Bob Bradshaw's view on the CAE preamp model

R

rrhoads17

Inspired
On a recent episode of ToneTalk, Bob Bradshaw said that the CAE preamp model doesn't sound anything like the real thing. He still praised the Axe-Fx due to the technology and effects, but did not like the CAE preamp. I think it sounds pretty close, but I have never played an original. Do amp designers hate the Axe because it takes sales away, or are they just purists? Seems like on ToneTalk, they make it a habit to bash modeling.
 
rrhoads17 said:
On a recent episode of ToneTalk, Bob Bradshaw said that the CAE preamp model doesn't sound anything like the real thing. He still praised the Axe-Fx due to the technology and effects, but did not like the CAE preamp. I think it sounds pretty close, but I have never played an original. Do amp designers hate the Axe because it takes sales away, or are they just purists? Seems like on ToneTalk, they make it a habit to bash modeling.
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Allan Philips of Carol-Ann amplifiers is a friend of Cliff's and helped tweak the actual models. The Triptik 2 was prototyped in the Axe-FX before it was a physical prototype.
 
I've had 2. I tend to agree that it's one of the weaker models in the Axe. Might be because it's not paired with any of the power amps I used it with (VHT Classic or VHT 2/90/2). Or the one Cliff has has some mods that mine didn't.
 
I got the impression it was a while ago amen he tried it, plus like Dave Friedman he'll want the likes of you and me to be spending our hard earned in their shops rather than Cliff's
 
the thing these guys never consider is that their amp cost about the same price of an af3, and you get what, 2-3 usable sounds out of it? The af3 might not be 100% 1:1, but you get enough stuff to play for the rest of your life without using the same tone twice, if you wanted to.
I was a/b'ing my jcm800 with the brit800 model a few days ago, and although they're probably 95% identical, I prefer the af model over the real thing for that 5% - simply because it lets me use some settings that on the real amp I cannot dial without getting kicked out of the neighborhood!
 
edo said:
the thing these guys never consider is that their amp cost about the same price of an af3, and you get what, 2-3 usable sounds out of it? The af3 might not be 100% 1:1, but you get enough stuff to play for the rest of your life without using the same tone twice, if you wanted to.
I was a/b'ing my jcm800 with the brit800 model a few days ago, and although they're probably 95% identical, I prefer the af model over the real thing for that 5% - simply because it lets me use some settings that on the real amp I cannot dial without getting kicked out of the neighborhood!
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Same when I got my old AX8. I was using a JVM410H at the time and it was a fine amp, just needed winding up to get what I wanted and took a couple of trips back and forth from the car to get the amp, cab, pedal board and guitar. I quickly realised the AX8 was getting me close enough to the JVM tones I liked with none of the hassle or ear damage, and so much more
 
Had a Shiva 20th Anniversary before I got the fx3... I never a/b them but the sound was very recognizable when I dialed it in. The Shiva clean on my amp did not break up at all... the axe gives me the same sound but I can get awesome edge of breakup on the clean channel with the fx3 and anything else I want!
I liked the drive channel on my Shiva but the Shiva drive channel on the fx3 doesn’t do it for me like the real thing.... but having said that.... it probably isn’t that the drive channel on the fx3 isn’t extremely well modeled... I just gravitated to other models as i went through the learning curve.
 
Never played the real thing and probably never will, but I had a lot of fun turning Variac down on that model the other day. Cool stuff.
 
I still have a ton of amps. Bottom line for me: I play in a cover band. We try our best to be very accurate. At the point I simultaneously had four different amps onstage, I decided to buy a Fractal. One and a half years later, the tones and the feel are vastly superior. What’s more, Leo, Jim, Howard, the Doc, Bob, Dave, etc. can’t stop by my place most Fridays, to tune up my amps and deliver a few more. Re effects, rewiring my pedalboard for the nth time has never been easier.
[edited for typo]
 
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