Rig Changeups

Don't forget about the 2 week return policy. If you don't like it send it back. Convinced me and couldn't be happier.

I used to use a Mesa Triaxis->TC G-Force->20/20->4x12" Rectifier cab. (Which sounded very good btw)
Now I use the Axe FX2. sometimes direct sometimes ->20/20->Rectifier cab.
In my opinion it beats the Triaxis/G-force.
Just a distortion setting is better than the Triaxis. Then add all the effects and routing possibilities and its killer.

I play rock/metal and I am the only guitar player in the band. So I use crunch/high gain/cleans/ambient/solo settings.
 
CyrielLenting said:
I used to use a Mesa Triaxis->TC G-Force->20/20->4x12" Rectifier cab. (Which sounded very good btw)
Click to expand...
Out of all the high-gain amps on the Axe-Fx II, I actually prefer the Triaxis Yellow the most :) No 20/20, though, but it was never my favourite power amp anyway
 
one thing you have to remember going in is that you are hearing the whole rig coming back at you...mic'd cab and all. it definitely doesn't have the exact same vibe as you are used to....the advantage is it sounds exactly the same everywhere....stage to foh to everyone in the building.

i do the cover thing as well on the weekends...4 hour sets, 60-70 songs of all kinds and it will blow you away....whether or not you try to cop every album tone or just go for a few general tones to cover everything. pretty much any and every tone imaginable is in there.
 
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Alright, so you guys have definatly got me looking more, and considering the Axe-FX II. A big plus to me is the fact everything is in one device. How many times over the years have I had amp problems because of a bad tube? Or a cable got plugged in backwords or not seated in all the way and I've got a noisy or dead signal? Or effects malfunctioning because of a bad power signal? It goes on and on...randomly, and for stupid reasons. I like the idea of everything in one box. No extra power cords, extra signal cords, less worry about something not getting plugged in all the way, or plugged in backwards. And the advantage of not having to mic a cab and trying to find the "sweet spot" in a dark club. Not to mention....the small footprint and running a stereo rig would be pretty cool too! :D So, if I were to get an Axe FX II, I would still want SOMETHING to use "on stage" for a cabinet, and I've seen and been reading about a lot of guys using QSC powered monitors. What are your guys' thoughts on that? Is QSC the most common, user friendly, economical way to go? Splurg for the K12's or settle for a little small and the K10's, or even K8's? Or do you guys suggest something else?
 
You know, I have been lurking in these forums for over a year. I don't own an AXE (yet) but I know beyond doubt that I want one. I am getting very close to doing it, and will probably pull the trigger by January, if all goes well. I have a bunch of amps and gear to sell in order to get the $$$.

I also play in cover bands, (although I'm between bands right now) and I have had a monster rig for years. I have run stereo, two half stacks, wet/dry, and other setups over the years. I have hauled around a 150 lb 16 space rack full of switchers, pedals, TC and Digitech gear, plus all sorts of other crap. I needed a minivan to do it with, and a better back. Setup was always rough, and I have had several gig disasters where a cable came loose in the rig during transport, or simply that my "too complicated" rig had some setting in the wrong spot... and when I went to hit that solo patch or special sound for a song.... it wasn't there. That is a REAL bummer after all the trouble I went through just to create that sound to begin with.

Here's the thing. I've never been really happy with my sound anyway. I have had a DSL, a Mark V, and a Carvin V3, plus a GSP1101, Gmaj 2, as collection of pedals, whatever. Never got exactly what I wanted, and I think it's probably due to the fact that these amps (all 3 of them) sound AMAZING when cranked up REALLY LOUD. But.. they have no life at low volumes, and in the bars and clubs I play at, I can never get these things past 5 or 6 TOPS. Sometimes not even that... more like 3. No singing feedback or overtones... no "wow factor" at all at low volume with a tube amp.

Also, I spent about a million hours building racks, making cables, wiring this crap up, breaking my brain over configurations, routing... blah blah blah. NASA scientists marvel over my rack. So... as complex as the AXE may be... I think for me in a lot of ways it might be simpler than what I have been doing... and more reliable... with the bonus that I will likley sound better at lower volumes. I don't know this... but I'm banking on it after all I have read and heard.

SO... there is the perspective from another guy who is right where you are...except my mind is made up. Sign me up!
 
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Pinky, sounds like you will love the Axe-FX. I think if you want maximum tonal versatility go with a really good FRFR setup. You can tweak all kinds of tones till the cows come home but your rig will be compact and (relatively) light. Get an MFC too so you can comfortably control all the great features of the Axe-FX. In other words go all in. You won't regret it.
 
I was in the same situation as you are. I've always played through a tube amp rig and over the years my effects section has grown from a few pedals in the beginning to an entire rack-mounted system controlled via a midi controller. For quite some time now, I have been running a TC G-Force into a Peavey JSX and into a Greenback-filled 4x12 or 2x12 cab. All my effects were coming from the G-Force and an RJM routing system controlled my amp channels as well as other standalone pedals and rack mount gear.

Until the AFX came around, I would have NEVER considered playing through a solid state, digital modeling system. I held out for a long time myself, but I got SO tired of hauling around heavy racks, heavy pedalboards, amps that not only weighed a lot but also were fragile and needed lots of care. Sometimes I'd get asked to sit in with friends and when I'd show up to play, they'd look at the size of my rig and be like, "damn dude! Why do you need so much stuff"? And carrying it all in was getting way too ridiculous and was killing my body. These are a few of the reasons that I decided to make the switch, but only after a lot of research and hearing the tones that were possible with this little black box.

The learning curve can be steep and it does require time spent figuring out all that is possible with the AFX. It's not as simple as a tube amp, but it also has a million times the capability as well. My rig now is a single 4sp rack and an FRFR cab (if I even need to bring it to a gig since you can run direct FOH). The other part I love about the AFX is that whatever tones you create, can be used in all situations (live, studio, etc.) without dealing with issues regarding micing amps, room reflections and so much more.

The digital modeling era that we are in isn't for everyone, but I can say that if you have an open mind to what all this unit can create with practice and want to literally shrink your rig by over 50% potentially, while gaining so much more than you'd ever be able to carry around or even afford to own, then I'd give it a try. I think you may be as happy as most everyone here is.
 
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Jeff, you summed up my guitar life perfectly. I too have had that amazed stare from other band mates or jam partners about the size of my rig. Many times I just bring my MarkV combo and a couple of pedals, but I lose a lot of function that way. I also can't get a consistent sound day to day/ place to place. The AXE does sound like the way to go for me for sure, and I know it. That said.. 2 things still concern me. (They won't stop me from making the jump, but they do concern me)

#1 This forum is jammed full of threads about weird technical problems. Many dozens of them... and some of which I don't even understand. Stories of "I lost my presets" or "My AXE died", or "Weird buzzy sound" or all sorts of other issues. You've seen them all, and from an outsiders perspective it seems like a LOT of issues. Way more than you get with a simple tube amp (but admittedly not more than I probably get with my monster rack setup!)

#2 is the level of technical knowledge that the AXE seems to require. I don't know squat about IR's, or resonance this or that, and a lot of what I read in this forum goes right over my head and frankly, it is intimidating. Now, I'm a fairly smart fellow... was an electronics tech in the navy, and I'm good with math and science and so on... but I am picturing many hours/weeks/months to learn how to work this thing and be able to get what I want out of it. My other rig takes a lot of that too... but man it sure would be nice to actually play my guitar and stop being a guitar rig technician, you know?
 
Pinkycramps said:
Jeff, you summed up my guitar life perfectly. I too have had that amazed stare from other band mates or jam partners about the size of my rig. Many times I just bring my MarkV combo and a couple of pedals, but I lose a lot of function that way. I also can't get a consistent sound day to day/ place to place. The AXE does sound like the way to go for me for sure, and I know it. That said.. 2 things still concern me. (They won't stop me from making the jump, but they do concern me)

#1 This forum is jammed full of threads about weird technical problems. Many dozens of them... and some of which I don't even understand. Stories of "I lost my presets" or "My AXE died", or "Weird buzzy sound" or all sorts of other issues. You've seen them all, and from an outsiders perspective it seems like a LOT of issues. Way more than you get with a simple tube amp (but admittedly not more than I probably get with my monster rack setup!)

#2 is the level of technical knowledge that the AXE seems to require. I don't know squat about IR's, or resonance this or that, and a lot of what I read in this forum goes right over my head and frankly, it is intimidating. Now, I'm a fairly smart fellow... was an electronics tech in the navy, and I'm good with math and science and so on... but I am picturing many hours/weeks/months to learn how to work this thing and be able to get what I want out of it. My other rig takes a lot of that too... but man it sure would be nice to actually play my guitar and stop being a guitar rig technician, you know?
Click to expand...

The thing about forums is, it's usually only a very small percentage of customers that actually post, and usually it's because they are having a problem. If you dig deeper, you will see that a fairly high percentage of their issues are end user related and not specifically the fault of the Axe FX. On the flip side, there is also a decent amount of users that frequent these boards that have had zero issues and really are here to learn from others about how to use all the features of the Axe FX.

Now, about technical knowledge, There is nothing that cannot be learned, and really learning about it will make you a better musician because understanding why something sounds/works the way it does can only be a good thing.
 
Download the manual from the support pages and have a read. Some if it will go over your head the first time through but once you've gone through it a couple of times, the puzzle pieces start to fall in to place. At least they did for me. ( I find the manual well written. )

I use mine in a cover band and I have 3 main patches that I use with scenes to get my basic sounds for 90% of the material plus a couple of "stunt" patches for specific song.

We cover everything from Aretha Franklin, Travelling Wilbury's, Adele, The Cars, to Serena Ryder. I'm down from several pedals and an amp to one pedal and the Axe II. I can probably lose the HOG2 once I take the time to get a good sounding Cello patch with the right attack character, but I haven't had a chance to sit down with it since I've picked this up because we have some large Christmas fundraiser gigs coming up. I kind of rushed in in to my rig right away and haven't had any real issues that weren't solved by some thought and a little RTFM action. The issue I has was no loop audio. It took me a little bit to figure out that the second volume control on the front controlled the loop level.

It's really a dream tool for a cover band player, especially if you shift styles in the songs you cover.
 
One of the other considerations about owning the Axe FX is whether you consider yourself a tweaker or not, and whether you are more comfortable with analog knobs and immediacy of results, or if you can tolerate and have the patience to dig deep into menus and sub-menus to get the tone the Axe is capable of. Personally, yes, you could simply have the Axe, but with all of the premium pedals you also own, you should consider keeping your pedals in a loop switcher, rack mounted and insert them into the signal chain when needed. Yes, your rack will be a little bigger than just having an Axe FX, but man, you won't be lugging around a head and 4x12's anymore, so you'll still be way ahead.

I think the house mix of your band will also improve and your audience will actually hear more guitar by reducing/eliminating stage volume from your cabinets.

You have a top notch rig, and spared no expense on gear. However, you have 2 or 3 basic preamp sounds (sorry if I don't know the intricacies of your amp - perhaps it has greater capabilities) but with the Axe II, you have 100 amps and 100 cabinets or more. Not to mention microphone simulations, dictating the distance of the mic from the cabinet, the angle, the type of socks and shoes the engineer was wearing on the day he shot the IR's for the cabinet. The possibilities to customize the tone and make it all your own, are seemingly endless.

And those options can be the deal breaker for guys that just want to have 6-7 knobs to turn, and be done.

Some guys would just be happy with a Cessna that is dependable, predictable, and reliable. Other guys need an F22. The Cessna guys would ball up into the fetal position if put into the cockpit of an F22, and the F22 guys would be bored to tears if they were stuck with a Cessna.

You have to know the type of guy you are and what it's going to take to make you happy. Some guys are better off with an amp and a few pedals - they can conquer the world with that.
 
I had a G-System before I got the Axe FXII. Steve Vai did also. Great unit but I like the Axe FXII better. You could use your current real amp and cab and use the Axe FXII for effects only like Steve Vai currently does.
 
Pinkycramps said:
Jeff, you summed up my guitar life perfectly. I too have had that amazed stare from other band mates or jam partners about the size of my rig. Many times I just bring my MarkV combo and a couple of pedals, but I lose a lot of function that way. I also can't get a consistent sound day to day/ place to place. The AXE does sound like the way to go for me for sure, and I know it. That said.. 2 things still concern me. (They won't stop me from making the jump, but they do concern me)

#1 This forum is jammed full of threads about weird technical problems. Many dozens of them... and some of which I don't even understand. Stories of "I lost my presets" or "My AXE died", or "Weird buzzy sound" or all sorts of other issues. You've seen them all, and from an outsiders perspective it seems like a LOT of issues. Way more than you get with a simple tube amp (but admittedly not more than I probably get with my monster rack setup!)

#2 is the level of technical knowledge that the AXE seems to require. I don't know squat about IR's, or resonance this or that, and a lot of what I read in this forum goes right over my head and frankly, it is intimidating. Now, I'm a fairly smart fellow... was an electronics tech in the navy, and I'm good with math and science and so on... but I am picturing many hours/weeks/months to learn how to work this thing and be able to get what I want out of it. My other rig takes a lot of that too... but man it sure would be nice to actually play my guitar and stop being a guitar rig technician, you know?
Click to expand...


I had the same concerns... and still do some days. Especially with the #2 you mention. As far as technical issues... well, I can say (knock on wood), that I haven't had any technical problems to speak of to date. Just remember that if you do choose to go with an AFX, you are not dealing with a traditional amp anymore. You won't have to deal with tubes going bad and getting all harmonic on ya, or having a screen grid resistor burn up and start your amp on fire (I've had that before) or anything of the sort. BUT, remember that you're now dealing with a computer and sometimes computers have issues (Except mine, cause I'm a Mac guy-hahaha!) ;) And that leads me to your #2...

I'll be honest with ya... I've had my AFX for a few months now and unlike a normal amp, I haven't even scratch the surface with what this thing can do. Have I found my "sound" as of yet? No. And this is one part of the real amp that I do miss. When I purchased my JSX amp, I played it and loved the feel and tone and knew that I had found the amp that would work for me. It had enough diversity in the tone of its 3 channels to pretty much fit for everything I was playing at the time... and still does. Being able to just reach down and turn the knobs and find that sweet spot... well, I haven't found that in the AFX yet. It is quite a bit daunting for me... and I'm not a stupid guy or anything either, but I am still wrapping my head around the fact that for every option you choose in the Axe, there's a hundred more things that can change that a bit... and then more options that can tweak that. Many parameters that I have not idea what they do, but they obviously do something or they wouldn't be there. Heck, I'm sitting here tonight pulling my hair out because I've been trying to tone match my JSX and cab for the past 4 hrs and I can't seem to get it. Ugh! I've watched the videos and read the PDF's and still I'm missing something. If I stuck with my JSX, I would have been playing and working on songs by now rather than figuring out how to wire this thing up and make this work... but I know that in the end, when I do get the hang of it, things will become easier and more fluid in how I manage my way around the unit.

In the end, I think that IF you can commit to working with it little at a time until things start to click and have the patience to try, fail, try, fail and try again... eventually you'll find something that you may feel is everything you've been wanting to hear. And with the selection of amps, cabs, mics and effects that are all stuffed away in this little black box, I'm sure the magic formula is in there somewhere. It's just finding the right combination, and that does take time... atleast for me. I'm not giving up yet, but I may be bald by the time I actually get my amp cloned into this thing. Haha!
 
Hi AMB, How I judge any rig at the end of the day is.. as a writer, am I inspired to play things I've never played before, because I lose myself in the ZONE. The Axe Fx 2 does this so much for me, that have wasted many hours just playing on presets/effects that I stopped on just to see what is was.
 
Heed the comment that talks about whether you're a tweaker or not. I love my Axe 2, but it took awhile.

My advice would be to not buy just to replace your rig. Start by thinking about it as a processor and set of pedals that you'll use with your Road King as a starting point. You can migrate to using it standalone and direct, but remember that it can be run in an array of configurations...with a head, with a poweramp (tube or ss) and cab, into a frfr powered speaker/monitor, or direct to pa. And that's just for live, there are a host of recording options too.

I've had mine for 2 years and I'm still trying to figure out what I want for my live set-up. I've been using a Mackie powered speaker, but I'm thinking about doing the poweramp/cab with the Axe as I kind if miss that 4x12 thunk...

At any rate, know that it's incredibly versatile, and sounds great. In fact, I have to say, now that I run a parametric eq after my cab in the Axe to dial out the fizz, my Dual Recto kind of makes me nuts when I fire it up..I'm too acclimated to the hi fi "studio" sound of the Axe.
 
I started with the Ultra and have since moved to the Axe II. I think its much easier to find your sound now than in the Ultra days. The presets are very good and a good place to start. The IR's are better...a BIG part of getting the right sound. IMO, if your using a tube amp and cab, your missing one of the main strengths of the Axe II. Now with the Cab-Lab you can mix an IR cab cocktail that is just incredible!

Plus, all tube amps have a sweet spot. Sometimes that spot is too stinkin' loud. Imagine having your cab under the stage in an ISO box and mixed with high quality FX to the FOH speakers.

I was a tube guy for over forty years. Transistors where poison to good tone. Well, we're past that now. Modern technology has finally caught up with the mighty tube and life is good.
 
scorch said:
The IR's are better...a BIG part of getting the right sound. IMO, if your using a tube amp and cab, your missing one of the main strengths of the Axe II. Now with the Cab-Lab you can mix an IR cab cocktail that is just incredible!
Click to expand...

I concur. If you use the AXE without speaker cab emulation, you are seriously tying one hand behind your back. Unless you are planning to use 1 amp sim, and it sounds great with the real cabinet you've got.

The beauty of the Axe for me, is going from a 15 watt combo sim with 1x12 speaker sim, to a 100 watt amp sim with a 4x12 speaker sim, in the blink of an eye. You can go from a sound like you're playing through a telephone, to a wall of sound in the space of a 1/16th note. That is true power and total control over your sound and what you want to do on stage. I love it.
 
The main reasons I got an Axe FXII, MFC-101, and a pair of FRFR active cabs was portability and versatility. Much lighter and easier to transport and set up, and much more versatile. You also get a consistent high quality sound.
 
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