ADA Depot - A Forum To Support Users of ADA Amplification Gear
Non ADA Gear => Rack Gear => Topic started by: Soloist on December 31, 2015, 08:49:09 AM
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First off let me say that I have never been a fan of modelers. I had a POD HD500 :poop: and found it less than exciting to say the least. Last night I heard a band with the guitar player running a solid state power amp with an Axe fx ultra into a Marshall cab loaded with gt75's. That was his whole rig and it sounded AMAZING!! I couldn't believe my ears his tone was to die for. :bow: It made my think of shelving my rig and building another.
Do any of you use an Axe fx for live gigging? What are your thoughts on it? Any issues with it? I did some research on it and it seems to be well liked by most who have one. I want to use it with guitar cabs, not ready to do the fr/fr for my live tone. Its a bit pricey that's why I haven't pulled the trigger on one yet.
The only thing it doesn't seem to do is the MP1 (which I can still use mine and just a/b them or 4 cable method them together). The fx sounded as good if not better than my GMajor2. The JMP1 model sounded like a modded JMP1 where mine is stock. What do you all say?
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...Santa was so kind and brought me an AxeFX II XL+ .... To early to give any in-depth reviewing as I've hardly just scratched the surface, but it's a night and day difference to the Ultra I checked in 2010 ... more to come ;)
(http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af41/MagnusBausW/77B3A0C8-113E-4985-82DF-7AE5E2935434_zpsum4ftezq.jpg)
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A good friend of mine has one and he lended it to me for a few days and i must say the effect are really good but i just didn't like the distortion sounds,altough it can simulate a lot of amps in the end the distortion sounded the same all the time.And if you're used to tube distortion it's really hard to like this "emulated" stuff.Not my cup of tea,just my 2 cents.
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Lotsa a pros and cons with all of this.
FX wise, the Axe is definitely en par with the pricey Eventide units (Eclipse, H7600,....). What is awesome is the possibility to (re-)arrange the FX chains and routing in any possible combination one can think of.
The Amp models and cab sims need time to get acquainted to, especially with the gazillion of adjustable parameters.
To make full use of this you gotta dig into it utilizing the FRFR approach as both the behavior and reaction of poweramp and cab (which all react with each other) are simulated. When I hooked the Axe up to my 2:90 with 2 wide body ported cabs and had the poweramp and cabs blocks engaged with one of the standard presets it sounded like a$$.
Another important thing is sound vs feel.
With everything dialed in properly it sounds damn convincing....it certainly lacks the feel of 2x90 watts of SimulClass power (in my case) pushing broken-in V30s in a carefully designed and calculated enclosure though....that´s a trade-off one has to know and live with it.
Bottom line is its avery powerful unit with endless possibilities and very convincing sounds.
I also own an Eleven Rack which come for a fraction of the Axe $$ (350€ for the 11R in my case). The number of Amp/Cab sims and effects is more limited, as are the routing options. But here also, once dialed in properly, it sounds really convincing.
Nice added bonus with the 11R is that it´s basically am audio interface (same as the Digi 003 Rack) with the added bonus of the Amp and FX. So I can record, add FX from the box or plug-ins, integrate external (real)amps, pedals, and have the possibility of re-amping the whole shebang as I can also record the dry signal in an extra track....
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I have read alot of people don't like it with tube power amps. Solid state power amp with cab sims off. Fr/fr sound lacks something to my ears. :dunno:
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Hey SC,
Well done on the AxeFX II ... how are you getting on with it?
Santa very kindly delivered the original AxeFX to me a few years ago, I'm still using it.
Most days it sounds absolutely awesome and I love it,
Other days it doesn't sound quite so good, as if something is missing,
And occasionally I feel like I'm cheating because there's no tubes.
Sound vs Feel ... speaker resonance parameters can help.