New Amp Discovery (AFD) - What's Yours?

P

peteri

Power User
Having come from the AX8, loving the III for so many reasons - but one of the joys is discovering 'new' amps which somehow sound so much better than before.

I'm an 80's guy - my second proper amp was a Marshall Jubilee stack bought new (should have kept that bad-boy), I always thought (on every modeller, ever) the Jubilee/AFD models weren't there.

Last night - pulled up the AFD I model, put if through an OwnHammer Basketweave IR - didn't touch a thing, sounded amazing!

Jubilee the same.

Really happy, and impressed - at last sounds Iike I remember, anyone else had similar?

(Thinking there's now a heck of a lot of amps I need to try)
 
Most amp models sound pretty good, the "challenge" nowadays is to find the right IR/Cab for it in the case those stock in the axe don't do the job.
 
A lot of people dimiss the the Fractal presets because they don't suit what they are using it for.
I spend a lot of time going thru them just getting to know the different amps.
I have favourites every week.
 
For me it's the matchless. It's always sounded perfectly fine, but never preferable over anything until now. It's that magic compression while still being touch sensitive... Usually that's considered an oxymoron, but despite the compression you can really hear complex differences as you change the dynamics of your picking even if the output level stays similar. The harder you pick, the more the sound focuses and tightens, but when you pick very softly it gets airy and plumps up quite a bit. Really addicting, and I've got tons of compliments on it.
 
JCBitB said:
For me it's the matchless. It's always sounded perfectly fine, but never preferable over anything until now. It's that magic compression while still being touch sensitive... Usually that's considered an oxymoron, but despite the compression you can really hear complex differences as you change the dynamics of your picking even if the output level stays similar. The harder you pick, the more the sound focuses and tightens, but when you pick very softly it gets airy and plumps up quite a bit. Really addicting, and I've got tons of compliments on it.
Click to expand...

Thanks - I'll try that, never liked it before!
 
Factory preset ODS-100 defaults to scene 2 (Ford). Tried scene 1 Clean and it is truly clean. Really like it with the Dimension 3 chorus, wow.
 
Andromalius said:
Most amp models sound pretty good, the "challenge" nowadays is to find the right IR/Cab for it in the case those stock in the axe don't do the job.
Click to expand...

I’m struggling with irs a little too, had been using my Amps with two notes cab for the last few months before the axe FX 3. Just cause, I hooked the cab into a loop to run the axe amp through it today, I liked it and found it easier. Still early days on my journey so not saying this is something I will continue to do but do wonder if it would be possible in the future to have something like two noted where you select cab, mics and then can move the mics around to dial them in. Somehow I found it more satisfying than scrolling through a ton of Irs. Maybe it was just more familiar....
 
bke said:
I’m struggling with irs a little too, had been using my Amps with two notes cab for the last few months before the axe FX 3. Just cause, I hooked the cab into a loop to run the axe amp through it today, I liked it and found it easier. Still early days on my journey so not saying this is something I will continue to do but do wonder if it would be possible in the future to have something like two noted where you select cab, mics and then can move the mics around to dial them in. Somehow I found it more satisfying than scrolling through a ton of Irs. Maybe it was just more familiar....
Click to expand...

I have struggled with this in the past - not sure if this will help, but it helped me :)

When I looked at all my AX8 presets I realised that I used a relatively small number of OH and AB IRs, so I just pulled across only those into the user folder.

This has meant that I have a very small number of IRs to try rather than a scary library.

Whenever I use a new amp, I try a few factory ones - searching for 4x12 or similar to find the right config, then go to one of the user ones if not.

This has really helped me manage what I found a very difficult task.

Then the key thing for me has been the air control, I'm typically running at 25-25% and 5k - and it makes a subtle, but very welcome difference to a lot of sounds

Hope this helps
 
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peteri said:
I have struggled with this in the past - not sure if this will help, but it helped me :)

When I looked at all my AX8 presets I realised that I used a relatively small number of OH and AB IRs, so I just pulled across only those into the user folder.

This has meant that I have a very small number of IRs to try rather than a scary library.

Whenever I use a new amp, I try a few factory ones - searching for 4x12 or similar to find the right config, then go to one of the user ones if not.

This has really helped me manage what I found a very difficult task.

Then the key thing for me has been the air control, I'm typically running at 25-25% and 5k - and it makes a subtle, but very welcome difference to a lot of sounds

Hope this helps
Click to expand...

Cheers, i hadn't tried the air control - have had some good results with the smoothing, mic distance and to a lesser extent proximity. Ive found a few cabs in the legacy section which i seem to like.. think the key for me is a little discipline, to your point, find a small number you like and work with them and avoid going down the rabbit hole..
 
Oh, and regarding the OP, i landed on the cameron amps that i didn't really give much time to when i had an axe fx before - sounds great to my ears!
 
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