Nick Johnston Tone Attempt...

Nick has an unbelievable touch that's impossible for me to emulate, but for a long time I've been trying to approximate his sound using the Axe-Fx II XL... with very little luck. Finally, with a Friedman cab IR available and FW19 released, I've gotten closer than I could before. It's still missing a lot, but I'm not sure I'm gonna find a way to nail it completely. This wasn't actually tone-matched.

https://soundcloud.com/instrumentalcase/nick-johnston-tone-axe-fx-ii-xl-fw19
 
Nick has an unbelievable touch that's impossible for me to emulate, but for a long time I've been trying to approximate his sound using the Axe-Fx II XL... with very little luck. Finally, with a Friedman cab IR available and FW19 released, I've gotten closer than I could before. It's still missing a lot, but I'm not sure I'm gonna find a way to nail it completely. This wasn't actually tone-matched.



sound awesome bro,can you share that preset???
 
That’s VERY close to his live sound! Great job! Last I saw him, he was using a MESA triple crown and it was surprisingly clean. He’s touring Europe with a II-XL+ I think. Maybe if we ask nicely he’ll share his presets.
 
Actually, he appears to be using a Kemper now with a Morgan AC20 profile from rmpacheco, which is free in Kemper Rig Exchange. I'm only replying because I owned a Kemper and LOVED that profile, and have been trying [and failing] to replicate it with my AX8. The one Nick is using is a gained-up version of that profile. The "stock" profile sounds heavenly -- chewy, chimey, sparkly, and you don't loose the bottom end when you dig in -- like this:



When you gain-up that profile you end up with Nick Johnston's sound.

Two examples:




Google: Nick Johnston Kemper
 
Very interesting! I know fractal sent him an AX8 to test out. I assumed he took it to europe with Intervals and Polyphia. I'm wotking on a LoneStar ear match of the triplecrown and will upload to this thread as soon as i feel like it's in a good place.
 
Very interesting! I know fractal sent him an AX8 to test out. I assumed he took it to europe with Intervals and Polyphia. I'm wotking on a LoneStar ear match of the triplecrown and will upload to this thread as soon as i feel like it's in a good place.

cool man!!thank you.
 
Hey all, I've piece this together and done a little ear matching/research on what he's been gigging. I'm decently new to the FX, so if this is trash, apologies. Anyway, cheers.
 

Attachments

  • Johnston_01(AX8).syx
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Let me know what you think. My AFX rig is a little unorthodox, but it sounded pretty close to the album through my setup and felt pretty decent.
 
I’m using Lollar Dirty Blackface pickups where Nick Johnston uses Seymour Duncan Texas Hot which has a hotter bridge as well. Both single coils of course.


i need to check out my pickups i have 2 fenders 1 with timmons pickups and the other one with Seymour Duncan JB humbucker, STK-7 neck and STK-4 mid.
 
I have seen Nick live recently on tour with Intervals and indeed Aaron Marshall and Johnston both were using the Ax8 into a Mesa Rectifier to my surprise! btw: Is it possible to import a preset for the Axe-FX into the Ax8? Thanx, still new to the club.
 
It's so odd because you an find VERY recent videos of him playing Kempers gear, FAS gear, and Boogie gear too. In fact, Boogie just released some videos with him endorsing an amp.
 
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