Check out my new EP, 5 at 50. All of the guitar tones are AFX2. It's a series of improvisation-oriented workouts, inspired chiefly by Frank Zappa's live work.
Prominently featured on every song is my SG going through my "Zappa" patch, which uses a dynamically controlled flange effect, ala Frank's old Dynaflanger.
The patch evolved as the EP went along (and newer firmwares were added), and the final version on the song "There's a Blue Light Glowing in My Pants" uses the Friedman 2018 amp sim and a stereo analog flange. Earlier versions on the first two songs used the Friedman V2 and a digital stereo flange.
It doesn't really get into the proper Zappa lead tone, just because I placed the flanger after the cab rather than before the amp, but it does sound rather swirly and full. Placing the same flange effect after the drive but before the amp gives a dead-on 1978 Zappa snarl, and I'll probably explore that in the future (I don't want to be an imitator, though).
The heavier rhythm guitars throughout are my Japanese reissue Tele through a highly modded version of the stock "Solo-100 Lead" patch (different cabs, etc.) without the drive engaged. I've grown to love the SLO amp in the Axe, even though it didn't do a lot for me at first. You can do just about anything with it.
The final track, "Love Is Free", is just the neck pickup on my SG through the bone-stock "EJ Clean" patch, which is one of the more venerable Fractal patches. A quick bit of inspiration that took maybe 15 minutes from conception to completion. I found the EJ Clean to be way too bass-heavy with this guitar/PU combo when I was mixing and mastering, so I did a lot of EQing and sweetening on it afterward. Still, such a lovely patch to play through.
Other sounds throughout the EP were just quickie things I dialed in and can't remember now. I printed most of the guitar effects on this one and had to live with my choices, good and bad. Still, some serious time in mixdown and mastering yielded what I think is a pretty good-sounding result, despite that.
As ever, the AFX2 will give you totally professional results if you work at it. I'm sure that the AFX3 is really all that, but the results of this EP have convinced me that there's plenty of time left for me with the 2.
Prominently featured on every song is my SG going through my "Zappa" patch, which uses a dynamically controlled flange effect, ala Frank's old Dynaflanger.
The patch evolved as the EP went along (and newer firmwares were added), and the final version on the song "There's a Blue Light Glowing in My Pants" uses the Friedman 2018 amp sim and a stereo analog flange. Earlier versions on the first two songs used the Friedman V2 and a digital stereo flange.
It doesn't really get into the proper Zappa lead tone, just because I placed the flanger after the cab rather than before the amp, but it does sound rather swirly and full. Placing the same flange effect after the drive but before the amp gives a dead-on 1978 Zappa snarl, and I'll probably explore that in the future (I don't want to be an imitator, though).
The heavier rhythm guitars throughout are my Japanese reissue Tele through a highly modded version of the stock "Solo-100 Lead" patch (different cabs, etc.) without the drive engaged. I've grown to love the SLO amp in the Axe, even though it didn't do a lot for me at first. You can do just about anything with it.
The final track, "Love Is Free", is just the neck pickup on my SG through the bone-stock "EJ Clean" patch, which is one of the more venerable Fractal patches. A quick bit of inspiration that took maybe 15 minutes from conception to completion. I found the EJ Clean to be way too bass-heavy with this guitar/PU combo when I was mixing and mastering, so I did a lot of EQing and sweetening on it afterward. Still, such a lovely patch to play through.
Other sounds throughout the EP were just quickie things I dialed in and can't remember now. I printed most of the guitar effects on this one and had to live with my choices, good and bad. Still, some serious time in mixdown and mastering yielded what I think is a pretty good-sounding result, despite that.
As ever, the AFX2 will give you totally professional results if you work at it. I'm sure that the AFX3 is really all that, but the results of this EP have convinced me that there's plenty of time left for me with the 2.