Axe FX Through a Cab

[John4021]

Sounds great that way, as a preamp and fx. I used a vht 2150.

Turn off poweramp and cab modeling. Flatten the resonant peaks to zero on the speaker parameter page. Turn speaker distortion to minimum. Set modeler presence and depth parameters to "neutral". Turn preamp sag ON. All I remember right now.

Basically neutralize everything the modeler models post preamp.

For true feel get a vht valulator, effectrode glass a, sarno black box, or vintage vibe tube bomb directly after guitar with passive pickups. I had best result with rear input when using buffers.

There is a ton of tweaking you can do but once you get your tone, Just crank and play

 

[moltenmetalburn]

Sounds great that way, as a preamp and fx. I used a vht 2150.

Turn off poweramp and cab modeling. Flatten the resonant peaks to zero on the speaker parameter page. Turn speaker distortion to minimum. Set modeler presence and depth parameters to "neutral". Turn preamp sag ON. All I remember right now.

Basically neutralize everything the modeler models post preamp.

For true feel get a vht valulator, effectrode glass a, sarno black box, or vintage vibe tube bomb directly after guitar with passive pickups. I had best result with rear input when using buffers.

There is a ton of tweaking you can do but once you get your tone, Just crank and play

Truth. I LOVE to tweak. No issues with modelers into tube amps and cabinets either. Which was a problem haha.

I tweaked more than I played. This year I sold all the modelers and grabbed two amp heads. Can only tweak for like five minutes on ten parameters lol. I play MUCH more. Had the modeler bug and grabbed a couple mooer mini preamps for that.

 

[Crunchtime]

Kemper user here and never played an AXE-FX but, this is my experience with playing through cab.

Originally after getting a Kemper Powerhead, I was a bit frustrated with my high gain tones through my guitar cabs.

It seemed all high gain profiles sounded the same with only differences being eq related.

Then I decided to throw a pair of Eminence EM12 speakers in my G-Flex 212. You may know the EM12 is said to be an EVM12L clone. I'm not sure on that as I've never played one but, what I can tell you is the Emi EM12 hass very nuetral EQ compared to the other speakers I was using.

This made a world of difference. I notice my high gain profiles no longer all sound the same. I finally feel as if I have hundreds of tones available to me. Before the EM12's I always had my cab sims turned off. With the EM12's it's actually random whether or not I prefer cabs on or off. If I were to put a number on it, I would say I prefer the cab sims on 70% of the time through my G-Flex 212 with Eminence EM12's.

G-Flex kills, btw.

 

[John4021]

Kemper user here and never played an AXE-FX but, this is my experience with playing through cab.

Originally after getting a Kemper Powerhead, I was a bit frustrated with my high gain tones through my guitar cabs.

It seemed all high gain profiles sounded the same with only differences being eq related.

Then I decided to throw a pair of Eminence EM12 speakers in my G-Flex 212. You may know the EM12 is said to be an EVM12L clone. I'm not sure on that as I've never played one but, what I can tell you is the Emi EM12 hass very nuetral EQ compared to the other speakers I was using.

This made a world of difference. I notice my high gain profiles no longer all sound the same. I finally feel as if I have hundreds of tones available to me. Before the EM12's I always had my cab sims turned off. With the EM12's it's actually random whether or not I prefer cabs on or off. If I were to put a number on it, I would say I prefer the cab sims on 70% of the time through my G-Flex 212 with Eminence EM12's.

G-Flex kills, btw.

Is the G Flex the George Lynch 2x12?
Those are great cabs.

 

[Crunchtime]

Kemper user here and never played an AXE-FX but, this is my experience with playing through cab.

Originally after getting a Kemper Powerhead, I was a bit frustrated with my high gain tones through my guitar cabs.

It seemed all high gain profiles sounded the same with only differences being eq related.

Then I decided to throw a pair of Eminence EM12 speakers in my G-Flex 212. You may know the EM12 is said to be an EVM12L clone. I'm not sure on that as I've never played one but, what I can tell you is the Emi EM12 hass very nuetral EQ compared to the other speakers I was using.

This made a world of difference. I notice my high gain profiles no longer all sound the same. I finally feel as if I have hundreds of tones available to me. Before the EM12's I always had my cab sims turned off. With the EM12's it's actually random whether or not I prefer cabs on or off. If I were to put a number on it, I would say I prefer the cab sims on 70% of the time through my G-Flex 212 with Eminence EM12's.

G-Flex kills, btw.

Is the G Flex the George Lynch 2x12?
Those are great cabs.

I believe I read it was meant to be a Lynch sig cab but for whatever reason the deal fell through. Agree, excellent cab.

 

[chameleon2112]

Kemper user here and never played an AXE-FX but, this is my experience with playing through cab.

Originally after getting a Kemper Powerhead, I was a bit frustrated with my high gain tones through my guitar cabs.

It seemed all high gain profiles sounded the same with only differences being eq related.

Then I decided to throw a pair of Eminence EM12 speakers in my G-Flex 212. You may know the EM12 is said to be an EVM12L clone. I'm not sure on that as I've never played one but, what I can tell you is the Emi EM12 hass very nuetral EQ compared to the other speakers I was using.

This made a world of difference. I notice my high gain profiles no longer all sound the same. I finally feel as if I have hundreds of tones available to me. Before the EM12's I always had my cab sims turned off. With the EM12's it's actually random whether or not I prefer cabs on or off. If I were to put a number on it, I would say I prefer the cab sims on 70% of the time through my G-Flex 212 with Eminence EM12's.

G-Flex kills, btw.

Is the G Flex the George Lynch 2x12?
Those are great cabs.

I believe I read it was meant to be a Lynch sig cab but for whatever reason the deal fell through. Agree, excellent cab.

He must have got some money from them, his signature was on the 2 cabs I had.

 

[maddnotez]

No offense here and maybe it was covered but wouldn't that be near identical to having a real amp?

Minus pre amp tubes?

To me that's the only way to do it because of the feel so it wasn't worth it and I sold mine BUT they do sound amazing through a tube amp and 4x12.

Absolutely crushing with the right presets.

 

[spanny]

No offense here and maybe it was covered but wouldn't that be near identical to having a real amp?

Minus pre amp tubes?

To me that's the only way to do it because of the feel so it wasn't worth it and I sold mine BUT they do sound amazing through a tube amp and 4x12.

Absolutely crushing with the right presets.

I'm looking to have my entire rig in one box versus a couple of heads, multiple pedals, a bunch of cables, etc. We gig a lot, so if I could streamline my setup, that would be great.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

No offense here and maybe it was covered but wouldn't that be near identical to having a real amp?

Minus pre amp tubes?

To me that's the only way to do it because of the feel so it wasn't worth it and I sold mine BUT they do sound amazing through a tube amp and 4x12.

Absolutely crushing with the right presets.

It is more like having a preamp of 200 different types With ONE poweramp. The fx are also in the traditional position which axe fx cannot do. Not for everyone, may be limiting to some but the closest I could get it to sound like real amps. Pretty damn amazing actually.

 

[Robotechnology]

Like one poster mentioned playing thru a Guitar cab is going to lessen how different the amp models sound. You would love the feel though. If you get/have a fairly neutral sounding cab you’ll hear more pronounced differences between your presents otherwise you won’t. Not saying it will sound bad. Just that you won’t lsound like a modded JCM800 one minute and a Bassman the next. The cabs you’d use in those situations are SO different, so keep that in mind.

 

[Elric]

Like one poster mentioned playing thru a Guitar cab is going to lessen how different the amp models sound. You would love the feel though. If you get/have a fairly neutral sounding cab you’ll hear more pronounced differences between your presents otherwise you won’t. Not saying it will sound bad. Just that you won’t lsound like a modded JCM800 one minute and a Bassman the next. The cabs you’d use in those situations are SO different, so keep that in mind.

Yes, using a real cab it is more like the most versatile head/preamp ever rather than a zillion different amps all completely different. You can achieve some of it with the monstrous EQ and parameter options on the unit but it reaches the point of diminishing returns. I was running a multiple tube preamp rig + multifx units into a power amp and cab back in the day; so the Fractal completely overtook all the preamps and the multi-fx. Total god send. I went SS power too but some people still insist on tube power. Still rocking a traditional cab. The entire setup is more powerful than my old rig, WAY smaller and lighter, and sounds better (IMHO). Total winnage.

 

[Shark Diver]

I'd look into the Synergy as well. Really nice. Many options for amps, cabs, direct, FoH.