Uber-Noobish Question: Everything Needed For My AFX Rig

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barnacleman11

New Member
Ok, I am completely overwhelmed right now. I am SERIOUSLY (as in I am currently selling stuff to buy an AFX Ultra) interested in investing in an Axe FX Ultra. I am mainly interested in recording at this point and the AFX looks absolutely amazing. I was blown away by some of the clips I've been listening to. What I really want to know is what do I need for a decent recording setup with an Ultra? I don't plan on going the "AFX into a power amp and cab" direction, I want to invest in a good set of FRFR speakers but even after wading through pages of posts and threads, I'm still a little lost. Is there any way that somebody on here could compile a basic list of what I need to look for with about a $3500 budget (minus $2000 for an Ultra)? I'm not talking about software, but just what I would need to invest in as far as speakers, interfaces and all that jazz is concerned. Any recommendations to look into would be swell. I know that this is a very noobish thread to make, but I come from a simple world of guitar>amp>cab. This is an entirely new field for me so I really appreciate anybody's input here :D . Thanks for taking the time, I look forward to learning more about this amazing piece of gear and eventually bombarding the recordings forum with my strangeness :lol:
 
Oh, and I wasn't sure where to post this thread so I put it in the general discussion area. If that is wrong just let me know!
 
If you want to, after doing some research and narrowing down the gear you're looking at, feel free to PM me or just list here the gear and I'll try and give you any help I can. I'm using the Ultra soley for recording also.

Just my two cents based on what you said and your budget:
-If you have no plans to record vocals, I'd plan on just going digital out of the Ultra and get a minimalistic interface. If this is the case, you won't want to spend money on decent converters or mic pre's if you don't need them. One side note: do your research here and get something that has a pretty good reputation for a decent d/a and hopefully balanced monitor outs.

-Think long term: If you have $1,600 or so to play with, pick one thing, like maybe monitors, and make that your priority. Get as high end of monitors as you can afford and just get a very basic interface for your computer to get you by until you can afford something more high end. What this philosophy will do for you is it will allow you to record now, but will start you building a quality set up that you will be happy with for years. You'll start out with two high end pieces-your Ultra and some nice monitors. Then, as finances allow, you can add one nice piece after another and then you'll have all high end gear and a nice, little set up. If you get an average interface, an average set of monitors, spend extra money on unecessary software, you'll probably end up selling most of it down the road and buy nicer gear. Anyway, this is just my opinion. I did it the other way and spent a lot more money than I needed to because I ended up selling gear, buying more, selling again etc.

Just my two cents. You can take it or toss it. :D
 
So you have $1500 to spend. At a bare minimum, you'll need monitors, an interface and interconnects, assuming you have a computer. For recording, I'd go with a good set of nearfield monitors, something with 5" woofers will work. The AF will sound great through them, at close proximity. Adam monitors are popular.

For an interface, I'd go for something simple, (only a couple inputs if you won't be recording the whole band). But I highly recommend getting something with built in monitoring (built in speaker outputs, and a basic mixer function which allows you to directly monitor the sound coming out of the Axe, and mix it with the sound coming out of your computer. this allows you to play, or record with no latency, avoiding the need to use software monitoring). The TC Konnekt and Apogee interfaces do this. There may be others that do this.

Then of course make sure you leave $100 or so for interconnects, and figure out what you'll need and order them in advance. Nothing worse than getting your AF, but not being able to use it because you're missing some key cable.

If you have anything left over, a set of headphones and a MIDI controller and expression pedal would be nice to have. The Rocktron MIDIMate works well and you can get them used for less than $200.
 
I would get Presonus Firepod for an audio interface ... Then Dynadio BM5A as monitors and small mixer like 6-8 inputs .. look around they are not that expensive ... This is similar to what I use and it works great for me ... You may also look at the set of Event TR8 as a monitors set .. I have them and they work great.

Good luck,

Mik.
 
Thank all of you! This is exactly what I was looking for. Ok, I'm going to continue to look around and check out some of the things that were suggested. Hopefully I can be ordering everything within the next couple of weeks. I mainly just want to record guitar and vocals so yes, I don't need an interface with too many inputs because recording a whole band won't be happening anytime soon. I'll post a list of what I'm interested in purchasing once I have everything all together! I love this forum, there is so much to learn on here :shock: . Thanks again guys!
 
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