Haven't read all the replies but, logically, it would have to do with the demographic of metal players ...
Going to Guitar Center on a Sat afternoon has become more painful than a visit to the dentist
I've noticed that there is a lot of metal guitarists on here...and I come on here every night to see whats happening and all these Metal style recordings are showing up...don't get me wrong I like some metal....but the axe can go far beyond that as we all know...I'm just surprised that other guitar such as country, blues, jazz, etc...haven't discovered Fractal Audio...I think its all the "metal" associated with the unit on youtube and alike. I think Fractal has to do more advertising for the "broader market" and reach the community as a whole. Being a blues/rock guitarist, I get so many questions about the axe fx 2 on my youtube channel from blues guitarists and country guitarists as well.... I'm just surprised they don'y know about it. The fractal website doesn't really explain how you can use the axe fx 2 very well for a new customer....as far as I'm concerned, youtube has been Axe Fx 2's main source of advertising and its endorsers.... I just think they can reach a lot more than predominately "metal guitarists". I've been doing my best to demo the product in the blues context and I've been reaching a lot of that market with my demos. Its a great product, too bad that everyone I mention it to doesn't even know what I'm talking about...
another thing, I think some in depth videos explaining different setups and how to tweak sounds would be very beneficial for the Fractal Audio website for beginners or advanced users. Fractal should consider paying some experienced users to do this and place them on their website. If the Axe Fx 2 was made simpler by making these videos I think the average guitarists would consider Buying one.... setting up a basic tone is easy but what about all the other stuff the fractal can do... VIDEOS? YES.
cheers!
I always get a kick out of the "Oh they play with all that distortion because it's easier to sound good with bad technique" folks. Having studied classical guitar as my minor in college, I have seen perform, met, and talked with some of the most virtuosic players alive, including Anna Vidovic and the Assad brothers. The level of skill and coordination, focus, and attention to detail for the music that they perform so utterly dwarfs any other genre that I just think it's laughable when some popular music buff gets all huffy about how "easy it is to play _____ music.". HA!
Playing any music convincingly, really well, and getting it clean enough for a high quality recording (without a shit-ton of editing) is a particular and professional skill. Funk can be hard as hell to get tight. Acoustic strumming music needs to be played perfectly if it's double tracked. Bluegrass, jazz, R&B - it all requires a dedication to creating a musical moment. Disrespecting a performer simply because you don't like the genre of music being performed is belligerent, prejudiced, and altogether ridiculous. When you do it, it just makes you sound like some bitter, old codger that longs for the good ol' days. You know, when your bitter, old codger parents hated what you were listening to...
It took me a pretty long time to get all of the noise elements under control when playing high gain stuff. Unless you are gating your signal to the point of absolutely strangling your guitar, any extraneous movement suddenly becomes a pretty big whoopsy. Hard to hide those strings scraping, flumping, weird mutes, palm mute positions, etc. Especially if you've got any delays going. Good God... the delays...
Are there horrible high gain players out there? Yes. Are there horrible blues wanksters on Youtube as well? You bet your bippy, pal.
Regardless of the style of music, it is easier to sound good with bad technique if you play with a lot of distortion. No question about that in my mind.
That being said the technique displayed by some of the metal guys is uncanny. Some of these cats are virtuosos in their own right. Even though I am not a fan of that genre of music and I might not be able to listen to what they are playing for more than a few seconds -- their skill and virtuosity is undeniable.
Yes, but the guys who are "doing it right" aren't using much distortion at all - that being a subjective point, I guess. And I just disagree flat-out with you, dude. You can sound equally horrible playing poorly with distortion. And some do.
Regardless of the style of music, it is easier to sound good with bad technique if you play with a lot of distortion. No question about that in my mind.
One of the reasons I think metal folks tend to gravitate toward modelers has to do with a general lack of availability of the gear we want. I'm not sure if it's this way everywhere - seems to be much more so in the states - but there are no less than 5 shops in my area specializing in vintage, reissue, and new-old-stock gear. I can drive 30 minutes and play a host of boutique and vintage gear similar (to my ears) to what we have modeled in the Axe. For high gain though, if it's not a Mesa then forget about it. Everything is special order only, and 99% of the time it’s full cost up front with no refunds. I've asked a number of dealers why it's like this, and the answer is always that "metal stuff" just doesn't sell whereas a boutique Plexi or Vox derivative will go in a week or two. I was even willing to buy a plane ticket and fly to LA just to try out a few amps and I still couldn't find anywhere that had anything on the floor. The Axe is a pretty awesome solution to this problem.
I tend to think that people who play blues/jazz/classic rock/etc are people who are more inclined to work with simple setups. Guitar/amp/pedal or 2 etc.... they dont want to deal with complicated rack units you have to program. Keep it simple.
I think metal players in general tend to be more open to new or extreme ideas. They are ore drawn to this "new" way of creating tones....
I tend to think that people who play blues/jazz/classic rock/etc are people who are more inclined to work with simple setups. Guitar/amp/pedal or 2 etc.... they dont want to deal with complicated rack units you have to program. Keep it simple.
I think metal players in general tend to be more open to new or extreme ideas. They are ore drawn to this "new" way of creating tones....