New here... not an Axe-FX owner but seriously considering it

B

barrymclark

Inspired
Hello all.

I am new here and may be picking brains from time to time for info as investing in Fractal Audio/Atomic Amps is no small step.

A bit of background on me:

I cut my teeth on playing in metal bands (Peavey 5150 half stack) in the 90's. I went through the whole industrial thing. Did some work on local hip-hop/R&B recordings.... and eventually settled into the music that first moved me as a child to want to play guitar: jazz (think mid 40's in terms of sound) up through oldies rock (think mid to late 50's). I still mess around with high gain stuff.. but it is far from a focused interest. More of something fun to do with friends that are still very much into that style.

Currently, I play a Heritage H575 through a Roland Cube 80x. I absolutely LOVE the sound I get from the Cube. Where it falls down for me is in the flexbility offered in the Axe-Fx. I am honestly not worried about faithful representations of this or that amp. So long as it does a great job in the vein of a type of sound, I am good to go.

Another reason I am really considering this is, as I get older, I am looking for getting the most out of the least. If that makes sense. I am looking for that one rig to do it all. The Cube does a good job on the high gain and the clean. Can't fault it there. But... if one day I decide to nudge the sound around a bit... there really isn't anywhere I can go. It is what it is. You either like it or you don't... and if you get a room that doesn't respond well to it.. then you can end up with a really boomy amp. Anyways....

I am hoping that in the next year or two I will begin the process of getting the Atomic Amps powered cabs, AxeFx and midicontroller.

I have heard so many friends get great, great tones out of the AxeFx (almost ALL of them being metal). What I haven't heard really is someone get that old smokey jazz tone from the late 40's and the biting tone those same musicians used such as the guitar tone in Rock Around the Clock. If they lived closer, I'd mess with it in person.

Anyways, I look forward to learning more about this product and maybe start the process of getting one. :D
 
hey barry

Yeah man I can see what you are saying.....I personally have been there at that stage of decision myself. I am from the same era as you apparently. My rig that I have recently downsized to make room for the Axe consisted of...2 dual rectifier solo heads both from 1994, a g major 2 by tc electronics, a hush super c and the good old original crybaby wah. Before moving to the processor I was not one for loads of effects. My pedal board had consisted of merely my wah, a digitech whammy, a tuner and an eventide delay. The delay was over the top for me and was used primarily for a bit of enhancement for lead work. My sound I preferred as dry as possible. All this sound going through 1 mesa 4x12 oversize cab and 1 mesa stiletto 4x12 cab. Originally had 2 oversize cabs but eventually sold one and bought the stiletto. This rig was killer in sound and on the back as well. Playing many shows in and out of state proved to be overkill with this rig considering many of the clubs try to make you use their beat up cabs because of set up time to allow for them to get 100 bands in the same night. I recently in the past few months started thinking of this dilemma and decided that I really appreciated the fact of the old school clean tones that are so rare today bc everything is about high gain. Loving the sounds of the old Plexi and the marshall super lead from the 70's and not being able to achieve that tone from my boogies was pretty frustrating. The clean tones just don't happen like that with boogies dual recs. So I since sold out 90% of my rig minus 1 dual rec and my cabs. The pedal board went back to the old school set up wah, whammy and that is it. no delay or anything right now. The axe has caught me in the web. From everything that I have heard so far on you tube and here on Fractals site. I was sold. Less gear to travel with, the ability to get the tones of all the good old amps with out having to buy all those amps and my road crew is very happy as well lmao. Point being, with this I am planning on being happy once my name comes up to purchase on the waiting list. I have already purchased a Fryette 2902 power amp. The power amp of choice because of it's transparent colorless tone. Still running my 2 cabs. Also purchased my MFC101 midi controller. Now the wait is on for the axe fx2. I am an Oct waiter on the list and I know it will take time to get it fully dialed in for what I want and need but that is fine because I still have my 1 Dual rec to keep me going. The dual rec I will never let go of bc that is my baby and it has never let me down plus for recording I still would prefer to have a natural tube amp on my tracks and mix them accordingly with the axe tracks. Don't know if this helps but it worked for my decision. good luck brother:roll
 
Understood. The amp I let go of.. that I never should have let go... was my original run 5150 head. Granted, it was far, far more than any reasonable guitarist could ever want... but it did sound VERY good.

One of the attractive things about the Atomic Amps amplification/cabs for me is the classic look to them. The stuff I play more of these days, the crowds are kinda weird about seeing modern tech. It can be modern, but it needs to hidden in classic looks or else people get weary of it. haha. Like they have this fantasy they are living out and if they see "the penny" (name that movie reference!) they get thrusted back to the current date. Weird.. but... hey... whatever. I am there to play.

I figure with the Atomic passive cab and the 50 block, I can hide the AxeFx behind it on stage.

I also have a tube amp being built for me to my specs (not a master volume). So... I will also have that too. I may also always keep the Cube.

I tend to stay away from pedal effects and use effects only subtley when I do. If I can't accomplish it with the amp and guitar, I tend to not want to mess with it. haha.

I also tend to use a single guitar tone at at time. For jazz, I might use this. For rockabilly, I might use this. For metal, I might use this. ...and I never change them once I get them dialed in! haha.


..but that is for one guitar. If I have 3 guitars, I will have a setting for each guitar in each genre that I use it for.

So... for my Heritage hollowbody, I would have a setting for jazz and another for rockabilly/oldies.

For my Gretsch, I would have another jazz setting and yet ANOTHER rockabilly/oldies setting.

You see where this is going.
 
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I hear you both, but if I worried about what my rig looked like, I would loose my mind. One night I would need a rack full of mesa heads and other rack gear that would make my back hurt just looking at it, plus a couple of 4x12 cabs...And on another night I would have to use a hollowed out blackface with a powered PA cab and the Axe hidden deeply within. I use what sounds good. If the crowd is "weary" of my rig, then they are not using their ears. Let the sound speak for itself and dont worry about the looks of things. Mind you, this is all just my opinion and can be tossed aside as you see fit.
Rig in my sig, and it rocks for jazz, blues, and metal. I love it.
 
Yeah man I would have to agree here 100% with Funeral. What it looks like shouldn't matter. The axe is def not going to you a guitar virtuoso. It will enhance what you hear but not change the way you play. The fans will always look at gear so they can sound like their idols. I know so many people in the area here that are more concerned with their gear than how they play. Barry it is definitely something that is changing the game, the axe that is. Vintage tone is most desirable. I remember for a while everyone was about solid state an tubes were something that was too costly or undesired. Now you can buy a decent sounding tube amp at unheard of prices when I was younger. Bulgera makes some killer tone amps at prices that are crazy low. Even the Peaveys are going for low price tags used where amps like boogie and marshall and a few others will hold their value. I honestly believe that Axe will be one of those that will hold their price value. Just looking at ebay you can well see that. Live you could always keep you existing rigs up play through the pa system with axe hidden, a couple of dummy mics and more than likely no one would ever know that the axe is playing through the PA with nothing being more. All in all you can get your tones with tweaking I am sure of it. Also not actually owning it yet but researching it for months before I made my decision. I am positive it will do what ever I make it do. I am hyped to get the thing already. Check out you tube man their are tons of demo's and comparisons between. check this out for one. This is the guy that helped make up my mind. He compares so many different amps to the axe take a listen brother. Kanal von fearedse - YouTube
 
The looks aren't my issue. BELIEVE ME. haha. I'd love to trot out just a rack box. haha. Unfortunately, though, the people that book the oldies/rockabilly shows in the area tend to want an image along with the sound.

Granted, if I can get some longevity playing in the genre, I can probably get away with a lot more with the people putting on the shows. The audience, for the most part, would care less like me.

My philosphy has always been 'if you bring it, they won't care what you brought it through'. Telling people with money to be made that, though...well, they are a bit harder to budge unless they know you will draw either way.

Live, I had already planned to really just have an onstage speaker for monitoring and just running to house out of the other output. haha.

I loved doing that with bass. I had the BassPOD on a mic stand and a bass. That was it. haha. I got some funny looks from time to time, but... it sounded good and people got over it pretty quick. ;)\

Been trying to talk people in Mastodonish type bands looking for bassists to give EUB a chance. They won't TOUCH a bass player playing an EUB. haha. Sad thing is... it sounds incredible. Oh, well. If that's not what they want... then that's not what they want. Maybe one day.

Thanks for all the input guys.
 
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