Do you spend more time tweaking or playing?

shasha

shasha

Fractal Fanatic
I hear this argument every time the Axe-FX is brought up on any other forum out there. Basically the impression out there is that because you have so much available to adjust that you'll spend every waking moment making new noises rather than playing.

I went through a lot of that using other ampsims and modellers in the past. I spent more time trying to get this stuff to do something that I had in my head or to improve feel than I ever did playing. So I was worried about this being the case with the Axe-FX.

I don't think that I've ever spent less time trying to dial in a sound than with the Axe-FX. Between the factory presets, Ax-Change and the user forum here I've got about 15-20 core presets that I was able to tweak (very quickly) for what I wanted. I was able to set up my footcontroller in what seems like minutes to do what I need and now I just spend anytime on the Axe-FX actually playing.

I haven't played this much in my entire life.
 
Playing. I 'tweak' to change something on my whim; but I don't buy gear to 'tweak' it; I buy it to make music, play music. If it hinders that in any way, I sell it. I have not sold the Axe-FX. :D
 
Playing, but I wish I had some more tweaking time. I'm playing music 4-5 days a week now, so there's very little tweaking time for me anymore (also have a day job).

I'm perfectly happy with my tones, but I always have cool patch ideas in my head that I rarely get a chance to try and build. When I do get to work with them, I rarely get to finish them. I have a bunch of really cool, half-finished, patches though.

D
 
shasha said:
I hear this argument every time the Axe-FX is brought up on any other forum out there. Basically the impression out there is that because you have so much available to adjust that you'll spend every waking moment making new noises rather than playing.

I went through a lot of that using other ampsims and modellers in the past. I spent more time trying to get this stuff to do something that I had in my head or to improve feel than I ever did playing. So I was worried about this being the case with the Axe-FX.

I don't think that I've ever spent less time trying to dial in a sound than with the Axe-FX. Between the factory presets, Ax-Change and the user forum here I've got about 15-20 core presets that I was able to tweak (very quickly) for what I wanted. I was able to set up my footcontroller in what seems like minutes to do what I need and now I just spend anytime on the Axe-FX actually playing.

I haven't played this much in my entire life.
Click to expand...

No question about it: I tweak. I tweak a lot. At meetings: "I'm Alexander van Engelen and I'm a tweaker".
But the Axe really is the first device where I have a guitar in my hands constantly while tweaking. So I play a lot more, really massively more than when I was moving pedals and rearranging racks.
 
It took me about two weeks and two rehearsals to learn how to setup the AxeFx for my needs. I have made a few tweaks here and there but I have spent a lot more time playing. I was always messing with my RM100 and M13 combo. There is always some argument from someone about this thing.

I also like the 'you can't get that in the room feel' and 'it doesn't cut through the mix.'
 
Currently in the middle of a de-tweaking therapy. I'll tell you when it's over.

(Yesterday tweeking the Carol Ann Sim: It's a beautiful amp - why doesn't anybody record it?)

Cheers,

Michael
 
I've been struggling with a certain "brightness" that I cannot get rid of for the past couple of months... so I will have to say, tweaking. Now that I think about it, it might be that darn HF Freq value that got bumped up to 5 from 2.5.... hm... gotta try that!
 
Jack Napalm said:
It took me about two weeks and two rehearsals to learn how to setup the AxeFx for my needs. I have made a few tweaks here and there but I have spent a lot more time playing.
Click to expand...

Same here, although it took more than two weeks. I keep it at rehearsal, so I don't tweak it much. If I had it at home, I'd probably occasionally tweak it (and would even upgrade the firmware from 6.xx), but would definitely spend more time playing guitar than I already do.
 
Playing. A lot more playing than tweaking. When I decide to develop an idea for a sound, I'll do a session that is more tweaking than playing, but that happens less than once a month.
 
95% playing - 5% tweaking

Only really change things when there is a SW upgrade and it needs a few adjustments, or we add a new song to a set that needs something specific.

Otherwise it sounds awesome to my ears, and I have learned many a time that the more I tweak past a certain point the worse things get. So I leave it ;-)
 
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