Let the Axe Fall - V9.0 Powerball Power Metal Cover

Alex EShadow

Inspired
Hey All,

I've been fiddling with the only ENGL model in the AxeFX so far, the Powerball, and trying to get a nice power metalish tone in the vein of Angra or Hammerfall, both of which use the Savage 120 head (Wishlist!!!).

After 3 weeks tweaking and comparing recordings, I've come far enough to share a clip with you.

This is a cover of the song "Heeding the Call" by Hammerfall.

http://alexmreis.com/mp3/heeding-05.mp3

Hard panned L and R are 2 tracks of the Powerball through the RedWirez Mesa IRs, Fredman Technique (Cap 0in + Cap Off Axis 0in)
Center panned is a single track of the Powerball through the RedWirez Marshall w/ V30s cabsim, same mic setup.

There's very little post processing on the guitars, just a Low Pass filter on the highs around 12khz, and a small dip in the mids at 2khz. The marshall one got a boost in the 1khz range.

Let me know what you think, and what can I do to improve this.

Best,

Alex
 
Sounds great!
I played ENGL amps for almost fifteen years but wasn't able to dial in a similar sound in the AXE.
I use the 5150, Diezel Soldano, Mesa models and Bogner but really have problems with the Powerball.

Always sounds muddy when I worked with this amp, even with the Red Wirez.
Any tips?
 
Thanks for the nice words! I have never played a real ENGL, although I've heard them live several times.

Key trick with the Powerball is that using too much amp drive with it kills the amp. Also the master volume is an important factor to "clean up" the mud. The treble control is also quite sensitive, so even 0.2 steps can make a huge difference.

I use a filter block in front of the amp, leave it all default, but turn up the level to 13db.

If you want some coloration as well, you can try a FET BOOST with the clipping type set to LV TUBE, sounds great for live playing, but I can't stand what drive pedals do to the amp tone when recording.

As far as the amp controls itself, relevant ones to alleviate mudness:

Drive - Around 4
Treble - Between 7 and 7.5
Presence - Between 2.8 and 3.5
Master - Not higher than 4 - 2.8 seems to be the sweet spot
Warmth - 0
Thump - 0

Also try raising the power amp bias a bit, and see if that helps.


Edit: Forgot to list the Drive setting (doh!)
 
GuitarDojo said:
Nice!
I expected more higher pitched screams from the singer. ;)

Hahaha guess I'll have to cut one ball off before going into power metal high pitched screams area. I recorded vocals just to make it a full mix and practice my mixing skills. My power metal project will be recording a demo early next year, and I'll mix it, so I'm getting used to mixing the genre.

I'm really proud of the drum tone on this one, it's Superior 2.0 with lots of post on individual buses. The guitar tones are almost there for me, but still lack a little "something". The bass needs a lot of work though.

The band is also a weird multi-national experiment...
Rhythm Guitarist (me) is from Brazil
Lead Guitarrist is from the US
Singer is from Canada (not the one singing on this clip lol, that's me)
Bassist is from the UK

And we don't have a drummer so far... Hopefully I'll find one in Belgium when I move there next year =)
 
The guitars surely sound really great!
The mix is OK but everything sounds pretty separated and could be glued together a bit more. Saturation plugins on individual tracks and maybe a buss compressor could help here.
 
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