Making the switch From Friedman BE-100 to Axe-Fx III

H

halomojo

New Member
Hey Folks! I'm new to the forum and to AxeFX in general. I'm thinking about taking the plunge and going from my current rig of a Friedman BE-100 + 4x12 and 8 pedals to an AxeFX III, FC12, and power amp. My current band has a sort of Failure/Deftones/Torche kind of sound and I do a lot of effects changes live. Getting tired of the tap dance thing and don't think I want to go down the pedal loop switcher route. I know I have the option of going direct to front of house with the AXEFX but I'm curious if there are folks out there running their live setups with power amps and cabs and micing up the cabs. Anyone doing that in stereo? I've got two 4x12's and thinking it could sound great. I saw Failure live the other day and it was unreal sounding. Thanks a bunch!
 
I briefly messed with an AxeFX II and Helix but the slight lag between switching presets was bugging me. I know there are ways around that by using Scenes/Snapshots but it sounds like that was fixed to a certain extent with the III.
 
halomojo said:
I briefly messed with an AxeFX II and Helix but the slight lag between switching presets was bugging me. I know there are ways around that by using Scenes/Snapshots but it sounds like that was fixed to a certain extent with the III.
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Not really. If you don't want any gap then using scenes is still the best approach. There is so much processing power in the Axe Fx III that you can put a lot of stuff into one preset.
 
I tend to use an Electro Harmonix POG a lot for a distorted octave down sound. Do you know if the Axe pitch block can give a comparable sound?
 
The Octave Divider type in the Pitch block has both 1 and 2 octaves down and you can control the levels of each.
 
I have a BE-50 that I have no intentions of selling. It is always nice to still have an amp around. In my case, I'm really fortunate and thankful to have both setups. There are days that the Axe III does what I want and what I want to hear, and there are days I just want to use my amp and enjoy it. That being said, the Axe III is making me use it more and more with the amazing amount of tones and features in it.
 
PBGas said:
I have a BE-50 that I have no intentions of selling. It is always nice to still have an amp around. In my case, I'm really fortunate and thankful to have both setups. There are days that the Axe III does what I want and what I want to hear, and there are days I just want to use my amp and enjoy it. That being said, the Axe III is making me use it more and more with the amazing amount of tones and features in it.
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Yeah, I hear you. I've owned an embarrassing amount of amps and the majority of the swapping around was when I WASN'T playing in bands. I would just tinker around and hear all these subtleties in my tone that I wanted to change. However, I'm saying this after owning a few Friedman amps over the past few years which are incredible sounding so I don't have much room for tonal complaining. The second you start playing with a drummer and bass player, those subtleties tend to go out the window. I just want to know I have a pretty solid tone, but more importantly, I want things to be simple, convenient, and reliable. I've had some bad luck with bad patch cables in my pedalboard on a few recent gigs and I've I'm singing and trying to nail 4 pedal switches on the down beat of a chorus, things start to get hairy. After seeing Failure recently and being blown away by their sound and noticing how smooth all of their patch changes were, it got me thinking about switching.
 
I live down the street from Friedman's shop and know his amps pretty well. There's a reason why his name is in the AxeFX and not an approximation name (ie the Brit 800 etc.). The models are that good. I would say if you use a tube power amp and an axe fx you can get indistinguishable tones, if you go with a solid state power amp like a matrix you may lose a bit of squish in the low end, mainly because of the response of the power amp, not the fractal. I love the BE and one of the venues in town in LA has friedman backline which is nice to use (I use an FX8 when I play that venue).

You can't go wrong with the AxeFX and you'll get the added benefit of all the other amps, effects and features including building presets with volume boosts and toggles (like the c45 and fat switch) that you can't do on the real amp. I've sold off most of my boutique tube amps since going full fractal, gigging multiple nights a week and I haven't missed any of them. I only keep a mesa lonestar (which I leave setup at a church I play weekly, ), a Deluxe reverb (which I've been trying to sell forever), and a Suhr PT100 (which just stays set up and mic'ed in my home studio in case I need to practice or record quickly).

YMMV, if you can afford to, keep the BE and get the fractal and you'll eventually find that you can eventually part with the BE
 
halomojo said:
After seeing Failure recently and being blown away by their sound and noticing how smooth all of their patch changes were, it got me thinking about switching.
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There was a rig rundown of Failure if you wanna see the ins and outs... it,s on Premierguitar.com. And you know what. They actually go direct in the mixer, all Ir's, nor ''real'' cabs.
 
Another advantage of the Axe-Fx of course is the possibility to try other amp models.

Example:
After having used the Friedman models for years, I recently switched to the “Euro” ones = Bogner Ecstasy. I owned that amp 10 years ago. Leads sound so much thicker and more prominent in the mix than they do with the BE.
 
if tap dancing is your only issue, wouldn't keeping the amp, and getting an effects processor (Fractal AX8 or FX8) be a cheaper solution?
getting an Axe FX 3 + a pedalboard is really expensive...
 
FreeMind said:
if tap dancing is your only issue, wouldn't keeping the amp, and getting an effects processor (Fractal AX8 or FX8) be a cheaper solution?
getting an Axe FX 3 + a pedalboard is really expensive...
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I was thinking about going that route as well, but I play in a few different bands and was thinking the flexibility from the AxeFX would be pretty sweet and could even use it as a bass rig if need be. That was the main reason why. Plus I've never been thrilled with the clean sounds from the BE. I prefer an edge of breakup sort of clean.
 
halomojo said:
I was thinking about going that route as well, but I play in a few different bands and was thinking the flexibility from the AxeFX would be pretty sweet and could even use it as a bass rig if need be. That was the main reason why. Plus I've never been thrilled with the clean sounds from the BE. I prefer an edge of breakup sort of clean.
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Well, with the Axe FX or the AX8, going though the FX loop of the BE-100, you can get a different clean channel...
 
FreeMind said:
Well, with the Axe FX or the AX8, going though the FX loop of the BE-100, you can get a different clean channel...
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Very true and something to consider. I think it was the appeal of the all in one package that had me intrigued about the Axe III but I'll look into that option as well.
 
FreeMind said:
if tap dancing is your only issue, wouldn't keeping the amp, and getting an effects processor (Fractal AX8 or FX8) be a cheaper solution?
getting an Axe FX 3 + a pedalboard is really expensive...
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Expensive as opposed to what? Lesser, older, more limited products?

Do you own a 3?
 
I just used my Axe 3 for the first time jamming with a band this weekend. In addition to the scenes I love the 4 channel switching and 4 channel amp switching. You can build a really versatile rig with one preset.

For your setup if you can find the Atomic 50/50 power amp to go with your cabs you will fall in love. It’s a bit heavy but is stereo and very neutral sounding but great feel. I got one for $350 used. If you don’t need stereo the Fryette Powerstation also rocks and does not color the tone.
 
carlguit said:
Hey mate. Curious to see what you're using.
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I’m curious as well.
I use my axe with a 4x12 and a Matrix GT1000FX and I get indistinguishable tones too.

I do this because the other guitarists uses an actual amp + 4x12, so I use that setup so the axe feels “in the room” with the amp.
 
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