overwhelmed by the number of amp choices- HELP

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drsts

Inspired
cliff and company have done such an amazing job of providing the best amplifiers at our fingertips, but i frequently don't know where to start.
i have been a 'preset' guy for the longest time since switching over to the modeler technology and would like to invest the time to 'get to know'
some amps to start making my own presets and copying tones from my favorite artists.

any advice on where to start on say, clean, bluesy, rock, hard rock tones etc. if i understand correctly, alot of the current amp offerings are
relatives of previous amps. do you start with fenders, vox, and marshalls and work your way from there?

any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks
 
There's enough here to keep you busy for a long time that's for sure. If your goal is to get to know some amps so you can make your own presets or presets that emulate specific genres or artists, start with a fav. Clean, bluesy, rock, hard rock tones makes me think of a Fender and or a Marshall type amp. Check the wiki out for amp descriptions: Wiki Amps.

If you're a preset guy you can always play with the factory presets which are generally good. The effects are typically dialed in a bit heavy IMO but you can easily adjust the mix on each effect.

If you want to build your own or dig into the amps, start with an amp and cab on the grid. Maybe a reverb. Play around with the basic front panel controls. At that point it's like playing with the front panel of a real amp.

In terms of learning the Axe you can go as simple as you want or as deep as you want.
 
^ that's a good tip

really, if you don't know much about amps, then go with the classics to start with - Vox AC30, Fender Double Verb, Fender Vibrato Lux, Marshall Plexi 100, Marshall 1959SLP, Marshall Brit 800, Mesa Recto, Mesa MKIV (USA Lead).

just using those few amps, you could cover pretty much every classic tone from the last 50 years. check the wiki for the cabs that go with each amp....the combos all have their own IR's in the box. for the marshalls, try the basketweave tv cabs and for the mesas, try the recto cabs, or the ml usa trads
 
drsts said:
any advice on where to start on say, clean, bluesy, rock, hard rock tones etc. if i understand correctly, alot of the current amp offerings are
relatives of previous amps. do you start with fenders, vox, and marshalls and work your way from there?
Click to expand...

Keep it simple. Match up the AMP block with the right or suggested CAB block from the wiki:

Mesa Lonestar: Suggested cabs: V30, EVM, Classic Lead 80, Mesa C90.
Two-Rock J35: Suggested cabs: Dumble, G12-65, EVM.
Carol-Ann TripTik: Suggested cabs: Triptik, various

Most of the time if I am seeking a tone, I'll start with a factory preset in the 1-150 range that I enjoy the tone of. Then dive into what made that factory preset sound so amazing and how FAS configured it. For bluesy stuff, try the TX STAR CLEAN for the AMP block, then do a Stereo UltraRes CAB after with the V30 4x12 (UR) for both cab types. Then set the Delay parameter of the second cab to .300 ms with no mic sims.

Hope that makes sense and gets you a starting point. It can be overwhelming, but start simple with an I > O with only and AMP & CAB block straight shunts. Find your tone you want to replicate first, it takes a bit of getting used to.
 
I was overwhealmed as well when i first got my AxeFX. When I began writing presets on my own my most difficult first steps were finding a clean amp i liked and choosing cabs that worked for me. It's easier now on the current firmware & new IR's than it was over a year ago.

For clean amps that can also go to a nice clipping/overdrive i've been liking the
VOX: Class-A 15W or 30W TB (or the "Hot" model!).
Fenders: Band-Commander, 6G12 Concert or 6G4 Super, Tremolo Lux, Vibrato Verb AB (LOVE this one!), the new F8
Mesa: USA Clean1, or USA Pre Clean.
Factory Cab #3 or 4 works well with those (Princeton 10").

For Blues and Rock:
Plexi 50W "High" or "Jump", Plexi 100W "High" or "Jump", Friedman BE or HBE or SM Box.

Have fun!
 
For clean sounds I enjoy the Fender Blues Jr. I use that along with the Factory cab 1x12 AC20 DLX Mix. For everything dirty I use the Friedman HBE with a Redwirez Marshall Basketweave cabinet mix. The exact mix can be found on the Redwirez site under recipes. It's the Pete Thorn one. Sounds great. I have bought cab packs upon cab packs and I always seem to go back to that one. Very balanced and fits in a live mix great. The Friedman HBE is amazing. Haven't used anything else since getting the Axe FX 2 in 2013! Which brings me too... I want a stripped down version! AX8 anyone?? :eagerness:
 
I was surprised by how fast I could disk in a good tone on the Brootalz amp. It's very good and not limited to djent.
 
I use the JTM for about everything right now: clean, breakup, overdrive. It'll suit your blues to hardrock needs.
I also love the SLP and Friedman Smallbox for tighter drive, the latter is also great for controlled feedback, at low gain levels
 
All good tips on here.

I'll echo:
A) start with a preset you like - dial from there, or use it as a template.
B) or.. start with amps you know about. For example, If you have played a Marshall JCM 800 (and liked it), then start there.

Don't get so overwhelmed by the massive buffet that you walk by your favorite food. Remember you can really only play one sound at a time*, so hear that tone in your head (or work from an album tone you want) and try to recreate it. That's a great way to find a tone you'll love and that will inspire you to play for hours.

In other words, just because AXE has 200+ amps in it, you don't have to get concerned about that. For the most part, I use 3 amps, and they are all classics (or derived from). A Fender, a Marshall, and an HBE (Marshall on roids.) I'm more focused on playing that tweaking, and most of my programming revolves around effects and recreating cover tune tones. I have chosen to simplify my tonal choices so that I consistently fit in the mix with my band, and don't drive the sound guy insane. That was a change from my initial, "I can use 40 amps to exactly copy every single song tone out there!"

Experiment, explore, and most importantly, when you find a sound is working for you, just play. After a while, ideas will come to you like, "I wish this had a little more bite..." Then you are on the path. Enjoy the ride.

*YMMV
 
all great suggestions here...what amps have you used in real life? i've found its harder to bond with an amp in the Axe that you aren't familiar with or don't bond in real life. I've never liked Mesa's in real life. love the tones other guys get from them, hate them when I plug in...the same is true in the Axe. I've never for one second enjoyed any of the Mesa's in the Axe...I'm sure they are great for Mesa guys, though. So at first try to stick with amps you know in real life, makes the growing pains easier...most of the time, lol.
 
jlynnb1 said:
all great suggestions here...what amps have you used in real life? i've found its harder to bond with an amp in the Axe that you aren't familiar with or don't bond in real life. I've never liked Mesa's in real life. love the tones other guys get from them, hate them when I plug in...the same is true in the Axe. I've never for one second enjoyed any of the Mesa's in the Axe...I'm sure they are great for Mesa guys, though. So at first try to stick with amps you know in real life, makes the growing pains easier...most of the time, lol.
Click to expand...

This is priceless guidance. I wasn't wild about the 5150 III tones in the Axe FX, then went and played one at the guitar store for a while and fell in love with it. I bought it, mistakenly assuming it was an axe-fx-anomaly that didn't translate well. Got the 5150 III back to my studio and out of curiosity, dialed up the AFX version to match my settings, and the AFX version sounded killer. Now I keep the 5150 III around more as a reference amp. But basically, now that the amp gelled in real life and I understand it, I am WAY more successful dialing it in on the AFX.
 
For me, I felt the same way.
Keep it simple and start with just one amp.

I found a preset I liked. Then I auditioned all the factory cabinets and narrowed it down to 2, and have my 1 favorite.
Having the right cab is SO SO important for your tone!

Now with the right cabinet, I tweak the amp for my taste. All is good!
This box is truly AMAZING!!!
 
I started by using the amps I had previously owned before having an Axe-FX. I was already familiar with what they could do.
 
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