bgrizzmayne
Inspired
I've posted like 5 threads on how I've struggled with my Axe FX II. Have gotten some sort of helpful responses, but not very many applied to basic rock/blues tones- most were lead/metal/sustain stuff.
The Problem
The Axe FX II is so easy to make sound bad, it's unreal. I started my journey with FRFR, which was harsh, cold, and lacked life.
I plug my strat into my bogner blue, into my Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue. I put every knob at noon; the Bogner Blue and the Fender. Normal channel, volume around 4.
Everything sounds good. Highs are there but not too brittle. Lows are crisp and not in the realm of clipping. Feel is dynamic.
I plug into the Axe FX II
Strat into Deluxe Reverb model. Using GT1000FX and Matrix NL212. No cab sims.
Highs are brittle and harsh. Lacks body/bass. I increase bass, and low end gets flubby. I push the Deluxe Reverb with a zen drive (because the BB preamp and every other drive pedal sound awful. My real BB preamp into my Deluxe Reverb is transparent and full. My Axe's BB turns my tone into gainy mush, no transparency.
Start ABing, and getting close to my Bogner tone through my DRRI. I tweaked about 1000 knobs- the low and high speaker resonance, in addition to the main treble/mid/bass on the amp. I tweak the hi/lo cut on the pedal, but there's still some sort of mid frequency that sounds awful- like its masking the definition of a notes. A blanket over the amp sound, almost. I try dialing it out with the mid knob in the Zen Drive.
My fifth attempt, setting up my entire rig to AB against the Axe Rig I've invested MORE money in and I get absolutely crap tones.
I'm sick of this 'magical black box'. I plug into my JCM800 -> 4x12 and have a pretty basic time dialing in some usable tones. I load up a JCM800 into my Matrix rig w/ Axe FX and the same story as above....I have to tweak 5,000,000 knobs to make it not sound bad. The real JCM800 sounds good at almost every basic setting.
Everyone who ever thought this box was plug and play couldn't be further from the truth. I thought I'd achieve versatility and consistency, but both are moot when the tones themselves are painfully difficult to dial in.
I've always been a tweaker, because everything on my rig always sounded good. I've never had to tweak so much to avoid terrible tones. Any last words why I shouldn't sell this thing? It's not for lack of trying. I've had it for almost a year, have gigged it 4 times (all miserable failures) and am about ready to give up. I always justified, 'well, what if i have this', and would buy more stuff, like the poweramp + cab, etc. Now that I've got everything any axe head could ever want, none of it sounds good.
Any last words why I shouldn't sell this thing?
The Problem
The Axe FX II is so easy to make sound bad, it's unreal. I started my journey with FRFR, which was harsh, cold, and lacked life.
I plug my strat into my bogner blue, into my Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue. I put every knob at noon; the Bogner Blue and the Fender. Normal channel, volume around 4.
Everything sounds good. Highs are there but not too brittle. Lows are crisp and not in the realm of clipping. Feel is dynamic.
I plug into the Axe FX II
Strat into Deluxe Reverb model. Using GT1000FX and Matrix NL212. No cab sims.
Highs are brittle and harsh. Lacks body/bass. I increase bass, and low end gets flubby. I push the Deluxe Reverb with a zen drive (because the BB preamp and every other drive pedal sound awful. My real BB preamp into my Deluxe Reverb is transparent and full. My Axe's BB turns my tone into gainy mush, no transparency.
Start ABing, and getting close to my Bogner tone through my DRRI. I tweaked about 1000 knobs- the low and high speaker resonance, in addition to the main treble/mid/bass on the amp. I tweak the hi/lo cut on the pedal, but there's still some sort of mid frequency that sounds awful- like its masking the definition of a notes. A blanket over the amp sound, almost. I try dialing it out with the mid knob in the Zen Drive.
My fifth attempt, setting up my entire rig to AB against the Axe Rig I've invested MORE money in and I get absolutely crap tones.
I'm sick of this 'magical black box'. I plug into my JCM800 -> 4x12 and have a pretty basic time dialing in some usable tones. I load up a JCM800 into my Matrix rig w/ Axe FX and the same story as above....I have to tweak 5,000,000 knobs to make it not sound bad. The real JCM800 sounds good at almost every basic setting.
Everyone who ever thought this box was plug and play couldn't be further from the truth. I thought I'd achieve versatility and consistency, but both are moot when the tones themselves are painfully difficult to dial in.
I've always been a tweaker, because everything on my rig always sounded good. I've never had to tweak so much to avoid terrible tones. Any last words why I shouldn't sell this thing? It's not for lack of trying. I've had it for almost a year, have gigged it 4 times (all miserable failures) and am about ready to give up. I always justified, 'well, what if i have this', and would buy more stuff, like the poweramp + cab, etc. Now that I've got everything any axe head could ever want, none of it sounds good.
Any last words why I shouldn't sell this thing?