Quantum of Axis-8 ?

[Zacflame]

So I've been spending A LOT of time looking at the wiki page & reading about the Amp model & fx.

I'm totally blown away by the sheer amount of amps & Cliffs comments & tips on how some of the different amps respond & sound.

I'm going into this knowing that a unit that goes this deep is going to take some time & learning to make it sound/feel right too. I understand that "Quantum" has helped all of this, but I wasn't around before this version was released & it will have no point of reference for me at all here.

At least I've got my mind set right & my expectations.

Helix was not plug & play for me & took hours of tweaking & IR testing. In the end, the tones were not stand out tones to me & I really wanted it to work-out. I created a bunch of audio clips & videos along the way too. I've gone back now & listened to them after some time away & still like what I'm hearing, but man it was a fight to get there.

I don't plan on being an endless tweaker & hope to find my core amp tones, but how can anyone not try-out all of these amazing amps inside the AX8?

I feel that even if I had the AX8 in my hands right now, it would take me months to get it set-up to play out w/ my cover band anyways.

Just some "Randome thoughts by X-Mann" & maybe my new forum series ?

X

Just wait X, Iam telling ya , amp, cab and some reverb and delay, you will be amazed. Iam no tweaker, heck i dont know what half the stuff even does, The splawn is so heavy, it will make you want to tune down and act like your 18 again, thankfully I have The axe fx II, so Iam not jonesing, but am checking my email and hoping..
Later Zac

 

[yek]

When it comes to amp models, I'm a traditional man. I tend to stick and limit myself to the controls which are present on the real equivalent (see wiki). Works for me, and it's simple.

 

[X-Mann]

Just wait X, Iam telling ya , amp, cab and some reverb and delay, you will be amazed. Iam no tweaker, heck i dont know what half the stuff even does, The splawn is so heavy, it will make you want to tune down and act like your 18 again, thankfully I have The axe fx II, so Iam not jonesing, but am checking my email and hoping..
Later Zac

Zac, you've already said so many things that cut right to the heart & speak to me man. The fact that we've jammed together before (many times) & I know the quality of your playing & tones makes everything you say resonate on 11 for me. Thank you!

I'll be spending a lot of time w/ a small handful of the raw amp models alone & w/ reverb or delay only on them too.

The Friedman, Bogner, Splawn models are the ones I will try to dial in 1st for my dirty tones. My 2nd choice is the Soldano & now the Legacy based on Ricks recommendation & reading about it on the Axe Wiki page.

Then I'll try the SLO clean channel as I've always had great luck getting my clean tones from this amp model in the past. I will also try a few more clean based amps, but I'm not sure what ones yet.

I hope that the basic amp controls on the front of the AX8 & the included IR's (w/ the Quantum) get me 90% of the way there. I might be the one guy that could care less if these amp models are exact (even though I know that they will be) at all to the originals.

I just want a handful of Stellar tones w/ the highest quality reverbs & delays on the planet, planet.....planet....planet...(fade out)

I mean, I'll take & use a killer phaser pedal & abuse the TS-808 like it's going out of style, but I just want quality amp tones 1st & foremost.

I'll take the time to dial in tones & demo them naked (the tones & not me of course...FYI) to listen back later & re-evaluate.

I play in a cover band at local sports bars where it's only guitar, bass, drum & 2-singers (Male & female). I need to cover a lot of different parts & need to sound full & HUGE in the process as much as possible.

I'll be sharing a lot here on the forum, while reading, learning & enjoying what you guys bring to the table as well.

Long live Fractal amps & bring on Cliff's long awaited master piece, the AX8!

The word of mouth alone will keep this new unit selling for years & years to come, but just wait till the high quality everyday user videos come out! BOOM!

X

PS - I will doing my 1st Fractal AX8 forum jam & many, many more FUN based guitar activities that the whole gang can join in on too! Trust "X" on this one!

 

[Zacflame]

Hey X, yes your inthusiasm kept the eleven rack website kicking long after it should have died, thanks to Avid, not the players, as they are a fine bunch of people.

I have a few go to tweaks, first I always change the saturation to authentic, second I change the preamp type to vintage, and I always use cabs #45 and #46 in stereo to start.

Funny I believe they are Redwirz and I never liked them as good as the ohammers on the eleven rack or sgear, but on the axe they seem better to my ears, I hope he doesn't remove them.

That right there is 95 % perfect for me, then I use b/m/t, and maybe a few things on the front page and iam close to 98% and then I just play.

I probably have not touched 75% of what I or the axe could really do but it doesn't matter, because it sounds so good.

As I have said many times before the Keith Urban amp is so slick, it's worth the price just for that one amp to me.

I have nothing against line 6, as u know I have three variax's, the quality, is not anything to write home about as all three suffer from switch problems, I just decided I was tired of trying to get A list performance out if B list gear.

So enter the Axe-Fx and we'll iam done, Axe at home, Axe live, game over, at least for me, and I honestly don't even look at amps or effects anymore and it's something I been doing my whole playing career as all of us have iam sure. Now guitars, well that's another story.

Hopefully we will have our units shortly and I know you will be as happy as a dead pig laying in the sunshine.

Rock on X....

 

[Randalljax]

My personal Fav at the moment is Jon's Recto and OH 212 Mesa ,That said I have used ML Recto Trad stock IR'S as well and it sounds great . One of the coolest thing ,I downloaded the preset dragged it into axe edit and touched nothing and its like 95% the same sound.
Same with Urban's amp I took user Burgs preset grabbed my Tele BOOM done

As of late you really don't have to do a lot .like I can't stress that enough it sounds great and the IRs are always improving

 

[muudrock]

So I've been spending A LOT of time looking at the wiki page & reading about the Amp model & fx.

I'm totally blown away by the sheer amount of amps & Cliffs comments & tips on how some of the different amps respond & sound.

I'm going into this knowing that a unit that goes this deep is going to take some time & learning to make it sound/feel right too. I understand that "Quantum" has helped all of this, but I wasn't around before this version was released & it will have no point of reference for me at all here.

At least I've got my mind set right & my expectations.

Helix was not plug & play for me & took hours of tweaking & IR testing. In the end, the tones were not stand out tones to me & I really wanted it to work-out. I created a bunch of audio clips & videos along the way too. I've gone back now & listened to them after some time away & still like what I'm hearing, but man it was a fight to get there.

I don't plan on being an endless tweaker & hope to find my core amp tones, but how can anyone not try-out all of these amazing amps inside the AX8?

I feel that even if I had the AX8 in my hands right now, it would take me months to get it set-up to play out w/ my cover band anyways.

Just some "Randome thoughts by X-Mann" & maybe my new forum series ?

X

X...I think you'll be amazed at how easy it is to get awesome core sounds with little to no tweaking. Truth be told, my core sounds are still more or less what I dialed in years ago when I first got my Axe. Sure, progress in IR quality and the amp modeling advances have made big improvements to the sounds, but the fact remains, what sounded and felt good a few years ago, still does today. And it was easy to get there.

 

[boblazz]

one of my favorite amps is the suhr badger 30. crunch to mid gain for me. also x-mann one of the first things i do when creating a tone is to go into the cab block and hit the high cut and low cut to taste. could be just my bad ears but it seems to always get that bit of fizzy freq. out that bugs me.

 

[X-Mann]

Hey X, yes your inthusiasm kept the eleven rack website kicking long after it should have died, thanks to Avid, not the players, as they are a fine bunch of people.

I have a few go to tweaks, first I always change the saturation to authentic, second I change the preamp type to vintage, and I always use cabs #45 and #46 in stereo to start.

Funny I believe they are Redwirz and I never liked them as good as the ohammers on the eleven rack or sgear, but on the axe they seem better to my ears, I hope he doesn't remove them.

That right there is 95 % perfect for me, then I use b/m/t, and maybe a few things on the front page and iam close to 98% and then I just play.

I probably have not touched 75% of what I or the axe could really do but it doesn't matter, because it sounds so good.

As I have said many times before the Keith Urban amp is so slick, it's worth the price just for that one amp to me.

I have nothing against line 6, as u know I have three variax's, the quality, is not anything to write home about as all three suffer from switch problems, I just decided I was tired of trying to get A list performance out if B list gear.

So enter the Axe-Fx and we'll iam done, Axe at home, Axe live, game over, at least for me, and I honestly don't even look at amps or effects anymore and it's something I been doing my whole playing career as all of us have iam sure. Now guitars, well that's another story.

Hopefully we will have our units shortly and I know you will be as happy as a dead pig laying in the sunshine.

Rock on X....

I didn't know that you could change those settings in each amp, so that's good to know. Saturation & pre-amp type makes a big difference then to you?

I got into my 1st set if IR's after not being able to get the tones I wanted in Helix. I fell in love w/ the Own Hammer Bogner 4x12 & can't wait to try it w/ my AX8!

While I don't play at all like Keith Urban, I love his sound & style.

So what's the Keith Urban amp then? Is this just a Bad Cat amp model or did Cliff actually model one of Keith's amps?

I'm now mentally convinced that I'll be happy as I know the basics of my sound & it's really just amp + verb or amp + delay.

Thanks for all the encouragement & I'll try not to drive you (& everyone here) crazy when mine arrives w/ dumb questions. I will put the time in to learn the Fractal way.

Peace! X

 

[X-Mann]

My personal Fav at the moment is Jon's Recto and OH 212 Mesa ,That said I have used ML Recto Trad stock IR'S as well and it sounds great . One of the coolest thing ,I downloaded the preset dragged it into axe edit and touched nothing and its like 95% the same sound.
Same with Urban's amp I took user Burgs preset grabbed my Tele BOOM done

As of late you really don't have to do a lot .like I can't stress that enough it sounds great and the IRs are always improving

This is great info & thanks for sharing it w/ me.

I almost bought the Justin York cabs, but fell in love w/ the Bogner 4x12 1st & then returned Helix. Now I wait to try it out w/ the AX8.

Your experience is very encouraging too.

Peace! X

 

[X-Mann]

X...I think you'll be amazed at how easy it is to get awesome core sounds with little to no tweaking. Truth be told, my core sounds are still more or less what I dialed in years ago when I first got my Axe. Sure, progress in IR quality and the amp modeling advances have made big improvements to the sounds, but the fact remains, what sounded and felt good a few years ago, still does today. And it was easy to get there.

Yes, the "X-Core" should be strong on the AX8 w/ all my favorite amp models already created by Team Fractal.

Quick (dumb) question here, are ALL of the amp models shown on the wiki page inside the AX8 at all times?

Or do I need to go & grab them from somewhere when I need one?

I only ask because that's a lot of amps models......a lot of amp models!

X

 

[Randalljax]

Yes, the "X-Core" should be strong on the AX8 w/ all my favorite amp models already created by Team Fractal.

Quick (dumb) question here, are ALL of the amp models shown on the wiki page inside the AX8 at all times?

Or do I need to go & grab them from somewhere when I need one?

I only ask because that's a lot of amps models......a lot of amp models!

X

The models are all there ,I believe Cliff did have Keith Urban's actual amp ..How cool is that

 

[X-Mann]

one of my favorite amps is the suhr badger 30. crunch to mid gain for me. also x-mann one of the first things i do when creating a tone is to go into the cab block and hit the high cut and low cut to taste. could be just my bad ears but it seems to always get that bit of fizzy freq. out that bugs me.

Very cool boblazz, tell me more about the Suhr Badger 30 amp my brother?

I think Steve Stevens used it at one point too.

I did like the Hi-Cut & Low-Cut feature on the cab block of Helix so I think I get what you're saying here.

All of these personal tips & insights are just priceless to this simple Mann!

Thx! X

 

[Zacflame]

I did like the Hi-Cut & Low-Cut feature on the cab block of Helix so I think I get what you're saying here.
Thx! X

The high/low cut is actually on the amp settings, I like the low cut as it removes some rumble, of course it's probably my frfr, not the highest quality.

The computer editor is really advanced. I don't think I ever edited on the axe itself.

 

[X-Mann]

The high/low cut is actually on the amp settings, I like the low cut as it removes some rumble, of course it's probably my frfr, not the highest quality.

The computer editor is really advanced. I don't think I ever edited on the axe itself.

I think I've learned more than I ever thought possible just by asking a few questions.

All of this info is just priceless to me & I'm keeping a running list of all these cool tips & tricks.

It's funny how the people that don't own an AX-FX unit like to bag on the Fractal camp on forums. All I see now that I'm here is friendly/helpful people that are passionate about the powerful tool that they love.

Peace! X

 

[RushOvGY]

There is a really effective hi and low cut on the cab block, I tend to use that a little more than the one in the amp block to tame IRs

 

[RushOvGY]

Also just wanted to say, welcome to the Fractal forum X-Mann!

Had been following the Helix thread on TGP since day one, (I don't have an account on there) and I love your enthusiasm and passion for gear, very refreshing

I look forward to you demoing the AX8 and finally getting those sounds out of the box you really deserve!

Peace

 

[X-Mann]

Also just wanted to say, welcome to the Fractal forum X-Mann!

Had been following the Helix thread on TGP since day one, (I don't have an account on there) and I love your enthusiasm and passion for gear, very refreshing

I look forward to you demoing the AX8 and finally getting those sounds out of the box you really deserve!

Peace

Hey RushOvGY......Sup?

Thanks for the info on the hi/low cut thingy at the cab block 1st off.

2nd......Very cool of you for the "Welcome" & stopping in to say so brolo.

C: I think I've created some cool tones & videos over the years, but I still think that I'm due for a really STELLAR TONE & I think that the AX8 will be the key to getting me there. Several (great) players that I really trust have all turned up here on this forum form years past & are saying all of the right things too.

I always document my guitar (& gear) journey through life in a positive, fun & musical way.......& the addition of the AX8 will just help me continue to do that. I plan on releasing my 2nd iTunes single w/ the AX8 as the sole tone generator on it as well. I did this w/ the Eleven Rack on my 1st track called "Turning Point" (on iTunes now & I've made a total of $213 too....woo...hoo) & the entire process was a total blast to go through.

I'm setting up shop here for the next few years & look forward to some good times people!

X

PS - I can't wait to read the reviews & listen to the clips of the 1st AX8 users too!