only go for solid state with the Axe??

kavevester

Inspired
Is it a bad idea to have a valve power amp when using the Axe? Go for the solid state instead?

To my big frustration I hear that valves don't do anything good when trying to establish a "passiv setup" to use with the
Axe emulations.. I just bought the Marshall El34 50/50 and now it seems as a bad bad solution when trying to get a flat range/full range
power/speaker setup.

Is it really such a bad setup to proceed with the El34 in order to have all tonality options from the Axe ?

Just bought the El34 and did'nt se that as a problem (valve vs solid state)

:(:?:|:roll
 
Some ppl around here use tube power amps with their Axes' fine. Just disable the power amp and cab sims under the global menu and goto town.
 
But the Atomic Reactor, which is recomended from G66, (the active one) is also made with tubes??? (one 12AX7 and two JJ-6L6GC vacuum tubes) ???
 
Ok. Read some more about the Atomic Reactor amp/cabinet and they still made this amp passive in tone even with valves. So I guess I have a El34 50/50 for sale... Arghhhhhhh....... Such a long way still and even more for sale than before and still not half way there :)
 
I've seen many people use tube power amps along with their AFII. Its not exactly uncommon, just as Funeral said, turn off the sims inside the Global settings.
 
If I were playing live, I wouldn't hesitate to use a SS amp at all. I just do recording at home and use a couple different tube amps with the Axe2. I have to say that running the Axe2 through a 3 watt Lexicon Sig 284 tube power section frickin' rocks. If you're mainly into recording AND using mics, pre's cabs etc, I would recommend the Lex 284. If you're just jamming and/or gigging and any recording will be done direct, then it's a no brainer-get a SS amp and have fun.
 
I vary between two QSC K12's, a Fryette 2/50/2 and a Rocktron Velocity 300 (that I use as a backup). They all sound good to me. It's just that when you go tube amp into guitar speakers you're leaving the FRFR realm. I play acoustic and bass, also, so the full-range option appeals to me. When I want to crank on some electric guitar with OD and distortion, I go to the tube/guitar cab route. OD and distortion sounds very good to me on the K12's. But, people will say that its 'missing' something. Yeah, its the breakup and colorization the guitar speakers provide.

If I was forced to make a choice I'd go with K12's. But I love the tones I get from the Fryette / cab combo. I actually use the Velocity 300 more than either of the other two because I use it to practice and keep wear-n-tear off the tubes and K12's.

The best solution is to drag the Axe FX to the music shop and try options. Only you will know what sounds good to you and the type of music you play.

By the way, the Fryette runs EL-34's and sound great. Wonderful cleans/grinding OD. I think the reason the Fryette sounds so good clean is because he uses an AU-12 in the power tube driver instead of an AX-12. Thats ten times less gain slamming the power tubes. It doesn't have that 'haze' that typical Marshalls have.
 
I use a Fryette Two/Ninety/Two with the Axe (with power amp sims ON) and it sounds great.
Agreed.

I'm using a Randall RT2/50 with my Axe II and is sounds great as well.

I first tried it with the amp and cab sims off but found that it sounds much better with the amp sims on but no speaker sims.

My amp uses 6L6s like the Atomics and I think that tube is better suited for this application than EL34s.

SS shouldn't be ruled out though, the Matrix GT800FX has been getting a lot of praise.

With that said, the Randall was a quantum leap better than my original SS 150 watt per channel rack power amp so at this point it's my favorite solution for going the traditional amp and cab route, but I plan to try a Matrix when time and funds allow.
 
Is it a bad idea to have a valve power amp when using the Axe?
...
Is it really such a bad setup to proceed with the El34 in order to have all tonality options from the Axe ?
It's not necessarily a bad setup at all. Might work great for you. And as others have pointed out, it's not any sort of law that you have to turn power amp simulation off when using a tube power amp. Just remember that if you both drive your El34 power amp hard and employ the Axe's power amp simulation, you are stacking the sound of two power amps, which wasn't the way you did things with traditional amps. But it won't hurt to try it.

Some people have even reported running the Axe's cab models through actual guitar cabs and liking it (at least the first generation units), so there really aren't any hard rules regarding this.

Just take some time, feel it out and then make your decision. No point in rushing to sell what you might be able to make work just fine.
 
Either or will work .
I was in Mark Days studio this summer and got to hear a Matrix (which many love) side by side with the Atomic 50/50 and also direct into the Suhr el34 power section of the OD100.
The first thing you notice is the Matrix is a little cleaner , tighter and has more bottom end.

The Atomic a little fuller warmer. I will also say that we were using one side only so the Atomic was a 50 watt amp basically mono .The atomic at 1 oclock on the dial is at stage voulume it is loud and punchy .Imo the louder it gets the more it will start to impart some color and tube compression on the signal .not a bad thing at all just not as pure or clean as the SS.

The Matrix can easily hang in the volume department it is loud as hell and punchy to ,as for feel I can tell you there really was not a major noticeable difference between the Matrix SS ,the Atomic.
There are tweaks that Matrix recommends on their site to set up the GT800 to responds more tube like ,this was not done on that day but would take ya about 5 mins tweaking 3 or 4 parameters with the new V.3 you may not even have to anymore as the Ax2 version I checked out was back at 1.0.

If I was going Solid state I would check out the Matrix GT800 or Carvin stuff that I know Cliff and Adam use and it sounds great .

I would first wait and try the Axe with your tube power amp though you may dig it and save yourself some cash
 
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I use my Axe II with a little 1x12'' Fender 5E3 Deluxe. I keep the power amp sim on and cab off, and primarily use the Vox AC30 TB Model. Works for me, and there are still endless possibilities in tone.
 
Is it a bad idea to have a valve power amp when using the Axe? Go for the solid state instead?

To my big frustration I hear that valves don't do anything good when trying to establish a "passiv setup" to use with the
Axe emulations.. I just bought the Marshall El34 50/50 and now it seems as a bad bad solution when trying to get a flat range/full range
power/speaker setup.

Is it really such a bad setup to proceed with the El34 in order to have all tonality options from the Axe ?

Just bought the El34 and did'nt se that as a problem (valve vs solid state)
:(:?:|:roll

Hi kavevester,
I can see no reasons why you should not try every combinations at your disposal (poweramp on or off, 4C, and the like) and judge what you're hearing. If you just think that none two pairs of FRFR powered cabs sound the same, you'll see that flat response is more a theoretical paradigm than a psychoacoustic phenomenon ;D
IOW: if you (and your listeners) like the results, any combination will be the right one for the application.

Enjoy :)
 
When I want to crank on some electric guitar with OD and distortion, I go to the tube/guitar cab route.

^ This.

I have a Carvin TS100 tube stereo power amp and an Avatar oversized 2x12 cabinet that I use (and prefer) for anything that has OD or distortion. Cleans sound decent too, but not as lush as going thru my KRK Rokit G2 8 monitors, mostly due to the extended frequency range, and the stereo separation that the monitors provide over the PA/cab. But, the cab sims and monitors just cannot match the tone/feel of the PA and cab with OD and distortion tones. IMHO of course, YMMV.
 
You should try your 50/50 power amp with full range speakers and run your Axe at full range.
A tube and SS combo works best for me as I still hear the tube speak. I use an Atomic 50watt and QSC K10(run flat) in stereo but close together. These two sound best at full volume/full horn on Atomic(use Axe for volume control) and balance perfectly volume wise. These are super complementary and you can still send to front of house with little to no EQ-ing.
 
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