I have owned the Axe Fx 2 XL+ for a year, and I am still not satisfied with the tone.

[StickMan]

It seems to me you want to find an ir that's captured with a mobile phone microphone

Seriously though it sounds like you just need a 1x12 cab or something.

Maybe just use whatever factory cab #1 is. Isn't it a 1x8 Champ? It sounds better than you'd expect, but still a bit boxy like an iPhone capture.

 

[Jason Scott]

If you were then able to magically plug a guitar cable into that same stereo system and the other end into your favorite guitar, and in doing so you were able to achieve a guitar tone *identical* to the recorded tone you just heard, it would sound and feel small, weak, and unsatisfying through the stereo system.

I can only speak for myself but I disagree, and I'll tell you why. I've EQ matched some of my presets to a number of my favorite commercially produced guitar tones and I always felt the results were as gratifying as what I was hearing on the commercially recorded track. That's me, though.

 

[tallcoolone]

But just me by myself practicing, to me, doing that through an actual guitar amp always seems to sound better to me.

Someone already asked for this and was ignored. As we have seen in this thread, everybody can record anything--impossible to answer your question until you can show us all where you are at thus far:

Post a recording of what you have now. We cant really help if we dont know where you are now. Record yourself playing something similar to what he was and we should be able to help you!

 

[Deadpool_25]

I'm gonna go against the grain and say...maybe try a very nice, clean real guitar amp. Finding a vintage one might be pretty spendy, but you might get lucky if you search a bit and are patient. Alternatively, there are some EXCELLENT amp builders you might look into for newer gear. Milkman and Morgan are two that come to mind immediately and there are plenty more. PRS is making John's new amp and it's stupid expensive, but they have other excellent amps too. Again, there are plenty more to choose from. Honestly, you could do a damned good job with a decent newer Fender Deluxe, Deville, Twin, etc. You don't have to go crazy but let's face it, the sexier the amp, the better you'll feel about it.

The Axe FX is insanely good at what it's designed for...which is NOT "amp in the room" as far as I know. It can do that pretty damn well, but it takes a bit of work and outboard gear and an acceptance that you're taking the Axe a bit out of its element. I was running my II XL+ through a Matrix power amp and into a Mesa 2x12 cab. It sounded great. Then I plugged into a Blues Jr. just to test it prior to a sale and remembered just how great a real amp can sound in the room. Sold that Blues Jr. I have a Mesa TC-50 and a Mesa Mark 5:25. There's *something* about having the amp in the room that's just different. It's very subjective and difficult to articulate, but some find that difference "better", some find it just different and not necessarily better. I guess that's part of the reason the FX8 exists. It caters better (easier) to the "I want the amp in the room" crowd.

Something exceptionally important that I think gets overlooked/underestimated is the organic simplicity of a tube amp. You can sit down, turn it on, twist a couple of knobs and be happy as a clam. With modelers and such we almost invariably end up scrolling through menus, making selections, tweaking those selections, scrolling through more menus, making more selections and tweaking those, etc. For some people that's definitely a part of the process and they love it. For others all that is just a means to an end...the end being that feel of sitting in front of a real amp. By the time those people get that feeling (if they ever do) the joy of the moment and the inspiration may have vanished.

Go listen to some of John Mayer's CD's (or someone else's) in as high quality as you can. That's the type of thing the Axe is built for. Go to a concert (side note: I'm going to see Mayer on Aug 1 and Metallica on Aug 4). You ain't really hearing the sound of the amps "in the room" in Mayer's case. You're hearing them mic'd up, running through a mixing desk, and through a huge PA system (and a bunch of other stuff). In Metallica's case these days, you'll be hearing the Axe FX's running through "some stuff" and eventually out to the PA system. All that does sound fantastic, but it's NOT the sound you get when you're standing in your bedroom in front of a decently cranked amp. That's a whole other experience. Again, the Axe FX can get you there, more or less, but...

If you really want the sound of a great amp in the room, and if you're the kind of person for whom that simplicity is valuable.... Get a great amp and put it in the damned room.

Oh, and was stated earlier, don't expect to sound like John Mayer or any other player. Expect to sound like YOU playing through a great amp.

 

[lqdsnddist]

There is no magic in a tube amp, nor do they always sound amazing.

Over the decades I've owned plenty of tube amps that were very difficult to dial in (Mesa) or some that just sounded like crap no matter what (jcm900 lol)

Just like with the axe-Fx, I've had tones I was loving one day, only to come back and not feel it the next. Nothing changed but just didn't sound as good to me on a given day.

I've sold amps, only to think back lovingly, rebuy and remember why I sold it in the first place. I've owned the DRRI 3 times over lol

Guitarist have a ton of bias in everything we do. We think a tube amp has magic or mojo, and we hear what we want to hear. It's no different with guitars. We can have a POS vintage guitar and convince ourselves it plays better than a modern one, "because" it's vintage.

If you take a cheap Chinese pedal, "goop" the intervals and create a backstory about how it used NOS parts guitarist will give you $300 for a $30 pedal, and rave all over Internet forums about how great it sounds

You can stick an empty cab and unpowered head on stage, for show, and run a modeler from a rack and guys will come up and tell you how great that amp sounded and how there is nothing like the real thing.

nothing wrong with tube amps, vintage guitars etc mind you, but I think we need to realize the only "mojo" is how we let our perceptions be biased by preconceptions

 

[mr_fender]

Try adding a touch of ambient reverb. It adds depth and dimension to the sound without needing the high volume required to naturally get that much natural echo in a physical space. This is especially true with headphones and IEMs. We expect loud sounds to echo around in our environment more. They have more energy to disperse and will bounce around the room more times, taking more time to die down in a given acoustic space. Without those natural decaying tails, it just sounds weirdly dry and lifeless no matter how loud you have your headphones or IEM's set. A little bit of room type reverb can go a long way toward fooling your ears in this regard.

 

[Deadpool_25]

No there's no magic in tube amps. There's no magic in the Axe FX either. It's all just a lot of awesome stuff. The important thing is to pick the right tool. That's picking the right tool for the job, and the right tool for YOU when multiple tools will do the job. Which tool will YOU bond with more? And only YOU can answer that (Although research certainly helps).

 

[Jimmytwotimes]

No there's no magic in tube amps. There's no magic in the Axe FX either. It's all just a lot of awesome stuff. The important thing is to pick the right tool. That's picking the right tool for the job, and the right tool for YOU when multiple tools will do the job. Which tool will YOU bond with more? And only YOU can answer that (Although research certainly helps).

When my wife asks - " why do you need another guitar - you have 5 ?? "
my response is always - " you see, guitars are like tools, each one has a different job....."
and we all know you can never have too many tools....

 

[barhrecords]

@rich2k4 I sympathize with you brother.

With the Atomic CLR speakers I can get the Fractal to feel and sound very amp like. So I know it's possible.

The symptoms you describe might be from multiple causes, the speaker system and the preset programming.

With Q8.02 it's possible to get an above average tone with just an amp and and cab block with a factory IR.

Since the amp block defaults to tone stack controls at noon, some amp models are more "default" forgiving than others though.

 

[xprophet]

Crank that sucker up...but if your mind has decided that the tone isn't right... and I wouldn't wait a week if I had shit for tone then just get something else...but JM isn't playing bedroom volumes!

 

[mr_fender]

Neither did SRV. He played loud at gigs and was said to track even louder in the studio. Painfully loud so his guitar would really come alive in the tracks.

 

[chris]

if you haven't had the opportunity to play very loud, so loud that every note feeds back (in a good way) and feels like it has the entire frequency range in every note... then you are missing out on the pleasure, but mostly experience, that it gives.

there is no substitute for volume for certain types of guitar tones. many people say the word "bloom" when they listen to recordings of guitar solos. they comfortably listen at 70 dB in their headphones or reference speakers, but don't realize that the recording happened at 110dB or similar! that is where (certain types of) the bloom comes from.

if you haven't experienced it for yourself, you might never believe what volume can do.

 

[Keith White]

I would bet my 1987 Raspberry Fender HM Strat that your missing link is the Friedman ASM12
I had the same issue with my axe fx. It sounded good but nowhere near the hype that caused me to purchase it. I was running a pair of JBL SRX12s ($2600). And I almost gave up because it still sounded boxy I sold those and bought the ASM and was floored. If you want amp in the room then Walla there you go.
The 12" celestian speaker in these makes a jaw dropping difference.
Also in my opinion a $2300 guitar preamp running through a $300 pair of speakers is going to sound like a $300 guitar preamp.....unfortunately.

 

[peSauce]

I have NOT yet ran an Axe through a gtr cab, though I have experience with other modellers.
Most recently I was using BIAS at home through laptop and Event 2020 monitors. I'm not super psyched about the sound at all.
Plug my laptop into a power amp then into a guitar speaker cabinet (with cab section turned off - of course) and holy moly does that change the game. There's something about specific guitar speakers moving air that you cannot produce with monitors.
The room sings WITH you using a guitar cab, monitors talk AT you.

That's my opinion.
I think you will love even a small speaker cab with a power amp driving it.

 

[Jimmytwotimes]

if you haven't had the opportunity to play very loud, so loud that every note feeds back (in a good way) and feels like it has the entire frequency range in every note... then you are missing out on the pleasure, but mostly experience, that it gives.

there is no substitute for volume for certain types of guitar tones. many people say the word "bloom" when they listen to recordings of guitar solos. they comfortably listen at 70 dB in their headphones or reference speakers, but don't realize that the recording happened at 110dB or similar! that is where (certain types of) the bloom comes from.

if you haven't experienced it for yourself, you might never believe what volume can do.

..and a good reason why pro studios have cabinets in a different room !!

 

[ATR1]

I recommend you sell it and move on!. You already convinced yourself you are unhappy with it and there is nothing wrong with that. Its just "not your cup of tea."

 

[RalphNYC]

I've tried all the modelers and while they are wonderful in a gig setting I don't find them as satisfying as amps when playing at home. I use both and they each have their pros and cons.

 

[Yianni54]

I think we are forgetting the fact that it is John Mayer playing, and his personal life aside, he is an amazing guitar player.

I'd wager good money if he came over to any of our places, picked up his guitar, plugged into the Axe-Fx, that he would sound 1) great, and 2) like John Mayer


I mean heck, I have a David Gilmour black strat and I don't sound like David Gimour...whats gives ? Something wrong with the guitar ? No, its just that I have 1/10th his talent for sounding like himself lol


This isn't an Axe-Fx issue, or a JBL issue, its the time old problem of getting all the same guitar as a famous guitar hero, and still not sounding like them.

Look at how many people go and buy a Zakk Wylde LP, a Zakk Wylde signature Marshall, all the Zakk Wylde signature pedals, probably even grow a beard and wear faux biker "Black Label" leather and still don't sound like Zakk Wylde. You can essentially cop every aspect of a guitarist rig, save for his finger and talent.

So long story short, if you don't sound like John Mayer through the Axe, your probably not going to sound like John Mayer through any rig. After all, if anyone could play and sound just like him, then we all would of also had Katy Perry and all his other celeb hookups too right? =)

This! theres too many pro's out there using the Ax in both a live setting and bedroom setting that sound amazing. Its not the Ax its the end user.

 

[yek]

Maybe we can end this thread? The OP doesn't seem to welcome suggestions and solutions. He has already communicated that he's going to try other modelers. Most probably that won't solve his issue, because (it seems that) he doesn't like the sound of a mic'd amp, another modeler won't get him there.

 

[chris]

Maybe we can end this thread? The OP doesn't seem to welcome suggestions and solutions. He has already communicated that he's going to try other modelers. Most probably that won't solve his issue, because (it seems that) he doesn't like the sound of a mic'd amp, op another modeler won't get him there.

I agree. There are lots of good tips and info in this thread as a resource, but at this point it's just going in a circle.