AxeFx guys, still happy?

[King Crimson]

I dont want to come off as a internet tough guy. I am actually really easy going but I would show Carl what its like. I am 6'4" btw.

Brad

Well if you're 6'4" make another vid with yourself in it. But this time jump into a Godzilla suit standing next to your 2x12 stacks and play Blue Oyster Cult's Godzilla like the Japanese movie.

 

[King Guitar]

I dont want to come off as a internet tough guy. I am actually really easy going but I would show Carl what its like. I am 6'4" btw.

Brad

Well if you're 6'4" make another vid with yourself in it. But this time jump into a Godzilla suit standing next to your 2x12 stacks and play Blue Oyster Cult's Godzilla like the Japanese movie.

Shades of the Taps Stonehenge!!

 

[digwhisper]

I'm coming up on two years with mine and I love it more every day. Usually I would fall in love with an amp initially and then find all the things I didn't like about it until I got gas and moved on. It's been the reverse with the Axe Fx.

 

[Juggernaut]

I thought it was a GREAT piece of gear, my MAIN problem with it was I spent more time tweaking it than actually playing through it. I found some KILLER tones in it, someday I will buy another, but right now, I'll stick with the MTS/Egnater stuff.

 

[rsm]

Got mine mid-Oct, 2008 and still loving it - just wish I had more time to actually use it!

I'm running it into my ADA rig: B200S power amp (solid state, ~100W per side) into two ADA 2x12 splitstacks per side. I'm used to using my ADA preamps (which have tube stages) to dial in tone and having a clean power amp, so getting warmth with my Ultra is more challenging but not impossible - I'm still at the Amp block testing/eval stage due to time constraints. However, at this point I can say this is the best piece of gear I've purchased, up there with my favorite instruments.

At this point, I'm selling off some of my ADA gear to get an active FRFR set-up (for both cash and to make room in my home studio) so I can take advantage of the Ultra's capabilities. My Axe-Fx is a game-changer for me, and has caused me to rethink everything I've been doing (i.e., modernize).

So, yes, I'm still happy!

 

[Mr. Brady]

I thought it was a GREAT piece of gear, my MAIN problem with it was I spent more time tweaking it than actually playing through it. I found some KILLER tones in it, someday I will buy another, but right now, I'll stick with the MTS/Egnater stuff.

I sold it after tweaking way to much and not finding a tone I thought was worth the price going direct. I'm still happy with the decision.

I want the floor unit when it comes out to replace my PODXTL and GT-8. The rack unit was just too cumbersome for my needs.

 

[squealie]

I still love mine. But my poweramp (Marshall 9005) shit the bed at the last gig. Now I'm trying to decide between a monster SS amp, QSC PLX at 500+ watts a side, or a VHT 2-90-2....or maybe even the Atomic thingy.

BTW, I had to pull the Vetta out of the truck and do the gig with that....and I figgered out a few tweaks that really helped it. It really is a kickass live amp, too bad the D/O's don't sound nearly as good as the Axe-FX.

 

[Juggernaut]

I thought it was a GREAT piece of gear, my MAIN problem with it was I spent more time tweaking it than actually playing through it. I found some KILLER tones in it, someday I will buy another, but right now, I'll stick with the MTS/Egnater stuff.

I sold it after tweaking way to much and not finding a tone I thought was worth the price going direct. I'm still happy with the decision.

I want the floor unit when it comes out to replace my PODXTL and GT-8. The rack unit was just too cumbersome for my needs.

I had found some GREAT tones in it, I just spent too much time thinking, "I wonder if I can make this better", I don't regret selling it, but I could see it as a useful tool someday.

 

[timbo]

Well, I love to tweak. Since finding this thing I can't imagine being a slave to a traditional amp with limited tones. Not to mention having to physically turn dials every time you want something different. I'm just blessed to have this thing, especially since I play in a cover tune band. Everyone's opinion differs I guess but I can't stand to hear a guitarist in a dedicated cover tune band use the same tone on every song. I'm sure Joe Barstool couldn't care less but it bugs me. Or even what's more irritating is the awkward dead time in fiddling with floor pedal or amp knobs between songs. I guess I feel good knowing the Ultra gives me the flexiblility or the confidence to replicate fairly accurately to my ears most any guitar tone on all the cover tunes we play. And of course the effects and pitch shifting are world class. This box ain't goin nowhere for a long time!

 

[rsm]

Well, I love to tweak. Since finding this thing I can't imagine being a slave to a traditional amp with limited tones. Not to mention having to physically turn dials every time you want something different. ... This box ain't goin nowhere for a long time!

+1

I went to ADA gear (programmable presets / tone control in the preamp) back in the early '90s for the same reason: instant tone at 1-2 foot taps. I don't want anything less flexible - I may only have 10-20 presets, and use maybe 5 or so on any given day - but having to manually dial these in each time - now that is a time waster - time I can use to get new/better tones out of my Ultra (or even my ADA preamps).

I am tweaking way too much with the Axe-Fx, maybe its because I'm so new to it so it takes awhile, but I always have a nagging thought that even when something sounds good or even great, that I can make it better - so now I'm in tweaking hell. At some point in time, I hope I get more proficient so I can dial things in more quickly and know what I need to tweak and not tweak with minimal experimentation. At least on the amp and drive blocks, and eventually the cab blocks. Like everything else, it takes practice, practice, practice and more practice to improve proficiency.

 

[Gainfreak]

Well, I love to tweak. Since finding this thing I can't imagine being a slave to a traditional amp with limited tones. Not to mention having to physically turn dials every time you want something different. ... This box ain't goin nowhere for a long time!

+1

I went to ADA gear (programmable presets / tone control in the preamp) back in the early '90s for the same reason: instant tone at 1-2 foot taps. I don't want anything less flexible - I may only have 10-20 presets, and use maybe 5 or so on any given day - but having to manually dial these in each time - now that is a time waster - time I can use to get new/better tones out of my Ultra (or even my ADA preamps).

I am tweaking way too much with the Axe-Fx, maybe its because I'm so new to it so it takes awhile, but I always have a nagging thought that even when something sounds good or even great, that I can make it better - so now I'm in tweaking hell. At some point in time, I hope I get more proficient so I can dial things in more quickly and know what I need to tweak and not tweak with minimal experimentation. At least on the amp and drive blocks, and eventually the cab blocks. Like everything else, it takes practice, practice, practice and more practice to improve proficiency.

One thing to keep in mind when you have a highly tweakable piece of gear is that you wont make much progress if you leave it up to your ear to decide what's a better tone. What I mean is that when you are trying to out-do any of your sounds that you have programmed into the axe, you should either keep the old patch somewhere else or even better...record it so that you have a referance. Im not saying that you are doing this but You have no idea how many people constently tweak there sound without keeping a referance tone to compare the new tone with.

all the best

~R~

 

[timbo]

I usually don't go back often to retweak patches that I've already done. I might go back a couple times maybe to adjust the gain, eq or delay but that's pretty much it. I guess I probably should clarify that my real love with the Ultra is creating patches and having the challenge of replicating a guitar/amp tone that I hear on cover songs. Right now I think I've got about 50 patches programmed covering everything from early Billy Idol, ACDC, Van Halen, type tones to modern heavier stuff like Theory of a Deadman or Seether.

And man, the pitch shifter on this thing is amazing. I drop tune for some Seether and Theory of a Deadman stuff and it just kills! Absolutely no artifact whatsoever. It's so nice being able to do everything with one guitar.

 

[rsm]

Gainfreak,

Learned that the hard way many years ago! For the ADA, I started writing the settings down on paper just in case after learning the hard way to save copies of my presets.

Now, I always keep a backup of a preset I like. I may delete it later if I make it better, though I wait a few sessions over time to be sure I like the improved version better than the original. I also export "keepers" to my computer just in case I want to go back at some point. I'll put the before and after presets next to each other so its easier to A/B them.

 

[Gainfreak]

I usually don't go back often to retweak patches that I've already done. I might go back a couple times maybe to adjust the gain, eq or delay but that's pretty much it. I guess I probably should clarify that my real love with the Ultra is creating patches and having the challenge of replicating a guitar/amp tone that I hear on cover songs. Right now I think I've got about 50 patches programmed covering everything from early Billy Idol, ACDC, Van Halen, type tones to modern heavier stuff like Theory of a Deadman or Seether.

And man, the pitch shifter on this thing is amazing. I drop tune for some Seether and Theory of a Deadman stuff and it just kills! Absolutely no artifact whatsoever. It's so nice being able to do everything with one guitar.

You are speaking my language!! I am really having fun replicating tones for the coverband!! The only thing I haven't gotten into is the pitch shifting!! Where do you place the it in the signal chain? maybe I'll screw around with it this weekend but it will help to get some help from you before I start screwing around!!

 

[Slaytallica]

What are you guys using to push your AxFx? SS or Tube amp?

 

[jasonP]

I usually don't go back often to retweak patches that I've already done. I might go back a couple times maybe to adjust the gain, eq or delay but that's pretty much it. I guess I probably should clarify that my real love with the Ultra is creating patches and having the challenge of replicating a guitar/amp tone that I hear on cover songs. Right now I think I've got about 50 patches programmed covering everything from early Billy Idol, ACDC, Van Halen, type tones to modern heavier stuff like Theory of a Deadman or Seether.

And man, the pitch shifter on this thing is amazing. I drop tune for some Seether and Theory of a Deadman stuff and it just kills! Absolutely no artifact whatsoever. It's so nice being able to do everything with one guitar.

You are speaking my language!! I am really having fun replicating tones for the coverband!! The only thing I haven't gotten into is the pitch shifting!! Where do you place the it in the signal chain? maybe I'll screw around with it this weekend but it will help to get some help from you before I start screwing around!!

Holy cow man! You haven't dinked with that setting yet.. Pitch shift is the best for making your stuff sound thick as hell in my opinion your going to love it!
It would be the first effect in the chain. You want to micro pitch tune so a lead sound would be like -007 cents left and +007 on the right, a little less or more depending on what you like and want. I like to run around 15-35 percent mix depending on how strong you want the effect to sound and how loud you are running your wet cabs. Just give that a try if you haven't and report back.

 

[Gainfreak]

Gainfreak,

Learned that the hard way many years ago! For the ADA, I started writing the settings down on paper just in case after learning the hard way to save copies of my presets.

Now, I always keep a backup of a preset I like. I may delete it later if I make it better, though I wait a few sessions over time to be sure I like the improved version better than the original. I also export "keepers" to my computer just in case I want to go back at some point. I'll put the before and after presets next to each other so its easier to A/B them.

As soon as you mentioned the ADA, I figured that you would have experiance saving your settings!! The thing that often baffles me is that I have friends who constently change there tone without ever taking notes. I had had a friend of mine tweak his amp only to listen back to a recording and like the old tone much better! When I asked him what his setting were, he had no clue! I was able to get him back to that sound but it would have been way easier if he had taken notes lol

 

[Gainfreak]

What are you guys using to push your AxFx? SS or Tube amp?

Sup Brother!! Im currently using tube. Boogie 2:90 poweramp! Sounds insane

 

[Gainfreak]

Holy cow man! You haven't dinked with that setting yet.. Pitch shift is the best for making your stuff sound thick as hell in my opinion your going to love it!
It would be the first effect in the chain. You want to micro pitch tune so a lead sound would be like -007 cents left and +007 on the right, a little less or more depending on what you like and want. I like to run around 15-35 percent mix depending on how strong you want the effect to sound and how loud you are running your wet cabs. Just give that a try if you haven't and report back.

Nope! I haven't had time to try it but Im on it!! I'll try it this weekend!!

Is it the first thing in the block or do you use it after the amp sim? I just want to make sure!!

What shift do you use? Detune?

 

[timbo]

You are speaking my language!! I am really having fun replicating tones for the coverband!! The only thing I haven't gotten into is the pitch shifting!! Where do you place the it in the signal chain? maybe I'll screw around with it this weekend but it will help to get some help from you before I start screwing around!!

The pitch shifter is at the front of the chain first block. Used the "advanced whammy" mode with pitch tracking on to downtune the guitar. I believe it's in full step increments i.e. -1,-2,-3 etc. You'll be impressed!