Just took the Axe FX plunge...

Congrats on your new Axe-Fx! I bought one about a year ago and am very happy with it.

Apart from getting great tones, it’s also a lot of fun. I highly recommend using Axe-Edit. I almost never use the front panel… but then again, I don’t gig and only use it in a home studio.

I’ve found everyone here to be very helpful. Welcome!
 
The Turbo arrived today!

I went through all of the presets and many of the Scenes within them, both with headphones on, AND with the unit hooked up to my Fryette 2502 and both Mesa 4x12 cabs. When hooked up to the power amp and cabs, I globally disabled Power Amp and Cabinet modeling, and set my output to +4. I did not edit any of the presets in any way. I just breezed through them. Here are my thoughts so far:

• The cleans I'm looking for are here. Plenty to choose from, actually. Some really pretty, compressed cleans that actually feel really good to play. I can tell I'm going to actually have a hard time choosing. I actually really can't get over how nice these cleans are. This is straight up what I've been looking for this whole time.

• The high gain tones are going to be a bit of work. Lots of them sound bad to my ears, but some are approaching a good starting point. They are all either far too bright, far too dark, or boxy. Lots of them have a harshness to them. I bet the problem is that the power amp and cabinet emulations are disabled. These were all obviously dialed in with the whole package, and I've globally shut off a chunk of that package. So, I think what I'm going to have to do is spend the weekend actually getting in there and seriously tweaking, using Axe Edit. I'll probably pick one that sounds sorta promising, and see what I can do to make it sound good in the room. A funny thing about a lot of the Marshall models - they do actually sound and feel like many stock Marshalls do to me...too bright, too fizzy, too brittle, and just kind of not fun at all to play through. Haha. The rectos and the Splawns seem like they could potentially be a good jumping off point, but I'll have to see what happens when I actually start making adjustments.

• I have to say, this thing feels real to me. It doesn't feel like I'm plugged into a computer. Especially on the clean sounds I found that are like 90% of the way there already. They feel like I'm playing through a really nice clean amp. If I look away, I could easily convince myself this is not a modeler. It's shocking, really.


If you said "Tommy, you have a gig this weekend, get your rig together ASAP," I'd likely throw my Syn-2 into a loop of the Axe, and use the Axe for cleans, and pre / post effects, and the Synergy for high gain tones. It's very possible that may change, once I actually have time to get in and edit some high gain presets.

I have to table the FRFR angle for a bit, since my first and main priority is dialing in my high gain tones that will work through my 2502 and my cabs. That's how I rehearse at home, and when I go to rehearsal studios here in NYC, I simply plug my power amp into a pair of Mesa cabs there in the room. Also, at the venue I play most often, the sound guy greatly prefers to throw a mic on a real cab. It's mission critical I get that right. Once I have my "power amp and cabs" tones all sorted out, at that point I will start messing with adding another out that can go direct to PA or monitors. That will be fun, once I get to that point. I have every single IR pack that York Audio sells, and they sound amazing when I record, so I look forward to experimenting with them here. But, the power amp and cabs are definitely first.
 
TommyVonVoigt said:
The Turbo arrived today!
I bet the problem is that the power amp and cabinet emulations are disabled. These were all obviously dialed in with the whole package, and I've globally shut off a chunk of that package.
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You don't have to turn them off. I find I like several of the high gain tones just fine when run thru my Mesa stereo power amps (I have 3 and they're all a bit different) and 2 Recto 4x12 cabs, just not all of them.
 
TSJMajesty said:
You don't have to turn them off. I find I like several of the high gain tones just fine when run thru my Mesa stereo power amps (I have 3 and they're all a bit different) and 2 Recto 4x12 cabs, just not all of them.
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I'll have to give that a try as well.

Just spent a few minutes playing around in one of the Quick Rod presets. I started getting it halfway decent but need to break for dinner now.

Oh, and I just discovered the full extent of editing power for the amps. Wow. I feel like it surely must be possible for me to dial in the high gain tones I'm looking for, considering just how much I can tweak here. But, I have to admit, I'm not entirely sure where to start. It's going to be a lot of trial and error, I think.
 
TommyVonVoigt said:
I'll have to give that a try as well.

Just spent a few minutes playing around in one of the Quick Rod presets. I started getting it halfway decent but need to break for dinner now.

Oh, and I just discovered the full extent of editing power for the amps. Wow. I feel like it surely must be possible for me to dial in the high gain tones I'm looking for, considering just how much I can tweak here. But, I have to admit, I'm not entirely sure where to start. It's going to be a lot of trial and error, I think.
Click to expand...
I generally stay away from editing, at least deep tweaking, finding the tones I want to use simply by going through the factory presets.
Find one I like, adjust to taste, store it in another part of the preset list. I do the same with effects.
I'll also take a factory preset, and simply substitute into it different amps. Like I took Sc8 of the Mark IV preset, swapped in the Recto1 Red, and it's working perfectly for Smooth Criminal (Alien Ant Farm's version.) (I'm strictly a covers player.)
I may have done some other minor tweaks, but even if I did, it wasn't much. Point being, there's many ways to arrive at the tones you like, without having to go down deep rabbit holes of parameter tweaking that can be never-ending. ;)
 
TommyVonVoigt said:
I'll have to give that a try as well.

Just spent a few minutes playing around in one of the Quick Rod presets. I started getting it halfway decent but need to break for dinner now.

Oh, and I just discovered the full extent of editing power for the amps. Wow. I feel like it surely must be possible for me to dial in the high gain tones I'm looking for, considering just how much I can tweak here. But, I have to admit, I'm not entirely sure where to start. It's going to be a lot of trial and error, I think.
Click to expand...
I would definitely recommend giving @austinbuddy live gold a try, it has a ton of great tones and it's a great starting point for almost anything you are looking for
 
TommyVonVoigt said:
I bet the problem is that the power amp and cabinet emulations are disabled. These were all obviously dialed in with the whole package, and I've globally shut off a chunk of that package.
Click to expand...

I tried both ways (global on and off), and figured it was kind of pointless to run the Fractal without the power amp and cabinet modeling on.

I also think it sounds a lot better on, regardless of running it through a distinct tube power amp and cabs. :)
 
Welcome Tommy! Just added the Turbo myself a few weeks ago. I love tube amps, and have a bunch! But once I started gigging the Axe Fx back in 2011, there‘s been no returning to the backache of big load-ins. You’ll be a bit kind-blown for a few days, but hang in there and it’ll come together. Good move to read up in advance. Feel free to ask questions as you get acquainted.
 
TommyVonVoigt said:
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!
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You couldn't have picked a better place to start. I have been gigging Fractal for many years and my experience has been nothing but stellar.
 
Made a quick and dirty high gain tone this morning. I think this does in fact show some promise. Especially since I know I can tweak nearly infinitely further. Check it out below. This is 84 Explorer > Axe III Turbo > Fryette 2502 > 2 Mesa OS 4x12 cabs. iPhone 12 built in mic. Sloppy playing is no extra charge :)

Please be kind, this is my very first attempt at using anything quite like this thing!

 
Also, I'm quickly finding that, for me, there are a few critical things I have to have:


• Getting the right saturation

• Getting a low mid grind

• Getting rid of any harsh highs or fizz or sizzle

• Getting the right lows, that fill out the bottom end, and provide a kind of ominous sense of power behind the tone, but without introducing mud

• Ensuring the mids don't have a haze over them, or any boxiness


That seems to be the recipe for my sound. And that last item is admittedly giving me some trouble still...EQ is likely the answer
 
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I used to plug modelers into the effects return or a direct in to the power tube section of a tube amp head and built my presets where
they sounded good without disabling modeling power amp/cab sections at all.

Now I have to desire whatsoever to not use FRFR or JBL sidefill monitors for my on stage sound and into the main PA.
The FRFR's and sidefills I used have PLENTY of power and to me sound better than any tube amp and pedal rigs I ever used in the past.
So freaking versatile. Never thought I'd go full digital after playing tube amp snob for years and then only using hybrid tube amp and modeler combinations.
 
la noise said:
I tried both ways (global on and off), and figured it was kind of pointless to run the Fractal without the power amp and cabinet modeling on.

I also think it sounds a lot better on, regardless of running it through a distinct tube power amp and cabs. :)
Click to expand...

Same here! I have mine running through an Orange Pedalbaby 100 and it sounds great through a cab!
So much so, that any amps that I have owned have now been sold!
 
Sounds good but hard to really tell from the recording. If you are having trouble with harshness try doing a high cut. Maybe a eq block after the amp block. cut at 10k or even as far down as 5k if it sounds right.
 
I run my Axe thru a Marshall 9200 Tube Power Amp, into both an Engl pro 4x12 and a Mesa Rectifier 4x12 cab. I leave the power-amp simulation on, otherwise I feel the dynamic response when playing thru the rig, doesn't quite feel like my real tube-amps. On the other hand, at least with the Marshall 9200, the amp-bloks (Engl Savage and Mesa Mark IV in my case), when leaving the power-amp simulation on, I feel very little need to go beyond the authentic page to tweak further for my high-gain tones. (I play thrash/death metal, but always used tube-amps, and also own the real counterparts of the Savage and the Mesa Mark). I am blown away at how authentic it feels and great it sounds, after the Cygnus firmware update!

Make sure to keep and eye on the headroom meter, and be aware that the mastervolume is an extremely important parameter in setting your high-gain tones! Mesa amps tend to not respond to well with high MV settings for an example, I believe it's quite opposite with most Marshalls and so on. The Axe replicates this to perfection.

Also have a serious look at the Speaker Impedance Curve settings, and play around with the different speaker profiles - it makes a HUGE difference! I sometimes make minor adjustments to the poweramp/tube section, like the PowerTube Mismatch parameter or Transformer Matching, but not much else - though the Negative Feedback can sometimes help you get there, if the current amp-blok is not working for you, I usually prefer trying another amp in that case.

Also Speaker Compression can be quite cool on lower settings (mine is around 2 usually), and helps give a realistic response/feel when playing. Lastly I am not cheap with adding Depth in the authentic page, but I suspect it very much depends on the power-amp you're using. the Marshall 9200 actually have a surprisingly flat response, considering it's a tube-amp.
 
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