New rig pics

[VoiceX3]

Any of that made in China?

Just kidding Tim! Bet it sounds as badass as it looks!

[hippietim]

You plug into the tuner..hmmm. Do you have all the input and output levels dialed in? What do you use as master volume...I assume the output of Fractal unit.

Pretty much. The speaker has a volume knob but I just have it about halfway up and control the volume with the Fractal unit.

Another cool thing about the Fractal unit is that it has two separately routable outputs with separate levels on the front panel. So I can send one to my speaker on stage and the other to the mixer for the FOH sound.

[horns666]

Tim, you said that crushes modelers. You owned a Vetta..hows the gain and volume levels? Where's the poweramp? Does it do a believable great tube amp?

I may want that..

[hippietim]

Any of that made in China?

I bet some of the electronic components are. However, here's the basic breakdown:

Fractal Axe-FX - made in Massachusets
Axess FX1 - made in Canada
FBT Verve 12ma - made in Italy
Roland XV-5050 - either Japan or Korea, can't remember
Fulltone Deja-Vibe - made in California
Mission Expression pedal - made in California

The rest I'm not sure about.

Just kidding Tim! Bet it sounds as badass as it looks!

Actually I think it looks pretty dorky but it does sound badass.

[hippietim]

Tim, you said that crushes modelers. You owned a Vetta..hows the gain and volume levels? Where's the poweramp? Does it do a believable great tube amp?

I may want that..

There is no separate power amp in this configuration. The FBT is actually a biamped powered speaker.

It's no contest between the Vetta and this.

This thing kills once you take the time to dial it in.

As a preamp, the Axe-FX absolutely kills. As an effects unit it is on par with the Eventide Eclipse and any of the TC stuff.

I have run this thing in a much more traditional setup. My gigging rig with my last band was actually the Fractal Axe-FX Ultra into a Boogie 2:90 Simulclass power amp into a Port City cab with either Celestion Golds or Greenbacks. In that configuration you definitely turn of speaker cabinet modeling.

So you can just take an Axe-FX and plug it into the effects return of your Uberschall and it would kickass. Alternatively, you could run the so-called 4-cable method and be able to use your Uberschall mixed in with the Axe-FX preamps and effects - I did this with a Fargen amp and it was crazy flexible.

The ultimate use of the Axe-FX is really to run through a full range speaker and use the cabinet modeling as well. The Axe-FX has like 25 speaker cabinet models built in and you can choose microphones, mic placement, etc. This is similar to what Line 6 and Boss offer you although their shit doesn't sound anywhere near as good.

The thing that the Axe-FX gives you that is unbelievably cool is the ability to download your own cabinets into it. It uses something called an IR (impulse response) that is simply a waveform of a frequency sweep played through a speaker cabinet. And the cool thing about this is there are literally hundreds of these IR files available for download. This is how the big boys "recab" a guitar tone in Protools. If you search around there are forums dedicated to this stuff and you can literally find just about any cabinet you want.

There are some great metal cab IRs out there - there are some very good ones on the ultimatemetal.com forum. Also, the guitarist from Clawfinger has done a bunch of them.

The single most important decision you have to make about a rig with the Axe-FX is the amp/cab you're going to use. It's super simple to get the Axe-FX to sound kickass with a tube power amp and a guitar cab. It's been quite a bit of trial and error to finally land on the FBT speaker and the use of downloadable IRs to really find the sound I want. The biggest problem most folks have is they use a piece of shit full range speaker - you really won't be satisfied plugging your $1600-2000 Axe-FX into a $279 Behringer PA speaker - it's like buying the Uberschall head and plugging it into a generic 1x12" cabinet with a noname speaker. Your sound will never be better than the weakest component.

[hippietim]

Oh, when John comes along I should mention that the Axe-FX has channel 2 & 3 of the CAE 3+SE modeled

[horns666]

Tim..that sounds insane.This is actually the first time I've heard of this unit. I knew modelers were going to continue to get better, and will continue to do so. Tube amps will be obsolete dinosaurs at some point. That unit sounds intense..The Gmajor still intimadates me..I hate fumbling around with programs. I like to turn knobs. The JMP-1 is about as complex as I want to go for a rack unit. But it does do a pretty good "Marshall"..as I'm sure that does. I'd love to hear it!

The Mesa 2:90 sounds nice and it's plenty loud enough. I tweaked in a 2:90 and a Pod pro for someone right before he did a show...sounded great. I'd use a standard Marshall 1960 cab. They sound fine to me.

[Matt_B]

Looks sweet Tim. I can't wait until I get an AxeFx or two for myself.

[Shawn Lutz]

Axe-FX Kool-Aide drinker......

j/k I'd love to have one of those just for direct recording and effects used with my existing amps.

[nateb]

I have been dying to hear how the Axe-FX sounds....

-Nate

[Dreamland_Rebel]

Tim, how do you like that Portcity Waves cab?

[hippietim]

Axe-FX Kool-Aide drinker......

j/k I'd love to have one of those just for direct recording and effects used with my existing amps.

I am definitely not a Kool-Aide drinker on this one. I had one of the first Ultras and gigged with it for quite some time. I heard Bogner was reissuing the Fish so I decided to go back to do that sort of rig. Sold the Axe-FX. I was using the Brunetti Mille until the Fish came. Waited. Waited. Waited. Waited. Fuck it, I missed the flexibility the Axe-FX gave me so I got another Ultra. Then the fucking Fish came! I actually was running the Fish with the Axe-FX with a 2:90 and guitar cabs for a while. That was a cool rig but it was beyond overkill so I put together a rig with the Fish and pedals - that's a lot of fun.

I hate to say it but the Axe-FX rig really holds it's own with the Fish/2:90 rig.

[hippietim]

Tim, how do you like that Portcity Waves cab?

They're fantastic! I've been able to compare them to a number of other cabs and the Port City cabs pretty much kick ass.

You're welcome to come by and check them out - I have a couple 2x12s (one with Greenbacks, one with Golds), a couple of 1x12 OS w/Greenbacks, and a 4x12 with V30s. I have a Bogner Fish rig, Straub Cantus, and Orange Tiny Terror you can check them out with if you want.

[Shawn Lutz]

I'll be over at 6pm Tim, whats for dinner?

[Dreamland_Rebel]

i definately want to check out the greenback waves cab. greebacks are my new favorite.