Pedals between Guitar and AX8 input

Tundrastruck

Tundrastruck

Member
This has probably been asked before. I realize the AX8 will probably eliminate my need for effects pedals. I have a rather somewhat large board I use right now for tinkering with at home. Does anyone still use their pedals in front of the AX8 or elsewhere in your setup?

Just curious if it worth while keeping some of them around.
 
I don't use any pedals any longer. Just the AX8. I also have an Axe FX, but I only use it in my studio. I use the AX8 for gigging. For the sounds I am going for, I really don't need anything other than the Ax8. I am striving to haul as little gear as I can to gig.
 
I am about to begin using my talkbox in front of it. I plan to run it directly in line - guitar > talkbox > AX8.
 
Eliminating the need for something doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't use it. If you have certain pedals you've become attached to or rely on, by all means use them. Can they be replicated with the AX8? Sure, but there's something about stomping on a pedal that still does it for some players.
 
No rules here brother. Well, maybe oneo_O... Just put it in the same place in your virtual signal chain as you would in the physical world. Before the AX8 (pre-amp), or after the Amp or Cab block (post-amp) via the FX-Loop.
 
Thanks guys! Good to know there will still be a possible need for some of my pedals. I guess it will be just a matter of finding out what works for me.
Praying my AX8 arrives tomorrow. Might be an excuse to call in sick on Wednesday lol.

Liking the forum community here already.
 
I'm keeping my Whammy V. The AX8 offers a pretty solid recreation, but there are some subtle differences that I prefer in the Whammy and it also allows me to offload that effect from presets (not that I use it a ton anyway) and still have it MIDI controlled if I wanted. I've also kept a Zoom MS-70CDR because it was so cheap and is just a cool pedal for doing weird stuff with.
 
I am thinking about adding my old compressor and paisley drive possibly in front of mine and using the ax8 more for amp, cab, delay and reverb. Been very curious about how it would sound and some effect pedals or stompboxes I just can't duplicate with the ax8.

Has anyone done something like this ?
 
Tundrastruck said:
I fried my Cry baby Wah when I tried to Mod it. Hopefully he AX8 Wah effect is good. I ordered an EV-1 with the unit as well..
Click to expand...
The wah is one of the biggets surprises for me. Great tone and incredible tweakability, I've been able to get my 'signature' wah sound. As a matter of fact, I've been able to create a lot of effects that I thought "if I ever had a pedal made for me......"
 
I have a Digitech Drop that is my last remaining pedal on my board.
I use it quite often and prefer it to the AX8 pitch block (for my needs), so it's not going anywhere in a hurry.
 
I used to use a wampler distortion pedal and a Spark Boost. The drive pedal firmware update (6.0?, 7.0?) eliminated the need for the drive pedal. I still use the Spark Boost to even out signal between more or less hot guitars. When I am the only guitar player, I use one of the bigger Ditto Loopers (I have never been able to get the Fractal Looper programmed so it's easy to use.)

In my opinion, a latching or non-latching footswitch is a better addition than a dedicated pedal now that Fractal modeling is so good. By using it as a control switch, you can turn on more drive, volume, delay, however you want to set it up. There's a good video on YouTube talking about this as a Momentary Footswitch.
 
Sonofiam said:
The wah is one of the biggets surprises for me. Great tone and incredible tweakability, I've been able to get my 'signature' wah sound. As a matter of fact, I've been able to create a lot of effects that I thought "if I ever had a pedal made for me......"
Click to expand...

Yeah my attempt at modding the Wah was to reduce some of the high end quacky-ness of it and create a smoother warmer sweep. Heres hoping the AX fixes all that. ;)
 
Something no one has mentioned so far:

Fractal Audio:
"The Fuzz in the Axe-Fx reacts as though there is a buffer in front of it (because there is). It's a limitation inherent to all modeling products. I modeled it using a nominal source resistance. I forget what I used for the source resistance but it was probably around 100K ohms. To really simulate it you would need a controller to simulate the changing output impedance of the guitar."
 
I'm using an EP Boost before the input of the AX8. It's handy for levelling out volume differences between guitars and also as a tone "enhancer".
If a future firmware update could add a model of the EP boost that I could assign globally to an F switch or external control switch, that would be a very good thing indeed.
 
Tundrastruck said:
I fried my Cry baby Wah when I tried to Mod it. Hopefully he AX8 Wah effect is good. I ordered an EV-1 with the unit as well..
Click to expand...
I really like the wah in the AX8 - I've had Crybaby's, VOX wahs, and a couple others and this is as good or better than any of them I've used (to my ears). And the expression pedal set up to auto engage works great.
 
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