EG 2006
Inspired
I'm interested to know your thoughts on how well the Axe FX 3 represents different pickups (and guitars). So today I was doing the old A/B/C/D trick of swapping guitars into the same preset to try and identify the differences in the pickups. Pickups tested were Guitar 1 (Les Paul): SD Pearly Gates, Guitar 2 (PRS Custom 24): SD Saturday Night Specials, Guitar 3 (Les Paul): Lollar P90's and Guitar 4 (Strat) with Texas Specials.
I was using the Blankenship Leeds for one test amp and the Swart Atomic Space Tone for another (same Greenback IR for both). Both amps set to 5 on the Volume so not massively overdriven - just midrange bluesy. No changes or tweaks with ideal settings etc expect I did up the Sag to 4 on both. I'm running through Adam A7X's in a studio environment and I had the volume up to a decent level.
Upshot? The differences to my ears were not as much as I expected - very, very subtle. Now my ears could have drifted over time as I sold my last valve amp a year ago when I became a 100% Fractal convert but I would have expected more notable differences. The PG pups are Alnico 2, the SNS are Alnico 4 and the P90's are P90's! The guitars all have different tonewoods. For the record, the Strat showed the biggest difference. Having said that, with the guitar volume at 10 on positions 4 &5 it was still very overdriven but it did clean up from lowering the guitar volume control better than any of the others.
What have been your experiences? Have you found a particular amp model that is more sensitive to different guitars/pickups than others? Is there a limitiation in the "Special Sauce" that homogenises the results?
(IMPORTANT. This is by NO means a complaint of any sort. I am blown away every day by the incredible tones from this machine. I never cease to be staggered by just how good this is. I have owned over 40 valve amps in my time and hundreds of guitars. This is the BEST piece of kit I have ever owned - period!)
I was using the Blankenship Leeds for one test amp and the Swart Atomic Space Tone for another (same Greenback IR for both). Both amps set to 5 on the Volume so not massively overdriven - just midrange bluesy. No changes or tweaks with ideal settings etc expect I did up the Sag to 4 on both. I'm running through Adam A7X's in a studio environment and I had the volume up to a decent level.
Upshot? The differences to my ears were not as much as I expected - very, very subtle. Now my ears could have drifted over time as I sold my last valve amp a year ago when I became a 100% Fractal convert but I would have expected more notable differences. The PG pups are Alnico 2, the SNS are Alnico 4 and the P90's are P90's! The guitars all have different tonewoods. For the record, the Strat showed the biggest difference. Having said that, with the guitar volume at 10 on positions 4 &5 it was still very overdriven but it did clean up from lowering the guitar volume control better than any of the others.
What have been your experiences? Have you found a particular amp model that is more sensitive to different guitars/pickups than others? Is there a limitiation in the "Special Sauce" that homogenises the results?
(IMPORTANT. This is by NO means a complaint of any sort. I am blown away every day by the incredible tones from this machine. I never cease to be staggered by just how good this is. I have owned over 40 valve amps in my time and hundreds of guitars. This is the BEST piece of kit I have ever owned - period!)
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