shred-o-holic":2h5z4urk said:
There is no supposedly to it.
I tweaked, and retweaked, and tweaked again. I'd get something I'd like, then hear some other clip, and back to tweaking again. Bought Red Wirez and mixed them, and mixed them, and mixed them. Certainly, I had better tones from the Axe-FX than some of the crap I've recorded with a mic...but I never could get it sound as good as the
good ones I captured.
I used to have an SLO and had recorded a few things that sounded real good...especially years after I sold it.
I tried and tried to match that tone. I probably tried to nail that tone for a week and for the life of me, I couldn't do it. There was just something missing.
I hated the bright switch with a passion...particularly on the crunchy type amps. It sort of sounded like a guitar with the pickup selector in position 2 or 4...with a bridge humbucker....a MCP 2nd degree black belt at that. So I stopped using it and tried to dial back in the treble elsewhere. That worked ok on some amps, others not so much.
I consistently struggled with a thin top end. I never could get a smooth, 3d top end out of it that I had from my prior amps. Now, don't get me wrong...a lot of "good" tube amps sound that way too. Point being, I could not dial it in there.
The beginning of the end was when I played a Spider Valve mkii at GC. I went home and played my axe through my power amp and 4x12 and I was sadly disappointed. Months of tweaking and I thought I had it all done....AGAIN. And there I was, listening to what I was playing and the only thought in my head was that it sounded cold and sterile compared to a damn Spider Valve of all things. So I sold it. Bought a Spider Valve and sold that fucker too.
I went back to tube amps. Err, should I say tube amp. A Renegade. I'm very happy I did although I do miss some things about the Axe-FX. The effects are really, really good. The reverb was fantastic. I didn't much care for the stomp pedals though. The ease of plugging in and playing into your computer. The multitude of amps to choose from (which was a downside as well).
The Axe-FX has a lot of cool things going for it and in spite of all those cool things, the base most core guitar playing experience was missing for me. I'm dumbfounded when people say the Axe-FX "feels" just like a tube amp. Not a plexi...not even close. The "sounds" like I can understand because for a digital modeling device, it's does sound pretty good. But the feel? I never saw it. Perhaps on a high gain model...not on something like a plexi or JCM800.
My advice is simple. Buy one if you want and try it....but DO NOT sell your amp to do it.
Hey don't get too down on yourself 
