So, this isn't a full blown review, but a little story of a gig I did a couple of days ago. I was playing in a very small room with PA for vocals only. The gig was a combo pack gig partly celebrating the birthdays of the leader of the band I'm in and the leader of another band whose members have all been in various groups with us at different times. The music was blues, rock, r & b into jammy stuff. So the set up was 2 guitar rigs, me with my Axe II into 1 RCF 310A and the other guitarist in our band using an original 58 Fender Tweed Deluxe (plus pedals) that is one of the best amps I've ever heard with a Les Paul with P90s and later my Ibanez semihollow 2630 when he broke a string (killer guitar). Later, one guy in the other band used a Blues Jr that he'd tweaked out which was turned all the way up and sounded great.
In the first set with the Tweed Deluxe across the stage from me, I was happy as could be with my sound. I was using the Wrecker (Trainwreck) amp with an LSL telecaster and I used them all night long. I had various effects triggered by MFC (Drive, Comp, 2 delays, tremelo, phaser, verb). That was it. Sounded every bit as good as the Tweed Deluxe. The leader of the other band came up after the set and said, "I had no idea you were using a digital rig. I thought you had your Tweed Deluxe or something like that up there until I saw it." This is a guy who has obsessed over amps for years and owned many great amps. Later, the other guitarist in the 2nd band, a guy who is usually a guitar to overdrive pedal (rarely used) to Fender amp guy with a telecaster played my rig. I was shocked that he agreed to use it. So then I got to hear a whole set of someone else using the same setup. I don't think he even used any of the pedals on the MFC. He sounded killer. I could then hear from the audience perspective the quality of the sound. I would never have guessed digital. I would've guessed that it was some awesome sounding tweed amp. The Wrecker amp is fantastic for dialing up your sound off your guitar volume and tone knobs. He later said after his set with the Axe II, "Yeah, it sounds great and it feels like a tube amp, too."
It was the first time that I'd heard someone else play my Axe II rig at a gig and it totally reinforced what I'd been thinking/feeling. The leader of the other band, who'd been a digital doubter and thought my Ultra sounded good, but wasn't really totally convinced by my basic clean sounds said "they finally got it right with modelling (with the II)." It was great to see the light go on in some die hard tube people and to get to hear someone else play my rig and sound like a great version of himself.
I just love my Axe II and it's amazing that it does the basic amplification job of a totally killer amp PLUS has all those amazing effects available for gigs where they're more appropriate. Best of both worlds.
In the first set with the Tweed Deluxe across the stage from me, I was happy as could be with my sound. I was using the Wrecker (Trainwreck) amp with an LSL telecaster and I used them all night long. I had various effects triggered by MFC (Drive, Comp, 2 delays, tremelo, phaser, verb). That was it. Sounded every bit as good as the Tweed Deluxe. The leader of the other band came up after the set and said, "I had no idea you were using a digital rig. I thought you had your Tweed Deluxe or something like that up there until I saw it." This is a guy who has obsessed over amps for years and owned many great amps. Later, the other guitarist in the 2nd band, a guy who is usually a guitar to overdrive pedal (rarely used) to Fender amp guy with a telecaster played my rig. I was shocked that he agreed to use it. So then I got to hear a whole set of someone else using the same setup. I don't think he even used any of the pedals on the MFC. He sounded killer. I could then hear from the audience perspective the quality of the sound. I would never have guessed digital. I would've guessed that it was some awesome sounding tweed amp. The Wrecker amp is fantastic for dialing up your sound off your guitar volume and tone knobs. He later said after his set with the Axe II, "Yeah, it sounds great and it feels like a tube amp, too."
It was the first time that I'd heard someone else play my Axe II rig at a gig and it totally reinforced what I'd been thinking/feeling. The leader of the other band, who'd been a digital doubter and thought my Ultra sounded good, but wasn't really totally convinced by my basic clean sounds said "they finally got it right with modelling (with the II)." It was great to see the light go on in some die hard tube people and to get to hear someone else play my rig and sound like a great version of himself.
I just love my Axe II and it's amazing that it does the basic amplification job of a totally killer amp PLUS has all those amazing effects available for gigs where they're more appropriate. Best of both worlds.
Last edited:
Version 2.0? That sounds amazing!!
