This week I compared - AxeIII/Boss GT1000/Kemper/Helix Floor

[Orvillain]

Wow, thanks for the comments and purchases guys! An unexpected thing to wake up to this morning!

@AndyTNBD , I absolutely love the controlled feedback on the guitar in The World Inside. Would you mind sharing any tips on how you did that with the Axe? (If it’s on the Axe) It’s a sound my amp used to do when the planets were aligned, but could never achieve it consistently.

Thanks! Could you point out the specific bit? I think you mean the feedback into delay oscillation section but I'm not 100% sure. If it is that bit, the 'feedback' portion of it.... loud amp... standing in the correct position relative to the cab..... hold a note. But then I ramp up the feedback on a delay to sorta capture the acoustic feedback and loop it and send the delay into nuts oscillation overdrive territory.

That specific bit was recorded with the Adriatic Delay on the Helix. But I've also been working on dialing in the delay block on the AxeIII to do the same thing.

 

[Orvillain]

AFX I presume?

Other guitarist used a Diezel Hagen into a Mesa 4x12. I used a dual mono rig; Diezel VH4 into a the same Mesa 4x12 and Fryette Sig:X into an Egnater 4x12.

I didn't own the AxeIII when we tracked the album, would have been interesting to try it. I still have all the DI guitar tracks though, so maybe I'll do some reamping just to see.

 

[tysonlt]

Yeah I figured it would require some sonic reinforcement. I just love the “warbly” texture, didn’t pick up the oscillation. I’ll have to have another listen so I can be more specific. Thanks!

 

[dr bonkers]

@Ugly Bunny

I may have exagerrated on the 14 snapshots thing, but some are definitely higher than 8.

This is our latest album:


I use a lot of different sounds that if you listen to typical blues player on Facebook, I apparently don't need to worry about - use a spring reverb or a 100% wet 20 second Hall reverb with a reverse delay going into it... apparently no one can tell the difference anyway!!

If you can be bothered, I even have a tonelist:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k2j2w7swymv8ofz/The World Inside - Tone List.pdf?dl=0

These aren't all different snapshots necessarily, but there's quite a lot of changes and snapshots are a great way to pair down the changes. I then need to be able to bring a few extra effects in and out of those snapshots I think.

Totally up for being edumacated on how best to setup a live workflow!

Very cool stuff!

For the drones, are you using a sustainor pickup or E-bow or a feedback loop of some type?

 

[Orvillain]

Very cool stuff!

For the drones, are you using a sustainor pickup or E-bow or a feedback loop of some type?

The middle of Machinations is ebow + whammy (blended in, not 100% wet) + slide + tons of delay + 100% wet reverb.

In Postsynaptic there is ebow + pattern tremolo set to a very choppy sound (kinda like that one Audioslave tune)

In Apocryphal there is heavy use of on the edge delay oscillation in the quiet bits in the middle, which we both play over the top of.

 

[javajunkie]

With all respect, I just don't get why anyone - except reviewers and manufacturers - would want and keep that many different modelers.
I see people on TGP switching and debating all the time.
Just choose one and learn to get the most out of it. If it doesn't work out, buy another.
Eases the mind.

Because I am a gear addict

 

[JTI]

Listening now. This is excellent. Good stuff \m/

 

[Orvillain]

Listening now. This is excellent. Good stuff \m/

Cheers JT!

 

[Orvillain]

Woah.

So if I use channel switching with the hold feature.... then I can have an alternative effect on each of my switches.... meaning I don't need two pitch blocks.... I don't need two compressor blocks.... I can probably heavily simplify my switch assignments.

Bahhhhh... I'm moving house this week, don't have any time to try anything out!! But it's all I'm thinking about!

 

[Orvillain]

well for me Kemper is a fantastic unit,i had a chance to tried my brother Kemper and i really liked it,maybe is you that dont know how to tweak the Kemper,but for me was plug and play,Kemper Stage is coming home soon.

Trust me, that isn't it.

 

[Orvillain]

maybe the Kemper is not for you,but Kemper is fantastic

Okay. But this thread is about my experiences. You can easily make your own thread.

My opinion is - it's only okay. The palm mutes are pretty poor compared to the AxeIII, and even the Quad Cortex. I can get just a good tones as the Kemper as I can from my Helix, so the Kemper is on the chopping block, and I most likely will never buy one again.

Now if they did a Kemper 2 that actually sounded like the reference amp, then I'd be interested.

 

[FractalAudio]

Okay. But this thread is about my experiences. You can easily make your own thread.

My opinion is - it's only okay. The palm mutes are pretty poor compared to the AxeIII, and even the Quad Cortex. I can get just a good tones as the Kemper as I can from my Helix, so the Kemper is on the chopping block, and I most likely will never buy one again.

Now if they did a Kemper 2 that actually sounded like the reference amp, then I'd be interested.

Ignore him. He's a Kemper "mole". This is his third or fourth alias we've caught him using. Probably works for Kemper or their marketing team. Last straw. He's been perma-banned.

 

[Orvillain]

Wow. It takes all sorts, sheesh.

Well... like I said, for everyone else reading.... I never got 100% close to my amps.... and when a product has that goal as it's very reason for being..... then that is what I want.

If I really thought it was down to my lack of knowledge, I would admit it. I'm an audio engineer of 15 years, have been playing and touring all that time, and I also work in music tech. I try to take a scientific approach, not just a fanboi approach, and the Kemper isn't all it's cracked up to be.

I don't mind so much that the AxeIII sounds different.... pot tolerances, tube differences, year made, etc etc. Those differences are expected to manifest as a different tone. But a black box approach shouldn't have such staggering differences.

But regardless of that, the AxeIII sounds closer to my real world VH4 than the Kemper ever did. I've got a bit of a broner for it right now.

 

[la szum]

Other guitarist used a Diezel Hagen into a Mesa 4x12. I used a dual mono rig; Diezel VH4 into a the same Mesa 4x12 and Fryette Sig:X into an Egnater 4x12.

No wonder the tones are so righteous!!

 

[la szum]

Are you planning on running a dual mono Fractal based rig, Andy?

I have been running dual FM3s and Channel 3 of the VH4 model in the Fractal is a mainstay.
Been blending with another amp/cab on the second FM3 and am not settled on one just yet.
Bogner XTC, JCM800, Recto, and a Plexi 100 have all been taking their turns.

 

[Orvillain]

Are you planning on running a dual mono Fractal based rig, Andy?

I have been running dual FM3s and Channel 3 of the VH4 model in the Fractal is a mainstay.
Been blending with another amp/cab on the second FM3 and am not settled on one just yet.
Bogner XTC, JCM800, Recto, and a Plexi 100 have all been taking their turns.

I'm certainly thinking about it, yes. Time will tell!

 

[LiamH]

Woah.

So if I use channel switching with the hold feature.... then I can have an alternative effect on each of my switches.... meaning I don't need two pitch blocks.... I don't need two compressor blocks.... I can probably heavily simplify my switch assignments.

Bahhhhh... I'm moving house this week, don't have any time to try anything out!! But it's all I'm thinking about!

Well don't say I didn't warn you - the FC-12 is a mind-blowing switcher! Combining the switching options with a bit of Axe FX III knowledge and experience is STILL both frightening and exciting for me. I only owned an Axe FX II once (still do, most likely end up keeping it as useful outboard for the home studio), but once I got an FC-12 to go with the Axe FX III I started to realise how much power there was in having 4 channels available for so many blocks. I still run fuzz and overdrive as separate blocks in my favourite presets, but I think it might be because my head is stuck in the Axe FX II to some extent. It will turn out to be truly liberating in time, but for now I have more functionality than I knew I needed without expending too much thinking time.

Thinking about it is at least as much value as trying things, and if you manage to move house at the same time, that's almost like multi-tasking! You'll dream up some cool single or 2 pedal press moves I am sure.

Good luck with the move. The positive raves got me listening to your crazy semi-hippy prog rock. (The first track got me intrigued enough that I'm not going to listen to any more on laptop speakers tonight - I need to hear this on good monitors in a good sounding room. I think I'm going to find it enjoyable and awesome. Real drummer?)

Liam

 

[tysonlt]

Woah.

So if I use channel switching with the hold feature.... then I can have an alternative effect on each of my switches.... meaning I don't need two pitch blocks.... I don't need two compressor blocks.... I can probably heavily simplify my switch assignments.

Bahhhhh... I'm moving house this week, don't have any time to try anything out!! But it's all I'm thinking about!

I use that idea to switch between three reverbs. Normal press toggles between normal and cloud verb (a/b), long press toggles shimmer (c). I used to do something similar for delays, but I switch them so much I made another layout just for all four delay channels.

 

[la szum]

Inadvertent history lesson included.

 

[tysonlt]

Inadvertent history lesson included.

Yes I had to know as well!