What did you rely on before the Axe-Fx

I was lucky to stumble across the AxeFx after realizing the shortcomings of the midrange modelling stuff - After that, I almost pulled the trigger on some expensive pieces that I never would have been able to keep up with financially (i.e. I almost jumped into the whole Randall modular pre-amp thing with higher end effects (i.e. TC), and, for a while I was really gassing for a Rocktron Prophesy and VHT stereo power amp). In hind sight, though the Axe is a significant investment, it has saved me a ton of $ is holy grail buying and selling. The Axe has turned out to be my holy grail so far, not to mention great resale value (I got 60% of the initial value on resale of my Ultra last year after 3 years of light use (and the buyer was very pleased to get it for that price) - I think this is common).
 
Guitar Rig 5/Impulse Responses, Pod 2.0(ugh, stopped using that once I started using Guitar Rig). Then I ran into the CPU issue by having to many instances of Guitar Rig at once. Decided to finally splurge on a nice piece of gear and got the AFXII. Haven't looked back since.
 
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Almost forgot - I also had a Digitech GNX1000 which I really liked in comparison to the Boss stuff. There were some great sounds in that box and I was able to get a hold of some custom patches called "super models" that were put together by some super user some somewhere and sold as a package and which really pushed the boundaries of what that box could do. For the $300 or $400 I paid for in around 06, it was a great little modeller.
 
The mixed pedals and rack effects with a half stack:

EL-34 55w Rivera Knucklehead Reverb
Axess Electronics GRX4 with a DynaComp, Phase 90, and a Boss SD-1
A second Axess Electronics GRX4 with a Line 6 Mod Pro and Echo Pro
Rivera Knucklehead 412V30 cab

I used the Rivera Headmaster midi footcontroller that came with the amp to control everything and had a volume pedal and wah, too.

I don't miss any of that. No sir, not at all. It took forever to set up in comparison to the 4 cables I plug in now with my AxeFx2 rig, and sounded about 1/3 as good.
 
Mesa Boogie Mark V combo with a TC Electronics Flashback delay in the loop.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great amp. But after I got my axe fx it sat in my corner, and in the end i just decided to give it to my dad because I couldn't find a buyer lol.
 
Crate and cheap stompoxes with a Hondo Grand Prix with a cheapo Van Halen stripes and a mirror pickguard. Got it at the Great House of Guitars for $100...lol
Peavey Bandit and cheap stompboxes...one of which was a TS9 Ibanez....I had NO IDEA what I had...I scored it for $10 bucks from my buddy with a 2x12 SS combo
Peavey Bandit and Digitech RP-1...FIRST ever decent Floor FX unit...with a Charvel 475 Deluxe in Sunburst....Old Jacksons are so nice
Peavey Ultra 60 with PV Sheffield 4x12 and RP-1...in the front input through the Preamp..first gig-worthy rig with a tube pre and power section...with Charvel
Peavey Ultra 60 with Digitech RP-2000...after TWO broken RP-1s...still through the front input of the tube amp...still rocking the sunburst
Peavey Ultra 60 with Line 6 POD...the FIRST Line 6 bean...still through the front input...Got an ESP KH-2 from my buddy for 5 bills!!!!! The REAL one
Peavey Ultra 60 with Line 6 POD XT Live and ESP KH-2......Through the Power Amp in, using the Line 6 as my complete preamp with the Ultra 60 Power Section....Into a Marshall 4x12....Not bad at all
Peavey Ultra 60 with NO MORE LINE 6!!! I need some new gear....lol
Axe Fx 2....seriously....I just learned about the the Axe like 3 months ago. I own my own tree company, and my Axe Fx II will be getting ordered in the next month or so, followed by a pair of CLR active wedges and an MFC. What an exciting time to play the geeetar!!...and if we have a good year I will be grabbing an EBMM JP6 BFR Island Burst KOA with a piezo.
 
Axe2
ultra
standard
Suhr pt100/ g system
Randall rm 100/g major
Triaxis/395/g force
These were my main rigs that I used.Had many other heads, vht,engl,mesa,5150.First modeller was a gsp21, then art sgx, johnson milleneum, etc.
Had sansamp rackmount(liked this).Rocktron piranha(like this).Many other things.
I was always looking for an axefx- it just hadn't been invented yet!
 
The beast you see me tweaking in the attachment.

Mesa Mark V and Mesa Road King, with about a dozen rack units and as many pedals.

The Axe FX is better in every way.
 

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Fender Deville 2x12. Great fro cleans. I run a lot of stomp boxes, drives and distortion going directly in the cean sectionof the amp. DS-1, Wampling, BB preamps. Best results came using Radial tone bone classic and hot british. Visualsiund Jecky and hide was workng great too. I've use different racks in the loop for effects, Rocktron, Boss gt700. I've run a Pod 2.0 in the poweramp section on the Fender too. I tried every modelers around testing them on reference monitors. I've tried the Randall modular preamp and poweramp stuff. Sounded good, buy way too loud for my appartement.Axe fx with Matrix amplification a good reference cab or wedge, or regular cab, is know my way to go. More options, great tone at any volume, no tube maintenace, light system. It does it al for me, and sounds awesome.
 
I've gone through a lot of gear over the years. Here are some of the gigging rigs I used:

[Boss GP100]->-[Mesa 50/50]->-[2x12 With EV12L's]
[Boss GP100]->-[Mesa 50/50]->-[Johnson 2x12 V30's]
[H&K Access]->-[Lexicon MPX-1]->-[Mesa 50/50]->-[Johnson 2x12 V30's]
[H&K Access]->-[TC GForce]->-[Mesa 50/50]->-[Johnson 2x12 V30's]
[Triaxis]->-[TC GForce]->-[Mesa 50/50]->-[G-Flex 2x12 V30's]
[Boss GT6]->-[Mesa 50/50]->-[2 G-Flex 2x12 V30's]
[Boss GT6]->-[Triaxis]->-[Mesa 50/50]->-[2 G-Flex 2x12 V30's]
[Boss GT6]->-[Triaxis]->-[VHT 2-50-2]->-[2 G-Flex 2x12 V30's]
[Boss GT6]->-[Randall RM4]->-[VHT 2-50-2]->-[2 G-Flex 2x12 V30's]
[AxeFX Ultra]
[AxeFX II]

These are just the rigs I gigged with. I went through a ton of gear when I was tonequesting. Right before the Ultra came along I built up a 14 space rack with my ultimate rig. It sounded amazing! It included a full pedal shelf, GCX Switcher, Rane mixer, GForce, MPX1, Triaxis, H&K Access, VHT 2/50/2 stereo into 2 G-Flex cabs with V30's. When all said and done it weighed about 200 lbs. A couple trips up & down the stairs made me realize it just wasn't practical on my own. I took notice of Fractal when the Ultra came out. I had all but given up on the all-in-one solution. The Ultra didn't gel with me right away. I was thinking it would go nicely in my huge rack... but things started getting better as firmware updates happened. After about 6 to 8 months I finally built a rig centered around the Ultra and went direct. Now I run direct with the II. Both units sound great.

I do occasionally miss the days of having an amp pushing air behind me. Sometimes we do gigs where I just need an amp. I have an H&K Switchblade and the GFlex cabs for that. It sounds good and the effects are useable.
 
I liked the Vox Tonelab a lot (SE, the big blue blue one with 2 exp pedals) as I was going direct for years. With the tube and valve reactor circuit it felt and sounded more real to me than anything else I had tried. And it's built like a tank.

The last live rig I had before I got an Ultra was also a Tonelab SE and an Orange Rocker 30 1x12 tube combo (sometimes I'd bring out a 4x12).

If my AFX rig is 'entrenched' and I'm recording I still bring that rig out for live shows. Before I had an MFC I used the Tonelab for MIDI control of the AFX and have run direct with it a few times as well.

Heh, and just used the Tonelab SE last night with my JCM 800 and 4x12 rig at a studio jam...so yea the Tonelab SE still gets a lot of use around here. A survivor....
 
G-System into Mark V with mini-gizmo channel switcher and TC Drive that midi'd into the G.

Before that I had a Rocktron black face Chameleon, midi mate, and an Intellifex for reverbs. Had a couple of XPressions as well. Into Roadster, And BadCat 30 R.

For some reason I have never owned any Line 6 piece of gear. Not out of any bias, just never got there.

Joe
 
Egnater M4/Mod50 with a lot of modules, TOL100, IE4
Mesa Boogie Triaxis, 20/20
Line 6 Pod, XT, Vetta 2
TC G-Force, G-System
Digitech 2112
ADA MP1
VHT 2-50-2
A boatload of pedals.

And more stuff I can't remember.
 
Hughes and Kettner Zentera Head with the Z-Board and 2 Mesa Boogie Thiele Cabs and a 2x12 TAD Cab
I still have it and it still sounds great. I was always wondering why Huges and Kettner let them die
They where great and had a lot of potential.
But since 2007 I'm fractalised and have no regrets at all
Dieter
 
Rocktron Prophesy 2 =====> Marshall 9200 =====> Marshall 1960A
OR =====> Roland VS 1880 =====> Comp via optic

Before that


Damage Control Solid Metal =====> Roland VS 1880 (reverb and delay effects from vs8f2's)

Before that


Digitech RP-12 =====> Roland VS 1880

Before that


Korg A3 =====> Tascam 1/4" reel.
 
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Too much stuff. Much needs to be sold!
Axe Fx II and IEM are all I need now.

Let me know when you're ready to sell that beautiful monstrosity, the Mesa 295, I would like added to my growing collection of amps! I mint open up a museum! Lol!
 
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