the free selection is just fine with me. I know: I probably don't know what I'm missing...

What I DO know is that it's a joy to play my Axe-FX again! Suddenly, it feels warm, alive, lush.

Thanks Cliff, all of you at FAS, all of the user community (except the skinheads, klansmen and neo-Nazis who occasionally send me anonymous, anti-Semitic and threatening emails). Except for the aforementioned hateful folks, this community is really special, and this gear is really special!

Long live FAS!
 
yes indeed , the FAS folk have really hit a sweet spot with the current FW, and even for someone who has never left the fold since initial purchase , new, deep revelations make themselves known to me on a daily basis, as you will find. Welcome again!
 
The Blues Jr is probably one of the most under-appreciated amps out there, and the model in the AxeFX seems to me to be under-appreciated too.

I don't think you can really get how good a Blues Jr is until you've had to crank it to keep up with a drum set. Pushed that hard, it really shines.
 
I created this new patch from scratch in like 5 minutes. I just could not believe how sweet it sounds! Now I gotta save the amp and cab blocks, change all of my old presets, and.. add scenes! Never have played with scenes, but I'm going to need 'em now that I'm getting a new band together. And then I need to program my LF12 Pro+ to deal with all of it. Sigh... :)
 
Welcome back. I’ve been not playing much live and exploring real amps more. This is a good reminder. I had one of the original tweed Blues Jr’s that I gigged for several years. It worked great at getting a decent clean tone and then responding quite well to pedals. I’ve heard vast differences in Blues Jrs, some being terrible and harsh. Then, more recently when I pulled it out, it had kind of gone to (*^(*^4%. The tone was terrible. A friend who owns a music store told me that the wiring tends to go bad after a certain time. Not sure, but it had lost the mojo. Haven’t explored Axe version much because there are so many “sexier” cleanish Fender kinds of amps, but I’ll fire this up and see how it is. Gotta be way better than my real one (which I sold recently) was before leaving the fold.
 
Guess the one I played was one of the good ones: sweet, punchy, responsive, lush. I own a pre-CBS Princeton and... right now I'm enjoying my Blues Jr. patch more! I still need to dial out a little treble harshness to perfect it.

One nice thing about this patch: ALL of the guitars I've tried so far sound good on it. I'm talking everything from a Wildkat to my bargain Epi-Zappa SG, to both my Zexcoil strat and my Japanese '61 reissue strat to my 61 South to my new custom guitar with 3 GFS gold foil pups (this sucker sounds AMAZING plugged into anything). They all sound great! This is not always the case!

In fact, because this is not always the case, I've been opining and whining for, geez, 10 years or so for an easy-to-access 'guitar page' where you could set up input levels, EQ, and basic compression for each of your axes, giving each of them a descriptive name, and then, during a gig, when you switch guitars, also switch them on the 'guitar page'. This would bring each guitar's potential to its max on the Axe FX. On my particular patches (which are all going to be renovated now!), my two guitars that use P-90s have always sounded the very best. To have an easy selector to get your levels and tone smoothed out for each guitar (I've performed with up to 4 electrics plus one acoustic, all going into my Axe-FX), seems like such a useful no-brainer utility for me. Since I also play viola, percussion, and sing through my Axe-Fx (my setup includes a mixer feeding the back input), the ability to radically alter EQ, levels, and compression would be a total game changer (I deal with EQ and levels on the mixer, but pre-programmed and easy to clone and change would be so much better). Or did Cliff do this while I was away? :)

Gee, I've gone off on a tangent again, haven't I? LOL!

Welcome back. I’ve been not playing much live and exploring real amps more. This is a good reminder. I had one of the original tweed Blues Jr’s that I gigged for several years. It worked great at getting a decent clean tone and then responding quite well to pedals. I’ve heard vast differences in Blues Jrs, some being terrible and harsh. Then, more recently when I pulled it out, it had kind of gone to (*^(*^4%. The tone was terrible. A friend who owns a music store told me that the wiring tends to go bad after a certain time. Not sure, but it had lost the mojo. Haven’t explored Axe version much because there are so many “sexier” cleanish Fender kinds of amps, but I’ll fire this up and see how it is. Gotta be way better than my real one (which I sold recently) was before leaving the fold.
 
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These (cheap as shite!) gfs gold foil single coils (not their goldfoil humbuckers) sound so damn sweet! Baked quarter-sawn neck too. Just wish the frets weren't so skinny. Refret, someday. I was going to buy some Lollar goldfoils, but when I heard these, I ordered a set of three strat-sized ones for a new guitar I'm having built. I love Lollars' stuff, but these are like 1/4 the price and sound sooooo good!
 
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These (cheap as shite!) gfs gold foil single coils (not their goldfoil humbuckers) sound so damn sweet! Baked quarter-sawn neck too. Just wish the frets weren't so skinny. Refret, someday. I was going to buy some Lollar goldfoils, but when I heard these, I ordered a set of three strat-sized ones for a new guitar I'm having built. I love Lollars' stuff, but these are like 1/4 the price and sound sooooo good!
You certainly got the color right. I love blue figured maple. And the pickups? GFS has a bunch of modestly-priced stuff that hits well above it’s weight. The price makes them accessible and, at the same time, keeps the snobs away.

Yet you dismiss the blue ax as simply “my new custom guitar.” Spill, already!
 
20637891_10155594685164579_1934651586999116438_n.jpg

These (cheap as shite!) gfs gold foil single coils (not their goldfoil humbuckers) sound so damn sweet! Baked quarter-sawn neck too. Just wish the frets weren't so skinny. Refret, someday. I was going to buy some Lollar goldfoils, but when I heard these, I ordered a set of three strat-sized ones for a new guitar I'm having built. I love Lollars' stuff, but these are like 1/4 the price and sound sooooo good!

Do you have anything against their gold foil humbuckers? I ask because GFS can be a little hit or miss. Their Mean90 pickups, for instance, are absolutely killer and worth way more than they charge for them. I've had a lot less luck with their Strat-style single coils though. I've been through about 3 different sets in my Carvin Bolt, and still can't find a sound I like. I'm thinking of trying their Strat style gold foils next.
 
I don't. I just wanted to be specific about what I was raving about. And... I am definitely more of a single-coil guy. But I've never tried 'em. They may be great. I did buy a set of strat-sized 'gold foils', but the guitar they're going into is still under construction, so I haven't heard 'em yet. The ones on the above guitar are, obviously, humbucker-sized, but they're single coils.
 
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You certainly got the color right. I love blue figured maple. And the pickups? GFS has a bunch of modestly-priced stuff that hits well above it’s weight. The price makes them accessible and, at the same time, keeps the snobs away.

Yet you dismiss the blue ax as simply “my new custom guitar.” Spill, already!
I saw this beauty in the window of Stockade Guitars, in Kingston, NY. I'm partial to gold foils, so I thoughtt I'd just go in and play it for a second and... love at first note. It has no name and was made by 'a local luthier' - which, I believe, means a guy who bought something like a warmoth body and neck, a trem etc,, and put it together. I was told the neck was baked. it's clearly quarter-sawn and well made. The wiring was a joke: this guy clearly does not know how to wire guitars. It's a strat type setup, 5 pos blade switch, and there were serious noise issues. Because I'm lazy, I took it to Matt at 30th Street Guitars (now on 28th. I believe) in NYC, and he a) went apeshit over how good it sounded b) was incredulous at the bad wiring job c) made it sound much better, for a song. He is THE MAN, as far as I'm concerned. I've searched far and wide, and I have one guy who is an amazing luthier, who's made me some great guitars - Manny Salvador at Guitarcraft, also in NYC - but Matt's my general go to guy. They both take great pride in their work, and neither overcharges. As to the 'local luthier' (i.e. 'assembler') I have no idea who is is. As for Stockade, it's a really nice store, with a well-curated selection - no crap, no 'fat'. But I am staying AWAY from there: I have too many guitars and not enough $ right now!
 
I don't. I just wanted to be specific about what I was raving about. And... I am definitely more of a single-coil guy. But I've never tried 'em. They may be great. I did buy a set of strat-sized 'gold foils', but the guitar they're going into is still under construction, so I haven't heard 'em yet. The ones I bought are, obviously, humbucker-sized, but they're single coils.

Thanks for the response. One of the cool things about GFS is that you can just try the stuff, and if you don't like it for whatever reason you're not out a lot of money.
 
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The guitar on top is going to get the strat-sized gfs single coils. The one on the bottom is a custom-made guitar made by Manny Salvador at guitarcraft in NYC. The neck is a repurposed Hagstrom I neck (from the first electric I ever bought). The frets have been removed and slim pieces of maple have been inserted and the whole sanded flat to make a fretless guitar. 3 original 1950's Danelectro pups, strat wired. The body, which I drew out, was inspired by Vilette-Citron Bass guitars.
 
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The guitar on top is going to get the strat-sized gfs single coils. The one on the bottom is a custom-made guitar made by Manny Salvador at guitarcraft in NYC. The neck is a repurposed Hagstrom I neck (from the first electric I ever bought). The frets have been removed and slim pieces of maple have been inserted and the whole sanded flat to make a fretless guitar. 3 original 1950's Danelectro pups, strat wired. The body, which I drew out, was inspired by Vilette-Citron Bass guitars.

My first thought when I saw the one on the bottom was, "A bass!".

I never played a fretless guitar. I've played a fretless bass and I was surprised at how easy it was to play in tune. But that's just one note at a time....
 
It's always a pleasure to have an AXE FX around to play with. I love mine as well as anyone and have owned and played it all as far as gear and gas goes. I am currently using a Boss Katana 100 112 combo which I switch on and off the effects and amps of both the combo and AXE FX II with the 4 cable method. That combination is just intoxicating! Glad to see you back in the saddle again! By the way I don't live too far from you up here in Chichester N.Y.
 
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