Placebo??....I think not!

jiggajewjay

jiggajewjay

Inspired
I have an artist that is in middle of recording his first album at my studio. We are using just the Axe II for all electric guitars. He has been extremely satisfied to date with the tones I created for him. last week I loaded up FW 18 and was really blown away. mostly by the feel of the amps. there was just so much goodness in this update. The clean tones are so beautiful and bell like from my vintage strat. I dont have to mention that the high gain stuff is just super ballsy now as well.
I had a session setup for that night so I loaded up a few patches for the client to mess around with. He immediately said " Man what did you do? these tones are killer" i replied back " how do you mean? what is different about these patches than any patch i created for you previously?" he replies back " i don't know man but you never made me patches that sounded this good or felt so much like a real amp". I than went on to explain how Cliff gave us G3 technology and that is where i lost him :) Anyhow - thank you so much Cliff & team for this update. It is really so absolutely killer!! This is a real game changer for my guitar sounds in the studio. No amount of EQ or effects can get you the sounds that I am getting with little to no effort right out of the box. BRAVO!
 
I know exactly what he means. I loaded V18, went to my favorite clean patch (Deluxe Verb) and when I hit the first chord it was like, whoa! What the hell was that! The tones just jumped out at me. It's hard to describe exactly what the difference is except that it just feels more alive, if that makes any sense.

In any case, I freakin' love it!! Best firmware update ever in my opinion!
 
It's all about the punch. It has taken years for us to crack that nut but I think we finally did it. When you play a real tube amp the sound punches you in the chest. Modelers never do that. They "sound" the same and they may even sort of feel somewhat the same but you never get that punch. G3 solves that mystery I think.
 
That's it, taking FW18 beta to rehearsal come friday. I'll back up, ans see what happens. I now have enough curiousity to kill me a few times if I were a cat.
 
I've read all of the other FW18 preview/beta threads, but for some reason this particular thread really got me excited. I'm one of the few holding off until the official release is out along with new AE, and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!
 
Etudica said:
I've read all of the other FW18 preview/beta threads, but for some reason this particular thread really got me excited. I'm one of the few holding off until the official release is out along with new AE, and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing, until this thread.
 
WoodyCoRPus said:
I was thinking the same thing, until this thread.
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Glad to have been of service!! once you try it out you wont ever look back.. sometimes it is hard to really base your decision (to upgrade or not) off of sound clips because this unit already sounds fantastic! however it really truly is a feel thing for me. you will end up playing better and feeling more inspired because your tone is really killin it and giving you this dynamic response that can only truly be felt at gig levels with a real tube amp. I understand the reservation that you gigging folks have with making the upgrade to FW18 b/c you don't want to mess up your already awesome presets.... I don't gig so i cant speak for you guys/gals but as a studio owner, having this level of tonality with NO TWEAKING whatsoever is just incredible. I am sure if i go all tweak head on this FW i can come up with real magic...but for now I am super happy and excited to be a part of this milestone in guitar tech!!
 
jiggajewjay said:
Glad to have been of service!! once you try it out you wont ever look back.. sometimes it is hard to really base your decision (to upgrade or not) off of sound clips because this unit already sounds fantastic! however it really truly is a feel thing for me. you will end up playing better and feeling more inspired because your tone is really killin it and giving you this dynamic response that can only truly be felt at gig levels with a real tube amp. I understand the reservation that you gigging folks have with making the upgrade to FW18 b/c you don't want to mess up your already awesome presets.... I don't gig so i cant speak for you guys/gals but as a studio owner, having this level of tonality with NO TWEAKING whatsoever is just incredible. I am sure if i go all tweak head on this FW i can come up with real magic...but for now I am super happy and excited to be a part of this milestone in guitar tech!!
Click to expand...

Stop tempting me! ;)
 
Placebo??....I think not!

THAT feels really good to read :). i was kinda afraid that Cliff just handed us 17.04 with 18.00 sticker on it saying it is a breakthrough and we all are just riding the placebo wave.... :) I was just thinking that it is not possible for it to sound so drastically different while playing it, but when listening to it recorded the difference was not so huge.

Anyway I really REALLY like it and am glad it is not just placebo :)
 
Yep, G3 really gave the amps that "girth" that a good tube amp seems to have, especially when dialed in nice and crunchy.
 
FractalAudio said:
It's all about the punch. It has taken years for us to crack that nut but I think we finally did it. When you play a real tube amp the sound punches you in the chest. Modelers never do that. They "sound" the same and they may even sort of feel somewhat the same but you never get that punch. G3 solves that mystery I think.
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I agree, I didn't think a modeler could do what the Axe is doing. I believe some company's cheated in the past and have a compressor pumping volume to achieve the tube bounce, and even though it reminds you of the feel it's still not the same. Too many complex things going on with different frequencies distorting at different levels swelling and dying out at different times etc...
 
NeoSound said:
I agree, I didn't think a modeler could do what the Axe is doing. I believe some company's cheated in the past and have a compressor pumping volume to achieve the tube bounce, and even though it reminds you of the feel it's still not the same. Too many complex things going on with different frequencies distorting at different levels swelling and dying out at different times etc...
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That's exactly what the other products do. They use a compressor wrapped around the waveshaper. When the output compresses the input expands. It's not the same thing because it doesn't bounce.
 
Not only the chest punch, but the capability of the sound to surround, to bloom, in a sense (overused term, but it is applicable).

It is there.

The IR is still important, but I'm finding the newer ones in particular to give less of a sense of mismatch, which is really nice. That's got to be a combination of the new modeling and improved IR technology.
 
FractalAudio said:
That's exactly what the other products do. They use a compressor wrapped around the waveshaper. When the output compresses the input expands. It's not the same thing because it doesn't bounce.
Click to expand...

Out of sheer curiosity, I would love to to know how you've achieved the bounce- but I'm sure that's proprietary and you'd have to kill me afterwards...

The lack of bounce has been one of the main things that I'd missed in every firmware since FW 7 (the first firmware I used with the axe II!). Recently, I was much happier with 17.03 than any other previous FW (especially with the passive EQs) but my patches were convoluted and involved a lot of filtering at various stages and advanced tweaks to get them anywhere near where I wanted them.

Now, not so much.

Amp+cab= awesome

Thanks Cliff!
 
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