Version 10.0 Preview

Here's the kicker with comparing the Axe-fx II to amps. If you are striving to hear the differences, you will find them. When I first listened to the clip posted, it was in passing, and to be fair, it was pretty much right before I went to bed and had been dialing patches for a good part of the day. My thoughts were "I wonder why he posted the clip twice?"

If I really, REALLY, REALLY A/B on my monitors or headphones, there is a slightly edgier quality to the mids in the second clip during the point of highest gain. But that may also be due to the fact that I'm aware they were made with different equipment. In passing observation, the two are so close it's getting nit-picky to start scrapping out the differences. A lot of the "tone" is going to come down to the cabinet or IR used - which I'm blissfully awaiting the day the amp/cab interaction is truly nailed. Post 9.0, the closeness is getting pretty darn crazy.
 
Speculum Speculorum said:
Here's the kicker with comparing the Axe-fx II to amps. If you are striving to hear the differences, you will find them. When I first listened to the clip posted, it was in passing, and to be fair, it was pretty much right before I went to bed and had been dialing patches for a good part of the day. My thoughts were "I wonder why he posted the clip twice?"

If I really, REALLY, REALLY A/B on my monitors or headphones, there is a slightly edgier quality to the mids in the second clip during the point of highest gain. But that may also be due to the fact that I'm aware they were made with different equipment. In passing observation, the two are so close it's getting nit-picky to start scrapping out the differences. A lot of the "tone" is going to come down to the cabinet or IR used - which I'm blissfully awaiting the day the amp/cab interaction is truly nailed. Post 9.0, the closeness is getting pretty darn crazy.
Click to expand...
same here. first time I listened was around 4 in the morning, just quietly through my studio monitors and I thought the same thing as you. listening back today, I can hear a slight difference. don't actually prefer one over the other and the differences aren't more to me like what you'd get when you'd played the same clip twice with the exact same equipment. I could record three A Major chords and even trying to play them exactly the same, there'd still be tiny differences...
 
Speculum Speculorum said:
Here's the kicker with comparing the Axe-fx II to amps. If you are striving to hear the differences, you will find them. When I first listened to the clip posted, it was in passing, and to be fair, it was pretty much right before I went to bed and had been dialing patches for a good part of the day. My thoughts were "I wonder why he posted the clip twice?"

If I really, REALLY, REALLY A/B on my monitors or headphones, there is a slightly edgier quality to the mids in the second clip during the point of highest gain. But that may also be due to the fact that I'm aware they were made with different equipment. In passing observation, the two are so close it's getting nit-picky to start scrapping out the differences. A lot of the "tone" is going to come down to the cabinet or IR used - which I'm blissfully awaiting the day the amp/cab interaction is truly nailed. Post 9.0, the closeness is getting pretty darn crazy.
Click to expand...

Like someone said in an earlier post it would be hard to get two of the same model amps made on the same day to sound this close, there would still be that tiny difference.
I know I could hear changes in my tube amps from day to day when not one knob had been touched whether it be from temperature, humidity, voltage variances from the utility company, analog drift, magnetic pulse from the sun or whatever :) then of course theres my highly inconsistent playing from lack of consistant practice.

Happy new year Cliff!!!!! and FAS you're awesome :)
 
I don't know which clip I like the most, so I have to wait to try the feature for myself.

IMHO the beauty of all these opinions is that it's ok to have different opinions, let's not forget that. What's right and what's wrong is not the case.

I like that :)

To even suggest a potential buyer to buy a different product when one's selling and developing the product oneself,

could to some seem ignorant, vulgar or as some kind of attitude. But to me the approach blooms as an honest, realistic, down to earth way of

saying this product is a modeler and gives the impression and feel of hearing and playing something more than it is. There will always be

someone who by their narrow of mind will shine through as not being satisfied unless they see the actual amp infront of them. For these narrows the

obvious solution is to buy something else - the unit which apparantly should have been standing infront of them instead of the axe-fx.


That being said, it's important to have insight enough to see where the unfairness starts. Is the answer one recieved just a mirror of the attitude

one self projected? Or is this a result of a misunderstanding? Either way I see of it as hard to distinguish.


This was just a branch from the tree of thoughts, hopefully to ease the pulling of hair in the future for all of you.
 
Last edited:
NeoSound said:
Like someone said in an earlier post it would be hard to get two of the same model amps made on the same day to sound this close, there would still be that tiny difference.
I know I could hear changes in my tube amps from day to day when not one knob had been touched whether it be from temperature, humidity, voltage variances from the utility company, analog drift, magnetic pulse from the sun or whatever :) then of course theres my highly inconsistent playing from lack of consistant practice.

Happy new year Cliff!!!!! and FAS you're awesome :)
Click to expand...

One of the challenges (read pain-in-the-ass) aspects of modeling is not day-to-day variations but hour-to-hour and even minute-to-minute variations. As the amp warms up it's tone changes, sometimes dramatically. So I have to let the amps warm up at least 15 minutes before I do the matching procedures.
 
Cobrango said:
I don't know which clip I like the most, so I have to wait to try the feature for myself.

IMHO the beauty of all these opinions is that it's ok to have different opinions, let's not forget that. What's right and what's wrong is not the case. I like that :)
Click to expand...

The great thing is the discussion on which was the mic'd amp, and some got that wrong. We are that close. Thanks Cliff!
 
Now that I know which is which, I can hear the difference. But honestly, it's so close that no one would know if presented with it unaware, and certainly not in a mix. And unless your music consists of nothing but dry rhythm guitars, that's the most important test.
 
Another thing that's probably more pertinent when comparing amp models using the ear is that once a sound gets past the cochlea, it gets psychologically 'steered' by the brain. This is subconscious, and unavoidable, and is also more of a factor in comparisons than whatever differences may exist in the amp and the model.

There was a great video posted in this forum about it, where a switch was set up to do nothing except click, but the test subjects were told it switched between two kinds of audio amplifier. Most picked the tube amp, citing 'warmth' etc. and only one subject copped on that the switch did nothing. Also, Sound On Sound magazine did a blind shootout recently on microphone preamps, and most of the test subjects there found it very hard to find any appreciable difference in the pre's on test.

Just food for thought.
 
So the model and the amp both start to break up at the same position of the guitar volume pot? And the gain and saturation for the model follows the amp when the gtr volume is increased or decreased?

Regardless, the model and the amp are virtually the same in that clip. Sounds great as usual.

Richard
 
Sounds really nice even on my tablet .. i might be blow away after listening to this in the studio tomorrow :)
 
FractalAudio said:
One of the challenges (read pain-in-the-ass) aspects of modeling is not day-to-day variations but hour-to-hour and even minute-to-minute variations. As the amp warms up it's tone changes, sometimes dramatically. So I have to let the amps warm up at least 15 minutes before I do the matching procedures.
Click to expand...

I've owned one amp with tubes (Fender Cyber Twin SE) and it was terrible at modeling any high gain tone (especially for it being a "flagship" amp).

I appreciate this perspective about the AXE FX - I don't have to warm it up, lol! That's never crossed my mind that people would have to do this in the past! :p
 
FractalAudio said:
Yes. I start out with the knob low and then bring it up. The idea was to illustrate the accuracy of the dynamics matching.
Click to expand...
Pick up choice for optimal volume roll off -more vintage voiced I presume? La Villastangacato great Rush tune! Thanks for all you do Cliff!!!!
 
FractalAudio said:
One of the challenges (read pain-in-the-ass) aspects of modeling is not day-to-day variations but hour-to-hour and even minute-to-minute variations. As the amp warms up it's tone changes, sometimes dramatically. So I have to let the amps warm up at least 15 minutes before I do the matching procedures.
Click to expand...

The reproducibility of tones night after night is a knock down drag out home run for the AxeFx. This alone makes it a great gigging rig and might be lost on folks that haven't gigged with vintage amp heads.

For example, I have a nice 70's Twin, but there was one time, for whatever reason, the stars aligned, and it played and sounded better than almost any amp I've ever played. But that nirvanna was only for that one gig. Later, it was good but not that good.

Richard
 
guitardoc said:
People here fuss about if they can hear differences that are not really there or do not matter whereas obvious differences are neglected or if someone hints at them they are treated like blasphemists tainting the holy gospel.
Click to expand...

Please tell us the things that do not matter so we make sure we never discuss them again.

A list of all the obvious stuff too would help everyone realize what is obvious. For some reason you're the only one with this knowledge.

Oh and a bunch of people disagree with you that Cliff should fix whatever you were just fussing about. They'd rather have Axe Edit instead of development in anything else. So go convince them this is more importanter.

that said, i do agree with giving constructive criticism. but maybe do it in the Wish List sub-forum. why are we getting up to version 10 in axe ii? because cliff knows what he wants to hear, and i'm sure what you described is in his plan of attack. but he is leading the way in digital modeling, so i'm sure it's hard to hear "complaints" when his gear is currently the best thing out there.
 
Last edited:
Ok so it's nearly a year later since my first post using V5, and the difference between V5 and V9 is astounding!!

My AXE FX runs directly to 2 Bose L1 M1 towers: Guitar -> Line 6 Wireless G90 -> Mogami XLR's -> Bose L1 Towers.

With Cliff continuing to update this incredible box, it's incomprehensible what improvement is going to be added (tone wise). But with each firmware some new dimension is introduced, and my brain is feasting on some new sound I've never heard before.

A while back I commented on how I spent a lot of time tweaking to get the tone I wanted, but once finished, I was completely satisfied. These days, aside from finding new IR's to play with and slightly modifying the main tone knobs (bass, mids, treb), I spend little time tweaking anymore. It's mainly plug and play. Now I spend time playing guitar and finding new FX to come up with! I'M LOVING IT!

The Axe going into 2 Bose L1's is fucking badass everybody! My band and I are completely enveloped in the tone our audience hears. It's nothing short of a spine tingling experience.

At first my band was disappointed with my equipment combination (Bose L1 and Axe FX). A huge learning curve was introduced. Everyone had to control their volume levels much more carefully than before, feedback issues were introduced, and as a result of the feedback, we were seriously concerned about hearing damage. Additionally, Firmware V1's tone sounded plastic through the Bose L1's. I was literally hours away from selling my Bose L1 towers for a traditional PA setup.

Fortunately with the help from the community at Bose, and several phone conversations with a couple of brilliant minds, they convinced me to stick with it.

Since V9's release my tone sounds incredible. Weather it's clean, crunchy or high gain from hell, these Bose L1 towers sing the tone. It not only envelopes the whole band on stage but the audience as well, meaning everyone is always in the "sweet spot". I don't know quite how to explain it but the stereo field works brilliantly too. To boot, firmware version 10 is on the horizon. Because of this last update I'm no longer lusting for the next firmware. I am however looking forward to the new IR updates. I think this is going to throw another dimension in my tone.

To conclude, this combination is the shit.

Not sure how this ended up in this thread... need to move to reviews.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom