macfly
Inspired
My first gig with the AX8 exceeded my expectations. I've been using a Friedman Dirty Shirley, Tim OD and FX8 for a couple of years now and thought I'd never get a modeler to sound as good. Truth told, the AX8 sounds better. For this first gig, I wanted to keep it simple...I set it up to work like my FX8 but I used a BE and the German Boutique.
Long story short: Our bassist and soundman have been very negative toward my switch to digital, but everyone said that it sounded just like an amp. What I hadn't expected is that some audience members that have seen us a lot said that while they usually can't hear me in the mix, they could hear me well last night. I'll add that my IEM mix was clean too...I could hear everything really well. The room we were in sounds awful and is always LOUD...before IEM, everything would just run together in a big sound bomb. With amp and IEMs, it was better but still, even with sealed earbuds, I was getting competition from my amp.
While I do want to limit the number of amps I'm using (I could be perfectly happy with the rig I used last night), I am now anxious to get into some more amps. The BE sounded right for 90% of our list, but there are some songs (Tom Petty for example) where something more classic would work even better. In order to cover a variety of these more classic tones, from what I've auditioned so far, I think I'll start with the DC30 and/or JTM45.
My only complaint is the gaps between sounds in scene and preset switching. I knew about this, but it doesn't make it any less annoying. However, I know that I will eventually get a sense of timing.
As mentioned at the top, overall I am amazed at how great this sounded. I wish I figured this out with my first AX8 two years ago--especially because I DIG walking in with a pedalboard that is smaller and lighter and that replaces my amp and cab. I've been storing a rolling cart in my backseat floorboard of my car, and it rattles...I don't need it anymore!
Long story short: Our bassist and soundman have been very negative toward my switch to digital, but everyone said that it sounded just like an amp. What I hadn't expected is that some audience members that have seen us a lot said that while they usually can't hear me in the mix, they could hear me well last night. I'll add that my IEM mix was clean too...I could hear everything really well. The room we were in sounds awful and is always LOUD...before IEM, everything would just run together in a big sound bomb. With amp and IEMs, it was better but still, even with sealed earbuds, I was getting competition from my amp.
While I do want to limit the number of amps I'm using (I could be perfectly happy with the rig I used last night), I am now anxious to get into some more amps. The BE sounded right for 90% of our list, but there are some songs (Tom Petty for example) where something more classic would work even better. In order to cover a variety of these more classic tones, from what I've auditioned so far, I think I'll start with the DC30 and/or JTM45.
My only complaint is the gaps between sounds in scene and preset switching. I knew about this, but it doesn't make it any less annoying. However, I know that I will eventually get a sense of timing.
As mentioned at the top, overall I am amazed at how great this sounded. I wish I figured this out with my first AX8 two years ago--especially because I DIG walking in with a pedalboard that is smaller and lighter and that replaces my amp and cab. I've been storing a rolling cart in my backseat floorboard of my car, and it rattles...I don't need it anymore!
Last edited:
