Who here uses real pedals along with their AxeFX?

EHX Hog 2. I used it with the Axe's rotary block to cover the organ parts in the chorus of Adele's One and Only. The keyboard player was busy handling piano there so I volunteered to handle the organ. (phrasing!)

That song is back off the setlist now, so I'm back to a pedal free existence.
 
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... ?

100% agree. The only thing I really like in the drive block is the TS808 mod, with drive down and level up....the tubescreamers I've used in the analog world do the same thing to the bottom-end, so for that pedal the drive block works really well...good for lead boosts. But I agree I miss the low end when I use all my other drives, fuzzes and boosters, so currently I am analog on the drives/fuzzes until they upgrade the drive block....I've replaced all my analog modulation and time based effects however.
 
Ditto Looper, just because of the functionality constraints of my midi controller, and an EHX Soul Food. I don't know, something just struck me about how it sounded.
 
I run a CAE line driver in front of the axe to level match different guitars without having dedicated presets. Then a death by audio harmonic transformer, boss od2 and ts9 before the axe, and a boss fa1 and a line6 m5 in the fx loop, and a strymon big sky in parallel with the whole fx chain to get ambient / synth like reverbs (everything is patched within a soundsculpture switchblade gl).
The axe's ts sounds dead close, but the way i use it (to boost existing presets) it's just easier to have the pedal to a dedicated IA. I could replace the od2 with an axe model, but I just cant seem to nail it with any models.. anyone got any luck with it?
 
I use (in front or in the loop) every pedals I own when I have the HW instead of the modeled one inside the Box!
So, Crybaby Wha, all my drivers (Radial Classic Tonebone and Hot British, a vintage Ibanez Tubescreamer, Tim, Chandler Tube Driver, Fulltone Fulldrive 2 mosfet, a vintage Rat, Pinnacle Wampler), all my fuzzes (Fulltone 69, Skreddy Lunar Module Pink Flesh and Pig Mine, EH Pi), all my modulators (EHV Flanger, EVH Phaser, vibes Fulltone MDV2 and Sweet Sound Swirl Mojo Vibe, an old Boss CE2 Chorus and the Red Witch Empress Analog Chorus, T-Rex Tremster), some compressors (an old and warm Boss CS-2, an old MXR Comp).
What I left out are only the delays and reverbs pedals.
 
Eventide H9 max
Brunetti Mercury Box
Hexe Revolver II
Catalinbread Belle Epoch

I use them because I want more real time control over effects to tweak things on the fly and quickly adjust things. I miss this in the Axe fx. Also I still use some pedals with sounds I can't get out of my Axe.
I use them all in front of the input because I don't like the fx loop.
 
My rig went on a gear diet when I switched to the Axe Fx from a TC g-system. My goal has been to make my rig as light and portable as possible, so to that end I've been resisting the temptation to complicate things and add extra pedals. So other than expression (Mission), tuner (PolyTune2), a buffer, and a little bit of cable management there's not much on there other than an MFC-101.

So, no - just the Axe for drives and effects. (The buffer is actually a BadMonkey (TS clone) I had laying around, but I leave it off. It's simply a way to get a buffered, dual output utilizing something I already had laying around.)

I do have two pedals that I'd love to utilize, but I'm resisting! My Strymon TimeLine and a Mooer Eleclady (Electric Mistress clone).

There are a number of pedals I miss, but it's just not worth going down the road of another cluttered pedal board, a midi-controlled loop switcher, etc. In addition to the TimeLine and Eleclady, there are certain pedals I have which have a certain sonic beauty in their simplicity that I've just never really captured with the Axe: MXR Carbon Copy, my old 80's ProCo RAT that I've been using since high school...in the (ahem) 80's. Sometimes there's something nice about a pedal being a one-trick pony. Whenever I've tried to do an Electric Mistress in the Axe it's just come out sounding...to good? Or too cheesy in a processed way, rather than that low-fi cheesy warble. I'm sure people have Electric Mistress patches to counter my assertion, but that's for a different thread. ;-)
 
Strymon Lex and Mutron BiPhase. When FAS reworks the rotary and phaser blocks, I'll retire both of those devices. But until then, I just can't reproduce the Lex's perfect Leslie sound, and the I can't get the phaser to produce that toothy analog BiPhase sound.
 
I could not cut the tie with all of my pedals and eventually did not want get lost in the programming the MFC-101 (time, age). So when I use th AXE-FX I just deal out on the floor what I feel like.
 
I might use a wah and/or Whammy pedal in front of it, if I ever get enough spare cash to get one. Not because there's anything wrong with the built-in ones, I'm just not sure I see the point, especially since I already have a wah... I mean why use up an expression input and pay for another expression pedal when I already have one that works? (The somewhat obvious answer is so that I can change parameters and/or move it around the signal chain from patch to patch, but I'm not sure I care.)
 
I used to use the Wambler Dual Fusion (Tom Quayle Signature Model) up until FW 17.04.

But, since FW 17.04 was released I found that I tend to just use the amp blocks and tweak the Input Drive, Input Trim and Master Volume, etc., and audition IRs to get everything I need from the AXE FX.

I am certain this personal trend will continue once Cliff's G3 Modelling becomes available. Time to buy some more Cab Packs! :D
 
I come out of my Ultra into a Big Sky both controlled by a MIDI backing track. Reason is, outside of a pristine sound, I can have my base level presets and a multitude of reverb variations ultimately both easier to manage separately.
 
Well... I have no wet effects, just drives and tone shapers in front of the AXE FX...

I have a Fuzz Face NKT275 first-in-signal...fuzzes are unique, and the AXE FX model is very good/convincing, but I like a real one first in line with Strats...

Followed by an Ultimate Octave Fulltone I just use for the octavia effect (although the AXE does a convincing one, this just saves me Drive pedal options)

Then a Tone Concepts "The Distillery" pedal that Dweezil Zappa turned me onto that I LOVE and use for solo boosts, works great

Then a Solid Gold EFX Funkzilla pedal I hardly use... sometimes swap it out for either a Wampler TomQuayle Fusion Drive or a SImble drive by the Mad Professor.

Then a Ditto pedal just for quick looper in practicing

and at the end, an RC Boost that I use on single coils going into the AXE FX. Again, The AXE FX does a great RC boost, but I like to keep my AXE FX Drive block pedal options open for other things...

Some of this is to free up IA switches on the MFC so I can do more things, like Amp X/Y, Drive X/Y Delay X/Y, Scene 1/2, and Wildcards.
 

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Well... I have no wet effects, just drives and tone shapers in front of the AXE FX...

I have a Fuzz Face NKT275 first-in-signal...fuzzes are unique, and the AXE FX model is very good/convincing, but I like a real one first in line with Strats...

Followed by an Ultimate Octave Fulltone I just use for the octavia effect (although the AXE does a convincing one, this just saves me Drive pedal options)

Then a Tone Concepts "The Distillery" pedal that Dweezil Zappa turned me onto that I LOVE and use for solo boosts, works great

Then a Solid Gold EFX Funkzilla pedal I hardly use... sometimes swap it out for either a Wampler TomQuayle Fusion Drive or a SImble drive by the Mad Professor.

Then a Ditto pedal just for quick looper in practicing

and at the end, an RC Boost that I use on single coils going into the AXE FX. Again, The AXE FX does a great RC boost, but I like to keep my AXE FX Drive block pedal options open for other things...

Some of this is to free up IA switches on the MFC so I can do more things, like Amp X/Y, Drive X/Y Delay X/Y, Scene 1/2, and Wildcards.

Wow! Good resource management Buddy. Hmm, "Wildcards?" Looking forward to the next jam! :D
 
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