Who here uses real pedals along with their AxeFX?

C

ConnorGilks

Experienced
Just curious to see who uses some real analog gear with their AxeFX, and why you do. With the extreme flexibility and Tone Match feature the unit can pretty much do anything, but sometimes it's just nice to use a pedal or it's too hard to recreate a specific effect. So who's using what? :)
 
I use my Cry Baby 535 (not the Q version) pedal and Art Levellar to tame the peaks of the wah so it doesn't clip any stages in various insert points I use in different presets.

I use the 535 because:
a) Adam Jones from Tool still uses his.
b) I got a great deal on it back in 1993 at Sam Ash
c) I like the feel of the unit under my foot.
d) I like all the different EQ curves on it without trying to replicate them.
e) It uses no extra CPU.

I also have an original Maestro Boomerang wah pedal that I might incorporate into my rig at some point due to the physical experience of using it and the different vibe I get using it.

At some point in the future, I plan on getting an EHX B9 pedal, Mooer MSG1 Slow Engine Guitar Volume Pedal, and an Eventide H9, so that I could still build new sounds without worrying about maxing out AF2 CPU all the time or trying to cheat CPU load by using the lower quality wherever possible within the Fractal.

With the way I am using the Fractal, getting the effects only Fractal as an additional slave unit would be a bit overkill for me at this point.
 
Boss Ds1 only as a buffer, Planet Waves ct4 tuner,Whammy 5, Cry Baby or only a line 6 m13.
I like the tracking of the Whammy 5 and the feel of the Cry Baby expression pedal .
I like the m13 because I can add other effects in chain with Axe fx2, like Pitch Glide, Synth, ring modulator,
phaser, univibe, ecc ecc when Axe has high Cpu usage.
 
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im using with mxr 78custom badass distortion
if you ask the reason:
1- i had about 40 pedals before axe-fx now i sold them all but this mxr was my most used one in live gigs so its a little bit emotinal
2- i know there are tons of good drive pedals inside axe-fx but this has a different feel
3- it sounds REALLY good with mesa/bogner/fender amps! tons of fun!
 
Setting up pedal board tomorrow , raising mfc up on a shelf on pedal board 3 inches and the space below that area will hold the following : octaswitch to control 8 channels and you can stack efx in each channel not always used and cheat..
TS 9+, wesbury 20, nady td1, hartman fuzz, some custom made fuzz home built, essentially putting boost and dirt pedals I dont have inside axe and some I do have inside axe to match them up so I can save those in library.
The octa switch has 8 channels with 8 mini dip switches under each channel or button you flip which efx you want on together up and in one button push you get those efx on together. I want 2 delays per amp before the amp and an echoplex might be a 3rd delay this would combine with delays inside axe mxr flanger, leslie sim, supervibe, I have some rack gear that will be on channel 6,7,8 leslie sim or supervibe is rack gear thats not used alot so it would be there but id have on off buttons out front to turn it on if needed... some rack gear will be efx used for another unit with is profex II and the octa switch allows 2 amps I put lehle 3@1 aby boxes right past those and can drive 4 amps if I want.
So for home use if I want to use my tube amps and axe fx II and profex II I can run all my tube amps and those units for recording..

If I want 3 delays per amp I have them either before the amps or in efx loop or built in via axe fx II.
the mxr delays and flanger are on off switchable and dont have to be used or on at all but if I want
to preset some delay times I can and set and forget them also I can match those on the fly with built in delays inside axe fx II and save those after they are matched in library.
I still like the sound of some of the dinosaur pedals and I wanted the ability to run several together and ran into a limitation but got around that bye thinking the signal path out some...
If want tube screamer and fuzz on together with mxr flanger I have it and that took no cpu space as mentioned before..

I will clone each of those too pedals inside the axe and duplicate those to have duplicates of each inside as eventually I want 2 axe fx units one xl one axe 2 and I might run
that in the efx loop of profex 2 and hit my tube amps with that as its line level out with gain knob on back ! Very handy to have that for tube amps or stereo power amp as
you can drive things a bit hotter and the amps sound like they are about to come apart but its line level..

I wanted the ability to trainwreck pedals together before the axe and blend them with pedals already saved inside and having the rack gear on 678 of octa switch allows me short leads too rack with axe and profex
and other rack gear. I wanted a smaller footprint for pedal board so putting mfc 101 on riser putting strip and pedal power 2 under that along with several other boosts fuzz and octavia, that allows those to be set in stone
and octa switch has send returns for efx out back its narrow and about 3 inches longer then mfc so those leads would be short cable runs send return to each pedal 12345 slots and 678 of that will be send return to rack efx.
Those can be stacked and anything thats not used all the time leslie sim supervibe or flanger say can be off all the time and controlled by on off buttons out front.

Thats something that came to me that will allow those pedals before axe fx II or profex II
when they are both working and I can ab between those easily I can tweak the axe fx II
to emulate some saved eqs I have in profex II so then id have those cloned as well.

At that point I can tone match back into axe fx from usb after its in logic or reaper..

If I use profex II and feed two tube amps Id be able to have all the xl efx.
Im going to hit another road block and thats midi for both and I might wind up with two mfc controllers.
that would be alot of tap dancing but at home for recording purposes im sitting down and could use both feet and
I might do that live too but since its midi Im hoping I can eventually map them to be one button push per patch
scenes would be quite something my head will probably just go like that guys head in Scanners but im going for it.

I want to see if I can shut down the grid..
:)
 
Tex Axe said:
Setting up pedal board tomorrow , raising mfc up on a shelf on pedal board 3 inches and the space below that area will hold the following : octaswitch to control 8 channels and you can stack efx in each channel not always used and cheat..
TS 9+, wesbury 20, nady td1, hartman fuzz, some custom made fuzz home built, essentially putting boost and dirt pedals I dont have inside axe and some I do have inside axe to match them up so I can save those in library.
The octa switch has 8 channels with 8 mini dip switches under each channel or button you flip which efx you want on together up and in one button push you get those efx on together. I want 2 delays per amp before the amp and an echoplex might be a 3rd delay this would combine with delays inside axe mxr flanger, leslie sim, supervibe, I have some rack gear that will be on channel 6,7,8 leslie sim or supervibe is rack gear thats not used alot so it would be there but id have on off buttons out front to turn it on if needed... some rack gear will be efx used for another unit with is profex II and the octa switch allows 2 amps I put lehle 3@1 aby boxes right past those and can drive 4 amps if I want.
So for home use if I want to use my tube amps and axe fx II and profex II I can run all my tube amps and those units for recording..

If I want 3 delays per amp I have them either before the amps or in efx loop or built in via axe fx II.
the mxr delays and flanger are on off switchable and dont have to be used or on at all but if I want
to preset some delay times I can and set and forget them also I can match those on the fly with built in delays inside axe fx II and save those after they are matched in library.
I still like the sound of some of the dinosaur pedals and I wanted the ability to run several together and ran into a limitation but got around that bye thinking the signal path out some...
If want tube screamer and fuzz on together with mxr flanger I have it and that took no cpu space as mentioned before..

I will clone each of those too pedals inside the axe and duplicate those to have duplicates of each inside as eventually I want 2 axe fx units one xl one axe 2 and I might run
that in the efx loop of profex 2 and hit my tube amps with that as its line level out with gain knob on back ! Very handy to have that for tube amps or stereo power amp as
you can drive things a bit hotter and the amps sound like they are about to come apart but its line level..

I wanted the ability to trainwreck pedals together before the axe and blend them with pedals already saved inside and having the rack gear on 678 of octa switch allows me short leads too rack with axe and profex
and other rack gear. I wanted a smaller footprint for pedal board so putting mfc 101 on riser putting strip and pedal power 2 under that along with several other boosts fuzz and octavia, that allows those to be set in stone
and octa switch has send returns for efx out back its narrow and about 3 inches longer then mfc so those leads would be short cable runs send return to each pedal 12345 slots and 678 of that will be send return to rack efx.
Those can be stacked and anything thats not used all the time leslie sim supervibe or flanger say can be off all the time and controlled by on off buttons out front.

Thats something that came to me that will allow those pedals before axe fx II or profex II
when they are both working and I can ab between those easily I can tweak the axe fx II
to emulate some saved eqs I have in profex II so then id have those cloned as well.

At that point I can tone match back into axe fx from usb after its in logic or reaper..

If I use profex II and feed two tube amps Id be able to have all the xl efx.
Im going to hit another road block and thats midi for both and I might wind up with two mfc controllers.
that would be alot of tap dancing but at home for recording purposes im sitting down and could use both feet and
I might do that live too but since its midi Im hoping I can eventually map them to be one button push per patch
scenes would be quite something my head will probably just go like that guys head in Scanners but im going for it.

I want to see if I can shut down the grid..
:)
Click to expand...


Are YOU the guy who is causing the power outages in South Africa!? :p
 
I use my pedalboard along with each of my setups, AxeFX included. I really like the effects in the AxeFX and could certainly use only what is in the wonderbox...but I love my pedals and I am
very comfortable manipulating them on the fly while looping. I've got a new midi controller for the AxeFX that I like, needs aome tweaking but I will get there and will have on and offboard loopers running...I routinely switch pedals in and out so here are a few recent looks...(middle pic is current though an EV-1 is in bound).





 
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I used to stick a real tube screamer in front because I thought it sounded better than the model, but there was a certain firmware that brought the quality of the modeled tube screamer to a point where I couldn't hear enough of a difference to keep using the real one.

...that was a long sentence, I'm not even sure if it made sense.
 
All my Analogman fuzz/OD pedals. Haven't been able to replicate them in the drive block.
Wondering ifi can tone match them...haven't tried this feature yet.
 
ConnorGilks said:
Just curious to see who uses some real analog gear with their AxeFX, and why you do. With the extreme flexibility and Tone Match feature the unit can pretty much do anything, but sometimes it's just nice to use a pedal or it's too hard to recreate a specific effect. So who's using what? :)
Click to expand...

Funny you should bring that up... Though I would hate to bring more stuff to a gig, I'm considering adding my "Black Cat" OD-Fuzz or something else that I have.

The Axe-FX drive-block has gotten better, but it always seems to lose the bottom-end and sound a bit thin whenever I use it (IMHO). I'm curious if anyone else noticed, or feels the the drive-block can sometimes negate the amp-block's full rich sound.

I like the progress that has been made on the drive-block, but I'm hoping for a future update that will really complement the amp-block's thick punchy tonal aspects. Like some of the other blocks that recently had amazing updates, maybe an algorithm rewrite (update) is already in the works for the drive-block... ?
 
Sharka said:
Funny you should bring that up... Though I would hate to bring more stuff to a gig, I'm considering adding my "Black Cat" OD-Fuzz or something else that I have.

The Axe-FX drive-block has gotten better, but it always seems to lose the bottom-end and sound a bit thin whenever I use it (IMHO). I'm curious if anyone else noticed, or feels the the drive-block can sometimes negate the amp-block's full rich sound.

I like the progress that has been made on the drive-block, but I'm hoping for a future update that will really complement the amp-block's thick punchy tonal aspects. Like some of the other blocks that recently had amazing updates, maybe an algorithm rewrite (update) is already in the works for the drive-block... ?
Click to expand...

It really depends on the block type.

I had given up on the Fractal drives (and used amp block gain instead) but revisited them in FW17.x.

I think my current fav is the Treble Booster with Fender amp types. Doesn't loose anything at all. Sounds great and I get compliments from the audience both musicians and non-musicians.
 
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