I typically keep this kind of stuff to myself, but, I wanted to post something here that didn't just involve my IR's. :lol
I got my Axe-Fx II earlier this year, and it came loaded with FW 13.07. I had a lot going on at the time, and in my brief messing around with it at first I only set up an amp block and used the front panel controls. I didn't bother installing the USB drivers or Axe-Edit because I was just in too much of a rush - yeah, couldn't take 5 minutes to do that, could you Kevin... you chucklehead... So I set up a couple of sims that model my favorite real life amps, and compared them directly to what I have set up in the tube world. I tweaked what I could see and get to quickly and without reading the f#%king manual, as they say, and I just couldn't quite get there, or get there fast. I already had a direct/silent recording chain set up that I had no issues with or reason to abandon, so I went back about my busy schedule and didn't try any more with the unit. The impetus of including the tube power amp driven IR's in the new Essentials cab IR line was a direct result of me not necessarily getting what I wanted out of this experience.
Skip to the present time.
Last week I was out on vacation, and my time away from my day job allowed me to be me again, and the creative juices flowed. Somewhere in between consciousness and dream I came up with a crazy cool idea for a new way to sample IR's (yeah, wait for that bomb to drop in the not too distant future
), and given that I know the Axe-Fx platform is going to be one of the ideal candidates for usage of them this week upon my return I went to the trouble (in reality, a complete lack thereof) of downloading and installing the USB drivers, Fractal Bot, Axe-Edit, and the new firmware 15.02. I don't know if it's the new firmware (or the improvements somewhere in between 13.07 and 15.02), or the quick access to all of the advanced parameters and ease of adding additional blocks (like the drive, effects, ect) in Axe-Edit, but I had a night and day different experience and set of results in tones. I was now able to either get extremely close to (negligible difference), or in some cases surpass the tone I had in my previous setup. I will openly admit, I didn't want to replace my tube stuff. I like touching stuff, turning knobs, etc, and I like that there are very few knobs to turn or things to adjust and the sound is always "there". One of my close personal friends makes most of the tube gear I use and love (for those of you who went to the LA Amp Show last fall, I was there with him in his booth/room), so I have an affinity to the Egnater modular system and those products (Jaded Faith MTS mods). Put simply, it was going to take a LOT to get me to change my ways, at least in a direct recording scenario (I have never had any question that for live use the Axe-Fx is a no brainer). Well, 15.02 + Axe-Edit did it. I found a set of signal path variables that worked for me, and I was able to dial in my favorite tube path tones nearly exactly. Some just a shy different (better or worse, not sure, mostly just a little different), and some even a little better. In either case, I had way more flexibility with the Axe-Fx setup via all of those parameters not exposed in the real world without a soldering iron and a tackle box of components, if you could even do it at all. The real value add here, in my opinion? I matched those tones for the few staple amps I have that I can't do without, that I own. Well, there are over 100 more in the Axe-Fx that I don't that are now available to me at no additional cost.
Today I'm taking the day off from sampling, and rearranging my A rack to pull what is necessary to make room for the Axe-Fx II that has been sitting all lonely atop one of my side cars and bolting it in under my Orpheus. Time to go grab a Vovox S/PDIF cable.
I have assimilated.
I got my Axe-Fx II earlier this year, and it came loaded with FW 13.07. I had a lot going on at the time, and in my brief messing around with it at first I only set up an amp block and used the front panel controls. I didn't bother installing the USB drivers or Axe-Edit because I was just in too much of a rush - yeah, couldn't take 5 minutes to do that, could you Kevin... you chucklehead... So I set up a couple of sims that model my favorite real life amps, and compared them directly to what I have set up in the tube world. I tweaked what I could see and get to quickly and without reading the f#%king manual, as they say, and I just couldn't quite get there, or get there fast. I already had a direct/silent recording chain set up that I had no issues with or reason to abandon, so I went back about my busy schedule and didn't try any more with the unit. The impetus of including the tube power amp driven IR's in the new Essentials cab IR line was a direct result of me not necessarily getting what I wanted out of this experience.
Skip to the present time.
Last week I was out on vacation, and my time away from my day job allowed me to be me again, and the creative juices flowed. Somewhere in between consciousness and dream I came up with a crazy cool idea for a new way to sample IR's (yeah, wait for that bomb to drop in the not too distant future
), and given that I know the Axe-Fx platform is going to be one of the ideal candidates for usage of them this week upon my return I went to the trouble (in reality, a complete lack thereof) of downloading and installing the USB drivers, Fractal Bot, Axe-Edit, and the new firmware 15.02. I don't know if it's the new firmware (or the improvements somewhere in between 13.07 and 15.02), or the quick access to all of the advanced parameters and ease of adding additional blocks (like the drive, effects, ect) in Axe-Edit, but I had a night and day different experience and set of results in tones. I was now able to either get extremely close to (negligible difference), or in some cases surpass the tone I had in my previous setup. I will openly admit, I didn't want to replace my tube stuff. I like touching stuff, turning knobs, etc, and I like that there are very few knobs to turn or things to adjust and the sound is always "there". One of my close personal friends makes most of the tube gear I use and love (for those of you who went to the LA Amp Show last fall, I was there with him in his booth/room), so I have an affinity to the Egnater modular system and those products (Jaded Faith MTS mods). Put simply, it was going to take a LOT to get me to change my ways, at least in a direct recording scenario (I have never had any question that for live use the Axe-Fx is a no brainer). Well, 15.02 + Axe-Edit did it. I found a set of signal path variables that worked for me, and I was able to dial in my favorite tube path tones nearly exactly. Some just a shy different (better or worse, not sure, mostly just a little different), and some even a little better. In either case, I had way more flexibility with the Axe-Fx setup via all of those parameters not exposed in the real world without a soldering iron and a tackle box of components, if you could even do it at all. The real value add here, in my opinion? I matched those tones for the few staple amps I have that I can't do without, that I own. Well, there are over 100 more in the Axe-Fx that I don't that are now available to me at no additional cost.Today I'm taking the day off from sampling, and rearranging my A rack to pull what is necessary to make room for the Axe-Fx II that has been sitting all lonely atop one of my side cars and bolting it in under my Orpheus. Time to go grab a Vovox S/PDIF cable.
I have assimilated.
