New AX8 owner, and already convinced! Quick preset help

Mickosis

Mickosis

New Member
Hello! Just got my AX8 yesterday, and it has proved to be already worth the wait.

Although I've been a little overwhelmed by all the options and parameters you can tweak, I'm looking for a good guitar tone for the genre, I've been quite familiar with modern metal tones (5150's and Mesa/Boogies) but in this band I currently have, I believe the tones I can make can get "too high gain".

I'm currently in an indie/alternative type of band and I need a pretty versatile clean and crunch tone, as well as a lead tone... And as much as I want to spend time with my AX8 I can use it on the weekends, as I stay in a dorm at weekday for work.

FAS veterans and newbies like me alike, can you give me a good starting point (amp/cab combinations, effects, parameter tweaks etc)?

I know that I used a Vox amplifier (although the engineer did most of the sound tweaking) at the studio and just a Precision Drive (haha) in front of it, but I'd like to learn more about this genre, which amp types are good (Marshalls? Fenders?), drive pedals, etc.

(Sorry if this may sound like a plug) But for reference: Check out Anthem by Something About Alexa on Spotify/YouTube

Thanks so much. I'll try as much as I can to try everything you suggest here.
 
A Marshall with a TS808 (tubescreamer) OD is the most classic combo in rock. You can set the amp up so it’s on the edge of break up when the guitar volume is on 10 so that you can play a nice clean tone when you back off on the guitar volume. You can set up a scene with the TS set with a lower level to smooth out the tone and get a lower gain crunch and a second scene where the TS is set with the level on 10 to boost the front and and get a nice roaring crunch and buttery leads.

I also like the FAS and FET boosts. You’ll hear a difference between them all.

Set the gain on the drives to zero or very low like 3ish.

The 4x12 1960 TV mix cabs sound good if you don’t have anything other than factory cabs yet.
 
Bman said:
A Marshall with a TS808 (tubescreamer) OD is the most classic combo in rock. You can set the amp up so it’s on the edge of break up when the guitar volume is on 10 so that you can play a nice clean tone when you back off on the guitar volume. You can set up a scene with the TS set with a lower level to smooth out the tone and get a lower gain crunch and a second scene where the TS is set with the level on 10 to boost the front and and get a nice roaring crunch and buttery leads.

I also like the FAS and FET boosts. You’ll hear a difference between them all.

Set the gain on the drives to zero or very low like 3ish.

The 4x12 1960 TV mix cabs sound good if you don’t have anything other than factory cabs yet.
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For boosts, I agree that both FAS Boost and FET Boost are very good. Also, the SDD Drive and the Micro Amp models are very good for this, too.
 
How many of the presets have you flipped through so far? I found the deluxe reverb and badger 18 in the first bank to be really good.

Otherwise, Yek's guide has suggested amp/cab combinations that are very helpful.
 
Get yourself some headphones and get some parameter tweaking time at the dorm. You will have to change the eq for volume and different monitoring but it’s still a good way to learn
 
Assign the gain on the tube screamer to the pitch controller. This way low chords have slight breakup while higher soloing notes have full gain with the same preset. This trick has become a must for me on all presets so cool. You can also do this with the delay which will help sustain the higher notes.
 
Personally, I think the great thing about the AX8 is that you can try a bunch of different stuff (amps, cabs, effects) without buying a bunch of expensive gear. Experimentation at no extra cost.
 
Look on the YT Leon Todd‘s videos, read the manual 2-3 times, look to the axe wiki and read Yek‘s Amp and also Yek‘s Drive guide. And read this forum and ask any question,
here are a lot of people who are very happy to help, I have experienced in no other forum.

Welcome to the world of the best guitar tones on the earth :)
 
Tahoebrian5 said:
Get yourself some headphones and get some parameter tweaking time at the dorm. You will have to change the eq for volume and different monitoring but it’s still a good way to learn
Click to expand...

I'd love to do this but I'm afraid to leave thousands of dollars inside a dorm room lol (and besides I never stay there besides to sleep)

Thanks so much for the guides! I haven't seen Yek's Amp and Drive guide, thank you so much for pointing me to such a valuable resource! Thanks for the warm welcome as well. I'm excited to completely dive in the Fractal Audio world!!
 
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