This is why I use pedals with AxeFX, why do you?

RevDrucifer said:
Yep, it’s more important to me to actually get the tone I want rather than settling for something else. I love the Fractal gear more than pretty much any other gear product, but I love gear as a whole so I’m not going to stop buying other stuff just because I love Fractal gear.

That said-

ha ha simpsons GIF


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(Very much joking here, I’d snatch up an actual Gibson LP Custom any chance I got if I could get it for a reasonable price!)
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I’m a fender guy first of all. I have waited for quite 30 years of playing to have a Les Paul 😅, so no, I wanted a Gibson ☺️.
These brands that nowadays « musicians » like to put down as much as they can, to be different that their daddy, still don’t get that a fender or a Gibson got this rock n roll tone . Nutella is Nutella .
I have played fender exclusively for 20 years. Now that I am getting older I have others brands, I’m less close minded that I used to 😅. But every time I play a strat or .. well . Hard to beat . These guitar suck technically in a way, they buzz whatever you do etc, but that’s the sound of rock n roll .
My prs Mc carty at 5000 bucks was very well build (except the lacquer in the side of the fret board that make some bubbles 😕) but it was lifeless compared to these guitars. Sold ! There is way too much lacquer on it . when I tried my lp in the shop, the sound was so open ♥️. The clean tone was mad, I fall in love immediately, forgetting the price . I’m very happy about this guitar. I read shit everyday about Gibson … yeah ok sometimes the finish aren’t perfect… so try it in a shop and look what you buy, better than ordering it ….
 
As for fuzz, I totally get why it's difficult or impossible to model. I always play with a wireless system (so any fuzz effect will suffer from a buffered signal) and I'm not a huge fan of fuzz tones to begin with, so it doesn't affect me at all.

As for all the other pedals, I totally get the appeal and pedals can have unique flavors. I remember the fun of always looking for my next pedal to get the tone I want. However, now I just spend that time tweaking presets "in the box." I've saved so much money and time not buying pedals but I've ended up spending more money on various Fractal products and other guitars.

Part of me misses the fun of pedals and arranging a pedal board and sharing and comparing with other guitarists, but my tone is a million times better now than it was back then. I've encouraged my friends in the local scene that are now getting into the Fractal world to consider the FM3 if they have a bunch of pedals they love and want to keep using or an FM9 if you want it all in the box. Of course you can use pedals with all the platforms, but space is more of an issue.
 
My name is mud said:
I’m a fender guy first of all. I have waited for quite 30 years of playing to have a Les Paul 😅, so no, I wanted a Gibson ☺️.
These brands that nowadays « musicians » like to put down as much as they can, to be different that their daddy, still don’t get that a fender or a Gibson got this rock n roll tone . Nutella is Nutella .
I have played fender exclusively for 20 years. Now that I am getting older I have others brands, I’m less close minded that I used to 😅. But every time I play a strat or .. well . Hard to beat . These guitar suck technically in a way, they buzz whatever you do etc, but that’s the sound of rock n roll .
My prs Mc carty at 5000 bucks was very well build (except the lacquer in the side of the fret board that make some bubbles 😕) but it was lifeless compared to these guitars. Sold ! There is way too much lacquer on it . when I tried my lp in the shop, the sound was so open ♥️. The clean tone was mad, I fall in love immediately, forgetting the price . I’m very happy about this guitar. I read shit everyday about Gibson … yeah ok sometimes the finish aren’t perfect… so try it in a shop and look what you buy, better than ordering it ….
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I'm just busting balls, man. I've been playing nothing but Strats and now Les Pauls for the last year and I've had more fun playing than the last 15 years entirely, I get it!
 
At worst, my pedals seem to be a better “investment” than my 401k over the past few years

So when the wife says “you’ve got a few thousand dollars worth of those stupid pedals already, why do you need all those?” I can at least say “yeah, but I only paid like one thousand dollars for all those” lol

Heck, Fulltone announced they closed down and my “portfolio” tripled in value overnight!
 
I also use pedals in front, mainly OD pedals, as I think they add a better tone relative to the modeled drive. In addition, FAS has not (to date) modeled a single OD pedal that I use, including XTS Atomic, XTS Winford, XTS Imperial, REVV Tilt, J. Rocket Animal ... there are others, but those are primary ones for me. In general, the real deal pedal adds more presence and sounds less compressed relative to drive models. I also have a tube amp so I have a separate set of pedals - yes I know I could do a 4CM with AXEIII, but I think it is easier to just hook it up with pedals.
 
I had one more thought that came to my mind randomly regarding this thread: maybe one of the reasons why folks insist on using drive/analogue pedals in front of the Axe Fx is parts tolerance. Perhaps the drive models in the Axe Fx have a specific parts tolerance that makes the modelling sound “off” to some users. I certainly have a “magic” TS-9 which sounds very unique and nothing like any other Tube Screamer that I have played through (I own 4 right now and have owned almost a dozen other variants over the years), which is why I always use that to track in the studio whenever I need to get that tone. Perhaps users find that their analogue/drive pedals have a certain parts tolerance that their ears prefer over the ones modelled in the Axe. The drive models in the Axe might be fairly accurately modelled when A/B’d against the actual units that Cliff used. I remember watching a video (on the Thomann youtube channel?) where someone shot out 6 Boss BD-2s and each one sounded ever so slightly different!
 
All this fuzz talk got me to order a Dunlop Band Of Gypsys Fuzz. This will be my first fuzz pedal since my red velvet covered Foxx fuzz in the 70's. It got ruined in a basement flood not to long after buying it. It was a long time ago so I can't remembeer what it sounded like, but I remember liking it a lot. Also had the matching Wah pedal. It suffered the same fate.
 
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For live i’ve taken to doing everything within the Fractal. But at home I like to fool around with running laptop plugins in the loop. That gives me a seemingly endless supply of effects, delays and reverb flavors. The fractal efx are great, but it’s always fun to try other things. Doing this my new laptop and interface can get 3ms round trip so latency is not an issue. I particularly like the some of the soundtoys and vahalladsp.
 
Will Schut said:
Preset 49, Sweep Resonator. There’s my blueprint. But there are so many knobs…….
Oh well, down the rabbithole we go…… Boss HF2 or bust….. 😀.
Thanks M@ for steering this buffoon in the right direction….
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When you get there please post the preset.
 
Mal said:
When you get there please post the preset.
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I’m still in the “no sigar” zone right now. At one time I owned two HF2 pedals that sounded completely different from each other. I kept the sweetest sounding one and that’s the one I’m trying to mimic right now. With my preferred settings, that means rather subtle and in front of drive and (pre)amp.
 
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Will Schut said:
I’m still in the “no sigar” zone right now. At one time I owned two HF2 pedals that sounded completely different from each other. I kept the sweetest sounding one and that’s the one I’m trying to mimic right now. With my preferred settings, that means rather subtle and in front of drive and (pre)amp.
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That's how I use mine too. I like just a hint of flange and the HF2 did that much better than the BF2. Plus it sounds very cool.
 
Leon Todd captured the TC Electronics flange/chorus I had, and I get the microvibe and just a much better delay than I ever had on a board. That may be due to inexperience, I didn’t like fiddling, I would mark the settings down on notepad paper and tape it to the board
 
FractalAudio said:
The one thing no modeler will ever get perfect are fuzz pedals because of the interaction between the pickups and the pedal. The input to a modeler is necessarily buffered so that interaction is impossible to recreate.
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Sorry for being late, but does the wah also won't even get perfect because of the interaction between pickups and the inductor? Or does that work completely different and is "easier" to recreate (is it already perfectly recreated on the axe fx 3?) ?
 
fcoberrios said:
Sorry for being late, but does the wah also won't even get perfect because of the interaction between pickups and the inductor? Or does that work completely different and is "easier" to recreate (is it already perfectly recreated on the axe fx 3?) ?
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I haven't taken apart a wah in a long time, but I'm pretty sure it depends on the wah. I'm sure there are some that use a simple design that wind up with the inductor "hooked" directly to the guitar and that there are others that have a buffer.

FWIW, one of the FM3 wahs is my absolute favorite that I've owned. So at least for me, however FAS is doing it is better. Or I've only owned "crappy" real wahs...that's possible too.
 
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