TommyVonVoigt
Member
Well, after years of being a hold out, I finally decided to give modelers a try. I ordered an Axe FX III Mark II Turbo.
I've been a pure tube guy for years. Block letter 5150s way back, then a series of hot rodded Marshalls, and then a Ceriatone King Kong 50. I go for huge 80s rock, pop and metal tones. Then I discovered stereo rigs, and I'm currently rocking a rack with Synergy modules, an Eclipse and a PCM 81, all into a pair of OS Mesa Recto cabs. But I still can't get that 80s clean tone. You know the one. And, as portable as I've made this rack, it's still a bear to take to gigs and rehearsals.
At a rehearsal last night, the other guitarist showed up with a Helix floor unit. His cleans buried mine, and even some of the high gain stuff (Friedman, some JCMs, some Mesas) sounded great. So, I'm going to give this a try. I'm not going to lie, I'm really, really nervous! My few experiences with modeling have been plug-ins in Logic. The built in amps, the Mercuriall stuff, and AmpliTube all left me with a very, very poor taste in my mouth.
I'll be running the Axe into my Fryette 2502 stereo tube power amp, and into my Mesa cabs. I'm not too interested in going FRFR with no tube power amp, but I do like the idea of also sending a stereo feed to the PA at larger venues. I really like that it has the flexibility to do this.
I've been reading the manual all weekend, and watching a ton of videos, waiting for it to ship. It is stunning what I can do with this thing. If I like it, it looks like I could possibly sell the whole Synergy setup, the Eclipse, the PCM 81, my DBX 160x, all 3 MIDI Rack EQs, my parallel mixer, and maybe even my ISP Pro Rack G (though I'm not totally sold on that yet). That would be pretty cool. Wish me luck!
I've been a pure tube guy for years. Block letter 5150s way back, then a series of hot rodded Marshalls, and then a Ceriatone King Kong 50. I go for huge 80s rock, pop and metal tones. Then I discovered stereo rigs, and I'm currently rocking a rack with Synergy modules, an Eclipse and a PCM 81, all into a pair of OS Mesa Recto cabs. But I still can't get that 80s clean tone. You know the one. And, as portable as I've made this rack, it's still a bear to take to gigs and rehearsals.
At a rehearsal last night, the other guitarist showed up with a Helix floor unit. His cleans buried mine, and even some of the high gain stuff (Friedman, some JCMs, some Mesas) sounded great. So, I'm going to give this a try. I'm not going to lie, I'm really, really nervous! My few experiences with modeling have been plug-ins in Logic. The built in amps, the Mercuriall stuff, and AmpliTube all left me with a very, very poor taste in my mouth.
I'll be running the Axe into my Fryette 2502 stereo tube power amp, and into my Mesa cabs. I'm not too interested in going FRFR with no tube power amp, but I do like the idea of also sending a stereo feed to the PA at larger venues. I really like that it has the flexibility to do this.
I've been reading the manual all weekend, and watching a ton of videos, waiting for it to ship. It is stunning what I can do with this thing. If I like it, it looks like I could possibly sell the whole Synergy setup, the Eclipse, the PCM 81, my DBX 160x, all 3 MIDI Rack EQs, my parallel mixer, and maybe even my ISP Pro Rack G (though I'm not totally sold on that yet). That would be pretty cool. Wish me luck!