First Rehearsal With The Axe FX 2. Was pleasantly surprised.

[Paulg2uk]

Hi all,

So I've been playing about with the axe fx 2 over xmas and have it setup now to my liking. Just waiting for a couple of mission pedals to turn up which have now been delayed due to a chassis shortage so I've been told. Not a problem though the guys at mission are good to deal with and have apologised for the inconvenience. It happens unfortunely not much I can do but be patience.

Anyway so I had my fist rehearsal with the axe and the band and I was actually quite impressed. I'm in the middle of decided what to buy an atomic powered cab or a mesa power amp?? any suggestions would be great by the way. So i've just been using it thru the front end of my amp. Last night at the rehearsal I decided to borrow the studios marshall head and 4x12 cab. I was a little disappointed as it was a valve state model and I've not been too keen on those before I'm a boogie player you see. I plugged in anyway and immediately I was surprised it sounded really awesome. Cleans were nice and bright and clear and the recto orange patch sounded awesome.

I have a whammy patch setup for the organ part on Town Called Malice by the Jam and my band mates were joking about saying it sounded like the intro to Kung Fu Fighting lol which it kind of did I suppose.

A few minor adjustments are needed I have a global boost setup and have decided to change that and just put in a volume block just for solos when needed as I eventually want to add an expression pedal for volume.

Overall though I'm pretty happy and its kind of weird just showing up to rehearsal with my rack case guitar and pedalboard it felt like I was missing something not having a load of gear with me. Anyway just thought I'd post this and share my experience. I'd like to say thanks to everyone on the forum for replying to my questions you've all been a big help in helping me and others setup our axe's.

Cheers

Paul

 

[paulmapp8306]

Personally, on the amplification front - I wouldnt buy either.

The Atomics are expensive for what they are, and valve power amps are heavy/expensive. The Mesa ones colour the tone a lot as well.

Having played with my standard for 4 years (getting a 2 this week), and using a VHT power amp, Art SS amp, a Mesa 50/50 and Marshall 9100 (only in shops mind) I have finally settled on my Power Amp (for traditional Cabs) - the Matrix GT800FX. Much cheaper, much liighter and 99% of the sound.

If I was going FRFR (which I do want to try) Id go for the RCFs Scott is using. There £200 or so more expensive than the Atomics but much much better. On the Cheap, there are some LDs from Thomann that get great reviews for the price. There a little bass light, so no down tuned guitars - and arnt the loudest, but for monitoring only (the whole point of FRFR as the main signal will go to FOH) there fine. Considering which way to go myself to try.