It's been an interesting run

Well folks. Today I said goodbye to my Axe-fx 2. I have had the thing size roughly fw 2, have seen the system grow and change, and have learned a great deal along the way. I think the Axe-fx has taught me more about tube amps than I ever could have jammed playing through tube amps alone, and it's routing and many configurations have made me a bit of a techno guru now in my area of Idaho.

To make a long story short: I have, for some time now, struggled with satisfaction of my user experience with the axe fx. It was extremely convenient, sounded good in mixes, and also operated as a fantastically simple and compact live setup.

But at the same time, I always felt like the axe fx had a certain sound that I just couldn't escape. Now I know there are plenty of people who are ecstatic about the tone, feel, etc. But I just never got there.

I recently was fortunate enough to find a 5150 iii 50 watt factory prototype that emulates it's bigger brother, the 5150 Stealth. It's my understanding that there are a handful of these floating around. The amp was in perfect condition and the guy was selling it for a price I couldn't pass on.

I got it the other day, and I plugged it in and played through my mesa cab. It sounded immediately fantastic. I put it in standby, hooked up my Fryette power station to work as a load (I'd been using it to power my axe live), and routed it into my interface. I picked an ir, did some basic eq, and double tracked a short riff.

What came out made me immediately smile. It was what I felt like I've been missing. Saturation, no fizziness, punch and clarity even with way too much gain. It was all there. I compared it to a 5150 preset I had made up using the same routing as the amp, going back and forth between the two. But there was just no comparing. The amp had more meat, thickness, and the whole frequency spectrum just sat "right", whereas the axe sounded thin, did not sound thick, and the amp fizz stuck out considerably more. I also felt like I had to pick harder and over play to get The axe to respond the same way the amp did.

So I decided to sell and move on with my life. If I needed a bunch of different tones and amps, I guess the axe would have had more utility for me. But the fact of the matter is that I guess I'd rather have a few tones, sounds, and responsiveness that make me smile and laugh when I play than too many models to choose from constantly keeping me scratching my head wondering why I couldn't get the same sound I achieved today.

The good news is i have an fx8 on the way, so I'll be able to route my effects the way I want, control the amp through midi, and take full advantage of scenes. I'm really looking forward to running an integrated setup like this.

It's been an interesting journey, and who knows? Maybe one day I'll be back. Thanks to everybody that helped me and listened. This website can be a fantastic reference with really helpful people. Stay positive and follow your musical bliss. Cheers, guys and gals.
 
The Axe FX way of doing things is not for everyone. Some folks just prefer real amps. Glad you found something that you like.
 
Good story, certainly worth sharing mate.

One thing I wanna add.. not so much as a comparative to yours, but possibly relevant nonetheless..

So, I've got a 50w EVH 5153 head, which is basically my back-up amp to my main amp (which is currently getting modded). And being an Axe FX ii owner and lover, I've somehow always preferred 'normal Axe FX + normal cab' as opposed to FRFR. I ended up experimenting with 4CM and started to A/B the Axe FX amp sims and compared them to the EVH 50w blue and red channels. Rather than dialing up the 5153 blue+red channels, I tried the BE and HBE. Wow, did that thing come alive! So much so, my band mates actually preferred the HBE amp sim as opposed to the actual 5153. I can't begin to explain or articulate how or why that was possible; it just was - it needs to be heard to be believed.

(Slight tangent for a sec.. I've tried running the Axe FX into the FX loop of various valve amp heads and NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING has ever sounded nowhere near as good as this little EVH 50-watter. So after sharing this with a few amp makers/gurus, they mentioned that the voltage of the EVH amp may have something to do with the secret of the success of the sound, or secret behind how and why that amp sounds INCREDIBLE as a power amp.. Go figure! From memory, the EVH 50w is somewhere between 480 and 490v, which is powerful; hence it can keep up with plenty of 100w valve outs there.... (please, before I get criticized for this, YMMV...))

I also have two vertical 2x12 Mesa's which sound bloody huge too! So, running the Axe --> EVH --> two 2x12 Mesas sounds siiiiiick!! Regardless whether I'm using both Mesas or just the one, the tone, the crunch factor, the presence, the overall sound is noticeably better in every sense compared to the blue/red channel of the EVH amp. NOTE, I mainly use the BE, HBE and Euro Red amp sims - again YMMV. The blue and red channels work pretty good too, don't get me wrong guys, when people buy the EVH amps, let's face it, they're not buying that amp for the green channel are they! :D But the Friedman amp sims just kick ass.

I would've like to have said to you, don't sell it just yet, have one last try by using the EVH as a power amp for the Axe, and see if that worked for you? Would've been happy to send you a patch or two to try out..

All good.. good luck with the FX8, no doubt you'll love it.
 
Never had trouble getting meat, thickness with the Axe Fx 2 at all. In fact I'm always pulling back because its overbearing... Maybe its the Amp in the room thing....you cant lose either way as long as you have your tone
 
I would love to hear the comparisons. The real thing will always sound better, but for the sake of science, I'd be keen to hear the results.

I do have a comparison but I'm not going to post it. I've found, in the several years of being part of this forum, that doing so would only lead to arguing, people saying I should have done this or that to achieve the same sound, some people saying the Axe sounds better, that I screwed something up with the Axe-fx, etc. I don't really want to go there at this point. It's already packed up and heading to it's owner this morning, so it's a done deal. Not trying to be a negative Nellie or anything. It's just a moot point by now.

Good story, certainly worth sharing mate...

I would've like to have said to you, don't sell it just yet, have one last try by using the EVH as a power amp for the Axe, and see if that worked for you? Would've been happy to send you a patch or two to try out..

All good.. good luck with the FX8, no doubt you'll love it.

I had considered keeping the Axe-fx II and running four-cable method. I'd looked into it. But I've tried pretty much every method with the axe-fx II so far and it just hasn't quite done it for me. Remember - I've had this thing for pretty much five years now, and I have a particular quality to my to my personality. I don't give up easy. I work and work and work until I REALLY know how to do something. Sometimes to a fault. Even if I could have been satisfied playing different preamp models through the 5150 power amp, the Axe-fx II still more than I need. It becomes a much more complicated live setup - wires everywhere, needing an additional MIDI capable floorboard, etc. I'm pretty sure the FX8 will cover any type of tonal need I could imagine. In the long term I may end up getting another couple of amps, but even the green channel on this thing is particularly sweet. Remember - it's not even a "normal" 5150. It's factory modified to be like a 50 watt version of the Stealth. And it's GOOD.

Suffice to say, when I ran this amp through this reactive load, the sound I heard coming out of my monitors was much closer to the "sound in my head" for a 5150-type high gain guitar tone (and a high gain guitar tone in general), than I've gotten with my Axe in the last several years of guitar wanking I've done. And that was after about 15 minutes of testing it. It literally just put a smile on my face as soon as I heard it. I played through the amp/cab route last night more after letting the tubes get good and warmed up, and I'm even more glad I made the choice that I did. I also ran bass through it (as though I were playing a "grit" channel to be laid over a clean sub) and I can say the green and blue channel are going to be fantastic in this application.

A couple of years ago I took a chance and got a 5150 50 watt and a Two Notes Torpedo because I was at a crossroads where I just couldn't get behind the sounds I was getting. I could tell I preferred the breakup and harmonic structure of the real amp, but I was incredibly unimpressed with the way the Two Notes acted. Any volume increase over about 9 o clock resulted in a muddying of the lows and a pretty audible high end attenuation. Also, the amp didn't sound "that" great by comparison to the Axe. Basically, I don't think I liked the way the load interacted with the amplifier and I don't think the amp was a great representation of it's type. I also didn't have a speaker cab at that point, as I wasn't intending on any live performance, so I couldn't hear the difference in a live setting.

I really think the Power Station is a groundbreaking technology for tube amp users. And in this case, I really think that I lucked out with a very special 5150 that has a very special sound to it as well. I'm a picky guy, and I took this amp in on a total gamble, with a friend of mine saying he would buy it if I wasn't totally blown away.

It's also been a landmark week for scoring amazing deals. I got the FX8 at the lowest price I've seen it, and it's pretty much mint and brand new. Showing up today. The guy was selling it because after a couple months of working with it in his studio, he just simply didn't understand the technology and how to route everything. I think we take for granted, having worked with this modeler, how much of a steep curve there is to setting up advanced capabilities.

On top of that, as of yesterday it looks like I'm getting a WM Knabe and Co baby grand piano... for $400... because a pastor of a church I know just wants to get it out of his place. AND one of his congregation members owns a professional moving company (that knows how to move pianos), so likely sometime next week I'll be having that in my living room instead of a television. It's crazy. I feel like I'm living in a dream. Hahahaha!
 
I appreciate your honesty and desire to not spar with people. Important thing is you found your sound. That's what it's all about. Due to recording I did away with amps 20 years ago. Long before getting my Fractal. In my case the Ultra was the holy grail I had been looking for. I still enjoy it live and work with my XL in the studio.

I grew up on amps that folks would consider classics and are now collectible. Have a buddy that is a tube amp fanatic so I've played even more that I couldn't afford. In the end I always come back to my Fractal and grab that same smile you're talking about. Thanks for sharing. Hoping you don't intend to disappear. :)
 
I appreciate your honesty and desire to not spar with people. Important thing is you found your sound. That's what it's all about. Due to recording I did away with amps 20 years ago. Long before getting my Fractal. In my case the Ultra was the holy grail I had been looking for. I still enjoy it live and work with my XL in the studio.

I grew up on amps that folks would consider classics and are now collectible. Have a buddy that is a tube amp fanatic so I've played even more that I couldn't afford. In the end I always come back to my Fractal and grab that same smile you're talking about. Thanks for sharing. Hoping you don't intend to disappear. :)

Oh, absolutely man. One of my good friends online uses the Axe-fx II and is very happy with the results. He also owns a recording studio and mixes stuff for a very wide variety of clients, some of which don't come to his studio with an amp worth recording. He sees the Axe-fx II as an endless palette of guitar possibilities, and it's made it considerably easier to pay the bills through music. He'll never give it up for that reason.

I'm just in a totally different boat. And I'm definitely not saying the Axe-fx II is junk or anything. It's a great piece of kit, and obviously people get great sounds out of it because it's been used on countless professional recordings. It just got, for me, to a point where I was not having a good time using it. And music life is too short to not have a good time.
 
I say, good for you! What ever floats your... hmm... AMP....

I love the AXE-FX and wouldnt trade it for anything. In my excitement I recommended it to my good friend (old rock blues player with MESAS and Marshalls all over his man cave.
I shat my pants when he told me he ordered one because I never thought he would like it or adapt to its digital layout, but after a few long long sessions, he is massively happy as well. phewwww...

Just play what ever darn thing that makes you happy and dont let people tell you otherwise...

Rock on!!!
 
It's more the way a tube amps volume expands (there's a reason tubes are called valves) than frequency. I love tube amps too, but being stuck with a couple nice tones or sweet spots with a physical amp wears on me eventually.
The tube bounce is pretty easy to emulate with the Axe FX (to a certain point) but sounds amazing for what I go after IMO. I love tube amps but love the Axe even more. :)
 
Been there done that. First with a Dual Rectifier back in Gen1 days. The second and third time around I was wiser and didn't get rid of the Axe-Fx. I always came back no matter what. I will give you 6 months max. :) Oh and one of the amps I had was a 50-watt EVH also. When I compared the Axe-Fx sims with the real thing they were identical. IDENTICAL!
 
Been there done that. First with a Dual Rectifier back in Gen1 days. The second and third time around I was wiser and didn't get rid of the Axe-Fx. I always came back no matter what. I will give you 6 months max. :) Oh and one of the amps I had was a 50-watt EVH also. When I compared the Axe-Fx sims with the real thing they were identical. IDENTICAL!

No I won't be going back, and frankly the last person I'll ever take tone advice from is you. Good try though.
 
It's more the way a tube amps volume expands (there's a reason tubes are called valves) than frequency. I love tube amps too, but being stuck with a couple nice tones or sweet spots with a physical amp wears on me eventually.
The tube bounce is pretty easy to emulate with the Axe FX (to a certain point) but sounds amazing for what I go after IMO. I love tube amps but love the Axe even more. :)

It gets close but it's not on the money. And it's not like my tones were despicable or anything. I got lots of compliments actually. But I found myself ultimately being distracted by elements of the way it responded and sounded and it bothered me to a big fault.

I don't mind the limitations placed on me by a single amp, and know I'll be plenty flexible with ask the effects routing I'll be able to do with the fx8.
 
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