Why still a Drive pedal and so many Amp models? (it’s not about the nr of Amp or Drive models)

I just wanted to add that 100+ model amps without the ADA-MP1 is a futile effort to achieve complete happiness.
 
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DLC86 said:
Hmmm.. there's a good chance that might be placebo effect if you hear that even without using distortion/modulation/pitch shifting in those blocks.
Delay and IRs by themselves are Linear Time Invariant
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More testing is needed.

I figured it was the frequency curve of the IR affecting the perception of the decays in such a way was they sound smoother.
 
It took me forever to get the amps and cabs that I use...and there are a few. I use 3-5 different drive blocks depending on the preset. The idea with these units is to have the ability to choose - not be stuck with what the manufacturer thinks should be the choice. By having all the effects / amps /IR's that we do, the choice is now in OUR hands.

And in the next few months, I may change the amps again...so, glad I have all those choices!
 
Semih Yanyali said:
After almost 10 years of using Axe FX in studio and on stage lately i came to this,
sharing my thoughts to see how others approach this...

1) I don’t need more than 2-3 amps. If you give a shot and use the same IR and Speaker setting, i think most will agree most amps sound almost the same. Like there are tens of Marshalls...100w Plexi can do all what others do in my opinion. I would only choose a modern version over it if the ghost notes/that vintage-dirty vibe was getting in the way.

2) Beside fuzzes and special sounds why a drive block? A drive block to get a plexi lead out of a fender...yes it’s nice but i can choose a plexi as an amp instead. Or stirring the soup, if Gilmour could carry around 4-5 Hiwatt Heads and turn the master all the way up.(no even at stadium gigs he could not, read bunch of times that he was already too loud.) I think he would not have used most of his pedals. Turn that master of Hiwatt Jumpered all the way up...and you can get from clean to edge of break up...or saturated lead sound to growl...anything.

What do you guys think? There is no wrong or right with these stuff...and you can get great results with a lot of different ways with the axe fx...but things got way simpler for me lately with this mind set...2-3 amps, 8-9 IRs, drive block only for fuzzes. Though with FX i still go crazy and can hit the cpu limit🤭(just with kitchen sink presets)

edit: should have mentioned, this is mostly about amps like hiwatt, matchless, fender, plexi or similar. I don’t play mesa, engle etc. And i am also having this approach when i go FRFR and stay all “in the box”. When i use a traditional guitar cab, things change...
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Ditto... I'm not a fan of the kick on the pedal for the dirt.. I'm more of the "engage channel 2 or 3" kinda player. I really like the Austin Buddy patches, but, almost all of the Burn channel amps you have to engage a boost pedal.. #NoLikey"..
 
Driving an amp with a pedal is akin to the step from being a cook to a chef. The nuances of tone, texture and spice that various pedals can contribute confers a degree of precision and control that goes beyond what just pickups into the input can offer. Of course, they can also ruin great cooking for those that don't know what they're doing. Historically, a smorgasbord of tones were accomplished with one amp and multiple pedals. Even with the easy switching between amps in the modeled world, (virtual) pedals are often a preferable way to go for tone sculpting over using multiple amps. One of my favorite things about the AxeFX3 is that Drive Block channels A B C D offer me 4 different textures of OD/Boost/Drive at the tap of my toe that precisely fatten up the Bridge PU, kick in more bite to the neck PU, add extra grit for rhythm riffs, etc. without substantially changing the overall tone or feel. Can’t easily do that changing amps or amp settings. Plus, it usually makes it easier to dial in different guitars to the same amp.

As far as the vast selection of amps: Even if I managed to restrict myself to only a few amp models: My choices of a Tweed Twin, Carol Ann Tucana, DC30, and Diezel VH4 wouldn’t coincide with 99% of other players, so the fact that anyone gets to use any and all of the amps they covet is a major selling point.
 
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The boost in the amp section don’t have all the controls . So when it’s not enough I prefer to add the block better than just activate a boost and a level meter
 
Always been a guy who got overdrive distortion from my amps, specifically the preamp section, since I've never owned a non-MV amp. The Fractal unit has brought me around to the idea of using drive pedals, because the high-gain amps I like never seem to get as sparking clean as I'd like them and the sparkling clean amps just won't give me the amount and flavor of gain I'd like. Sure, you can use amp channels, but channel changes are difficult to make sound seamless. The (minimal) audio gap, as well as differences in tone of the amps, often makes the change sound unnatural or forced, so you have to dial-in not only the overall levels between the 2 amps, but the levels of various frequencies as well by using all the tone-shaping tools. With drive pedals, you can just kick on the pedal and you get the same basic amp, with the gain kicked up as much as you'd like. Simple adjustment of the drive block level helps balance out volume changes (I can boost if I want, but don't have to) and it ends up being very easy to get a good sounding tone change because you are essentially dealing with the same tone stack and settings in the amp part of it, instead of, potentially, a drastically different beast altogether.

As to the number of amps, this has been covered many times and the best answer I've heard is that, while no one needs hundreds of different amps, the 3 or 4 that you need are not the 3 or 4 that I need, and all of these may be different than the 3 or 10 that someone else needs, etc.
 
phil92 said:
why so many guitars? Shouldn't one with single coils and one with humbuckers be enough?
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None of my guitars sound the same. My Fender Jagstang with EMG-SA and EMG-81 sounds nothing like my Solar E1.6AC with two Fishman Fluence pups which sounds nothing like my Ibanez RG8-string. It might be nice to have multiple of the same guitar but in different tunings perhaps as well.
 
Semih Yanyali said:
After almost 10 years of using Axe FX in studio and on stage lately i came to this,
sharing my thoughts to see how others approach this...

1) I don’t need more than 2-3 amps. If you give a shot and use the same IR and Speaker setting, i think most will agree most amps sound almost the same. Like there are tens of Marshalls...100w Plexi can do all what others do in my opinion. I would only choose a modern version over it if the ghost notes/that vintage-dirty vibe was getting in the way.

2) Beside fuzzes and special sounds why a drive block? A drive block to get a plexi lead out of a fender...yes it’s nice but i can choose a plexi as an amp instead. Or stirring the soup, if Gilmour could carry around 4-5 Hiwatt Heads and turn the master all the way up.(no even at stadium gigs he could not, read bunch of times that he was already too loud.) I think he would not have used most of his pedals. Turn that master of Hiwatt Jumpered all the way up...and you can get from clean to edge of break up...or saturated lead sound to growl...anything.

What do you guys think? There is no wrong or right with these stuff...and you can get great results with a lot of different ways with the axe fx...but things got way simpler for me lately with this mind set...2-3 amps, 8-9 IRs, drive block only for fuzzes. Though with FX i still go crazy and can hit the cpu limit🤭(just with kitchen sink presets)

edit: should have mentioned, this is mostly about amps like hiwatt, matchless, fender, plexi or similar. I don’t play mesa, engle etc. And i am also having this approach when i go FRFR and stay all “in the box”. When i use a traditional guitar cab, things change...
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I tend to agree. I haven't used any sort of drive or distortion pedal in well over the last decade, because I can get it from the amp.
 
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Semih Yanyali said:
After almost 10 years of using Axe FX in studio and on stage lately i came to this,
sharing my thoughts to see how others approach this...

1) I don’t need more than 2-3 amps. If you give a shot and use the same IR and Speaker setting, i think most will agree most amps sound almost the same. Like there are tens of Marshalls...100w Plexi can do all what others do in my opinion. I would only choose a modern version over it if the ghost notes/that vintage-dirty vibe was getting in the way.

2) Beside fuzzes and special sounds why a drive block? A drive block to get a plexi lead out of a fender...yes it’s nice but i can choose a plexi as an amp instead. Or stirring the soup, if Gilmour could carry around 4-5 Hiwatt Heads and turn the master all the way up.(no even at stadium gigs he could not, read bunch of times that he was already too loud.) I think he would not have used most of his pedals. Turn that master of Hiwatt Jumpered all the way up...and you can get from clean to edge of break up...or saturated lead sound to growl...anything.

What do you guys think? There is no wrong or right with these stuff...and you can get great results with a lot of different ways with the axe fx...but things got way simpler for me lately with this mind set...2-3 amps, 8-9 IRs, drive block only for fuzzes. Though with FX i still go crazy and can hit the cpu limit🤭(just with kitchen sink presets)

edit: should have mentioned, this is mostly about amps like hiwatt, matchless, fender, plexi or similar. I don’t play mesa, engle etc. And i am also having this approach when i go FRFR and stay all “in the box”. When i use a traditional guitar cab, things change...
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My short answer would be "because you can". I grew up old school when you scrimped and saved to get a 2203 JCM800 that did not have the insane gain the a lot of amp builders offer today - but it was a lot of gain in the late 70s early 80s. Then you user a peddle to find your tone - and there were not the options that we have today for peddles.

The Axe provides everything guitar player could possibly need and I am grateful. Some would same that I don't use the full potential of the Axe since I dial up a stock JCM800 and an SD-1 to cover everything I need to do - and yes, a JCM800 can provide a decent clean.

I most use an axe for the digital convinience.
 
Ganjatron said:
None of my guitars sound the same. My Fender Jagstang with EMG-SA and EMG-81 sounds nothing like my Solar E1.6AC with two Fishman Fluence pups which sounds nothing like my Ibanez RG8-string. It might be nice to have multiple of the same guitar but in different tunings perhaps as well.
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there you go
 
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