Should I as a NEWBIE purchase amp packs ?

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Dillonski said:
I too am interested in the Naked Amp pack. I also share your feeling of wanting a couple of presets to try out first though. I would gladly pay the $59 if there was say one vintage, one modern and one clean preset available for free. Just to to see if the patches work well with my setup. I've bought amp packs before from others and have been seriously let down, sounded nothing like the demos.

Try make your own presets and see how you go. If you do decide to pull the trigger on the naked amps, let us know what you think!
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I will say though last night I watched the Austin Buddy video of how he dialed in the Jimi London presets and I was blown away at how he tweaked things. He OBVIOUSLY knows his stuff and after watching I felt very comfortable maybe now buying without trying.

I'm probably not going to buy any pro presets at the moment since I have Yeks presets ready to use with the Fractool when I figure it out. I am sure he knows what he is doing as well and I can learn from them at first.

Although I do LOVE the idea of the Naked Amps pack even just for that all the amps are labelled and paired correctly with their matching cabs. I know I can do that myself using Yeks amps block and cab guide but it would take some time for sure. It may be worth it just for that.

I'm going to check at @Moke free preset on his site too when I have time. Thanks Moke for your help too as well to everyone. Very helpful.

I am ordering the Xitone Mbritt cab today but wont get it for about 8 weeks :( So at the moment I am using my JBL LSR05's with the AX8 which sounds pretty good but I don't think a 5 inch speaker is doing the AX8 justice. Maybe I am wrong in that assumption?
 
Danny Danzi said:
Thank you for the mention, @bradlake :)

@Mateo11 I agree with what everyone has told you about building your own. However, the presets guys like Moke and Fremen create will at the least, give you a great starting point with sounds and effects....but most importantly, if you look deep into how they created and routed the presets, THAT is worth the price alone.

I've learned what I know from looking at presets from both of those guys as well as yek and the stock presets. If I were to go into this blindly and just start trying to make presets, I probably would fail. I actually did fail until I really dove into other peoples presets.

So though we want you to create your own tones as that will always be the best way to get the tones you hear in your head, it's always a huge plus to learn from guys that have a few years under their belts.
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Very helpful thanks! Good to know you struggled in the beginning until you started studying more advanced presets. Even though I am getting really great tones on my own just building a amp and cab plus Reverb I KNOW I am miles away from what the unit can do. That is what is so exciting about this unit. It is DEEP but you don't have to go deep to get great tones if you are not inclined to.

I have heard/watched some AMAZING sounding youtube vids of some AX8 presets. If it sounds that good on youtube I can only imagine what it will sound like hooked up in the room live to two 1x12 Xitone Mbritt cabs in stereo. Geez......I'lll never get anything done around the house anymore ha
 
Dillonski said:
I too am interested in the Naked Amp pack. I also share your feeling of wanting a couple of presets to try out first though. I would gladly pay the $59 if there was say one vintage, one modern and one clean preset available for free. Just to to see if the patches work well with my setup. I've bought amp packs before from others and have been seriously let down, sounded nothing like the demos.

Try make your own presets and see how you go. If you do decide to pull the trigger on the naked amps, let us know what you think!
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I do understand your concern though with how they translate to different set ups. I know the Kemper "profiles" are a entirely different beast altogether but I ran into that a lot when I had the Kemper. It was very hit or miss. More miss than hit IMO.

IMO though the AX8 is different in that we are all essentially starting from the same starting point. Whereas a Kemper "profile" will be radically different even using the same amp depending on who did the profile, how they set the amp EQ's, to how they miced it, which mic and then room it was done in etc etc.

The AX8 seems to me to be a better controlled starting point. Just my initial observations with the AX8 after owning the Kemper previously.

I do think it would be nice though if some pro merchants threw out a couple freebies just for guys to get an idea of how they might sound given the gear they are using.
 
I don't bother with buying presets anymore. I think as a newbie you are better off learning to set up your own and experiment (at or near performance volume), use the editor. I bought some of Glen D's presets when I had the Helix and was happy about those because they did sound really good but most importantly allowed me to learn some tricks of how to program myself - definitely worth the $10. I think one of my biggest challenges at this point is to get volumes leveled and appropriate between effects or presets. As a new user, think about how much you really want or need in a preset and don't over complicate it. I used to play with one amp and only a few pedals and I try to aim for that with the AX8 as well.
 
Regarding the OP: I don't think I've ever met a preset I used - as is: But, that starting point of an amp in its sweet spot saves a lot of time as it just takes a tweak or two to adjust to the guitar in hand: and has been a fast track to appreciating amps that I would otherwise have passed over - Thinking "WTF? People like this?" - if I'd just started with the controls set to boring. I am unlikely to have figured out in a reasonable amount of time some of the extreme knob positions I've seen that do cool stuff on specific amps.

I come from the lineage of only having one amp for years on end: so the effort of learning and choosing from out of hundreds is ongoing and could be overwhelming. It sure is helpful to have some expert guidance. $59 seems like a really inexpensive education, plus it looks like its set up as a library/database to scroll through. This would be valuable for studio use. (I'm not the only one playing this beast). A player who doesn't have an AX8 could quickly find their way to something familiar and usable without overt .

Also, The Fractal Cab Pack Bundle 1 seems like an exceptional value for expanding the Impulse Response herd in a coherent way.
 
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marknjules1 said:
Leon Todd has some great tutorials that can teach you the basics and more. Check out his YouTube channel
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I second that. I am new to the AX8. Just got it a few weeks ago and Leon's youtube channel has been among the most useful for me. He provides very helpful tutorials and gives away great preset patches, which sound great and are an excellent way to learn, as I like to analyze his parameters and amp, cab, etc, choices. Plus, his band Ragdoll is great :)
 
Completely depends upon what you want from your cabs. I am pretty particular about how my cabs get mic'd so having more control over selecting the mic placement of the IR is a bigger deal for me. Some of the big IR producers offer free demos that will give you an idea of what they're capable of so you really won't go in blind.

I did a lot of research on 3rd party IR's when I was looking at both the Helix and AX8. I discovered the many mic positions and placements most of them offer and they were very appealing to me from the start. I also heard about Cab Lab that gives you the ability to combine multiple IR's and create your own mix.

Obviously I decided on the AX8 and I ordered Cab Lab at the same time as the AX8. I discovered later that the factory cabs cannot be imported into Cab Lab so I downloaded some of the free IR's and eventually decided on Ownhammer. I ended up purchasing their California Duo pack as it has the speakers and cabinet configurations I wanted and many mics, placements and mixes.

It can be a never ending rabbit hole but if you know what you want to accomplish and what you need to do so before diving in, it makes it much easier.
 
I've had the AX8 for less than a year and created all my own presets that I used live. The first time I played out, I thought I did a good job - with the notes I took from that performance, I went back and completely redid them. When I redid them - i took one of the FAS presets that I really liked and did some tweaking on it and played another couple of shows - was MUCH happier with my results, and got to learn a few things in looking at the preset.

I've bought a couple presets that didn't really work for me sound wise so I've decided to just keep plugging away and learning as opposed to spending money on things I might not use. I honestly think the FAS presets are a VERY good starting point. I'm very interested in the Naked Amp Pack though because I think it would be really nice to have a very solid starting point (for me personally) - While I would like to say I'm going to go in and learn about all of the deep editing features of the AX8, I just don't have the time a lot of times to sit and do it so I need a quick, good starting point so I can make a usable preset and get learning songs, or recording or whatever. I'll learn along the way about that stuff but just at a much slower rate I think.

What IS super cool is that being out here, we have access to the people that have spent a lot of their time in really learning (or hell, on this forum CREATING) this piece of equipment and a ton of videos, documentation, etc to learn what we want, when we want. University of Fractal. (it's a 10 year degree though) hahaha

Good luck man - have fun with it!
 
I agree with Brian. It is far easier to build upon the presets and tweak than you think. I have some awesome patches from others, but I found watching Leon Todd's videos and some of the Axe Tutorial guy's youtube videos a great way to learn how to get the tone I want. You will get more out of this unit the deeper you drill down into a few areas. That way you dont get overwhelmed with all the options.
 
Lenster said:
I’ve just purchased the Austin Buddy amp pack. Absolutely stoked.
Yes there is merit in making your own presets and learning your way around the AX8, but these are an excellent starting point that need limited tweaking . :)
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Would love to know how you use those patches. I bought that pack, too, but have not had the time to play around with it.
 
I think it's important to mention, that if you are just recording or using a quality FRFR, then premade presets are very useful for getting a variety of tones. But if you are not using FRFR, they are practically worthless, since your signal amplification and speakers will alter the final tone far too much. Also, I myself can't stand to pay money for something I can learn to do myself for free or close to it, too each his own though.

The FAS gear is so easy to build a rig with, it's really a waste to buy anything simple like amp/cab only presets, unless they have a proprietary IR for the cab block.

Just build the rig as you would in reality for the part of the signal chain that is occupied and emulated by the FAS device.
 
bradlake said:
...and IMHO, anybody, be they newb or grizzled FAS Veteran, who has not tried the Naked Amp Pack by www.austinbuddy.com , is missing out on one of the very best tools to base your greatest possible tones on.
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Thanks, that was helpful. I got that bundle. Still playing around with it and exploring at the moment. Would love to hear what you have come up with and tweaked. Any links to audio or video? What do you use or recommend for FRFR speakers? I am using M-Audio Bx8 but looking for something else. Thanks
 
@Mateo11
Leon Todd (2112) was mentioned about his vids. Try his presets and Geezerjohns presets. Won't cost you a dime. 2112's has marshall and mesa packs and geezerjohn has beautiful cleans.
I am not saying don't buy others. Just saying don't pass these up either.
 
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