Axe-FX II

[jgcable]

The Standard started shipping almsot 5 years ago and the Ultra started shipping almost 4 years ago. I got it on the Ultra within a month or two of them shipping initially. In that time Cliff has released 8 major updates and dozens of minor releases. And they were all free. With Line 6 you could barely get them to fix bugs much less get any new features and you had to spend another $50 per model pack to upgrade. And nothing Line 6 has ever released comes close to touching the Axe-FX and I've own every generation of Line 6 modelers. Oh and the Axe-FX replaced an Eventide Eclipse for me as well. And note that the day the Axe II was announced, Fractal released a major update for the Axe-FX. Who else does that? And Cliff has already stated he will be releasing some more amp models for the Axe-FX. Line 6 business model? I don't think so.

As for updates to the Rectifier, they've updated it a number of times - that's why people seek out specific versions. And there have been a number of variations in the Rectifier amp family. As for the SLO, it is just about my favorite amp of all time but it doesn't sound special until you get the master up to about 6 and that is unfuckingbelievably loud - that's not useful to me unfortunately. It was a sad day when I sold my SLO. And the SLO could desperately use some updates. It has one of the worst effects loop in the industry (this is probably the #1 mod done to an SLO). Right behind the SLO for worst loop is most Mesa Boogie products - the Lonestar is probably their worst example of an effects loop.

And this coming from you! You change amp and effects rigs more often than Newc probably changes his underwear. I've been gigging regularly with my Axe-FX for over 3 years. I bet you haven't even kept a single rig for 3 years

Randall RM100 (with the same 3 modules), Yamaha SPX90 in the loop for reverb and delay, wah out in front running through a Marshall 1960 loaded with T75'. Going on 3 years now and totally happy with it thank you!!! I agree, the loop on the SLO is the worst and Mesa ain't much better.

[jgcable]

John, I've considered going back to tube amps. I've still got a Bogner Fish and a Boogie 2:90 power amp. There is something pretty fantastic about that rig. It does feel a bit better to me when I'm just playing by myself. But with the band I don't notice any loss of feel. And when I'm playing live I don't even think about it. And as great as the Fish/Boogie rig is, in the mix it doesn't sound better. I have no particular love or hate for tubes, solid state, or digital gear. I'm not even slightly religious about it. If anything, I'm a bit anti-modeler (really) but I can't deny what my hands and ears tell me about this Axe-FX rig I've got. And I've never, ever had more compliments on how my band sounded before. Every single gig we play I get folks asking WTF do we do to get such a good mix. Me not having an ungodly loud stage volume to get good tone is a big part of that.

BTW, my grab and go rig is a Bogner Mojado combo with a small pedalboard. It's a blast. But even though that amp is a 6V6 and only like 18 watts, most times I'm sitting in with folks I can't turn it up much either. It still sounds OK but it doesn't reach it's potential at that volume.

Tell your buddy he needs to spend time with the Axe-FX himself. I've seen enough guys with great gear get bad tone that I try not to make any judgements of any gear based until I've had a chance with it myself. For example, our drummer plays in another band and one of the guitar players has an Egnater head and 2x12 cabinet and several nice guitars. He gets the most horrid tone I've heard in a club in years. It's truly dreadful buzzing bees fucking noise. He's the only guy in town playing that rig that I've seen so if I were to make a judgement of that rig based on his tone I'd say that Egnater sucks balls. But I know it doesn't because I've played through that same rig and it's actually quite good.

Your buddy can't go wrong with the Mark V though. It's a great sounding amp. I wasn't able to quite get the sort of classic Marshall type sound that I prefer with it but there are some great tones in that box.

I hear you Tim. Not sure if the guy had his Axe FX dialed in correctly and IMHO that is the main problem with modeling rigs that have that much deep editing. I think the majority of the users have 2 problems live.
#1. They don't know how to convert a bedroom tone to a live tone. Bedroom tone and live tone are completely different.
#2. There are so many tonal possibilities and effects possibilities that most players can't get it together. Most of the time they dial in tones that have too much of everything.
The best sounding live guitar tones in clubs I have heard lately came from the following rigs..
Frayette head, VHT 4 x 12 cab with a few stomp boxes out in front.
Mesa Dual Recto head, Marshall 1960 cab, Digidesign Eleven in the loop for effects only.
Bogner XTC 101B head, Bogner cab, G Major in the loop
Diezel Herbert head, Diezel cab, Nova in the loop
Peavey 5150 Combo, wah and flanger out in front, delay in the loop.
The Carvin V3 sounds fantastic live running through a Marshall 1960 loaded with V30's.

I used to get all kinds of compliments with my Vetta 2 half stack and my Boss GT-8 running stereo with a tube power amp and stereo cabs.
I think the compliments came more because of the interesting tones I could get. Most of these compliments came from the crowd who were non musicians. The musicians in the crowd were unimpressed most of the time and I usually had a tough time hearing myself on stage.
I also spent a ton of time tweaking. Now.. I just plug in and jam. The only thing I worry about is if my wah has a fresh 9v battery in it.

[emperor_black]

I said this on another forum - If history of guitar amps was reversed and Solid state amps came before Tube amps, people will be in the same quandary as many are now in with regards to modelling gear. "Your tube amp costs what??? I don't believe it can sound better than my Solid state amps. All bands I see out there are using Solid state amps and they sound the best to my ears!" of course we know which is better don't we? Change can be very hard to accept; especially if one's asked to abandon a tried and proven rig.

[jgcable]

I said this on another forum - If history of guitar amps was reversed and Solid state amps came before Tube amps, people will be in the same quandary as many are now in with regards to modelling gear. "Your tube amp costs what??? I don't believe it can sound better than my Solid state amps. All bands I see out there are using Solid state amps and they sound the best to my ears!" of course we know which is better don't we? Change can be very hard to accept; especially if one's asked to abandon a tried and proven rig.

Why do you think 99% of the touring pro's use tube amps live and in the studio? Mass hysteria?

[VitaminG]

Randall RM100 (with the same 3 modules), Yamaha SPX90 in the loop for reverb and delay, wah out in front running through a Marshall 1960 loaded with T75'. Going on 3 years now and totally happy with it thank you!!! I agree, the loop on the SLO is the worst and Mesa ain't much better.

what are you using to control the SPX90? The Randall foot controller? Or do you just have reverb & delay on all the time? Are you still using a Alligator for boost?

[jgcable]

what are you using to control the SPX90? The Randall foot controller? Or do you just have reverb & delay on all the time? Are you still using a Alligator for boost?

I don't control the SPX90II although I could with the RM100 footswitch because its midi. I leave it on all the time in the parallel loop with just a splash of delay and reverb for ambience. Regarding boost, I don't use the Alligator anymore. Its easier to use the 3 channels on the amp.
Blackface for clean, XTC for rhythm and Ultra for leads. My rig is as simple as it gets. The only pedal out in front is a wah pedal. I don't even use a tuner live anymore. I tune my guitars prior and if one jumps out of tune I switch to another guitar. My guitars rarely if ever go out of tune. Ibanez makes very stable double locking full floating trems.
The Randall RM100 is an outstanding amp. The only downside it has is the weight. Its very heavy. I have been very happy with it over the last few years and many many live shows and recording sessions.
I just picked up a Line 6 SpiderValve MK II 1 x 12 combo with the FBV short board for local jam nights and for a local band that I have been jamming with over the last few months. Got to keep busy musically!

[hippietim]

Why do you think 99% of the touring pro's use tube amps live and in the studio? Mass hysteria?

They use whatever they want because they have guys to haul their shit, they can play an SLO at the proper volume, they have guys to maintain tubes, etc.

Given no constraints I'd have an Eventide E8000 (or two), an SLO, a Twin, a Plexi, a rack of boutique stomps, a Bradshaw switching system, etc.

But that rig wouldn't even fit on the "stages" of the places we play. It wouldn't fit in my car. I couldn't cary it by myself. Etc.

BTW, more and more guys are using modelers live - particularly the guys that are doing tours on much more limited budgets. A modeling rig is a dramatically simpler rig than what a lot of guys would otherwise tour with. It's also cheaper and easier to have a backup - 2 (or even 3) modelers is much less money and weight than two sets of tube amps/effects/cabs/switcher. A lot of players that do fly dates and have had to deal with whatever amp is rented for them are now taking out an Axe-FX or an Eleven.

I'm sure your RM rig kicks ass. I used to play with an RM100 and I had a bunch of modules - the 1086 is a great one - very versatile. That head was fucking heavy though.

[chrisolson]

Sorry about the thread hijack (not that this thread won't reach 100 pages anyway, but...), John - you got the Spider Valve Mk 2. What do you think of it?

Back to the Axe...I agree with Rupe. I sold mine because I got tired of CONSTANTLY DICKING WITH IT. I'll get another at some point, and while the 2 would be more to my liking with the available features, I won't spend that kind of money on it. I'll grab a used Standard or Ultra.

[jgcable]

They use whatever they want because they have guys to haul their shit, they can play an SLO at the proper volume, they have guys to maintain tubes, etc.

Given no constraints I'd have an Eventide E8000 (or two), an SLO, a Twin, a Plexi, a rack of boutique stomps, a Bradshaw switching system, etc.

But that rig wouldn't even fit on the "stages" of the places we play. It wouldn't fit in my car. I couldn't cary it by myself. Etc.

BTW, more and more guys are using modelers live - particularly the guys that are doing tours on much more limited budgets. A modeling rig is a dramatically simpler rig than what a lot of guys would otherwise tour with. It's also cheaper and easier to have a backup - 2 (or even 3) modelers is much less money and weight than two sets of tube amps/effects/cabs/switcher. A lot of players that do fly dates and have had to deal with whatever amp is rented for them are now taking out an Axe-FX or an Eleven.

I'm sure your RM rig kicks ass. I used to play with an RM100 and I had a bunch of modules - the 1086 is a great one - very versatile. That head was fucking heavy though.

Tim, that is much of the reason why my rig is so simple. If I had the room and the time I would have a crazy live rig.
The RM100 head is really heavy and when in the road case it needs 2 guys to carry it.

[jgcable]

Sorry about the thread hijack (not that this thread won't reach 100 pages anyway, but...), John - you got the Spider Valve Mk 2. What do you think of it?

Back to the Axe...I agree with Rupe. I sold mine because I got tired of CONSTANTLY DICKING WITH IT. I'll get another at some point, and while the 2 would be more to my liking with the available features, I won't spend that kind of money on it. I'll grab a used Standard or Ultra.

I have had it for over a week and haven't even turned it on yet. I have been reading about it and learning the ins and outs about all the deep editing features when using the FBV shortboard.
From what I have heard and read, its a pretty solid sounding amp. Especially when turned up loud.
I got it for some small local bands I am working with that require a ton of different tones. With some of these bands I need to go from AIC to Cream to BOC to Ozzy to Fuel to Steve Miller to The Black Crowes all in the same set.

[VitaminG]

I don't control the SPX90II although I could with the RM100 footswitch because its midi. I leave it on all the time in the parallel loop with just a splash of delay and reverb for ambience. Regarding boost, I don't use the Alligator anymore. Its easier to use the 3 channels on the amp.
Blackface for clean, XTC for rhythm and Ultra for leads. My rig is as simple as it gets. The only pedal out in front is a wah pedal. I don't even use a tuner live anymore. I tune my guitars prior and if one jumps out of tune I switch to another guitar. My guitars rarely if ever go out of tune. Ibanez makes very stable double locking full floating trems.
The Randall RM100 is an outstanding amp. The only downside it has is the weight. Its very heavy. I have been very happy with it over the last few years and many many live shows and recording sessions.
I just picked up a Line 6 SpiderValve MK II 1 x 12 combo with the FBV short board for local jam nights and for a local band that I have been jamming with over the last few months. Got to keep busy musically!

thanks, man. I've been thinking about simplifying my setup, but I also want to add some reverb/delay. I have a rack fx unit to use, but controlling it with my FCB1010 would increase my footprint on stage, not reduce it. I had played around with using the Randall controller but it's a dumb controller, so an fx patch to suit amp channel 1 has to be setup on channel 1 of the fx unit. Not a big deal, but I was getting dropout when changing patches too. Setting up reverb/delay as you have it is much simpler.

Before I got the Alligator, I had been using the RM like you do now - with a Blackface for clean, Recto for rhythm and XTC for lead. But having a lead boost for each rhythm channel appeals to me. We play all covers and while my XTC is great for lead, it's just too much for some songs.

[emperor_black]

Back to the Axe...I agree with Rupe. I sold mine because I got tired of CONSTANTLY DICKING WITH IT.

What firmware was it that you gave up? With 11, its as simple as TS808 -> AMP -> cab -> EQ/PEQ (only if you want it). No need of deep editing. I've been removing all the effects that I had in my 5-10 patches I use. Absolutely, no need to waste time tweaking. But yeah, YMMV.

[chrisolson]

What firmware was it that you gave up? With 11, its as simple as TS808 -> AMP -> cab -> EQ/PEQ (only if you want it). No need of deep editing. I've been removing all the effects that I had in my 5-10 patches I use. Absolutely, no need to waste time tweaking. But yeah, YMMV.

I sold mine at 10.3 I think.

The bigger issue for me was that I had tons of troubles getting Axe Edit and my computer to communicate with the unit. I liked Axe Edit, but it was the buggiest damn thing...and I hated trying to put togetherusing the unit itself. My Eleven Rack was superior in every way when it came to that. I still got good tones despite the drawbacks. At the end of the day, I'm a knob turner. Too many options for someone who likes to try lots of stuff.

I also sold my power amp & cab and opted for monitors. Big mistake. The thing rocked as a preamp in a real amp configuration. Not so much as a "studio piece", mainly because I haven't found an amp/speaker/mic simulator that I didn't think completely sucked.

Like I said, I'm pretty sure I'll own one again some day.

[chrisolson]

It brougt out my OCD side. As simple as I tried to make things, I couldn't help but fuck with it.

[jgcable]

It brougt out my OCD side. As simple as I tried to make things, I couldn't help but fuck with it.

My problem is when I have a ton of editing options I tend to spend more time editing than playing. Usually, the tones I end up with sound fantastic to my ears and the next day they sound overprocessed with entirely too much of everything. Especially live.
The best tones live are usually the most simple.