nikki-k » Tue Nov 13, 2012 1:36 am
90% there? I suppose somebody could come up with some objective manner of determining that. For me, it comes down to a very simple question: does it work for me? I could play percentage games I suppose. But, IME, if something is not "it" for me.. not "the it," but rather "an it"... it can be worth spending time figuring out why (not), and trying to resolve those issues. In fact, I have done so with the Axe II, and after nearly a year, it is getting sold.
If someone wants a moon rock, a copy of one.. even one that is 99% compositionally similar (identical for "believers").. is still not a moon rock. A kit car Ferrari on a Volkswagen frame is not an actual Ferrari. However, in the process of building a Ferrari-like vehicle oneself, they could produce something they love as much, if not more. I can absolutely see using something like the Axe to create "amps" that do not exist in "real form." For me, even that is (90%) improbable, as the Axe has inherent flaws that I am unable to ignore enough to even use the unit for more than an hour or so without wanting to smash it.
The Axe, like any modeler/profiler, is a compromise. There is one circumstance in which it is not, and that is when the user lets go of trying to emulate and instead innovates. Then there is no comparison of percentages; then the gear stands on its own. When an artist opts for an Axe over a rack (or two) full of hand-picked gear, it is typically compromise. And most of the time, it is what someone determines to be their best choice of compromise. There are a few owning the idea of eschewing amps, but the bulk of purchasers/users still appears to be (to me at least) those making a compromise. I do not, for instance, see people touring with an Orville, 1210, 2290, a drawer of pedals, and an Axe.
The Axe has parameters that allow sculpting, but some questions as to the actual analog of those functions... well, IME questions in those areas end in vague, semantics laden run-arounds, claims of "proprietary information," and/or derision. In person, I can pick the Axe 100% of the time. Not 90%, nor even 99.9%. On actual tape... no digital recording.. I can also pick it, sans effects.
Oh- plus, with a tube amp I can do something fun; I can swap tubes. The Axe has no tubes to swap, virtual or otherwise. Cloud that with claims of one tube being a simple filter away from being another, or that such swaps can be equaled if not bested through manipulation of "parameters," and I am unable to do much more than chuckle just a tad anymore. And Tone Matching, IME, is different than Kemper profiling, and with both, it is STILL... not a real moon rock. Even dead, Neil Armstrong can tell too. (RIP).
