Hard questions from someone that does not have access to hardware.

J

JOEFX

New Member
Greetings

My intention here is not to stir the pot between modelers however some of my questions I really cannot answer without direct questions to people in the know.
I am a hobbyist and love to play guitar, not a pro but have a decent set of ears .

My passion is blues, I basically love old tweeds, blackface amps, Dumble's etc etc., Also I absolutely love the patch Tyler Grund Made that has the Texas thing going on. Brilliant!

Here is where my questions start and I do not know how to not cause friction. I am seriously looking for information.

I have watched literally just about every AxeFx and K youtube videos out there. I've listened to Soundcloud and SoundClick, Ive found clips here and there.
Is the AxeFx better at rock and metal?

A huge observation to me is this, MY EARS The Axefx HAS the note definition in spades. it has texture, BUT it just sounds thin to me especially for blues, maybe I'm crazy but I watch Leon's and Marcos, Brett and others vid's and yes I love the definition, what I find missing is the depth. Why does another device sound better to me? Subjective? is it just me

Is the AxeFx more designed as a Metal machine?

Dumble's have a cutting edge on the Axefx which is great, Reminds me of Eric Clapton with a 335 but where is the depth and beautiful round deep tones.
The Fender stuff again is missing depth and also that round note definition that makes it special. AGAIN this is my ears. Can it do a great BB KING Tone?

Is it a matter of eq and adding more bass? I read it can take a bit to dial in a sound at times. Is it capable?

K has a full up front sound, to me its really noticeable, night and day. If you hear the same modeled amp in youtube video's and compare its very noticeable to me.

The Axefx , It has so many features, its already a great interface and the FX and editor, I just feel to me the tones are the most important thing and I'm not willing to settle. However I really think the Axe is the better choice package wise, I'm scared to spend 2k for something that may not suit me. Im looking to find advice and answers/opinions.

If this post causes too much of a stir just delete it. not my intention, I do not live in a city and its not possible for me to get hands on a Axe Fx.

Joe
 
Yup. Two weeks is plenty time for you to make the right decision for you(which will be keeping it I wager) .
And maybe obviously, but listening to youtube Is not the optimal way to make a decision. ...understood that you live in the sticks... ;)
I say take a chance, as will most of us in this biased community.

chris said:
Try one. That’s the only thing that can answer this. Return it within the return period if you don’t like it.

Answers here will range from yes to no.
Click to expand...
 
Joe, what are you listening to videos of the product on? I can tell you, that I play with an Axe FX III plugged into a Friedman ASM-12, right next to a JP-2C with a 4x4 cab. I can dial in nearly any tone on the Axe FX III, and soooooo many tones on the JP-2C. I tend to play a lot of rock/blues style and the one thing I don't find missing is depth. I can turn up and shake the neighbors house if I want to. Depth can be described as presence or detail or breadth across the signal spectrum...but in my case, I think of depth as fullness. I also play through studio speakers occasionally, and I don't find the Axe FX III to be missing in depth at all. In many cases, the tone is coming from your fingers, the guitar, the cable, the speakers you're playing through...the overall tone can be changed by so many things. Hell, even John Petrucci's beard has an effect on his tone (I kid).

Like Chris says, go try one... any tone you want, you got, as long as you have the same signal chain, the results are going to be spectacular.
 
i play mostly clean, acoustic, edge of break up tones, and a high gain lead. it does it all very well.
 
Don Watters said:
Joe, what are you listening to videos of the product on? I can tell you, that I play with an Axe FX III plugged into a Friedman ASM-12, right next to a JP-2C with a 4x4 cab. I can dial in nearly any tone on the Axe FX III, and soooooo many tones on the JP-2C. I tend to play a lot of rock/blues style and the one thing I don't find missing is depth. I can turn up and shake the neighbors house if I want to. Depth can be described as presence or detail or breadth across the signal spectrum...but in my case, I think of depth as fullness. I also play through studio speakers occasionally, and I don't find the Axe FX III to be missing in depth at all. In many cases, the tone is coming from your fingers, the guitar, the cable, the speakers you're playing through...the overall tone can be changed by so many things. Hell, even John Petrucci's beard has an effect on his tone (I kid).

Like Chris says, go try one... any tone you want, you got, as long as you have the same signal chain, the results are going to be spectacular.
Click to expand...

There's probably a huge advantage in running a power amp and cab, Much better colorization and depth no doubt.
I will just be going straight in either a audio interface or the axe itself as the interface and use headphones or JBL 308 monitors.

thank you for the input
 
Thank you for those that mentioned the 2 week trial.
I was unaware and I need to read up on it
 
The Axe-Fx III is an amp modeler, not a style modeler. I won't pretend to know anything about the types of modeling but having owned at least 3 other brands, Fractal's is more "faithful" to the originals, more like actual digital recreation of the amps.

Other modelers have been known to be "better" at certain types of tones, but both of the Fractal modelers I've owned (AX8 and Axe-Fx III) faithfully reproduce ANY tone I've required from pristine clean to metal. When I purchased the AX8, I was in the middle of a tweed/plexi type amp search - the search is over, has been for over a year. I've had a few really good amps and a lot of pedals but I have never been this happy with my tone(s) at any point in my 30+ year journey.

As far as the K vs Axe, I have a friend who made the switch from the K to an Axe-Fx XL+. He liked the K but felt it never responded like his physical amps. He cannot believe the difference in the feel, response and realism of the Axe XL+ compared to the K.
 
JoKeR III said:
The Axe-Fx III is an amp modeler, not a style modeler. Other modelers have been known to be "better" at certain types of tones, but both of the Fractal modelers I've owned (AX8 and Axe-Fx III) faithfully reproduce ANY tone I've required from pristine clean to metal. When I purchased the AX8, I was in the middle of a tweed/plexi type amp search - the search is over, has been for over a year. I've had a few really good amp and pedals but I have never been this happy with my tone(s) at any point in my 30+ year journey.

As far as the K vs Axe, I have a friend who made the switch from the K to an Axe-Fx XL+. He liked the K but felt it never responded like his physical amps. He cannot believe the difference in the feel, response and realism of the Axe XL+ compared to the K.
Click to expand...

Yes I know this whole thing goes back and forth and maybe its time to delete this thread. The 2 week trial thing maybe the only answer I need to hear.

Thank you for your time and response
 
K i am guessing you mean kemper
There are a few settings in the AXE
That can get you closer to that if you wish

Reduce the power tube Hardness so its less strident
Set the output compression to feedback and dial in a bit

I know you dont have the unit yet
But those 2 things will make a difference as will turning up the SAG
For feel
 
JOEFX said:
Greetings

My intention here is not to stir the pot between modelers however some of my questions I really cannot answer without direct questions to people in the know.
I am a hobbyist and love to play guitar, not a pro but have a decent set of ears .

My passion is blues, I basically love old tweeds, blackface amps, Dumble's etc etc., Also I absolutely love the patch Tyler Grund Made that has the Texas thing going on. Brilliant!

Here is where my questions start and I do not know how to not cause friction. I am seriously looking for information.

I have watched literally just about every AxeFx and K youtube videos out there. I've listened to Soundcloud and SoundClick, Ive found clips here and there.
Is the AxeFx better at rock and metal?

A huge observation to me is this, MY EARS The Axefx HAS the note definition in spades. it has texture, BUT it just sounds thin to me especially for blues, maybe I'm crazy but I watch Leon's and Marcos, Brett and others vid's and yes I love the definition, what I find missing is the depth. Why does another device sound better to me? Subjective? is it just me

Is the AxeFx more designed as a Metal machine?

Dumble's have a cutting edge on the Axefx which is great, Reminds me of Eric Clapton with a 335 but where is the depth and beautiful round deep tones.
The Fender stuff again is missing depth and also that round note definition that makes it special. AGAIN this is my ears. Can it do a great BB KING Tone?

Is it a matter of eq and adding more bass? I read it can take a bit to dial in a sound at times. Is it capable?

K has a full up front sound, to me its really noticeable, night and day. If you hear the same modeled amp in youtube video's and compare its very noticeable to me.

The Axefx , It has so many features, its already a great interface and the FX and editor, I just feel to me the tones are the most important thing and I'm not willing to settle. However I really think the Axe is the better choice package wise, I'm scared to spend 2k for something that may not suit me. Im looking to find advice and answers/opinions.

If this post causes too much of a stir just delete it. not my intention, I do not live in a city and its not possible for me to get hands on a Axe Fx.

Joe
Click to expand...

if you're not afraid to listen to some sloppy playing, here's an example:

 
Here's the thing with this sort of 'will it do XXX" conversations/questions - you need to go in with the same expectations and approach you would with a real amp. It's not like you would take home a new amp and deem it a failure if it didn't sound like Albert Collins within ten minutes. Guys that have great tone worked on it, they didn't just buy an amp, plug in and presto. What kind of tubes, what speakers, what volume/tone settings, how does the guitar interact with it, what fx are you using and how? Not to mention how you're playing the actual guitar. All the same types of questions you'll need to address with a (good) modeller. You can play through a Vibroverb and sound like SRV, or sound like ass, depending on how these things all interact..

I don't even have an Axe II, I'm still using the (vintage?) AX8 and II, but given that the III must be at LEAST as good as those and no doubt better in some respects, you can absolutely get great tone out of it for whatever genre you want. Generally speaking, whatever genre you are most attuned to, you will notice the subtleties in tone the most, and not everyone posting clips online will have the same taste as you. Sometimes I hear guys post blues tone they absolutely love, and it's not my cup of tea at all.

To be honest, when I first got my Axe II, I had serious buyers' remorse. It did NOT sound like I was hoping at first - I didn't dig the presets, they just didn't work for me for the most part. But then I stopped getting 'tech-struck' by all the features, bells and whistles, and just started setting up patches like I would my real rig, and after a few days of tweaking, and finding the right IR's (this is SO important) it really started to come together. Then you've gotta look at what you're amplifying it through. That's huge. Playing the AX8 through a kick-ass sound system is f-ing awesome!

I can tell you that I haven't missed a 'real' amp much over the last few years of gigging and recording with the Axe FX - any issues I have with my tone that I'm trying to improve were also there when I used a Super Reverb! And if you're a hobbyist, the flexibility on playing at low volumes or recording easily at home alone could tip the scale. Plus, if you want to tweak things, rather than buying new tubes and doing expensive mods, or replacing speakers, you can do it in the digital domain.

So basically, yes, it can, but you gotta spend some time with it, like you would with a new rig/amp, to get it to work for you how you like. Blackface Fenders are my thing too :)

Good luck!

oh, and thanks @iaresee for the shout out ;)
 
Can you a give us an example of a tone with enough “depht”?
Depth could mean many different things, so maybe you could give us a reference tone that you’d want recreated in the axe fx
 
Raab90 said:
Can you a give us an example of a tone with enough “depht”?
Depth could mean many different things, so maybe you could give us a reference tone that you’d want recreated in the axe fx
Click to expand...

Ive been not responding to the comments because I still do have my reservations. Hell I may be disillusioned and my old ears bad.
I DO WANT ALL THE FEATURES OF THE AXE especially the interface and effects, THE EDITOR!
Part of me says get it because it does alot more in other tones.
Hell its fun to rip it up but my issue is blues is my passion, and I know what I want. IDK Maybe I expect to much.

I know the Axe can do blues, that's not what I'm saying. I'm still not hearing things tonally from examples going DIRECT.
I'm using this as a recording device.

All the examples above seem like they are through a power amp and cab with a I think the exception of the example by phil92 which I enjoyed and was a solid example, I think a warmer reverb would really work on that tone.

This one is pretty good too that I found



A BIG way describe what I'm hearing is what experienced tube amp people would understand,
it sounds like the Axefx is biased cold.

The future updates might improve what I'm talking bout, Maybe make a fas amp that has that sound. IDK

I am not going to run a power amp and a cab and we all know that makes a huge impact on the fullness of the sound. I will be going direct
Below are some of the things I do not see the axe doing, its like a lower beefier thicker tone that its missing to me.



This may not be a good example as it sounds double tracked.






Sigh
 
Last edited:
JOEFX said:
All the examples above seem like they are through a power amp and cab with a I think the exception of the example by phil92 which I enjoyed and was a solid example, I think a warmer reverb would really work on that tone.
Click to expand...
Did you read the links I posted above? They are direct recordings.

The amp models have numerous parameters that can be tweaked. You think it sounds like cold biased? You can adjust that!

However, there have been quite a number of blind tests done over the years on this forum, and pretty much all of them show the same result: almost nobody can pick a real vs modeled amp in a recording.

The Axe Fx models are very accurate.
 
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