I think I hate the AXE FX III.

[RevDrucifer]

I just finished playing my 5150 and the Fractal version (Cygnus) though the same cab and they are just not the same.

The 5150 sounds like a beast. The Fractal sounds... good enough. Maybe there's some deep editing parameters to make them indistinguishable, I dunno.

I do like the Fractal and enjoy what it offers, but it has limitations and short comings, like everything else. I mean, the reverb and delay and IRs built into my 5150 sound like shit! Cant even figure out how to switch them on!

I’m trying to figure out what you mean here; nothing is built into an amp model, the amp models are just amps. Are you talking about an existing preset that already has effects in it?

And are you running the AxeFX into your actual cabinet while still using the cab block and power amp modeling? While some people dig that, in general, it makes things....sound like shit.

 

[cardinal]

I’m trying to figure out what you mean here; nothing is built into an amp model, the amp models are just amps. Are you talking about an existing preset that already has effects in it?

And are you running the AxeFX into your actual cabinet while still using the cab block and power amp modeling? While some people dig that, in general, it makes things....sound like shit.

Sorry, I was joking that about the limitations of 5150 amp since it lacks all the effects capabilities of the Axe FX III. So even though the actual amp sounds "better" to me, I use the Fractal 90% of the time because it sounds good enough and is much more convenient.

And I run the Fractal through a Crest CA-9 (high powered class H, neutral PA amp) into a cab. Power amp sims are on, cab sims are off.

 

[RevDrucifer]

Sorry, I was joking that about the limitations of 5150 amp since it lacks all the effects capabilities of the Axe FX III. So even though the actual amp sounds "better" to me, I use the Fractal 90% of the time because it sounds good enough and is much more convenient.

And I run the Fractal through a Crest CA-9 (high powered class H, neutral PA amp) into a cab. Power amp sims are on, cab sims are off.

Ahhhhhh....I gotcha.

My initial thought was, “This guy can’t even turn off the fucking delay and he’s talking about how it sounds bad?!”

 

[cardinal]

Ahhhhhh....I gotcha.

My initial thought was, “This guy can’t even turn off the fucking delay and he’s talking about how it sounds bad?!”

I admit that a time or two, it's taken me several minutes to figure out that my tone sounds so bad when I've accidentally left my wah on... Another benefit of the Fractal: hard to do that with the Fractal expression pedals!

 

[RevDrucifer]

I admit that a time or two, it's taken me several minutes to figure out that my tone sounds so bad when I've accidentally left my wah on... Another benefit of the Fractal: hard to do that with the Fractal expression pedals!

Hahahah it actually happens to me a lot, but mostly because where my pedalboard is and the Mission Engineering pedal I have seems to have lost a bit of tension over time and I can’t tighten it anymore. I keep my board directly under my studio desk and usually keep my right foot on my EV-1 as a foot rest, sometimes I hit the wah and since everything is auto-engage, I’ll start playing and wonder WTF is going on.

A few weeks ago it happened and the pedal was in the perfect spot where you can barely notice there’s a wah on at all. I could just hear a bit of that lower formant peeking through.....kept thinking I had a funky IR and went through a ton of them trying to figure out what was going on. I think I wasted a good 35 minutes before I realized the wah pedal was pushed down a little bit.

 

[cardinal]

Hahahah it actually happens to me a lot, but mostly because where my pedalboard is and the Mission Engineering pedal I have seems to have lost a bit of tension over time and I can’t tighten it anymore. I keep my board directly under my studio desk and usually keep my right foot on my EV-1 as a foot rest, sometimes I hit the wah and since everything is auto-engage, I’ll start playing and wonder WTF is going on.

A few weeks ago it happened and the pedal was in the perfect spot where you can barely notice there’s a wah on at all. I could just hear a bit of that lower formant peeking through.....kept thinking I had a funky IR and went through a ton of them trying to figure out what was going on. I think I wasted a good 35 minutes before I realized the wah pedal was pushed down a little bit.

Oh the modelers are getting more realer! Making sure we get the full experience haha.

 

[Donnie B.]

I turn the digital setup on in the morning and then shut it off at night.

I should add that the Quad Cortex is the first of the digital units I'd do this with.
It runs super cool - without an internal fan!

 

[Cap217]

I have a kemper and had axe. For recording they are great. The Kemper is what I use and kept for recording. I rarely ever use a real amp. But for in the room amp, nothing beats the real thing. Even my kenper through a Mesa 290 doesn’t do it for me.

 

[thiswaythatway]

I haven't seen Metallica in years; yet I've heard this from multiple people who have seen them live. I wonder if they are just resistant to trying other amp sims? We know some sound better than others...I saw a Canadian metal band Threat Signal a few years back at a club here; their tone was killer. Both guys used the AXE II direct to the PA.

But neither guy had sold their tube amp collections lol.

I saw Devin Townsend live a few years ago. Not a cabinet to amp on the stage, they were going Axe-Fx direct to the PA. His guitar tone was simply incredible, loud as shit, heavy as hell, it was just awesome. Of course Gojira and Opeth also sounded awesome that night and they were using amps.

And there's a LOT of examples of Metallica's tone brought up here. Right off the bat, Metallica is using Matrix solid state power supplies. Whichever power amp you're using will make all the difference in the world, as well as IR's, FRFR, real cabinets, etc.

It took me a LOT of back and fourth and tweaking, FM3 into a 2:90 is doing it for me, especially with 2 cabs in stereo.

 

[Donnie B.]

I saw Devin Townsend live a few years ago. Not a cabinet to amp on the stage, they were going Axe-Fx direct to the PA. His guitar tone was simply incredible, loud as shit, heavy as hell, it was just awesome.

This brings up a great point about digital - especially for those who are really use to analog.
Devin is a mad scientist - give him enough time and he'd make a harmonica sound like a church organ.
Point being he probably invested a lot of time into learning the Fractal system before making tour presets.

Not saying you have to to get instant gratification, but for multiple songs/parts across an entire show?
Think I remember Pat Metheny's crew worked on and off for 6 months to get all of his amps perfected
in a Kemper before he took one on tour.

I have 8 custom presets on the Quad that I've been fine tuning for a couple weeks. Not so much the
core amp tone, but EQs, FX, best place in a chain to volume match, etc.

Any one of the current boxes can blow you away if you put the right amount of time into them.

A six knob Marshall they ain't!

 

[rm5153]

This brings up a great point about digital - especially for those who are really use to analog.
Devin is a mad scientist - give him enough time and he'd make a harmonica sound like a church organ,
point being he probably invested a lot of time into learning the Fractal system before making tour presets.

Not saying you have to to get instant gratification, but for multiple songs/parts across an entire show?
Think I remember Pat Metheny's crew worked on and off for 6 months to get all of his amps perfected
in a Kemper before he took one on tour.

I have 10 custom presets on the Quad that I've been fine tuning for a couple weeks. Not so much the
core amp tone, but EQs, FX, best place in a chain to volume match, etc.

Any one of the current boxes can blow you away if you put the right amount of time into them.

A six knob Marshall they ain't!

Amen. Unfortunately, these modelers all take some "special sauce" with EQ's and certain parameters to get the tones just right to the individual user. I have never been able the utilize any factory presets and only very rarely have I been able to utilize any user created presets that I found to my liking.

Most new modeler users think they can just take these units out of the box and find tonal nirvana within 5 minutes which simply isn't the case.

 

[Donnie B.]

Most new modeler users think they can just take these units out of the box and find tonal nirvana within 5 minutes which simply isn't the case.

I only have 8 presets so if I stumble on a better sounding way to do something it's
easy to apply it globally. When I first got into modeling I think I had like 50 before
I even knew how to use half the features.

I have to volume match the 8 and have tried various ways to do it. Finally stumbled
on the most logical: I have a 9 band EQ between the amp and IR and another 3 band
right after the IR. I volume match with the 9 band before the IR and then use the other
EQ after for LP and HP and then to tightly scoop that one ice pick frequency in the 3-4K
range down a few dB.

Ureka! Save the preset and then it's just cut and paste for the other 7.

The quietest preset is set for 0.0 (which becomes my template) and then the others get
level cut as needed. The loudest of the 8 is at -10.5 dB.

Everyone know that the initialism RTFM is fairly new and popped up right around the
same time as the first Kidney bean?

I'm serious.

 

[SFW]

I'm just getting into the world of the Axe FX with a recent purchase of a II XL. There is a steep learning curve. I've been steadily working on getting presets made for what I need with me band. It has taken time, but I have finally started to make headway with getting really good tones. It has definitely been a challenge to get rid of the digital sheen. It is possible though.

 

[DanTravis62]

Just dropped in to echo the Metallica thing.

I've seen them multiple times over the years, and their heavy rhythm tones have suffered greatly since the axe fx switch. The slower lead parts and clean parts sound fine, but holy crap the rhythm sound was better with real amps.

 

[Donnie B.]

I'm just getting into the world of the Axe FX with a recent purchase of a II XL. There is a steep learning curve. I've been steadily working on getting presets made for what I need with me band. It has taken time, but I have finally started to make headway with getting really good tones. It has definitely been a challenge to get rid of the digital sheen. It is possible though.

Have you bought any packs yet? With hard-core modelers like Fractal it's worth a few buck to see how the
pros set the various parameters for each amp and FX block. Google to find out the goods ones and be
careful of genre specific ones. This is where a 'Greatest Hits' variety of sounds will pay in spades.

I mean, who knows how to program reverbs and delays better than the P&W folks?

I downloaded a random Plini preset from the Quad cloud and found a really good compressor he'd set up.
Haven't tweaked it one bit and use it on every preset now.

Those are the little gems you'll find all over the place with Pro Packs.

 

[Tone Monster]

Just dropped in to echo the Metallica thing.

I've seen them multiple times over the years, and their heavy rhythm tones have suffered greatly since the axe fx switch. The slower lead parts and clean parts sound fine, but holy crap the rhythm sound was better with real amps.

+eleventybillion

 

[Crunchity]

I'm just getting into the world of the Axe FX with a recent purchase of a II XL. There is a steep learning curve. I've been steadily working on getting presets made for what I need with me band. It has taken time, but I have finally started to make headway with getting really good tones. It has definitely been a challenge to get rid of the digital sheen. It is possible though.

Same here, new to the Axe FX/modeling thing but a long time tube amp + cab "mic-er" and I have to admit I'm way impressed, at least in a full mix/studio setting. This is still a WIP track at the moment (ears are a little rusty as I had major arm surgery 10 months ago and couldn't play so my mixing chops are probably not where they were) but I'm more than satisfied with what this thing has delivered so far and I've barely dove into the AXE processing tools, I just found a freebie preset or two, tweaked them to taste and started having fun. Guitars (and bass lol) are direct into the card/Cubase 11 via USB.

 

[rsm]

Anyone out there ever tried Bluecat`s Axiom at all? I have the hardware so the software came as a nice surprise.

I really like BlueCat's Destructor plug-in, been a couple/few years since I used it - before they released Axiom; at the time I was thinking about making a computer based guitar rig using Destructor as the amp, and their Patchwork as my VST host/controller using my KMI SoftStep2 to control it. I may revisit this idea; in the process of moving from Boss GT-1 + SY-300 to my SY-1000 first.

I think Axiom is a simpler option, as it combines Destructor and effects, user IRs, without the need for Patchwork. I think Destructor is one of the most versatile amp modelers out there. If they put Destructor in a pedal with color touchscreen, and user IRs I think it would be a one of the best competitive options

 

[Donnie B.]

I'm just getting into the world of the Axe FX with a recent purchase of a II XL. There is a steep learning curve. I've been steadily working on getting presets made for what I need with me band. It has taken time, but I have finally started to make headway with getting really good tones. It has definitely been a challenge to get rid of the digital sheen. It is possible though.

Have you bought any packs yet? With hard-core modelers like Fractal it's worth a few buck to see how the
pros set the various parameters for each amp and FX block. Google to find out the goods ones and be
careful of genre specific pack. This is where a 'Greatest Hits' variety of sounds will pay in spades.

Who knows how to program reverbs and delays better than the P&W folks?

I downloaded a random Plini preset from the Quad cloud and found a really good compressor he'd set up.
Haven't tweaked it one bit and use it on every preset now.

Those are the little gems you'll find all over the place with Pro Packs.

 

[gibson5413]

I've had an Axe-FX III for over a year now. There are some things about the Kemper I liked better and some things I like about the III over the KPA. For the most part, I can always find the tone I need no matter what. I will always like a tube amp best but I love the KPA and Axe-FX III. I have found some SinMix presets for my Axe that is amazing for recorded tones. I have not liked the Neural plugins for the most part. There is a plastic sound I hear in all of them. I'm glad it works for some. that's all that matters. The Axe-FX III works for me for home recording and playing. I use my 3rd Power Kitchen Sink and Henning Bottle Rocket for live gigs. They have great master volumes! I would love to try a Quad Cortex but I haven't heard anything that is heads and shoulders above what is out already to make me change.