Well that was somehwat underwhelming...

Shenks said:
I just wondered if anybody had ever heard an AXE FX in a live setting that was disappointing? I suspect the answer will be 'no'
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You suspect wrongly. I've heard plenty of...um...disappointing live Axe-Fx tones. I've also heard quite a few great ones. Just because you have the magic box doesn't mean you can dial it in to sound great live. But...the potential is there for GREAT live tone.

With the Kemper too.
 
I think that is the crux of it... the potential is there and you just have to understand it... find it... and use it
 
Axe fx is awesome , from what I hear Kemper is also awesome.

Some players aren't awesome , some sound guys aren't awesome .
 
I've heard rigs of all kinds sound rubbish through FOH, from direct solutions, to boutique amps and pedals mic'd up.

All I know is that the AFX nails the AC30 tone I used to have with my "real" rig, so I am confident that the tone is there. How that translates to FOH is another issue that is sometimes just out of your control.
 
No telling what profiles that Kemper dude was using I guess? some commercial profiles sound great I believe, and others less so... To answer your question, my 1st few nights out with the AxeFX were suboptimal to say the least! I def made some mistakes early on. Most serious by far, was a tone-match IR that I played unfiltered & loud for just one night that has left me with a high pitched ringing noise in both ears some 10-weeks on :( (i still can't believe I fcukd up this big after 25+ years of gigging...) Anyway no fault of the box, I quickly found out that cabs needed to be filtered to sound right (above 5-6k for me) and by default diminish potential for this type of HF damage.

*I'd actually love if there was a global HP / LP filter option to treat all preset cabs at once.*

Much of the dreaded 'deep tweaking' is no longer necessary now either IMHO. Recent FW updates / standard presets (you could just stay on preset #2 Bassguy '65 forever!) sound and feel similar enough to my mic'd amps to allow me forgo the real deal in a live situation. And there's no sign of a slow-down in the FW updates either thankfully, so this looks set to improve indefinitely :) So I'd have to agree with others here regarding its capabilities live. Having been a bit of a doubting Thomas myself all along, I've actually only recently splashed out on a MFC-101 (great item) & have just added my name to the list for an AxeFX controller unit (Rac xx?..). Not necessarily a must-have, but I just miss the ability to tweak tones like a 'real-amp' in a live situation. Others may be able to dial in live tones accurately at home (I can get them in the ballpark...), I still need the band around me at gig volume to get the tone & feel right.

Don't worry, all of this can take a bit of time, but having used it live for a few months now, I can't see myself going back to tubes live anytime soon. In fact I just sold off an awesome '69 TR and an AC30 because I realise I won't be gigging either of them ever again. Even more bizarre, is that for the first time EVER after selling a good amp, I feel zero sellers remorse nor inclination to run out and replace either of them straight away! Even If for some reason AxeFX isn't in my future long term, it has been effective enough to teach me that big old combos certainly aren't either! All the best!
 
Eanna said:
*I'd actually love if there was a global HP / LP filter option to treat all preset cabs at once.*
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There's a global graphic EQ. That would have saved your ears. :encouragement:

Speaking of which...see a doctor about that. 10 weeks is too long, my brother.
 
Shenks said:
So... although I know when I get my own Axe FX I have high hopes, I just wondered if anybody had ever heard an AXE FX in a live setting that was disappointing? I suspect the answer will be 'no' but even allowing for the fact that we are often at the mercy of the sound engineer I just wanted confirmation that I am not worrying needlessly.

Over to you guys...
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to be really honest matey I've heard all kinds of high end amps and gear sound disappointing live

kinda echoing a lot of the previous comments really..
 
I have a steady Thursday night gig where I run sound from the stage using a Behringer XR18 and an ipad and I've had a couple guys sit in on guitar using my Gear (AxeFX, Port City Cab, Matrix Power amp and Cab IR through FOH). I'm not very shy about having someone plug in or even play my guitar. Hell, play the whole night, I still get paid :)

I've heard some great playing and not so great playing and the only changes are the player. I wouldn't be worried about the inherent tone of the axeFX. There's a local guy in LA I know who still gigs with an Ultra and he sounds GREAT. Refuses to upgrade to a II because he "has his sound dialed in"
 
Back in the day I was hangin’ out with some good musician buddies of mine for a little impromptu party and in the middle of taking up a collection for our party needs, Glenn Schwartz (former member of the James Gang and Pacific Gas and Electric) stopped by to say hello... Long story short,... after we were all good and toasty, (except for Glenn), we mutually decided to have an acoustic jam session as per usual. Glenn grabbed an old $60 dollar, twisted warped neck, trench fretted, elephant turd of an acoustic guitar and proceeded to,... much to our jaw dropping astonishment,... Rock The House.
This scenario for all of us in that room, was a clear demonstration that the equipment in and of itself, was inconsequential to the end awesomeness.

It truly is a tremendously wonderful privilege and blessing to have top of the line cutting edge equipment, but in essence, music that truly delights and deeply touches the soul, is music that is born of the heart of the man, whose discretionary hands are it's master.

Cheers!
 
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Shenks said:
So... although I know when I get my own Axe FX I have high hopes, I just wondered if anybody had ever heard an AXE FX in a live setting that was disappointing? I suspect the answer will be 'no' but even allowing for the fact that we are often at the mercy of the sound engineer I just wanted confirmation that I am not worrying needlessly.

Over to you guys...
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Yes, I did tonight! to be fair about this I have not been playing out so all of my presets have been dialed in for up close monitoring. I ran through a Mackie VLz board with a flat EQ strip and a pair of 15" Mackie SRM's and what was coming out sounded metallic in the upper end and stuffy in the mids. I tried not to let it bother me but it really sucked. It is very different compared to the studio monitors. I could have taken more time to tune things but I was in a lazy mood and didn't want to Eff with it. I can see why some really have a hard time with FRFR in a live setting where the mains and monitors change a lot.
 
Thanks to everybody that's chimed in with various views and also the PMs I've received.... all very useful info and I now know I shouldn't automatically expect magic straight out of the box (even though it would be a nice ideal) but I am confident I can find my voice through the Axe FX and project that through the FOH.

Just to put things into context I've used a modeller of some sort or another for the majority of my guitar playing history and it was only 12months ago I went down the route of using stompboxes into a variety of valve amps. The thing is, I've got thoroughly frustrated with the tap dancing involved and also other aspects or limitations that are present so Fractal is the next logical progression for me.

Thanks again - this just proves this is a very helpful and informative forum and I can't wait to be a properly active part of it :)
 
mesaboog said:
Yeah but....how is this any different than traditional amp/cab mic'd using PA gear that is crappy or inconsistent?
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There's several differences. The main one that comes into play here is probably FM. Also the very act of slapping a typical cab mic on a guitar speaker is going to kill a lot of high freq content that most folks aren't used to hearing in a guitar tone anyhow. Compared with FRFR, which allows you to keep as much of that high end as your IR will allow, and coupled with FM from studio vs stage levels, the difference can be night and day.
 
mesaboog said:
Yeah but....how is this any different than traditional amp/cab mic'd using PA gear that is crappy or inconsistent?
Click to expand...

It's not... and again if I had taking the time to EQ presets for the Mackies it could have been better. I was merely sharing my experience with the difference between the two speakers and it was not in the context of a full band mix just me playing through the Mackies. Had there been someone in the audience listening like the OP was I'm sure they would have felt the same.

So I guess the point of all this would be, to the OP... if you're going to get an Ax FX make sure you use a monitoring system the you like and feel comfortable with and use it consistently whenever possible. As to the FOH let the sound guy worry about that, it's his job to get you to sit in the mix and sound as good as you can.
 
JOHNNYROCKIT said:
Back in the day I was hangin’ out with some good musician buddies of mine for a little impromptu party and in the middle of taking up a collection for our party needs, Glenn Schwartz (former member of the James Gang and Pacific Gas and Electric) stopped by to say hello... Long story short,... after we were all good and toasty, (except for Glenn), we mutually decided to have an acoustic jam session as per usual. Glenn grabbed an old $60 dollar, twisted warped neck, trench fretted, elephant turd of an acoustic guitar and proceeded to,... much to our jaw dropping astonishment,... Rock The House.
This scenario for all of us in that room, was a clear demonstration that the equipment in and of itself, was inconsequential to the end awesomeness.

It truly is a tremendously wonderful privilege and blessing to have top of the line cutting edge equipment, but in essence, music that truly delights and deeply touches the soul, is music that is born of the heart of the man, whose discretionary hands are it's master.

Cheers!
Click to expand...
Good gear will not improve your playing; but it will help you to concentrate on what matters: good playing.

A good player can make bad equipment sound decent. But a decent player can sound a lot better on good equipment.

I'm sick of all this "it's in your hands!" bullshit. Yes, it probably doesn't matter if you wield a 500$ or a 5000$ guitar. But it does matter if you use a 50$ guitar or a 500$ guitar. There's only so much you can do if your guitar is badly intonated, has horrible frets or is just generally poorly maintained. And that is just judging from the quality of sound alone, not the feel and playability.
All the youtube guys using a cheap-ass guitar and still sound okay put a lot of maintenance into this guitar. Or just got lucky with their specific model. And even then the guitar probably doesn't feel comfortable playing either.
Just because you can doesn't mean it's fun.

Factory tolerances are just what they are: a range of parameters in which a product is not considered defective. If you're lucky, you can find a guitar that scores exactly into the middle of the tolerance range, giving you a usable guitar. But more than often, you don't.
 
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