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4K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  VforVendetta00 
#1 ·
Hi all.
I'm looking at purchasing the following.
  • Mesa/Boogie Tri-axis
  • TC Electronics G-force
  • Mesa/Boogie 50:50 power amp
  • (some sort of DBX gate/compressor)
I currently own a JCM2000 DSL 100w head w/ twin speaker cabinet (w/ 12" vintage celestions).

Anyway, I'm looking to emulate Petrucci's sound(DT Awake), Vai's sound, and (old, ala "...Justice") Metallica.

Will the Tri-axis be good enough for this? I've never heard one before, and yet again, because I live in good 'ole Australia, there are no store's nearby where I can audition the gear.

Thanks,
Wil..
 
#3 ·
Building/buying rig (need advice)

The thing is. I don't want to go and blow a whole bunch of money on stuff that "isn't really necessary".

Are there cheaper alternatives to the things that I've listed. Before anyone suggests the Pod Pro, I tried it. Didn't like it too much.

And one thing I forgot to mention is that I want to use this for home use mainly (don't gig that much anymore). Will the mesa 50:50 be too loud?

BTW, Jono, what's an Egnater ie4?

Thanks again,
wil..
 
#4 ·
Building/buying rig (need advice)

idk to be honest with you if your giong to be using this kind of rig for home use it seems to me that yoru going all out for stuff that will never see the light of day. you could get a 5150 combo amp and run the other 2x12 cab off of that. that will give you more than enough gain and it cleans up real nice too if your know how to use the controls of any amp properly.

for petrucci's sound just get a basswood guitar like the rg or whatever and slap his pickups(steves special) in there, the real key to being able to sound like him is playing scales and runs the way he does, and make sure you solo in the neck(air norton) make sure you coil tap the pups like petrucci does for his signature clean tone.

hope this helps

God bless

PUppies on acid
 
#5 ·
Building/buying rig (need advice)

oh oh yeah i just got another idea, you could sell your marshall and take the money and buy the 5150 combo. dude and just in case your thinking peavey sucks and mesas rule, ive played both. and the 5150 kicks ass.. the mesas have a sterile overly dark tone. 5150 has gobs of tone and more. trust me, its so much better than mesas.
 
#7 ·
Building/buying rig (need advice)

I have a Triaxis and an Egnater IE4. The IE4 won't really get you there. Egnater's are often mid range heavyand won't get that scooped sound that you hear on Awake or Justice for All. However, there may be exceptions. Pre-Rocktron IE4's are often different due to custom tweaks by Bruce Egnater.

The Triaxis will get you closer to these sounds, but if you are used to the Marshall you may be in for a letdown. The Triaxis is very smooth sounding, but it is very dark sounding too. I must admit, it doesn't get as gritty and nasty sounding as I'd like it to sometimes. However, some people love it. If you can't find a Triaxis to try out, then try out another Mesa amp. Although Mesa makes some very differentiated amps, I find most Mesas have a similar voicing to them, so by trying one out at least you get a rough idea of what the Triaxis has to offer. One exception to this is the Rectifiers. I can never get a convincing Recto sound out of my Triaxis.

Rick
 
#8 ·
Building/buying rig (need advice)

The Egnater IE4 is another preamp. It's my fave preamp, but only cos it's got lots and lots of real knobs to twiddle. And 4 channels with Independant Equalisation :)

It's also half the price of the Triaxis over here ;)
 
#9 ·
Building/buying rig (need advice)

like jono and rickboot said.....the ie4 i dont think is the preamp for you if you want those tones......although, you can dial in a speedmetal tone on channel 4 a type of speedmetal like vht type of thing.....but i think the triaxis is what you want
 
#11 ·
Building/buying rig (need advice)

I've got a friend who is all about a big, heavy Metallica/Dream Theatre sound and he swears by the Voodoo Labs preamp. It's tube, 3 channels and I believe it costs about $800 over here. I have personally never heard it, but the guy who suggested it has owned every preamp you can imagine (Mesa, Soldano, Egnater and even a CAE) and he swears this thing is the sound he has always dreamed of. I also know that Voodoo labs makes some other great sounding pro level gear. It might be worth looking into.

Good luck!
 
#13 ·
Building/buying rig (need advice)

If you want Petrucci and Metallica and you don't need versatility then I would say skip the Triaxis. It is like having 8 channels, do you really need 8 channels for your house (w/ 90 user presets?)?

I like the same sort of tones as you do and my current gear is just a Mesa Subway Rocket. My expansion plans (now that my tax money etc... has started to come in) are:

2x12 Rectifier cab.
Either a Mark IV or a Dual/Single Rectifier head.

That's it. BTW I'm going to keep the Rocket and run it through the same 2x12 cab. Right now I'm leaning towards a Recto because I think the Rocket handles a Mark'ish tone already.

I have been consternated about which effects if any to buy. On one hand, I really don't give a crap about weird effects like phaser, harmonizer, pitch shifter, whammy, chorus, auto wah etc... but on the other hand I'd like to have noise reduction, graphic eq, and delay. I wanted to have as quiet a solution as possible. When I compared it looks like

Boss - NS2, GE7, DD? ~$150 used, why not buy used, no difference.

Rack multi-effects like G-Major ~$450 new, ~$375 used, not sure on the difference between new and used, probably similar to the Boss pedals.

So the multi effects costs ~200-300$ more than getting just the effects I want. The only thing to wonder about will be the noise difference running 3 pedals with 3 patch cables over a single rack unit with a single patch cable. For me, the effect quality doesn't matter so much since I'm not trying to cut commercial CDs at home or anything, as long as it doesn't sound like a crappy Korg processor it's all good. Theoretically it shouldn't matter because the gate should kill it, but I'm wondering about the other changes to the signal.
 
#14 ·
Building/buying rig (need advice)

thank you all for your thoughts and ideas!

From my opening I don't really come across as wanting versatility. But, I'd like a little bit of versatility you know...I wouldn't mind getting a little Slash type tone once in awhile (not always...ummm...not that much:) )
But yeah, mainly DT, and Vai kinda tone.

I've tried a 5150 combo. It didn't seem as "open" to me than my marshall JCM2000 DSL, was a tad muddy. Maybe I needed to play with the settings a bit more.

I've looked at pedals, but I'd prefer to have a neat little cabinet "with lots of lights" to play with. Plus my experience with pedals hasn't been that good. They introduce a bit too much noise which isn't to my liking. I'm running a BOSS GE-7 in the loop of my marshall at the moment. But at home I'm running a Korg floor effects unit through the clean channel of my marshall. The korg + GE7 and EQ of the marshall are doing it all, and that's giving me a kinda decent sound at bedroom levels. But the noise gate is giving me the s#its, kill's sustain.

But still, I really want to ditch the korg, FX, and Head sytem. Which is why I'm looking around for new gear.

Thankyou again. I'll try to find reviews of the voodoo labs preamp, and egnater, etc. When I start getting the stuff in I'll update you on my progress.

Wil..
 
#15 ·
Building/buying rig (need advice)

I know you want a Triaxis

but how about this

DBX compressor/gate
good quality rackmount EQ
stereo effects unit *Ie rocktron intellifex or others*
Mesa Boogie Quad Preamp
Rocktron Piranha (triaxis clone, not as many 12ax7's but it's got some 8P)
Mesa Boogie 50/50

The 50/50 has a low power switch and it lowers the wattage to 15 watts a side *still kinda loud when cranked but better for home because the tubes are still pushed, almost like a bult in power break*
and you can have all this stuff for not alot of money

This is a similar setup to what I have
but I plan on getting a buttload more in the preamp department and maybe 2 more power amps, the 295 and a marshall dual monoblock.

Chris
 
#16 ·
Building/buying rig (need advice)

Also, the comments on the Triaxis are that it sounds good, but it isn't 'exactly' the amp that you expect. i.e. The IIC+ channel sounds good, but it doesn't necessairly sound like a IIC+. The recto channel sounds good, but it doesn't necessairly sound like a recto.

The IIC+ is getting to be extremely popular on the used market so I wouldn't be surprised if Mesa catches on and does a reissue. Personally I'd rather wait for the reissue and pay ~$1400-$1500 than get a very old and beat up IIC+ for $2000+. Likewise, I'd rather have the real thing than the Triaxis.
 
#18 ·
Building/buying rig (need advice)

all i can say about getting the best bang for the buck is line 6 pod pro with a mesa 20/20 and 2 1x12 cabs since its only for your house mainly its'll do the trick, but if u get a good effects processor to go in there to really get the best tone out of it it would be better. either that or a mark IV combo with the G-major.
 
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