What's your base tone?

[JoKeR III]

It probably sounds dumb, but I always forget to try using dirt pedals for gain tones. I always default to amp gain, but I think I'll work at rectifying that tonight.

Even though I came from the world of a clean platform amp and 3-4 dirt pedals to get different types of gain, the Axe III was so easy to get any tone I wanted with just the amp that I forgot about using drive pedals too. It wasn't until I started messing around with the Nuclear Tone, as well as the Matchless and AC models, that I rediscovered how good it sounded to throw a drive in front of the amp.

 

[sixtystring]

I’ve been stuck on the Triple Crest 3 for my high gain/ lead tone... I keep trying other models but nothing has knocked out off for me yet....

What IRs are you using with the triple crest?

 

[Joe Bfstplk]

Even though I came from the world of a clean platform amp and 3-4 dirt pedals to get different types of gain, the Axe III was so easy to get any tone I wanted with just the amp that I forgot about using drive pedals too. It wasn't until I started messing around with the Nuclear Tone, as well as the Matchless and AC models, that I rediscovered how good it sounded to throw a drive in front of the amp.

Having suffered a sizeable portion of the '90s trying to get a decent set of sounds from a Boss Dual OverDrive, I eventually shifted away from pedals-into-clean-amp and moved on to getting the tone from a channel-switching amp or preamp.



I wound up eventually with a modified Knight KM15 tube amp (EL84s, 15W), slaved on a homebrew reactive dummy load, preamped with a Hafler HellRazor, with a cheap ToneLok TubeScreamer in front to add more dirt when needed. IIRC, I have two of them now (the pedal). This rig rocked for several years.

Actually, now that I think about it, I have quite a few drive/dirt pedals hanging around collecting dust - each with some aspect I liked and a limitation or two that eventually retired it - which I bought one at a time after dismantling the rack rig 16 or so years ago.

 

[grandinq]

Obviously with the AF3 you don't really have to have a base tone the way you would with a traditional amp/pedalboard setup, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a default sound that covers most of their needs. It would also be helpful to know what instrument and genre you're playing.

So, what is it?

I mostly play in a tech death band, so I've been really flirting with the Thordendal stuff to get really tight Recto tones with my PRS Cu24. That being said, the pushed AC30 with my Telecaster is a surprisingly versatile sound that I've been loving for black metal stuff.

For me it’s the @austinbuddy Live Gold Dirty Shirley 2 preset. I use the low gain with the CS2 boost as my basic rhythm sound. That covers my classic rock tone needs for just about everything.

Coupled with my beloved PRS McCarty, I have never been so happy with my sound.

 

[Jan Geerts]

Deluxe Reverb and Plexis. And sometimes I cheat. Right now with the Hook models

 

[SacredGroove]

Having never owned ANY of the amps modeled in the Axe III, I feel most at home with the FAS amps, specifically the Modern amp models. I mostly play heavy rock and metal.

 

[wcfieldskx]

Shiva - Clean
Morgan AC20 - light gain, breakup
Friedman BE - mid gain
Dual Rectifier / Archon - heavy gain

 

[GaryMcT]

50 watt plexi model about halfway up for everything. That’s what I use when I’m using a real amp too. Guitar volume and pickup selector for various gain levels.

 

[JDR3009]

I'm going through some experimentation right now but everything is firmly Mesa.

IIC+ Deep/Bright or Triaxis LD2 Yellow for rhythms, boosted with either a Klon-esque drive or a plain old Tubescreamer, JC120 for cleans with a healthy dose of chorus on there. I'm finding the secret to getting an instantly-better sound is to use the preamps in the cab block. Turning them up so they're just shy of hitting the red adds something pleasing to my ear.

 

[Overcaster]

Somehow I always tend to gravitate towards the CAE3+. Maybe because an old aquaintance of mine used to have a customized, modded version of it that he built himself. It had enough gain for like 3 amps.
Also the old Recto on orange normal is totally a go-to.

For cleans I tend to either go for the traditional Twin or something Dumbly

 

[rossipedia]

6160 Block.

But mainly that's because I owned one back in the 90s and that's the amp I learned to play on, so I almost subconsciously play better and respond better when playing on it.

 

[edo]

My general purpose "go to" preset uses brit800 for (not so) clean and brit#34 with different settings for rhythm and lead. I have a few fx preloaded, some pre and some post, in case I want to add them here and there: compressor, jam ray (to either make the clean channel crunchier or to boost the lead channel) and tremolo before the amp, and chorus, delay and reverb after.

Lately I've been experimenting with different amp models, keeping the same concept: super verb normal for clean channel, Friedman BE for rhythm and lead. But I have not had the chance to try this new preset in a band scenario..

 

[Jupiter]

Most of the time it's just the Plexi 100W High or 1959SLP Treble for anything from totally clean (bright cap off, presence at 0 or very low, drive less than 4 ,Master Volume 8-10 etc.) to very distorted sounds (bright cap on, drive anywhere from 5-10, plus a drive block in front etc).

From time to time I also use the Carol-Ann Tucane Clean, Double Verb Normal, Brit JTM45, or Jazz 120 for cleans, with the Carol-Ann Tucane Clean being my favorite of the bunch nowadays.

I rarely use or need really heavily distorted sounds but in the past (just for a few recordings) I've also used Shiver Lead and Cornfed M50 just for that.

 

[sacredgeometry]

My base tone? I dont have one. An empty preset and I work from there depending on what I am trying to sound like.

 

[JDR3009]

My base tone? I dont have one. An empty preset and I work from there depending on what I am trying to sound like.

What, every time you boot up the Axe FX you make a preset depending on what you’re feeling that day? Come on man

 

[RifferMcDuck]

Normally it's a 5153 red, but lately it's surprisingly been a boosted Herbie channel 3, even though I've never played a Diesel amp in real life. I've always loved the Friedmans, but I can't seem to tweak them where I want them. But once I crack that nut, I'll make the jump to one of them for my base tone. Stupid sexy Friedmans

 

[guizmobro]

Nuclear Tone seems to have been my base for a few months. Used for clean to crunch Tele/Strat/Power'tron tones. Jamray drive model pairs quite nicely for more gain. Keep wanting to experiment with other models but the Nuclear Tone is simply a great amp.

Do you use the "ideal" tab? I'm on a strat and have to dial BMT in the ideal tab to get useful sounds. I use a gm20 cab which works great. What are you using?

 

[68injunhed]

AC20/DC30 set to a dirty clean, then pushing it with different boosts/drives.

 

[JoKeR III]

Do you use the "ideal" tab? I'm on a strat and have to dial BMT in the ideal tab to get useful sounds. I use a gm20 cab which works great. What are you using?

I use the Ideal tab as well as the Output Compressor in the Advanced tab. The IRs I use are the 1X12 Nuclear Tone 121 B and 1X12 Nuclear Tone 160 Rear. Here's a preset with some rough scenes. I do like the WGS Retro 30 IR with the Nuclear Tone as well. It's a great IR for just about anything.

 

[guizmobro]

I use the Ideal tab as well as the Output Compressor in the Advanced tab. The IRs I use are the 1X12 Nuclear Tone 121 B and 1X12 Nuclear Tone 160 Rear. Here's a preset with some rough scenes. I do like the WGS Retro 30 IR with the Nuclear Tone as well. It's a great IR for just about anything.

That's too kind of you! I'll try it out later tonight. I somehow always find it's easier to do my own presets. Or let's put it this way: I was always disappointed by preset packs I bought.