NPFXPD - Axe-FX II

[Liam]

P.S. Liam have you played a BE100 in the flesh?

No, and I didn't know I needed to until Fractal corrected the model. Evidently they had an early demo unit with some QC issues for the first version. BE V2 is just ludicrously good as a model. If the real amp sounds better, it has got to be one of the finest "British voiced" 100 watt heads of all time.

Don't need one anymore of course, but I want one!

Liam

 

[RAG7890]

Hey Liam, has the new FRFR Cab turned up as yet?

Looking forward to your review & comments when you get to it mate.

Cheers, Rudi

 

[Liam]

Hey Rudi!

It's here. Had some teething issues as it had been very heavily dropped in transit, so crossover had to be repaired. (Looks like actually thrown off the back of a truck in a depot). Rather than send it back, I was sent the only part that was unrepairable by the excellent Tricky Audio, and installed it this evening and re-attached the crossover to the cab innards.

Have not cranked it yet. Sounds good, but less of a match to headphones than I had hoped at bedroom volume - much more "present" in the high mids and top end. It has some bass though! Hopefully I'll have some time to play around with it this week. I've been doing all this without my "go to" Les Paul for the last couple of weeks, but picked it up from a muddy field near Wolverhampton this afternoon. Do not, FFS, tell him, in case it goes to his head, but I think that guitar is up there with my 55 Junior as one I will never be parted from. Can't believe how pleased I am to have it back.

Liam

 

[RAG7890]

Hey Rudi!

It's here. Had some teething issues as it had been very heavily dropped in transit, so crossover had to be repaired. (Looks like actually thrown off the back of a truck in a depot). Rather than send it back, I was sent the only part that was unrepairable by the excellent Tricky Audio, and installed it this evening and re-attached the crossover to the cab innards.

Have not cranked it yet. Sounds good, but less of a match to headphones than I had hoped at bedroom volume - much more "present" in the high mids and top end. It has some bass though! Hopefully I'll have some time to play around with it this week. I've been doing all this without my "go to" Les Paul for the last couple of weeks, but picked it up from a muddy field near Wolverhampton this afternoon. Do not, FFS, tell him, in case it goes to his head, but I think that guitar is up there with my 55 Junior as one I will never be parted from. Can't believe how pleased I am to have it back.

Liam

Awesome Liam, great to see you got your Baby back.

............you know he probably stalks us all for comments.

Thanks for the initial overview. Sorry to hear about the way your Cab was treated, you'd think people would look after your goods when they are shipping..............knuckleheads.

We'll give you some time but looking forward to your comments in due course.

Cheers, Rudi

 

[Liam]

Rudi, this is pretty amazing. Kind of wish I had never bothered with headphones, but they kind of sound just the same, but in the room of course. FRFR is a serious march forward ahead of a 4x12. It can sound like a lot of cabs i've had over the years, but more importantly, doesn't need you to stand in the right spot to hear it.

And I still haven't cranked it yet.

Liam

 

[RAG7890]

Damn you Liam.........damn you.

Thanks for the overview mate. Appreciate it. I just knew this was going to freaking happen.

Think of the logic here for a second. We listen to great music on CD's or Vinyl or uncompressed Files and they sound great through a 2 Way or 3 Way Speaker System.

We also go the Concerts & listen to great Music through PA's.

It just seems logical to me that we can get some great tones out of say the Axe + Amp + FRFR Cab. I always knew / thought that would be the case.

I also really like the idea of this style of 3 Way Cab. Anyway, I'll finish fine tuning my Friedman & Speakers and then I'll move on to this project.

Liam have you tried running the Cab with an Amp Head, just to see what it sounds like?

Thanks again mate.

Cheers, Rudi.

 

[Liam]

<snip>

Liam have you tried running the Cab with an Amp Head, just to see what it sounds like?

Thanks again mate.

Cheers, Rudi.

No I haven't, because the cab is on speakon connections only, and I don't have a speakon to jack lead (in fact I might have one somewhere, but I bet I can't find it).

If it sounds anything like the simulated equivalent (FRFR without a cab block), I don't think it's going to sound too good.

Liam

 

[Liam]

First gig with Axe-FX II and FRFR was tonight. Not sure where to start, but let's go with BLEEDING HELLFIRE WHAT AN AMAZING SOUNDING RIG! And that's coming from the man that bought a Rockerverb 50 Mk3 and sold it for half what he paid immediately after the first gig, because it sounded great, but I've got a 70s Marshall 2203 that sounds greater. The Axe-FX is like my favourite Marshall on a good night, and with Matrix, Fearful F115, and a 1600 watt PA with bass bins to provide a bit of out front support, it doesn't matter where you are in the room. It sounds that good everywhere. For anyone that's bought the idea that it doesn't move air like having the "amp in the room", absolute tosh, flaps the trouser legs in exactly the right way, but without beaming treble into the audience, and my ancient ears suffered none of the listening fatigue that normally gets to them by the end of loud encores where i'm having to edge the volume up a bit with a 4x12

Did it all go perfectly? Not quite. Didn't have the luxury of a rehearsal, and was sorely tempted to throw my usual rig for that band in the car instead, because almost all of my preparation had been on headphones. So although the amp, cab, modulation and delay effects were pretty well spot on out of the box, the only drive pedal that was anywhere near usable at the beginning of soundcheck was the Tubescreamer. Like a fool I hadn't set up global blocks for drives, and spent more than a few minutes getting the levels set better for Eternity, RAT, and Tonebender in individual presets. I'll be doing some more work on those over the next couple of weeks, but looking forward to getting the RAC 12 so on the fly editing is a little easier. I am 100% confident I can get the tones I spent most of the 90s finding, and the time since then refining, out of this little box.

The thing that is truly blowing my mind just now is that my Axe-FX has just exceeded any reasonable expectations in replicating my "classic", and if i'm honest rather over the top, alternative rock rig. I set the toughest test possible in that the 2203 is a quirky amp, 4x12 cabs are kind of quirky too, and I use a shed load of well loved and difficult to replicate effects pedals. That's just one rig, 4 presets, 5 scenes in each preset. I have at my fingertips every rig I use, every rig I have used before, and everything I ever dreamed of owning in the past.

Finally, takes less space in the car, substantially less lugging, and could set up and break down in record time. Oh, and the MFC-101 is kind of tiny compared to my usual pedalboard, but i'm going to need to dim those led's somehow. Some of the tube amp collection will be sold, and it will break my heart to lose old friends, but this really is a better way to do it.

Liam

 

[Matty]

Great to hear Liam.

Congrats on a successful modelling debut.

 

[IronWeso]

Wow so ballsy to go for it without a rehearsal man! Borderline insane if you ask me! Nice work though!!!!

 

[Steinmetzify]

Glad to hear it man. Amazing tech for sure.

 

[frankv]

First gig with Axe-FX II and FRFR was tonight. Not sure where to start, but let's go with BLEEDING HELLFIRE WHAT AN AMAZING SOUNDING RIG! And that's coming from the man that bought a Rockerverb 50 Mk3 and sold it for half what he paid immediately after the first gig, because it sounded great, but I've got a 70s Marshall 2203 that sounds greater. The Axe-FX is like my favourite Marshall on a good night, and with Matrix, Fearful F115, and a 1600 watt PA with bass bins to provide a bit of out front support, it doesn't matter where you are in the room. It sounds that good everywhere. For anyone that's bought the idea that it doesn't move air like having the "amp in the room", absolute tosh, flaps the trouser legs in exactly the right way, but without beaming treble into the audience, and my ancient ears suffered none of the listening fatigue that normally gets to them by the end of loud encores where i'm having to edge the volume up a bit with a 4x12

Did it all go perfectly? Not quite. Didn't have the luxury of a rehearsal, and was sorely tempted to throw my usual rig for that band in the car instead, because almost all of my preparation had been on headphones. So although the amp, cab, modulation and delay effects were pretty well spot on out of the box, the only drive pedal that was anywhere near usable at the beginning of soundcheck was the Tubescreamer. Like a fool I hadn't set up global blocks for drives, and spent more than a few minutes getting the levels set better for Eternity, RAT, and Tonebender in individual presets. I'll be doing some more work on those over the next couple of weeks, but looking forward to getting the RAC 12 so on the fly editing is a little easier. I am 100% confident I can get the tones I spent most of the 90s finding, and the time since then refining, out of this little box.

The thing that is truly blowing my mind just now is that my Axe-FX has just exceeded any reasonable expectations in replicating my "classic", and if i'm honest rather over the top, alternative rock rig. I set the toughest test possible in that the 2203 is a quirky amp, 4x12 cabs are kind of quirky too, and I use a shed load of well loved and difficult to replicate effects pedals. That's just one rig, 4 presets, 5 scenes in each preset. I have at my fingertips every rig I use, every rig I have used before, and everything I ever dreamed of owning in the past.

Finally, takes less space in the car, substantially less lugging, and could set up and break down in record time. Oh, and the MFC-101 is kind of tiny compared to my usual pedalboard, but i'm going to need to dim those led's somehow. Some of the tube amp collection will be sold, and it will break my heart to lose old friends, but this really is a better way to do it.

Liam

Well Liam, I can't say I am surprised. The AXE FX 2 would not be making appearances in some of the worlds best known Pro Player racks if it was a fluke or over hyped right? But hearing all this from you does give me a little vindication of sorts. Not that I really need or want that.. But somehow I feel that way.

I took lots and lots of heat way back 7 months ago when I made the bold statement that for me Tube Amps were done. Of course I knew what would ensue. Even being called "foolish" by one guy really didn't stop me from knowing that this piece of gear was breaking rules.

Great report Liam. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Liam]

Frank,

While you were taking the heat, others were quietly watching, and remaining open minded about a technology that was finally coming of age. I never actually know whether something is going to work for me until I have played it in a "live in front of people" situation. I struggle even in rehearsals with some bands I play with, because the venues are often quite a lot bigger than the rehearsal rooms we use in most cases, so in the case of my bigger amps and 4x12s there's little point in trying to figure out what they sound like before sound check.

I probably wouldn't have taken the leap without your earlier posts, and more recently the specific guidance that you, Ken, dspelman and a few others have given me. I haven't been gigging much over the last couple of years due to work commitments, but those commitments put me in a financial position to carry out one of my most "financially intense" musical experiments to date. It isn't something you can approach in a half-hearted way, and I decided if I was doing it, I was really doing it.

Frank, thank you. Your confidence in the equipment might seem to some to be on the evangelical side, but I was one of the tube amp fanatics that "got it" as soon as you started writing about the Axe-FX experience.

Wow so ballsy to go for it without a rehearsal man! Borderline insane if you ask me! Nice work though!!!!

As above really, but I cheated. Gig was 15 minutes drive from my house, and I had over 2 hours clear between soundcheck and first set. If I had broken down that rig, brought it back home, and skipped my shower and evening meal to take something I knew would work straight off down there, it would not have been the first time. Can drive my band mates a little mad, but they know I only do it because I care about how we sound.

Bass player was funny - I have the desk on stage, so asked him to go out front and let me know how the sound was. Jaw was pretty well on the floor when he said "sounds amazing". Similar reaction when he asked what I'd spent building the rig later in the evening - "that's like 40 gigs before you've paid it back!" But it isn't, could do it just in amps I don't need anymore, in fact possibly could do it just in effects pedals that I don't need anymore.

Brits don't often describe themselves as "stoked", because we don't really know what it means. But I think I might be...

Liam

 

[frankv]

Frank,

While you were taking the heat, others were quietly watching, and remaining open minded about a technology that was finally coming of age.

For sure Liam. As many guys as there were giving me hell here in the open forum, I was encouraged by the sheer number of PMs I was receiving and the phone calls I would get. Many members just didn't want to post a word about it in the open but were quietly moving to AXE FX and others of this level modeler.

I probably wouldn't have taken the leap without your earlier posts, and more recently the specific guidance that you, Ken, dspelman and a few others have given me.

Yeah man, we all give and take from places like this. No question. I am happy as I know you are ,when something you say helps someone. It's why I have been know to spend hours on the phone with complete strangers from this forum over the years.. Call it a give back to all I have taken. And its way more then I have given. For sure.

Frank, thank you. Your confidence in the equipment might seem to some to be on the evangelical side, but I was one of the tube amp fanatics that "got it" as soon as you started writing about the Axe-FX experience.

Well Thank You Liam...

Evangelical side? Well when you attempt to convince someone that there is really a better choice in todays world then tubes.. You better be evangelical. Cause if you are not your message will just dissolve in a sea of un-replied to threads. As you can see,, That didn't happen..

 

[frankv]

Bass player was funny - I have the desk on stage, so asked him to go out front and let me know how the sound was. Jaw was pretty well on the floor when he said "sounds amazing". Similar reaction when he asked what I'd spent building the rig later in the evening - "that's like 40 gigs before you've paid it back!" But it isn't, could do it just in amps I don't need anymore, in fact possibly could do it just in effects pedals that I don't need anymore.

Brits don't often describe themselves as "stoked", because we don't really know what it means. But I think I might be...

Liam

Laim,

For the gigging player the AXE FX2 is a no brainer. When you consider what can be done with Direct To FOH and cab sims.. Well... there just isn't any way a tube amp with one cabinet on stage and an SM57 could ever compete with.. You know that.. and if others are reading this.. They should now know this too.

You said it.. The sound is all over the room and not beaming from one direction cutting peoples heads off in the front row.