Got my Axe Fx.....but not impressed so far.

R

rich2k4

Inspired
I've been playing with it all day today, but from what I am hearing so far, I'll be honest and say I am not really impressed.

I want to be up front and say that I do not have a pair of studio monitors. I so far have monitored the axe two ways. One with headphones, and one through my Roland Cube 30x going from Output 1 left of the axe fx into the Aux Input of the Cube. This bypasses all the modeling and tone stack of the cube and goes straight to the speaker.

I set output mode to stereo when using headphones and Copy L To R when using the cube.

I am using an american series Telecaster.

I've gone through most of the presets, and have messed around in Axe Edit, creating things from scratch. Out of the two monitoring methods, I prefer going into the cube because it sounds more amp like, and is a bigger fatter tone obviously. The headphones sound sterile and hi fi, but some of the stereo effect presets sound pretty cool through headphones.

I'm not really sure what I'm doing wrong. I have the input level in the I/O menu at a decent level, and not clipping. I do notice that it doesn't take much to get pretty loud through both head phones and the cube. I just have to turn up the output 1 knob just a tiny bit, and it starts to get loud.

I don't know if It is just me, but it seems like the presets and the Axe in general favors guitars with higher output/humbucking pickups. I guess the pickups in my tele are pretty low output, and it shows for example when I pull up a EVH brown sound preset or the Eruption preset. For me, the preset is pretty clean, but I imagine if I plugged in a Les Paul or similar, it would be high gain.

Right now, nothing I am hearing is earth shattering. I think I was expecting god like tones from all of the hype. I would go so far as to say that I prefer plugging directly into the roland cube.

One of the first things I did was recreate Tyler Grund's SRV patch, and download his Little Wing patch, as this is what inspired me to get an Axe Fx in the first place. I am bummed out because from my end, it sounds nothing like what I hear from his videos. Especially the Little Wing patch. Could be a combo of different things. Different monitoring setup, different guitars (although it shouldn't be that different, tele vs strat), or it simply reaffirms that its 95% the player and the touch.

My plan was to get a good pair of monitors but I am now hesitant to spend any more money since I don't know if It will really drastically improve what I am hearing.

I fully expect people to criticize and jump all over me, which is fine. I am hoping to get insight from others to see what perhaps I may be doing wrong, or if perhaps the Axe Fx just isn't for me?
 
When I first got mine and listened to it through headphones, I hated it. Then I plugged it in through decent monitors and it started to win me over. Then I stopped using factory presets and started dialing in my own, and eventually as I started to figure it out I loved it. Ironically, it's actually a lot easier to get good tones out of than you might think - just don't get overwhelmed with all the advanced deep-dive settings.

Can you borrow a decent PA speaker or something to try dialing in some tones? I don't use any factory presets, though I'm sure they work great for lots of people. Try building a simple preset, just amp - cab and set it up like you would a normal amp. It's a killer piece of gear, you just need to find your way of using it.
 
I may have missed something in the OP but have you turned off cab modelling? Running a preset with a cab block through a guitar speaker is like filtering the signal twice over. Furthermore, running an AFX through a Roland Cube is like.......running a great piece of equipment through a Roland Cube. Sorry but that set of gear is not complimentary.
 
You could rent a PA speaker (better yet a pair) and try monitoring through that. I had the opposite problem with the factory presets initially as my tele has Suhr SSH+ pickups which is really mid heavy.

Probably the best way to get used to the Axe is treat it like a real amp and pedalboard setup. Keep it simple, just use amp/cab/drive with maybe some reverb so it doesn't sound so dry.
 
Matt Owen said:
I may have missed something in the OP but have you turned off cab modelling? Running a preset with a cab block through a guitar speaker is like filtering the signal twice over. Furthermore, running an AFX through a Roland Cube is like.......running a great piece of equipment through a Roland Cube. Sorry but that set of gear is not complimentary.
Click to expand...

Turning off the cab block makes everything sound buzzy. If I was running straight into the cube through the main guitar input, maybe, but I am running it into the aux in. This is meant for mp3's/ipods. So I am sure it is pretty flat.
 
A Roland cube is not THAT flat to be honest. It's a low cost amp. Try running an MP3 player through it and you'll hear how much it's lacking.

You don't need to spend tons of money to get a good sound from the axe, but a ~$200 budget amp may not represent the $2500 modeler the best.

I would try to borrow a real PA speaker, preferably Yamaha, QSC or EV, avoiding Mackie and some JBL.
 
It took me a few weeks to figure out "what the big deal is" with the axe. I wouldn't worry yet. Do a lot of research on the settings on the particular amps you are wanting to use and make sure you are using complimentary IRs as a starting point. There are some tricks to getting a more "in the room" sound out of the IRs that you can look up in the forum. Try running UR stereo and setting the delay on one side to a few hundredths of a ms. I also find I need to dial in a little more bass when using headphones. The big eye opener for me was the first time I recorded some double tracking and heard how naturally everything fit together on the frequency spectrum on it's own. With other processors, I was always fighting some hump in the frequency spectrum somewhere.
 
What you listen through is critical. Your monitoring has to be up to the task. A $2500 device through a $100 device sounds a lot like a nice $100 device. I had a cube. Nothing sounded good through it.

I understand using what you have, but don't make your final choice on this unit until you hear it through something you'd expect to hear awesomeness coming from. You'll see what everyone is talking about.
 
rich2k4 said:
So I should go to GC and get something like the Alto TS112, or the EV ELX112P? GC has the 45 day return policies so it is as good as borrowing.
Click to expand...
I use the EV -- liked it better than the Alto. Recommend it for low-cost FRFR. Do it.
 
I wasn't sure about mine when I first got it but I hung in there and figured it out. Glad I did! It's been four or five years now and I own two Axe FxII's and an Ax8 and they are awesome!
 
As you seem to be going mono, I suggest you try to put your output in L+R sum configuration. Even with a 100 bucks device Axe Fw can sound wonderful. I tend to agree xith your supposition about the Humbucker PU but can myself get great sounds with SC PU. For that you probably need, with factory patches, to push a bit the input to +6dB in the utilities Menu. It sure makes a difference.
Welcome to the club anyway and quite convinced you'll find satisfaction with this incredible engine, give it some time and effort.
Keep on rockin' man,
 
Monitoring is critical. Running a $2500 modeler into a practice amp is going to make it sound like a practice amp.

If you're tight on cash because of the Axe purchase, I'd suggest getting a decent pair of studio monitors instead of an FRFR solution of some sorts. In my opinion, you can get better results with a lower-end nearfield monitor as opposed to trying to do FRFR on the cheap.
 
I have 2 Verve 8ma's for sale if you're interested, $500 for the pair + shipping.

I used them until I got 2 Atomic Neo's. If interested, shoot over a PM
 
proud ev live x 112p x 2 stereo, player here, can get any sound you want, may need global eq setting changes (in the axe) and turn off 'full' spectrum if too much bass. NOTHING I downloaded or barely anything but clean presets sounded good to me (Im a high gainer) I think its much easier to get good clean sounds, regardless, I had blanket over amp problems etc. until I REALLY dove into it. 1 week into it I was rocking, 5 years into it Im loving every min. of it, and still learning.

IF YOU like what you heard from someone else, well you know its achievable. Thousands of hardcore vets, pros, and hobbyists cant be sooooooooooo wrong, right? On some level, whether you use it for home use only or EVERYTHING from recording to METALLICA arena gigs, it will serve you well for the money.
 
Yeah really you just can't beat the EV stuff for the money. The ZLX has a dsp chip that lets you set it flat. Now I have used big PAs at some of our gigs, Qsc and JBl and RFC etc and my patches built on the EV ZLX 12 translate just fine. Most places have a new ZLX 12 for around $399 here is the US. At least that gives you a good idea of what the Axe can sound like without spending a grand on a speaker cab.
 
Last edited:
5150 said:
Monitoring is critical. Running a $2500 modeler into a practice amp is going to make it sound like a practice amp.

If you're tight on cash because of the Axe purchase, I'd suggest getting a decent pair of studio monitors instead of an FRFR solution of some sorts. In my opinion, you can get better results with a lower-end nearfield monitor as opposed to trying to do FRFR on the cheap.
Click to expand...

I agree with 5150. A pair of smaller nearfields would be even better for monitoring and can also be used for recording. JBL, Tannoy make excellent, inexpensive near field monitors that don't cost much more than $300-400 a pair. Used might be even better. PA speakers will be more colored for sure and might be more difficult to translate to other systems.

I never use headphones for judging guitar tones other than how they sit in a mix. It's just not how we are used to hearing ourselves play.

Give it some time and good luck. I think you'll find yourself very happy in the end.

P.S. Try to turn up your "input trim" a little (found in the amp block) to compensate for the lower output pickups. Also make sure you are getting strong green to yellow lights on the front panel LEDs to make sure your overall global guitar input signal is strong enough.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom