Loving the axe 2 for bass guitar

Moltenmetalburn

Moltenmetalburn

Self-Admitted Software Thief
Recently got my first bass to fill in a buddies thrash metal project, figured I'd try something new after 20 years of guitar.

The axe is killing it for bass, sounds devastating, I'm really happy.

I do however still as many, many other wish there were just a few more amp flavors. Aguilar , Eden, gk etc...

We don't need 120 bass amps but a few would suffice...
 
Yeah, a lot of the bass players on TalkBass are interested in the Kemper; I continue to wave the Fractal flag, but it's hard to justify with 1 bass amp in the whole mix. A Hiwatt 400, Trace V8, Sadowsky SA200, B15, and a few SS models would seal the deal for a lot of folks.
 
back in the days before the AxeFxII, I and a small group of others had some pretty ugly discussions about the virtue of adding a handful of bass amps or pedal types. Though I think the community is more receptive lately, you rarely if ever read a response to this request from the FAS inner circle.

It is what it is, and IMHO don't believe it is a current or near future priority, which is a shame. For the same reasons that the AxeFx is tremendously useful for guitarists, it is equally useful for bassists. IMO a BassAxefx would be very well received...hey...we can dream, can't we?
 
Well I think that with the recent acquisition of an AxeFX by a very prominent bass guitarist who plays (among various other projects) with a very prominent guitar player who is himself an Axe user, some additions to the mix might be forthcoming.
Said bass player is a good friend and I know that he intends on sending his very unique and special modded preamp to FAS for modeling. Don't know when that's going to happen, but it will.
If he ever goes on stage with that rig, the bass player community interest WILL take a leap and more people will take note.
 
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Patzag said:
Well I think that with the recent acquisition of an AxeFX by a very prominent bass guitarist who plays (among various other projects) with a very prominent guitar player who is himself an Axe user, some additions to the mix might be forthcoming.
Said bass player is a good friend and I know that he intends on sending his very unique and special modded preamp to FAS for modeling. Don't know when that's going to happen, but it will.
He if ever goes on stage with that rig, the bass player community interest WILL take a leap and more people will take note.
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+1
well, then...this is an interesting development.
 
JGR said:
Yeah, a lot of the bass players on TalkBass are interested in the Kemper; I continue to wave the Fractal flag, but it's hard to justify with 1 bass amp in the whole mix. A Hiwatt 400, Trace V8, Sadowsky SA200, B15, and a few SS models would seal the deal for a lot of folks.
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have you got a couple links to those talk bass threads? I lurk there a bit and there is rarely talk of amp modeling for bass guitar other than some of the lower priced zoom stuff...not much AxeFx or KPA that I've seen...
 
Just wanted to ask you why your gutting it.
Im quessing because its all very cheap quality but is there something that stood out more then the rest of things ?
I found that the Cort Punisher which is the same as the Axe had flaws up & down from dirty frets the fretboard was shockingly filthy,black was coming off it & the pickups sound bright as hell.Some of the frets arent seated properly & are tarnished from day one.Even the diamond inlays are scratched to the max,this is a brand new bass ?The fretboard has white streaks in it that i only see in Indonesian basses.Indian Rosewood but the ones that Cort used for this must be the bottom of the bag when it comes to quality.To me it seems to have the most cheapest hardware ive seen for that price !
 
I have been using Axe since the ultra for my bass, I can do anything but LOVE the tone i got out of that, and now with the 2 I have NO need for another bass amp. Yeah I'd love more bass amp's (Maybe a Sunn and the B7K threw in too) but if i dont like something, i have a arsenal of amps on their i can mix into it to add and everything to keep me happy.

I have looked at the Kemper but i just cant see the BIG acts picking that over the Axe Fx 2, there is plenty of them already sitting with multiple axe's so i think its just time before more 'Bass' products are added.
 
For bass, this rocks.

My patch is something like this:

Comp -> Split into an Ampeg and an Orange with a bit of drive -> Multi band comp.

Damn, that's nice!
 
Patzag said:
Well I think that with the recent acquisition of an AxeFX by a very prominent bass guitarist who plays (among various other projects) with a very prominent guitar player who is himself an Axe user, some additions to the mix might be forthcoming.
Said bass player is a good friend and I know that he intends on sending his very unique and special modded preamp to FAS for modeling. Don't know when that's going to happen, but it will.
If he ever goes on stage with that rig, the bass player community interest WILL take a leap and more people will take note.
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are you talking about someone like marcus miller with his swr preamp?
 
Always want to add my vote for a few bass amps pretty please.

They can't be that complex and not all of us like ampeg tones! (or only ampeg).

Just 5 great amps would open up the bass market to axe fx I am guessing...
 
I got a bass today, and I'm all set for funking out! Well, except that I can't play bass! But that's a small problem, and I already got awesome sounds, better than I've ever gotten when recording bass for our band previously. Now, I'll just start developing callouses on my right hand and grow an afro.

The best bass riff ever:
"Good times
These are the good times
Leave your cares behind
These are the good times
Good times
These are the good times
Our new state of mind
These are the good times"

... Happy!
 
JGR said:
Yeah, a lot of the bass players on TalkBass are interested in the Kemper; I continue to wave the Fractal flag, but it's hard to justify with 1 bass amp in the whole mix. A Hiwatt 400, Trace V8, Sadowsky SA200, B15, and a few SS models would seal the deal for a lot of folks.
Click to expand...

I just read through a thread on Talkbass concerning the Kemper with both you and jimfist in it. I see you trying your best to wave your AxeFX flag to little avail. Maybe because it was a Kemper thread? I think what Kemper has over the AxeFX is the potential for a having a variety of bass amps. People like the amps they like for whatever reason and if you can give people what they want in a lighter package, I think they would seriously consider said product. Don't get me wrong here, I love my AxeFX II but I want to see lots more bassists loving one as well. It just doesn't seem to be in the cards in the foreseeable future.

After reading that thread, (maybe I read the wrong thread or something) but it seems to me that there isn't actually a great deal of interest for either the Kemper or the AxeFX in the bass community. Maybe it's because not a lot of 'name' bassists use them. I think this is true with the Kemper because it's an inferior product. I think it's true with the AxeFX only because of its lack of attention to bassist's needs/personal tastes. jimfist said it best in that thread when he said "If one of these two companies would give us bassists a big old bear hug embrace, it would go a long way. Not holding my breath."

Cliff had to make a decision many moons ago about his market. There are WAY more guitarists than bassists. He made a sound judgement to cater to this group of musicians, initially. He's got some big names using his product and in this day and age, that goes a VERY long way in getting up-and-comers to get the same gear as their heroes. Now, on the other hand, if he could get some big name bassists to use the product, same result. I don't know that there's enough bass specific 'stuff' in the box though to make that happen.

I believe there would be a lot of bassists that would switch over if there were more than one bass amp model to choose from. Not holding my breath either.

Btw, I post as 'wabbit' on Talkbass. ;)


EDIT: Yes, in that aforementioned Talkbass thread, I said that the SVT amp model and 8x10 cab model is all I'll ever need. This is mostly a sales pitch. I am quite happy with that combo but would really like to have something different to try out. Thunderfunk, Aguilar, Eden, Mark Bass, Peavey, GK, Acoustic, Sunn, Traynor, etc. etc.
 
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Well, I used my AxeFxII rig powered by a GK 1001RBII this past weekend. It was used by a total of 13 acts at a benefit show: rock, blues rock, classic rock, hard rock, and some metal. The rig passed with flying colors across all genres, and with everything from traditional passive basses to modern actives. Most of the adjustment for tone came from the GK "contour" knob (counter clockwise at 7 o'clock for more midrange, clockwise at 5 o'clock for scooped mids), and a minor tweak to the main volume outputs. MIDI Pedal board adds chorus and overall boost gain via expression pedals.

I think the fact that I'm running "full range" cabinets using a bass amp designed for "full range" is what makes this more appealing for me as a bassist, compared to using a straight bi-amped power amp (which is how I use my Ultra) and forcing the "FRFR" issue with cabinet IRs. Had a default preset as basically a "pass through" tone, with a compressor up front and nothing else (AxeFxII in the FX Loop of the GK Head), but other scenes from that preset got plenty of use (tape drive type, and also Brit 800 amp model with a bit of drive). No cabinet models were used.

Everybody that used the rig was happy and many commented favorably on the tone of the rig.

As for the future of the AxeFx catering to bassists... would still be great to see. But with my current rig GK/AxeFx combination, I'm done gassing for a while. The only down side is that my rack is about 10 lbs heavier than it used to be with a class D amp in it, but that's a minor inconvenience I can live with.
 
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ScottyB said:
What are you using?
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I have a pair of 15" cabinets made by (the infamous) Dr. Bass (aka Mark Serio). [[do a google search and you'll soon find out why he is infamous]]
These are each loaded with a Ciare 15" coaxial driver: Ciare NDCX15-2.1 for its light weight, predominantly. Not a cheap driver, that's for sure. It is certainly full range, but not at all flat response without some EQ to flatten it across the spectrum, but IMO it's a great sounding and very LOUD lightweight and flexible rig. I use one for small pubs, and 2 for bigger clubs.
 
I've posted about the Axe Fx in non-Kemper threads as well, and while folks seem to like the tone and the potential it has to offer, they are generally put off at spending that kind of coin for something with one bass amp model in it, and I can't blame them. I play both guitar and bass (neither well), and I find that bass players generally embrace new technology and concepts much more readily than their guitar counterparts, perhaps in part due to the type of personality that is drawn to that instrument in the first place, and largely due to the fact that bass is a much tougher animal to reproduce, so they are forced to go a bit more in-depth on the scientific side. Other than the modeling realm with products like the AxeFx, we see a lot of rehashing the same stuff (and mistakes) that have been around since the 60's in guitarland - 4x12 cab is the perfect example - if we want better dispersion, stop putting drivers side by side - speaker 101! I recently stood both of my Recto 2x12 cabs vertically and cross-fired them at about 30 degrees, and it was a huge improvement in evenness/consistency in tone around the room. I need to get around to doing the .5 alignment for my two 4x12's that I've had for years. But I digress!
 
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I've always cross-fired PA bass bins for FOH, so this is a great idea for bass backline. The trend for small bass rigs on stages then running bass through wedges along with the vocals etc for on-stage sound, destroys the old-school vibe of drums and bass in the centre as the power house of a band. Cross-firing significantly increases the bass volume as well as helping dispersal, so great idea! Thanks Jonathan Reiner JGR.
 
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I first bought the axe fx ii for bass...but could never get a sound for bass that was (imo) great, so I eventually gave up on that, bought a bunch of little bass boxes from sans amp, Eden, bk7 etc, and settled on the bk7 with a neve Di.
I would dearly love to use the axe fx for bass but it does something to the bass sound that just isn't good. In my humble opinion, if the axe fx was as good for bass as it is for guitar, there'd be an instant 25% market increase (I know not all bands are Lynard skynard, but I'm being conservative ) for the unit as bass players would flock to buy them.
Right now, many bass players that have bought one can see the potential, but are using something else while they wait and hope for better support from the firmware. I speculate that something fundamental (such as a hpf on the input or something) is making bass support difficult, but speculation is....well grabbing at straws.
For now, I'll use the bk7 and continue to wait.
Thanks
Pauly
 
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