Axe FX highgain amps shootout - NEW CLIPS ADDED

['63-Strat]

Yeah well, they are also deliberately tweaked to sound similar, but there are still major differences if you listen on a proper monitor.

I'm listening on proper monitors that I use in a video production suite, very flat (like me), maybe some very slight differences but they all have the same basic modeler plastic tone. Your other clips sound much better through your poweramp and cab.

+1

I'm listening on HR824s, fwiw. There are differences, but not in the sense I'd expect, depends what you're going for though.

 

[Joeytpg]

I can hear the dif.

I'd rate them like this:

5150
VH4
Recto Orange
Recto New
SLO
Fryette
Powerball
Bogner CAE


the last 3 I didn't like at all, sounded too compressed.

I liked the 5150 the most incredibly, The VH4 has HUUUUUGE botton end which was my fav, but the mids/highs sounded a bit better in the 5150

 

[Capulin Overdrive]

fucking awesome!


i can hear the deferences!


i was liking the patches i knew i allready liked, the VHT and the German ones!


been awhile since i've tried the Uber, will have to give it a go again.

 

[thiswaythatway]

Sounds good. But i think i could get the same type of variation with 1 amp and an EQ pedal.

 

[squealie]

Which reinforces my own findings...and its all likely the result of something most all AxeFx users do (myself included) - set up the amps sims to their sound, the same way we set up regular amps. We all know what we like to hear and will inevitably set them up that way.

100% agree. I tend to gravitate to amps(and models) that have a certain character...and I end up making them sound almost identical. Not enough difference to really worry about. I don't even sweat which model (for the most part) I'm on when dialing up a tone anymore. Cabs, EQ, gain, boost/no-boost, have a FAR BIGGER impact on the final tone IMO.

 

[yngzaklynch]

Loved the Ueber
then Powerball
then...
SLO
VHT
5150

 

[crwnedblasphemy]

It all sounds like small variations of the same tone to me, to be honest.

Me too, and they really have no resemblance to the real amps, especially the VHT and CAE

Agreed.....I didn't care for any, but I am sure if you shape it more results will come.

 

[hunter]

haha, what a discussion.

But indeed, keep in mind that the Tube Screamer does change the response of the amps a lot, plus the used cabs shape the tone in a certain way.

If I'd program those patches all from ground up, results would be much more different.

Think of a shootout of real amps where someone would take a tube screamer and identical guitar, player, cab and microphone/position, and then do a comparison of Makoplex, V-Plex, Blankenship and Roccaforte. Do you think the differences would be huge? I think they would be subtle, one would cut a bit more, one would have a bit more bottom, one would have a slightly different mid peak, etc.

I find these kinds of small differences are there in these recordings, and when I switch between the different patches playing to music running in the background (or tonight at rehearsal) they make all the difference!

 

[jcj]

Very cool of you to post this. Here's my take.

I'm on my second Axe Fx, and dig it. I definitely hear differences in your clips, the same way I hear differences in my own patches. Slight variations on the same overall tone and feel. For me, I know what I like, and end up dialing a variation of that theme, whether it's on an amp, or a modeler. Pretty simple. As a matter of fact, it's what made me sell the Axe the first time. I just didn't see the point.

However.....

What I've come to love about the Axe this time around, is that I can dial out certain things I DON'T like about a particular amp (or really a particular sound), easily. It's less about 5,000,000 different sounds, than easy, complete control of the sounds I do like.

Dig tube amps, dig the Axe, and for what it's worth, I didn't hear the "plastic"

 

[J.B.]

Dig tube amps, dig the Axe

I'm sorry. To my knowledge you cannot like both the axe fx and tubes amps. It's one or the other and you have to take sides.

 

[duesentrieb]

Dig tube amps, dig the Axe

I'm sorry. To my knowledge you cannot like both the axe fx and tubes amps. It's one or the other and you have to take sides.

 

[jcj]

Dig tube amps, dig the Axe

I'm sorry. To my knowledge you cannot like both the axe fx and tubes amps. It's one or the other and you have to take sides.

Shit...I forgot

I'll be slinking away quietly now

 

[J.B.]

Is plastic the new digital?

 

[redrol]

That all sounded pretty average. Definitely digital sounding because of the high end, but im sure in a mix you wouldn't be able to tell. Frankly they all sounded very very similar with only slight differences in saturation. What struck me was the fact that the focus of all the amps were the same, obviously a simulation does that but real amps never do. Don't like these tones overall.

 

[headlessdeadguy]

I really couldn't tell much difference in the sounds myself. Wasn't digging it much.

 

[* velcro-fly *]

Is plastic the new digital?

fake boobs..real boobs...I just like boobs period.

Same with amps, but for now I'm sticking with the version that ryhmes with boobs

 

[jcj]

Is plastic the new digital?

fake boobs..real boobs...I just like boobs period.

Same with amps, but for now I'm sticking with the version that ryhmes with boobs

God Bless Dow Corning

 

[swimrunner]

Not bad... differences weren't quite as pronounced as I would have hoped, but they are there. I kind of dig the Engl voicing for metal.

 

[guitarxtc]

for me diezel vh4!

 

[jkdsteve]

This comparison kicsk so much arse..well, the fact that you did one anyway

Marked for listening to later