Variable
Inspired
I've been playing for about 20 years now. Started off like many folks back in the 90s with a garbage Strat copy and "amp" (heavy emphasis on the quotes) package bought off of eBay. I quickly progressed to a tube amp (the Peavey Ultra 212, which I think one of my old friends still owns), and have been on a tone quest ever since. I was very much a "how much gain can I get" metalhead. I liked my cleans super clean and my gain full of palm mutes.
I moved from searching primarily for amps over to guitars at some point (it helps when you get a job that brings some disposable income!), and then found the Axe 2. Soon I found the ubergain tendancies giving way to more dynamic playing with a big preference toward those wonderful in-between sounds where you can basically play a whole set on just one channel. The Axe really opened that up for me, whereas I had previously had some amps (Freytte Memphis and Guytron GT100) that could do the in-between thing but wasn't really that kind of player (yet). I did recently bring the Memphis back into my very small amp collection and I'm super glad I did since my playing now matches the amp's capabilities so well (Cliff, please please please model that amp--it's all kinds of amazing).
And then the Axe 3 came along and changed the paradigm yet again. Where I had been gravitating back toward tube amps before, the Axe 3 finally got past the sonic subtleties that kept the 2 from sounding quite as good, especially with the better dynamics. I still play with lots of gain every now and again, but I find myself more on the vintage end of the tonal spectrum and favoring amps that can bring the nasty not with a twist of the gain knob, but with a heavier hand on my guitar. I used to be all about the high-output Super-Strat or Super-Tele style guitars modded to the hilt (and I still have a Suhr Modern, so, I haven't given up on that style quite yet!), and now find myself gravitating more toward low-output, vintage inspired instruments that allow for more dynamics in pick attack and playing. I used to be all about bridge humbuckers and now I love the dynamics I can get from single-coils.
Is this what happens when you get old, or did the Axe's wide tonal palette open me up to a different kind of playing? I couldn't think of exclusively smashing out barre chords with heaps of gain these days when there are models like the Friedmans and the Voxes and the Plexis in the Axe that have such a great dynamic, singing voice. It's just more fun and interactive for me to play with these kinds of models. Perhaps it's a mix of both? I feel kinda like I've done the same shift Opeth did when they gave up death metal in favor of wooly 70s jazz fusion.
Anyway, how has the Axe changed how you play and the tones you enjoy?
I moved from searching primarily for amps over to guitars at some point (it helps when you get a job that brings some disposable income!), and then found the Axe 2. Soon I found the ubergain tendancies giving way to more dynamic playing with a big preference toward those wonderful in-between sounds where you can basically play a whole set on just one channel. The Axe really opened that up for me, whereas I had previously had some amps (Freytte Memphis and Guytron GT100) that could do the in-between thing but wasn't really that kind of player (yet). I did recently bring the Memphis back into my very small amp collection and I'm super glad I did since my playing now matches the amp's capabilities so well (Cliff, please please please model that amp--it's all kinds of amazing).
And then the Axe 3 came along and changed the paradigm yet again. Where I had been gravitating back toward tube amps before, the Axe 3 finally got past the sonic subtleties that kept the 2 from sounding quite as good, especially with the better dynamics. I still play with lots of gain every now and again, but I find myself more on the vintage end of the tonal spectrum and favoring amps that can bring the nasty not with a twist of the gain knob, but with a heavier hand on my guitar. I used to be all about the high-output Super-Strat or Super-Tele style guitars modded to the hilt (and I still have a Suhr Modern, so, I haven't given up on that style quite yet!), and now find myself gravitating more toward low-output, vintage inspired instruments that allow for more dynamics in pick attack and playing. I used to be all about bridge humbuckers and now I love the dynamics I can get from single-coils.
Is this what happens when you get old, or did the Axe's wide tonal palette open me up to a different kind of playing? I couldn't think of exclusively smashing out barre chords with heaps of gain these days when there are models like the Friedmans and the Voxes and the Plexis in the Axe that have such a great dynamic, singing voice. It's just more fun and interactive for me to play with these kinds of models. Perhaps it's a mix of both? I feel kinda like I've done the same shift Opeth did when they gave up death metal in favor of wooly 70s jazz fusion.
Anyway, how has the Axe changed how you play and the tones you enjoy?