Jack Napalm
Power User
Playing guitar for me has been a on and off hobby for many years but I hadn't taken it seriously until the last few years. I have always enjoyed playing through tube amps but never had the opportunity to put 100 Marshall's through proper usage for most of my playing time. At least until the last few years. I have been using a XXX and a Randall RM100 Lynch Box for my first rock band. It was glorious and I was constantly working on my pedal board and fighting signal levels and chasing tones. Earlier this year I settled on the RM100 and a M13 combo. Loved it but I was still chasing tones with new modules and various things. A fun time and I learned a lot during that time.
I have always been interested in modelers as I like to be able to recreate other tones. Not unlike anyone else. For home practicing and recording I have been using Amplitube for years. When I saw the AxeFx a few years ago I have kept a keen eye on it and watched it progress. A few months back I had an opportunity come along to work with a band but they required in-ear-monitors and no amps on stage. Drums were the only thing on stage. I thought about what do to and started looking deeper at the Axe and the 11R. The other guitar player in my current band uses an 11R and it always sounded very good.
If I were a Protools user I probably would have looked harder at the 11R. I use Cubase for recording and really didn't see all the benefits of the 11R using it with Cubase. I decided on to bite the bullet on the Axe. I was able to strike at the right time and get a blemished/b-stock unit. It came in and I couldn't find a scratch on it but it didn't work. I ended up contacting support and it was arranged quickly and easily to get it back to them and I ended up with a replacement unit. Which looks brand new.
During that time my RM100 took a dump. The amp blew in-between a sound check and show time. I ended up using the bass player's old Fender twin. Luckily he lived 10 minutes away from the venue. I had 5 minutes to reconfigure my m13 to work right into the front of the amp. I was using it a 4CM method. My Axe was sitting at home in no shape to go out live. I had gotten the replacement two days before the show.
But, now I had to decide what to do. Use my old XXX until my amp gets repaired or dive right into the Axe and get it setup for my current band. I hadn't planned on that but I had two QSC K12's laying around. We were using these as mains but our sound person bought a pair and so mine were idle. My setup for the Rm100 was pretty basic. I used a JTM/Mr Scary/Blackface module combo and usually my effects were delay or maybe some modulation. Usually not at the same time.
Within a few hours I had effectively recreated my setup. I have an ART X-15 pedalboard and configured it so I could get through a rehearsal that was coming up. First rehearsal came and went and I realized I a few mistakes I had made in my setup. Wrong settings on the K12, I just forgot to double check the flat/vocal boost/deep switches. They were not flat the deep switch was on. When I got to rehearsal I realized they were right and all my settings didn't work well. In the end rehearsal went well but my tones just didn't work well overall in the context of a band.
I went back to the drawing board and took another stab and my settings. I went back to basics on quite a few things and tried to remove some of the complexities that I thought I understood by looking at other peoples patches. It was probably a case of just enough knowledge allowed me to create a better noose for myself. All the options are cool but you don't need to use them. It was a experimenting and learning time which was good but I needed to get back to basics.
I took another stab at my setup and the next rehearsal was tremendously better. Still a few things didn't quite sit well. I tried the Enhancer on a patch and it sounded good on its own but in the context of the band it didn't work. I also went back to using amps that I 'know'. For my hi-gain patch I initially started with the Marsha HBE, cause its a great sounding amp, but I don't know that amp. I grew up on Lynch and 80's metal. I picked the SLO100 model. Little things like that helped me get back to the sounds that I know. I am sure I could use the Marsha but I need more time to hear it to be able to use it well. I also took a stab at using parallel and serial effects routing in my chain. I moved my delays to a parallel route and that was an eye opener for me. The clarity of my tone improved tremendously.
We had one more rehearsal and I made a few minor tweaks to some of the effects setting, depth on the flanger, took out reverb on a patch and few eq tweaks. Mainly in the presence. I had even setup a few other patches for a few specific songs, Stone in Love and Sweet Child O' Mine.
I had my first show with it Sunday. We played outside and I put a K12 behind me in the monitor position and let it rip. Everyone in the band, sound person included, thought we sounded the best we ever have. The sound person was happy as the signals we were feeding were noiseless and even. The mix was so much better overall and I sounded better than I ever had. I had people who had seen us before telling me that I sounded a lot better. There was a clarity to our overall sound now. You could hear everything no matter where you were. I know that on my side of the stage in the past people got a lot of my guitar as my 4x12 cab directed the sound straight out. In front of me you couldn't always hear the other instruments as well.
My RM100 still isn't repaired, it has been a pain trying to get parts from Randall. I love that thing but the Axe is my new rig. The project I bought it for hasn't gone anywhere at the moment so the Axe was there at the right time to pick up the slack. I am glad I bought it and am amazed at what it can do.
I want to give a shout out to three people specifically and in no particular order; Clark Kent, Mark Day and Yek. I have learned a lot from their patches and the wiki. I couldn't be where I am with my tones if it wasn't for them. There are many others as well but I probably spent the majority of my time learning from these three. Thank you all!
I have always been interested in modelers as I like to be able to recreate other tones. Not unlike anyone else. For home practicing and recording I have been using Amplitube for years. When I saw the AxeFx a few years ago I have kept a keen eye on it and watched it progress. A few months back I had an opportunity come along to work with a band but they required in-ear-monitors and no amps on stage. Drums were the only thing on stage. I thought about what do to and started looking deeper at the Axe and the 11R. The other guitar player in my current band uses an 11R and it always sounded very good.
If I were a Protools user I probably would have looked harder at the 11R. I use Cubase for recording and really didn't see all the benefits of the 11R using it with Cubase. I decided on to bite the bullet on the Axe. I was able to strike at the right time and get a blemished/b-stock unit. It came in and I couldn't find a scratch on it but it didn't work. I ended up contacting support and it was arranged quickly and easily to get it back to them and I ended up with a replacement unit. Which looks brand new.
During that time my RM100 took a dump. The amp blew in-between a sound check and show time. I ended up using the bass player's old Fender twin. Luckily he lived 10 minutes away from the venue. I had 5 minutes to reconfigure my m13 to work right into the front of the amp. I was using it a 4CM method. My Axe was sitting at home in no shape to go out live. I had gotten the replacement two days before the show.
But, now I had to decide what to do. Use my old XXX until my amp gets repaired or dive right into the Axe and get it setup for my current band. I hadn't planned on that but I had two QSC K12's laying around. We were using these as mains but our sound person bought a pair and so mine were idle. My setup for the Rm100 was pretty basic. I used a JTM/Mr Scary/Blackface module combo and usually my effects were delay or maybe some modulation. Usually not at the same time.
Within a few hours I had effectively recreated my setup. I have an ART X-15 pedalboard and configured it so I could get through a rehearsal that was coming up. First rehearsal came and went and I realized I a few mistakes I had made in my setup. Wrong settings on the K12, I just forgot to double check the flat/vocal boost/deep switches. They were not flat the deep switch was on. When I got to rehearsal I realized they were right and all my settings didn't work well. In the end rehearsal went well but my tones just didn't work well overall in the context of a band.
I went back to the drawing board and took another stab and my settings. I went back to basics on quite a few things and tried to remove some of the complexities that I thought I understood by looking at other peoples patches. It was probably a case of just enough knowledge allowed me to create a better noose for myself. All the options are cool but you don't need to use them. It was a experimenting and learning time which was good but I needed to get back to basics.
I took another stab at my setup and the next rehearsal was tremendously better. Still a few things didn't quite sit well. I tried the Enhancer on a patch and it sounded good on its own but in the context of the band it didn't work. I also went back to using amps that I 'know'. For my hi-gain patch I initially started with the Marsha HBE, cause its a great sounding amp, but I don't know that amp. I grew up on Lynch and 80's metal. I picked the SLO100 model. Little things like that helped me get back to the sounds that I know. I am sure I could use the Marsha but I need more time to hear it to be able to use it well. I also took a stab at using parallel and serial effects routing in my chain. I moved my delays to a parallel route and that was an eye opener for me. The clarity of my tone improved tremendously.
We had one more rehearsal and I made a few minor tweaks to some of the effects setting, depth on the flanger, took out reverb on a patch and few eq tweaks. Mainly in the presence. I had even setup a few other patches for a few specific songs, Stone in Love and Sweet Child O' Mine.
I had my first show with it Sunday. We played outside and I put a K12 behind me in the monitor position and let it rip. Everyone in the band, sound person included, thought we sounded the best we ever have. The sound person was happy as the signals we were feeding were noiseless and even. The mix was so much better overall and I sounded better than I ever had. I had people who had seen us before telling me that I sounded a lot better. There was a clarity to our overall sound now. You could hear everything no matter where you were. I know that on my side of the stage in the past people got a lot of my guitar as my 4x12 cab directed the sound straight out. In front of me you couldn't always hear the other instruments as well.
My RM100 still isn't repaired, it has been a pain trying to get parts from Randall. I love that thing but the Axe is my new rig. The project I bought it for hasn't gone anywhere at the moment so the Axe was there at the right time to pick up the slack. I am glad I bought it and am amazed at what it can do.
I want to give a shout out to three people specifically and in no particular order; Clark Kent, Mark Day and Yek. I have learned a lot from their patches and the wiki. I couldn't be where I am with my tones if it wasn't for them. There are many others as well but I probably spent the majority of my time learning from these three. Thank you all!
I'm glad your getting on good with your unit, I love my ultra, its absolutely tits. I can't ever remember digging a piece of gear so much.