Well I've had the II for about 2 months now. It has spent most of its time at my practice space so I hadn't really been able to play around with it. There I did spend some time tweaking a preset or two just to get up and running, but it was still overwhelming and I was afraid to really dig in.
Last week I decided I'd take it out of my 6U case at the practice space and put it in its own 2U I had laying around. The idea is to be able to be able to bring it home with me. I have been stuck in the house for the last 3 - 4 days and have really started playing with it. I backed up my live presets so I can be ready for practice and not worry about messing anything up. I've loaded up some of the great things people on here have come up with and I have to say I am now very impressed.
I've had it hooked up to my PC all day today using Axe-Edit and Reaper, and I am having so much fun. I've never been one to learn covers, but I found myself downloading backing tracks and trying to learn a few songs. The pitch block is amazing. I pulled the MIDI out of a Between the Buried and Me song, put it in Reaper with Superior Drummer, then used the built in "Down Full Step" to take my D# tuned guitar down to C#. It sounds absolutely perfect! I'm about to do the same with some Metallica songs, only by shifting the pitch up a half step.
I also pulled up one of my band's recording sessions to redo some guitar parts. I read up on re-amping and started at it. I muted out my guitar track, then recorded using input 4 from the Axe-FX. After I was done, I created 4 more tracks and set the Axe input to USB. I then easily just clicked record and watched as a whole track with a new tone was made. Then after I tried 4 presets, I auditioned them until I heard one that fit well. I wouldn't have bothered recording the track 4 times. Now it so easy, why not?
Anyway, the point is that I am so happy I bought this thing. I was worried I'd never do any more with it other than copy the sound of an amp I already had. Instead I'm trying everything it can do and having a blast.
Last week I decided I'd take it out of my 6U case at the practice space and put it in its own 2U I had laying around. The idea is to be able to be able to bring it home with me. I have been stuck in the house for the last 3 - 4 days and have really started playing with it. I backed up my live presets so I can be ready for practice and not worry about messing anything up. I've loaded up some of the great things people on here have come up with and I have to say I am now very impressed.
I've had it hooked up to my PC all day today using Axe-Edit and Reaper, and I am having so much fun. I've never been one to learn covers, but I found myself downloading backing tracks and trying to learn a few songs. The pitch block is amazing. I pulled the MIDI out of a Between the Buried and Me song, put it in Reaper with Superior Drummer, then used the built in "Down Full Step" to take my D# tuned guitar down to C#. It sounds absolutely perfect! I'm about to do the same with some Metallica songs, only by shifting the pitch up a half step.
I also pulled up one of my band's recording sessions to redo some guitar parts. I read up on re-amping and started at it. I muted out my guitar track, then recorded using input 4 from the Axe-FX. After I was done, I created 4 more tracks and set the Axe input to USB. I then easily just clicked record and watched as a whole track with a new tone was made. Then after I tried 4 presets, I auditioned them until I heard one that fit well. I wouldn't have bothered recording the track 4 times. Now it so easy, why not?
Anyway, the point is that I am so happy I bought this thing. I was worried I'd never do any more with it other than copy the sound of an amp I already had. Instead I'm trying everything it can do and having a blast.
