Is Axe Fx too perfect sounding?

I'm reminded of a couple of things:

First, something a salesperson a music store told me a long time ago - "You can always make clean sound dirtier, but it's really hard to make dirt sound clean". If your guitar sounds too polite, mix in some white noise. Get some un-potted, mircrophonic pickups. Got into the advanced amp parameters and set some non-ideal values. Record in an un-treated room with a really loud speaker, so the guitar interacts with it. Get the whole band together and record a track live into a couple of room mics.

The other thing is from an interview I read with Steve Albini. He's a recording engineer well-known for shunning all things digital. I don't agree with half of what he says (who could!?) but his biggest objection to digital is that the technology takes over the workflow. It gives you the tools to make "perfect" recordings, if you just keep tracking and tweaking and layering, and for a lot of people it's just too tempting. They shift their focus away from the writing and the performance and obsess over making "perfect" recordings of dull performances and unremarkable songs.
 
Too perfect? Have we really come down to this?

That's like saying that a guitarist is too perfect a player, or a biker is too perfect a rider, or a circle is too perfect round or...

Everybody has their own opinion and are entitled to voice their thoughts/concerns but to my mind the Axe FX is a beautiful solution - and beauty is always in the eye (or ear) of the beholder.

To (mis)quote a certain philosopher... Seek not for the beauty of perfection, but admire the perfection of beauty
 
I really don't get all the facepalms and people weirded out...
I'll repeat myself: "Too Perfect" in this case, does not mean "Sounds too good and no guitarist deserves that" or "Too realistic". It means "Producing a tone of an unrealistically ideal guitar amp recorded in unrealistically idealized/sterile circumstances, therefore not as sonically pleasing and natural sounding as a real amp recorded through a mic in a room"...

In short "Too perfect" is a term to describe a less pleasing sound than it should be.
A good example of "too perfect" in other case is:
A perfect sine wave sounds harsh and not pleasing, but a guitar string plucked at the same pitch isn't, because it isn't a perfect wave.

And no, a bitcrusher is not a solution.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What you're describing are "production techniques", not "raw amp tone". RATM didn't get the final mixed tone of "Testify" by simply plugging a Tele direct into the mixing board.

The Axe gives you some (most?) of the tools to sculpt your sound as you like; others (such as a specific IR) you need to find and add (a Neve 88R doesn't come with a Neumann microphone, for example).
 
The Axe actually models imperfections in the amp models perfectly. You can certainly have options to use more idealized settings, but also the real world version as well; case in point the saturation parameter, tube type etc.

Cliff accurately models the amps, warts and all, and then sometimes gives an improved version, which is similar to a building swapping a few resistors etc to sound it's best.

The whole premise of this thread is a bit silly really. The Axe sounds like an amp, period.

Does a well built amp sound too perfect? Should we stop spending big money on well made and hand tuned Cameron's, Carol Ann's etc and just go buy Crates amp?

Surely cheap amps with 20% component variances sound way better and more rock n roll right ?

Why use good mics for that matter ? (Or well shot IRs with nice mics). Let's just stick a Beheringer Shure clone in front of a $99 Kistom guitar speaker and use that.

It's actually quite easy to dial in a crap tone with the Axe. Combine that with crappy guitar, played poorly and out of tune, and you don't have any worries about perfection
 
I think it is quite the opposite - there are plenty of people that insist on running older firmware versions because the newer firmwares sound "too much like a real amp" and not the "idealized" characteristics that they are looking for (usually these are people that play various sub-sub-sub-genres of metal of some sort.) Cliff has even added settings that allow you to get the more "idealized" characteristics.
 
If there is a way to get "ideal" FW19 sound from OUT1 while maintaining pure Quantum for stage monitor OUT2, I am grateful.

Maybe I don't even need it.?,,,,,,,,,,, I don't know I haven't played out for a while. And I am still on FW19.
 
Last edited:
yeah, the OP is really talking more about production than the actual tones from the Axe. remember how upset people were after, what was it, FW13, that all their perfect polished tones sounded to authentic now??
 
I am on Quantum, all of my amps are all about half way between real and idealistic. There are certain things I like about the raw realistic amp in the room, and certain things I like about the idealistic studio recorded type tone. It is totally possible to go to one extreme or the other, and everywhere in between with this black box, which is why when I see threads like this I have to do a bit of a sigh, and a faceplam myself.

The fact of the matter is that you should always take "what people say" with a grain of salt, especially when those "people" don't actually own, or use an Axe-FX. It's always best just try it out for yourself.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Clearly, it's so good at sounding like a tube amp that the only natural assumption is... it must be a modeler.

Dumb. Thread.

You've missed the point completely. So did many people.
Read the few posts I've made in this thread.


My opinion is, that the Amp modelling is done more or less authentically. With all natural and good sounding imperfections of analog amps.
Cabs - Not quite sure. IRs. They are just complex EQ's aren't they?
A mic'ed up cab is more than just an EQ.
Do they, or do they not, for example, capture the reflections of the room the cab stands in authentically?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You've missed the point completely. So did many people.
Read the few posts I've made in this thread.
Nope. I'm just going to enjoy what I've got. You can go read your pevious posts if you'd like.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Your description reminds me a bit of other modlers I have had but is exactly what I really enjoy with the Axe. I feel a lot more organic grittiness and more interactiveness than ever. It only sounds super polished when I am really on top of my performance and that is what I am doing to make it sound that way.

I think you can certainly achieve the under-polished tones as well with the axe if that is what you seek.
 
Nope. I'm just going to enjoy what I've got. You can go read your pevious posts if you'd like.
I have no idea what you are even talking about...
What does "Enjoying what you've got" have to do with our tiny conversation? Nothing.
We have trouble communicating, because you've missed the whole point of this thread.

Your description reminds me a bit of other modlers I have had but is exactly what I really enjoy with the Axe. I feel a lot more organic grittiness and more interactiveness than ever. It only sounds super polished when I am really on top of my performance and that is what I am doing to make it sound that way.

That's definitely what I'd say about moving from software modellers I've played through before, to Axe. The Axe sounds so much more organic...

maybe go buy a line6 product really.. other than that I wont even engage
That was random and uncalled for.
 
Back
Top Bottom