Hi All,
TL/DR: how many of you are finding you can just choose an amp, a cab, turn the Bass/Miss/High knobs a bit as you would a real amp, and just PLAY and be happy with the sound... without page diving and fiddling?
Long version:
Several years ago i had an Axe FX 2 MK2. Like many, I spent a lot of time noodling with patches to get sounds I liked. I read all the information I could get my hands on, including yeks guide and even watching YouTube videos about the original amps being modelled, to understand how they are typically set to sound good. I got a lot of sounds I liked.
But I also wrestled a LOT with many sounds that just didn't seem right. I remember that for each general family of amps (Fender, Marshall, Mesa, Vox etc) there would be several tricks that had to be done on various page of the amp block to make them sound best, or at least like their real life counterpart. It meant choosing an amp type, then having to 'prepare' it for use/realism, before even getting to the stage where you're 'sitting in front of the amp, ready to play'...
Now, I don't have the Axe anymore, and it's been a long time, so these examples will be COMPLETELY wrong, but it was stuff like:
There were many more examples, I had written notes about all the stuff I had to do when creating a patch using each major type of amp.
Eventually I got sick of having to remember all these little gotchas that need to be done, and instead of just loading up an amp model from scratch and playing, it meant having to create a template for each amp, so that all those little tweaks were already applied and I could start paying quicker.
I also didn't like that if I wanted to keep an amp model authentic sounding, I needed to look up what controls it did and didn't have in real life, to make sure I didn't adjust anything that didn't exist for real, and end up in weird town sound wise.
Now please don't flame me, as I did love the sounds I got, but eventually I got jack of the effort and the gotchas, and on many occasions wondering why stuff sounded weird, only to discover I'd forgotten one of these tweaks. So I went back to a real amp and pedals again and was happier... although limited in sounds.
So I'm now looking at the FM3, and reading about updates like the "Authentic" page, which I can imagine may be the only amp page I'db ever use. But I'd like to ask a few questions. Hopefully you guys and gals can give your perspective/know the answers:
1) Do the gotchas I mentioned above still exist for each amp type? I just want to select an amp, select a corresponding cab (or better yet, have the FM3 select a suitable cab for me by default!), And PLAY, without having to bother with making all the little tweaks depending on what kind of amp I've picked.
2) I read in the latest yek guide that depending on the range of the real amp knobs (rg. 0-10, 0-11, 1-10 etc), then that range will be in different places on the dial on the FM9. This would be another of those gotchas to have to remember..... Does the FM9 map the range of the knobs on Authentic page to the full range of the real amp? Or is it still possible on that page to dial in sounds that don't exist on the real amp, because the real amp knob range is a subset of the FM9s range?
While I know the Axe stuff is capable of awesome sounds, and I think the FM9 would suit my needs, I'm very wary of jumping back in, only to find that I spend as much time on all the above, instead of just playing, like I did with the Axe FX 2!
Thanks heaps for any help in advance
TL/DR: how many of you are finding you can just choose an amp, a cab, turn the Bass/Miss/High knobs a bit as you would a real amp, and just PLAY and be happy with the sound... without page diving and fiddling?
Long version:
Several years ago i had an Axe FX 2 MK2. Like many, I spent a lot of time noodling with patches to get sounds I liked. I read all the information I could get my hands on, including yeks guide and even watching YouTube videos about the original amps being modelled, to understand how they are typically set to sound good. I got a lot of sounds I liked.
But I also wrestled a LOT with many sounds that just didn't seem right. I remember that for each general family of amps (Fender, Marshall, Mesa, Vox etc) there would be several tricks that had to be done on various page of the amp block to make them sound best, or at least like their real life counterpart. It meant choosing an amp type, then having to 'prepare' it for use/realism, before even getting to the stage where you're 'sitting in front of the amp, ready to play'...
Now, I don't have the Axe anymore, and it's been a long time, so these examples will be COMPLETELY wrong, but it was stuff like:
- Fender amps needed their input gain dropped to sound as clean as the real deal (either across the board, or certain models because the modelled amp was some hot rodded version)
- Mesa amps need X, Y and Z adjusted in the power amp section so that they react the way they do in real life
- Marshalls all needed A, B and C done to them in the amp speaker page, but ONLY if they were non master volume models, otherwise it should be left alone
There were many more examples, I had written notes about all the stuff I had to do when creating a patch using each major type of amp.
Eventually I got sick of having to remember all these little gotchas that need to be done, and instead of just loading up an amp model from scratch and playing, it meant having to create a template for each amp, so that all those little tweaks were already applied and I could start paying quicker.
I also didn't like that if I wanted to keep an amp model authentic sounding, I needed to look up what controls it did and didn't have in real life, to make sure I didn't adjust anything that didn't exist for real, and end up in weird town sound wise.
Now please don't flame me, as I did love the sounds I got, but eventually I got jack of the effort and the gotchas, and on many occasions wondering why stuff sounded weird, only to discover I'd forgotten one of these tweaks. So I went back to a real amp and pedals again and was happier... although limited in sounds.
So I'm now looking at the FM3, and reading about updates like the "Authentic" page, which I can imagine may be the only amp page I'db ever use. But I'd like to ask a few questions. Hopefully you guys and gals can give your perspective/know the answers:
1) Do the gotchas I mentioned above still exist for each amp type? I just want to select an amp, select a corresponding cab (or better yet, have the FM3 select a suitable cab for me by default!), And PLAY, without having to bother with making all the little tweaks depending on what kind of amp I've picked.
2) I read in the latest yek guide that depending on the range of the real amp knobs (rg. 0-10, 0-11, 1-10 etc), then that range will be in different places on the dial on the FM9. This would be another of those gotchas to have to remember..... Does the FM9 map the range of the knobs on Authentic page to the full range of the real amp? Or is it still possible on that page to dial in sounds that don't exist on the real amp, because the real amp knob range is a subset of the FM9s range?
While I know the Axe stuff is capable of awesome sounds, and I think the FM9 would suit my needs, I'm very wary of jumping back in, only to find that I spend as much time on all the above, instead of just playing, like I did with the Axe FX 2!
Thanks heaps for any help in advance