Trying to SWAY a friend to Axe-Fx…Help!

J

jalonhall

Inspired
Hey guys:

If you know me or my music… you know I'm about "that Metal junk". With that said… I have a very good friend of mine that is involved in a fairly promising opportunity situation in the sort-of country/southern rock music industry. As mentioned… I particularly focus on the Metal, Djent, Heavy, kill your grandma type of music and don't necessarily focus too much of my time and attention to this type of musical expression. However…. I am bound and determined to get my good friend to consider the possibilities available with the Axe-Fx 2. Dude is dead set on the achieving the tone featured in the clip I have posted below… so if any of you fine gentleman can provide me with any feedback, presets, or good/great starting points to showcase to my friend, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEGgqxAyKNk&feature=youtube gdata player
 
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First: there's nothing special about that tone, at least in the beginning, that can't be accomplished with a Strat and nearly any modeler.

Second: I don't think that Comet has a master volume. Did you see the volume setting on that channel for him to get an edge of breakup tone? Tell him he'll be blowing out his bandmates and neighbors just to get that tone.

Third: Holy crap! $3899???? For a single channel amp?

But I totally understand amp GAS. And it's hard to sway anyone over to digital.
 
to be honest, just show him the possibilities and let him play through the axe into some good monitoring. the unit sells itself. i had a friend come over yesterday (a very experienced musician and teacher) to have a look and he was blown away. basically said he would be buying one after playing through about three of my basic patches. he couldn't believe the tones he was hearing and the dynamics totally floored him. everything else i told him ...about reamping...using a cab on stage as well as sending signal to foh...etc etc...that was just gravy. he was already sold just from the tone.
for a giggle, we decided to build a patch from scratch using an amp he's familiar with, the jm45. i dropped in the jm45 jump and turned the bass, mid, treb and pres up to full. turned off the bright switch and turned down the treb drive a touch. i then dropped the basketweave green mix cab in and you should have seen his jaw drop :)
 
yeah, I can't imagine sitting in front of an axe and twirling the knob and not being floored by the sounds. Add in someone who knows a little about it and can demo some effects or IR usage and how you can adjust an amp through the settings and unless you're against digital, I don't see how you're not impressed and wanting one.
 
Reddy Kilowatt said:
Why do you care what he uses?
Click to expand...

I don't "care" what he uses. We were just having a conversation about the Axe-Fx 2 and he was questioning whether he could achieve tones such as the one I mentioned in the original post. Of course...I know for a fact the Axe can nail that tone hands down. The reason I reached out was to gather some feedback from people who use/build tones like that for themselves...since I personally do not. I'm going to meet up with him later this week so he can take the axe for a test drive to see if he likes it as much as I think he will... I just wanted to be able to show him all it is capable of... outside of my area of musical expression(which is strictly Metal stuff)
 
Nice way to help a friend, you can let him try the basic amps in the preset bank, he might find what he needs easily.
 
I agree with those who said to let him play on it. The sound quality, portability for studio use, ease of transporting your studio sounds to the gig all conspire to sell the unit for a gigging musician. At the very least, it easily sold itself to me.

On the other hand... the Axe Fx isn't for everyone. I play with a guy who is a really good player, and he just can't get along with modelers of any kind. He's tried repeatedly, and something about it doesn't agree with him musically and it ends up negatively affecting his playing. He openly admits it's more his head than his ears, but as the point is to make good music he plays on what inspires him, which happens to be a regular amp. I take no offense or negativity from it. That's his thing and I am completely good with it.

Let him work with it, I bet he'll like it. If not, let the boy make some music on whatever he does like. That's why we're all here, right?
 
EVERY tone and effect he could need in a 4 space rack ( with power and wireless ), CONSISTENCY of tone every single night, and 5 minute setups...

Load up some of Simeon's synth patches, some of Fremen's patches ( Streets Have no name )... and let him lose himself in it... ;-)
 
Just remember, there are people that, no matter what you show them, or they have heard, have already convinced themselves that nothing else in this world is as good as the thing they have decided is tonal gold.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
That clip was tracked thru a UA LA610 preamp and an Empirical Labs Distressor. That combination is going to impart some serious color to that mic'd amp track. Only fair comparison would be to let him jam through your Axe II piped thru that or a similar recording chain.
 
Don't forget, some of the 3rd party IR's were captured through Neve preamps and other good quality mic pre's...
 
I believe that amp is MIMIC modeled in the Axe FX2. You can effectively match that chain and probably achieve a very similar sound. They show where it's set in the video. That should at least get you in the ballpark.
 
You can get that tone plus much better in spades. I'll play in a country/southern rock band and it kills every night no matter what I throw at it. Every soundman every musician audience always comes up and raves about my tone and how well it cut and sat in the mix. Shouldn't be giving the choice a second thought.
 
The Axe has the Komet 60 and Komet Concorde, check the wiki

Amp: all models - Axe-Fx II Wiki

Komet amps were Ken Fisher designs so the Trainwreck models might work too. I'd also point him towards the Morgan AC20 DLX model.

Here's a clip from Kriig using the Comet 60 model.



For cabs try the Scumtone Mix, Class A Blue Mix, Class A Silver Mix, better yet Cab block in Stereo with the Silver and Blue, and also try the Greenback IRs.
 
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The ultra res OH_412_MAR-CB_H-SB-75_Studio-Modern included with firmware 13 pairs pretty nice with it as well.
 
Thanks for all of the feedback guys! I actually sat down today and dialed in some pretty amazing tones with the Comet 60 model. Dude is definitely going to dig it. And thank you guys for the cab suggestions… I believe that was one of the main things I needed. I tend to have only a few different cab choices that I like for my personal taste… which is VERY different from what he is going for in his tone. And where I love tones like this… they are just a little out of my element when it comes to dialing in. But thank you guys again for all of the help!
 
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