Tone Monster
Well-known member
I’m just a bedroom heck who never gigs. I like recording and chasing other tones. I currently have a Kemper and Mark V:25. I want one but at the same time feel like I’m gonna be let down. What say you?
Talk me out of the AXE FX III
- Thread starter Tone Monster
- Start date
saxxamafone
Well-known member
I don't tour so weight and rig size doesn't matter for me.
Axe FX tries to copy the sound of tube amps... so therefore I just play tube amps., much easier for me without all the tweaking options (which drive me crazy).
I don't need 30+ amps to create music.
I do use 7 tube amps which honestly is probably double what I need really.
Tube amps and a torpedo live is all I need
Axe FX tries to copy the sound of tube amps... so therefore I just play tube amps., much easier for me without all the tweaking options (which drive me crazy).
I don't need 30+ amps to create music.
I do use 7 tube amps which honestly is probably double what I need really.
Tube amps and a torpedo live is all I need
harddriver
Well-known member
I can't imagine the AXEFXIII sounding better than your Kemper IMHO. But if you want to drive a new model of modeling then there's nothing wrong with that.
Drop Victim5150 here on RT a message he loves his AXEFXIII and gets some of the best live tones out of AXRFX I've heard.
Drop Victim5150 here on RT a message he loves his AXEFXIII and gets some of the best live tones out of AXRFX I've heard.
Metlupass2
Well-known member
It will turn you gay
RevDrucifer
Well-known member
Pre-Cygnus update I'd warn that if you weren't fond of tweaking, not to bother. But since this update, well, today I loaded up all the Friedman's (there's 12 BE/HBE models now) and with all the settings at noon it was a gig ready tone. Overall, I'm tweaking far less since this update....and I really enjoy tweaking. If I'm just doing a basic preset without effects, it's Input-Amp-Cab-Output, maybe I'll put a noise gate in there if I need to for some heavily gated thing, but there's a gate in the Input block too, so it's not needed unless you're going for the modern, djenty, start-stop thing.
I've owned tube amps for the majority of my life, starting with a Carvin Legacy I earned in high school, to a Dual Rec, Mark IV, XXX, a Fender Champ, they're all killer amps and I love amps, but for someone like me who just sits in my studio in all my free time, who loves hearing different amps and tweaking the shit out of them until I get closer to my ideal tone, I fucking love mine. Best gear purchase I've ever made. It's been a year and a half and I'm more stoked with it as time goes on.
Hell, the live rig I put together will end up being this with a couple Mesa 2x12's. All the better is that my pedalboard is the smallest it's ever been and I don't have to run any audio to it. I've got a Digitech Freqout and an MXR Talk Box that I still use, but the Digitech sits in the rack and gets triggered with a momentary switch and the Talk Box I can just drag out for a song if need be. I just got it for saying stupid shit with.
It's also great being able to switch from guitar to bass by literally switching from a guitar to a bass. I think it's a bit much for your average bass player, especially with only a few bass amps in it compared to the 200+ guitar amps, but the bass tones from this thing are fucking insane. I've never been able to capture a bass tone like that in the studio before, never. Doing it direct without getting off my lazy ass is too good to pass up.
Plugging this thing into the Return of any amp and playing it into a guitar cabinet (not the FRFR shit) delivers the same feel as any amp I've ever played through. I never understood why FRFR guys are searching for this amp in the room when they can just get a power amp and actually play a fucking amp in the room, but whatever floats their boat.
I've owned tube amps for the majority of my life, starting with a Carvin Legacy I earned in high school, to a Dual Rec, Mark IV, XXX, a Fender Champ, they're all killer amps and I love amps, but for someone like me who just sits in my studio in all my free time, who loves hearing different amps and tweaking the shit out of them until I get closer to my ideal tone, I fucking love mine. Best gear purchase I've ever made. It's been a year and a half and I'm more stoked with it as time goes on.
Hell, the live rig I put together will end up being this with a couple Mesa 2x12's. All the better is that my pedalboard is the smallest it's ever been and I don't have to run any audio to it. I've got a Digitech Freqout and an MXR Talk Box that I still use, but the Digitech sits in the rack and gets triggered with a momentary switch and the Talk Box I can just drag out for a song if need be. I just got it for saying stupid shit with.
It's also great being able to switch from guitar to bass by literally switching from a guitar to a bass. I think it's a bit much for your average bass player, especially with only a few bass amps in it compared to the 200+ guitar amps, but the bass tones from this thing are fucking insane. I've never been able to capture a bass tone like that in the studio before, never. Doing it direct without getting off my lazy ass is too good to pass up.
Plugging this thing into the Return of any amp and playing it into a guitar cabinet (not the FRFR shit) delivers the same feel as any amp I've ever played through. I never understood why FRFR guys are searching for this amp in the room when they can just get a power amp and actually play a fucking amp in the room, but whatever floats their boat.
GOHOINC
Well-known member
My first modeler was the fm3 and I really dug it. I dug it so much I traded it to get an axe fx iii. I think they're great for exactly what you are doing. Easy to use and get good tones quick imo. Also Easy to set up a preset to run in front or in loop or a tube amp if you want as well. I'm not selling my amps because of it. But will probably liquidate my pedalboard. No experience with a Kemper so I can't compare but as I understand it's a model of the amps functions vs. A particular profile or sound. I do find I use different settings on the axe models of the amps I have vs. The real thing. But tweak with your ears and not eyes and I found it easy to dial in to do a very close match to the real thing. There's dudes here who could tell you way more than I can. But, "if you have the means, I highly recommend it."
RedB4Black
Well-known member
I just got another Axe 3 a few weeks ago... mainly for FX through my tube amp. I had one before but sold it. I have played the amp models through my PS100 and the loop returns of my Wizards and FRFR through my Alto TS212s. Using the new Cygnus firmware. It’s definitely an improvement. It’s not as nice as a straight tube amp, but really good at low volume. The gap from a real amp gets bigger with higher volumes, but still decent. FRFR is okay, but had to tweak more as is seemed overly dark with all the stock patches. Still sounds great a low volumes as well.
psychodave
Well-known member
What power amps are you guys using? I’d have to think using something like a Mess Boogie Strategy 400 would give you that massive tube sound and feel.
MetalHeadMike
Well-known member
As many times as I've considered an Axe, the endless tweaking possibilities always halt any purchase. That rabbit hole is too deep for me.
Tone Monster
Well-known member
Not 100%
Tone Monster
Well-known member
I should’ve said I’d be using for direct recordings only
You realize that isn't going to change no matter which platform you end up with.
Spend enough time in the Digital Section over on TGP and you'll see a LOT of long
time members who've owned one or the other of the main players multiple times.
Same goes with tube amps!
cardinal
Well-known member
I've had one for a few months now.
I do like it, and I'm playing guitar more now because of it. It's easy to get a good sound out of it and just play. All the FXs are fun to tinker with.
But I'm not selling my favorite tube amp and cabinets. Some days the Fractal seems infuriating if I'm fixating on tone rather than just playing. I'm not sure why that is; maybe it's in my head, but I have amps where I haven't touched the knobs in years. I can't seem to keep my hands off the Fractal knobs for 10 minutes some times.
I do like it, and I'm playing guitar more now because of it. It's easy to get a good sound out of it and just play. All the FXs are fun to tinker with.
But I'm not selling my favorite tube amp and cabinets. Some days the Fractal seems infuriating if I'm fixating on tone rather than just playing. I'm not sure why that is; maybe it's in my head, but I have amps where I haven't touched the knobs in years. I can't seem to keep my hands off the Fractal knobs for 10 minutes some times.
stratjacket
Well-known member
I’d say go for it. The AxeFx III sounds awesome and has amazing flexibility/routing capabilities internal and outboard gear.
Tweak as much or as little as you want.
Buy used, you can resale for the same cost if you don’t like it.
PBGas
Well-known member
I've had several Kemper units over the years. I've had a Helix rack as well. I tried a Kemper again last year and it just does not work for me. I don't like the workflow of the unit at all nor do I like what it sounds like. It is a great and well-proven unit though, no question. That being said, I have had my Axe III for several years now. I also have an FM3 that is awesome!
Honestly, I love what I get out of it and as of last fall, I sold off my remaining amps and cabs. My setup is way lighter and easier to carry and setup/teardown. We are all running to FOH so it sounds great. I really like how the unit functions, it's reliability (I had lousy reliability with 2 Kemper units I had) and I like editing on the unit and the editor as well.
I am one who likes having everything in the box. Pre-covid, I had already switched over to it fully for gigs and rehearsals. Looking forward to going back to that once this crap is all done. Still not going to be for while, obviously.
It's great that we have all of these choices these days.
Honestly, I love what I get out of it and as of last fall, I sold off my remaining amps and cabs. My setup is way lighter and easier to carry and setup/teardown. We are all running to FOH so it sounds great. I really like how the unit functions, it's reliability (I had lousy reliability with 2 Kemper units I had) and I like editing on the unit and the editor as well.
I am one who likes having everything in the box. Pre-covid, I had already switched over to it fully for gigs and rehearsals. Looking forward to going back to that once this crap is all done. Still not going to be for while, obviously.
It's great that we have all of these choices these days.
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RevDrucifer
Well-known member
And this is the exact situation I frequently harp on in the modeler discussions; you’re limited with tweakability with every other modeler on the market. If you don’t like something in the AxeFX, there’s a parameter in there to change it. If ya don’t dig tweaking, that’s a whole other story, but that doesn’t negate the possibilities that are capable with it.
9x out of 10 those players who gave up on modeling hate tweaking and don’t want to take the time to understand it, no matter what modeler they’re on. I never understood the guys who buy and sell then re-buy the same piece of equipment over and over. I suppose they’re hoping an update changed things for them?
TheGreatGreen
Well-known member
If you don't gig (or in other words, don't have the space to crank a real amp), I cannot think of anything that even comes close to the Axe-Fx for being a total solution to being able to start from nothing and build any rig you can imagine in a single ecosystem.
I have been on the Axe-Fx train since like 2009. I currently own an Axe-Fx III.
It is easily the single best guitar-related purchase I've ever made, right up there with my #1 guitar.
I also have a handful of tube amps (Lonestar, 5150 III, and a couple others) and cabs to kinda use as sanity checks when I'm dialing in sounds. The Axe-Fx sounds great, no caveats.
In my opinion it has the best amp modeling in the industry, and its effects are pretty unmatched as well.
I'll put it this way. I love my tube amps but if something happened to me financially and I had to sell a bunch of gear, I think the tube amps would get sold before the Axe-Fx. I look at the tube amps as nice-to-haves to be appreciated, but the Axe just does literally everything, and sounds as good as tubes doing it. Now do the Axe's models sound exactly like their corresponding tube amps? To me, most of its models are close enough to take a few tries in a double blind test to be able to really tell, and with some models, maybe not even then.
Are the models as-good-as tube amps? I absolutely think so.
The real reason I keep the tube amps around is because I know I am, like most guitar players, cyclical in what I gravitate towards. One month I might not touch my tube amps and pedal board, and instead I'll spend all my time with my Axe -> ss poweramp -> 4x12. Other times, I'll use the Axe straight into studio monitors. And sometimes I won't touch the Axe for long stretches, and will instead go full analog. Pedal board -> tube amp -> cabs. I don't really think one is "better" than the other at this point. It's just nice to change gears every now and then.
It's also noteworthy to say that with the Axe, if you're at home with a Windows machine, the editor is absolutely excellent and very intuitive. In a live environment without a computer however, the Axe can be more difficult. There's basically always some level of front panel menu diving required to change anything other than output volume. That's where tube amps and pedalboards really shine I think. Environments where you have to tweak on the fly. But if you're at home, or even playing gigs where you have time to dial in your sounds beforehand, it's hard to beat an Axe-Fx.
I have been on the Axe-Fx train since like 2009. I currently own an Axe-Fx III.
It is easily the single best guitar-related purchase I've ever made, right up there with my #1 guitar.
I also have a handful of tube amps (Lonestar, 5150 III, and a couple others) and cabs to kinda use as sanity checks when I'm dialing in sounds. The Axe-Fx sounds great, no caveats.
In my opinion it has the best amp modeling in the industry, and its effects are pretty unmatched as well.
I'll put it this way. I love my tube amps but if something happened to me financially and I had to sell a bunch of gear, I think the tube amps would get sold before the Axe-Fx. I look at the tube amps as nice-to-haves to be appreciated, but the Axe just does literally everything, and sounds as good as tubes doing it. Now do the Axe's models sound exactly like their corresponding tube amps? To me, most of its models are close enough to take a few tries in a double blind test to be able to really tell, and with some models, maybe not even then.
Are the models as-good-as tube amps? I absolutely think so.
The real reason I keep the tube amps around is because I know I am, like most guitar players, cyclical in what I gravitate towards. One month I might not touch my tube amps and pedal board, and instead I'll spend all my time with my Axe -> ss poweramp -> 4x12. Other times, I'll use the Axe straight into studio monitors. And sometimes I won't touch the Axe for long stretches, and will instead go full analog. Pedal board -> tube amp -> cabs. I don't really think one is "better" than the other at this point. It's just nice to change gears every now and then.
It's also noteworthy to say that with the Axe, if you're at home with a Windows machine, the editor is absolutely excellent and very intuitive. In a live environment without a computer however, the Axe can be more difficult. There's basically always some level of front panel menu diving required to change anything other than output volume. That's where tube amps and pedalboards really shine I think. Environments where you have to tweak on the fly. But if you're at home, or even playing gigs where you have time to dial in your sounds beforehand, it's hard to beat an Axe-Fx.
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If Cygnus is so amazing, what's not to like? Kind of "this sounds the best". But if you don't agree heres a couple dozen arcane digital tweaks you can make so you'll agree it sounds the best.