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Axe-FX as good as tube amp?

  • Yes, plus it does much more!

    Votes: 12 37.5%
  • No, nothing as good as tube-tone!

    Votes: 17 53.1%
  • Other, specify!

    Votes: 3 9.4%

Axe-Fx - How do we feel about them?

8K views 43 replies 17 participants last post by  Whyrendog 
#1 ·
Lots of hype over this little processor. How do we feel about it? Is it genuinely as good as having a tube amp?


Anyone played through one or have one themselves?
 
#2 ·
Not near a real amp IMO. I don't own one but have demo'd one extensively.
And if you look at the roster of endorsers, they aren't exactly known for having good tone. Most of them rely so heavily on effects and studio trickery that the actual tone of the guitar and amp are indiscernible.
If you want to emulate Vai or Robert Smith or Mogwai, sure, ANYTHING will get you that tone. If you want a great honest natural tone then you need a good amp.

I work with many major artists, and the gear they endorse is mainly a business decision, not what they prefer to use. You would be surprised how many come to me with new guitars of brand X that they just signed an endorsement deal with, wanting me to make it play and sound like their "real" choice in gear.

Use your own ears for judgment, just because your idol says brand X is the best, only means brand X paid them the most to say that.
 
#3 ·
Great response. I reckon you are right. I'm not closed-minded when it comes to digital sims, but theres always a certain something lacking in digital processors. That being said, I think the Axe-Fx sounds, judging by the demos, closest that any digital processor has ever gotten to sounding 'tube-like.' And apparently they are getting better and better as they release patches.

There are some demos online that really do sound like they emulate a 'Rectifier' tone, or a vintage Marshall tone (I own both genuine amps). I keep reading about guys selling all their gear to finance the Axe-Fx, and not regretting it one bit!
 
#9 ·
The axe is great and probably as close to the tube as you can get. I have the Ultra since roughly a year and would not want to miss it. The question is , is the difference between the axe and a tube amp noticeable enough for you that you feel the need for both. or is the Axe close enough that you decide to get rid of the tube amps. That's something you have to find out for yourself. I barely use any of my tube amps, only my JVM head every once in a while. Sold a MK V in favor of the axe.
 
#10 ·
Haha, you should see the response you'd get if you put this thread at Sevenstring.org. The praise it gets over there would make you think its Jesus Christ in a box.

I've never played on one, but I really don't believe the hype. There have been companies that have been modelling for years, and while they sound great, most are a far cry from real tube amps. Its hard to believe that one relatively unknown company could come out of nowhere and recreate the sound to the T, considering the already existing technology.
 
#11 ·
I don't think anyone should post in this unless they have owned an Axe FX long enough to have used it in the studio and gigged it extensively, and has the ability to program the thing properly. Then you have a valid point of view, otherwise you are just posting on here-say or based on minimal experience.
 
#12 ·
Fair enough and completely agreed but who will judge who has those experiences you mentioned?
And how would we know if somebody is saying the truth or lieing?
And even if somebody has all those experiences it doesn't means his ears are better than anyone cause sound is about personal tastes.
That's why reviews are pointless cause we all have our own tastes.
Do you think all Jemsite(or Harmony Central) reviewers have to proove they really used those gear they're reviewing?
Nonsense.

See your reply is pointless cause this is the internet,people say whatever they want without having to proove ;)
 
#21 ·
Well, probably quite good but for that price you can just about buy the ACTUAL amp.

Unless the price comes down to around maybe £500-£600 (Around $1000) Probably even less, its not going to be able to compete with the REAL thing.

Hell, my Fender twin cost me £600 second hand, i could have almost bought three of them for the price of one Axe-Fx Ultra. Also, once you've bought the Amp FX your gonna need a power amp THEN a cab too, which means more money.

By the time your done you could have bought that elusive Mesa, Diezel, Fender, Bogner, Matchless or whatever tone you were after with the REAL thing.
 
#23 ·

By the time your done you could have bought that elusive Mesa, Diezel, Fender, Bogner, Matchless or whatever tone you were after with the REAL thing.
Is i still the same sort of price if you want an SLO for the leads, a VH-4 mixed with a JCM-800 for the distorted rhythm, a Matchless for the bluesy break up and a Dr Z and a Fender for the cleans and then what happens when you want to do carry all that in a Ford Transit along with the drum kit??? ;)
 
#29 ·
I think you can get some pretty viable tones out of that thing. Although I don't think i'm ready to buy one just yet. I have commitment issues 8O

Seriously though, for someone who plays a wide variety of music, both within the studio and gigging purposes, this seems like an appropriate tool, however, if you play just one type of music and want to do it very well, I think i'm still a little BIASED towards tube amps (geek move, i know)
 
#31 ·
I get it bro, but the price argument only works if you just are looking for one amp/sound If you want a plexi sound and a fender clean price wise you already will be higher than the axe, as you need to have 2 amps. Also for many of the amps modeled the heads are more than the axe PLUS the a cab and the poweramp. The Shiva 2.3k or Ueberschall 2.5k comes to mind. Without Cab.

Try one. If you play live no one in the audience will ever figure out its not the real thing.
 
#33 ·
Try one. If you play live no one in the audience will ever figure out its not the real thing.
100% agreed but.............I don't care if the audience can figure it out or not,I care about my ears.I love mesa boogie tone so I want a mesa tone.No modeller tilll today can give it to me.
Of course for a player who wants several different amps tones modellers are cheapier but still what's the meaning of having a modeller that gives you all amps you want BUT it doesn't sound the same as those amps?
It's nonsense unless that player can't really tell the difference between a tube amp and a modeller.In my case I can tell none of them sound like a mesa so far.I hope someday they will cause mesa in my country is extremelly expensive.Maybe a modeller can come closer to a fender or even a higain marshall but the roar of a hi gain mesa........never.
So IN MY CASE I'd never pay that much for something that doesn't gives what it claims it does.It's fake.
Besides that I don't care about hundred pedals or different effects,a G Major gives everything I want so the fact AxeFx has all pedals tells me nothing CAUSE I prefer having a mesa tone with no effects than 1000 effects and no mesa tone.
There are guys who keep saying oh I love that thing cause it has all amps and effects I want BUT when you ask hey dude where's your music.......well they don't even have a band,they just play some metallica riffs before going to bed so they don't even need all that stuff which,at the end they realize they don't use even 10% of what it offers so it's a waste of money.

Everybody know their own needs like the size of their pockets,what they need/want etc,I just want 1 amp,1 cab and basic effects which G Major already gives me so a thing which is expensive and doesn't gives the tone I want plus it gives me a lot of things I don't care = out of my tastes.

Keep discussing about digital X tube is really dumb and pointless cause we all have our tastes and needs,there are always guys who try to force their tastes like if they were facts or rules,that's why I always say IN MY CASE,so nobody has to agree with me but somebody who says modellers SOUND like real amps have bad ears.
Different things don't sound the same,even the same amps sound different.
So buy what you want/need no matter what others say about it ;)
 
#32 ·
The Pro Axe-Fx guys are right about most things. It makes a lot of sense for a gigging or recording musicians who needs versatility. It just can't be beat in that respect. That is basically what I was trying to say in my first post.

As for me though, I am vain. I care almost as much about the feel and vibe I get from having a certain amp behind me as I do about the sound. That doesn't diminish how much I care about sound, it just means that I care about it being an amp.

If I had a studio an Axe-Fx would be one of the first pieces of gear I would acquire. It is kind of like what Joe said when he switched to digital for recording. He basically said that if it ends up digital there is no reason not to start digital because any magic that comes from the tube amp will be lost by the time it hits a CD.

That being said, Joe's older tones are by far my favorite. I don't know if digital recording is to blame for that or not.
 
#35 ·
As for me though, I am vain. I care almost as much about the feel and vibe I get from having a certain amp behind me as I do about the sound. That doesn't diminish how much I care about sound, it just means that I care about it being an amp.
This sort of statement is SO true. The vibe that you get from a certain piece of gear can be often worth more than the price of said gear and a key part of a players performance even more than his tone :)
 
#34 ·
You can't play a Plexi stack, dimed for the aforementioned "brown sound" at 3 in the morning in an apartment. The Axefx can get you there. It feels like a plexi to me. I sold off my tube amps in favor of one.
Haters are gonna hate.

I love mine, no going back now.

PS: I play Strats and Lesters live. I have two sets of patches set up for either guitar. On the Lonestar I had to adjust my settings and pedals.
 
#36 ·
Jono - I am affected in that way. I am not one of those guys who can play and sound the same on any guitar through any amp in any setting. I am very much an improviser and my ability to play depends greatly on the vibe I am picking up from my gear and my band. If the band isn't in the groove it's all over for me. Similarly, I gig with at least 3 guitars of differing qualities because some of them fit certain songs that I wouldn't dream of using another on. I like to think that the advantage of this is more emotion in my playing; maybe I'm just crazy.

I would prefer to be able to do the same thing with amps and an Axe-Fx would give me that flexibility. However, without the vibe to accompany flexability, for me, it is useless.

PS: I play Strats and Lesters live. I have two sets of patches set up for either guitar. On the Lonestar I had to adjust my settings and pedals.
To me, this is the biggest selling point of a modeler, though some modelers prefer one or the other. It seems that Axe-Fx doesn't have this problem.

Right now I am stuck using only my single coil guitars with the exception of the Filtertrons on my Gretsch 6118T. Standard output P-90 or humbucker guitars don't play nice with my current setup. I hope to someday put together another rig which i can keep dialed in for the other half of the spectrum I am missing now.

Yes, I could re EQ and adjust levels etc. but I'm far too lazy for that.
 
#38 ·
I gigged and recorded with one for over a year.Killed my gas.I like plugging into a tube amp too.As long as the tone is good and what I play through is responsive to my playing dynamics, I'm happy.Both deliver these things.When I consider the cost of some of my previous all tube rigs plus effect processor, the axe is a bargain.
 
#44 ·
As far as getting a tube tone, I like to put some tube pres into the Eleven Rack and am pretty darn happy with it's cab emulation and fx and can record at 3am. I also think it would be better if everything was real including the EQs, etc. What I don't like in 11R, Axe FX, and all other modelers essentially is there are some things that ruin it for me like when chords ring out and especially harmonics. But for the most part the Axe FX and Eleven Rack do the job for a lot of people and both with the current updates are decent for modelers.

If you are playing in a room you might not tell the difference but if you are monitoring records or listening to someone's modeler recordings in headphones you wont be very close to anything you would "buy" IMO. However, hidden in a lot of bands are solos with PODs and stuff. Solo stuff (without a lot of harmonic squeeling) passes. The consistant levels (missing dynamics) and stiffness of an entire song recorded with modelers is a bummer. But this stuff is ok to have, use professionally, etc. There's a place for eveything, even Steve Vai figured out how to mix his amp with the Axe FX but unfortunately it caused a lot of people to post about he replaced his gear for the Axe. That's what stirs all the contraversy. There's some out recording albums setting to prove something, I hope they do but everyone's wrapped up in proving something instead of just using modelers in the same way they use everything else. I've even gone on missions lol.
 
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