New to the AXE FX2. Where to Start?

J

Josetxu

Inspired
Hi everybody!

I'm Josetxu from Spain (so sorry for my english), I've bought an AXE FX2 about two months ago. Not too time to play with it lately but I'm starting to make some presets it as I want to incorporate it to my live rigs. I've tried several times to use modelers and hi-tech effect units without success so I just imagine I'm a bit "clumsy" when it comes to this type of devices. I'm still reading the manual and I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the information there's around the web :cry:cry:cry so I don't know where to start. Most of the presets I've tried to make aren't too good and far from I hear for the factory presets. What are good places to start (tutorials, videos, etc...) to learn little by little with it?

thanks!
 
I think the best place to start is with your favourite amp/cab combination and get that how you like it ....
I find that, if you try not to be too extreme with the tweaking, the amp tone is all there..... one thing to remember is that a real amp/cab is a hell of a lot louder than what you're probably going to get with plugging into a mixer/monitor set up (at least it is with me) and sometimes you and your guitar need to feel the sound pressure in order to react like a real 'amp in a room' would....
What the Axe fx gives you is an amazing recorded guitar tone..... if you want to get more 'in the room' then i suggest you get a power amp and cab.... I'm having a lot of success with a matrix amp and an old Vox cab....
 
Welcome to the forum, and to your new Axe-FX II. Your English is very good! Don't be shy about asking questions here… there will always be people lining up and ready to help. Have fun!
 
I'm pretty new to axe myself and I have found like many have suggested to just start out simple. Find and amp and cab block you like and start there. Keep to the basic stuff. Don't go down the advanced pram rabbit hole just yet. Keep it simple for now.
 
rick0chet said:
I think the best place to start is with your favourite amp/cab combination and get that how you like it
Click to expand...

Spot on.
When I first got mine I was SO overwhelmed, I dove right in, started adjusting anything and everything that had a parameter I could screw up and fell WAY down the hole and got pretty frustrated.

Was reading around here and someone had offered someone else the same advice, I backed out, opened the wiki, blanked out a preset and started from scratch.
Got the raw sound I liked, then I said 'well, I use a wah a lot' so I added a wah and tweaked it to my taste.
Decided on my next effect and so on and so forth.

Any time I was confused, I simply looked up the ONE item in question on the wiki, the next thing I knew, I was flying and life is grand.
Several gigs later I'm firmly in the 'screw amps and cabs' camp.
Other than lessons, properly having a guitar set up by a competent tech and practice, this has been the single best investment in gear that I've ever made (other than my old Tascam cassette 4-track back in the 80's and my metronome).
 
Thanks for all the answers.

My priority is to get a good amp/cab sound and them start to tweak effects. In "real life" my main amps are a '63 vibroverb clone, and a vintage blackface bassman with a 2x12 with WGS ET-90 and the main sounds I'm after that plus vintage Marshalls (I've already done what I think it's a good JTM45 preset to start) and AC30 like sounds. My main tone references are Knopfler, Gilmour and The Edge.

I've downloaded the jma quick amp/cab guide (thanks cobbler!) and I think it's great to have next to the AXE while making presets to find all the amp/cab information quickly.

Thanks again
 
Make use of the looper block. Put it first on your grid, record s short phrase, then change its mix and overdub mix to both 100%.

This will allow you hands free from the guitar tweaking and really is one of if not the most useful tool for dialing in a tone.

Just rem to change the mix back to 50 and 90 or bypass the looper block when you play your guitar again.
 
mr_fender said:
Here...

http://www.fractalaudio.com/downloads/manuals/axe-fx-2/Axe-Fx-II-Owners-Manual.pdf

Read the whole thing at least 3 times. 90% of the questions asked here are answered inside.
Click to expand...

+1! OP, I know you said you're reading the manual and feeling overwhelmed.
What I did was I printed out a hard copy, then took a highlighter to all the stuff I didn't understand (lots and LOTS of yellow on those pages). I then went through the Cliff's Notes section of this forum, WIKI, and used the searchbar, all the while making footnotes in my hard copy, to take me as far as I could... at least to the point where I felt like I could take the training wheels off.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom