Introducing The Beast!

[Plank_Spanker]

It's alive!

The Axe FX sounds amazing! I just got done sampling all 238 factory presets. Some are great right out of the box, some of them (JCM 800, Mesa, and Plexi models) need some tweaking at gig levels to get to my liking. Some are just pure science fiction........but might be cool for crazy fills or such. The tube amp models response is amazing - play clean or roll back the volume and the amp cleans right up; roll in the volume or increase your pick attack and the amp starts screaming. Not your avarage, everyday one level fizz box............................ :lol:

I'm running it in stereo through a Mesa 4x12 loaded with V30's and it sounds sweet. The Mackie power amp is a spare PA amp (500W into 4 ohms stereo) and complete overkill, but it works well and will do for right now. I have a dolly for the rack, so the entire rig rolls in and out. I can sit the rack on top of the cab if space is limited. And.......................no more guitar cables, pedal boards, wall warts, power supplies out front and getting in the way..............just one MIDI cable back to the rack, and a short TRS cable to patch the expression pedal into the Ground Control.

I'm still waiting for the MIDI and TRS pedal cables to arrive, as well as my USB MIDI port ( for editor and firmware updates), and it will be off to Phase 2 - updating the firmware, getting the Ground Control talking to the FX, and tweaking / loading user presets.

The FX is deep...............................this will be like eating an elephant.............................one bite at a time.

I do believe that I have come home and found what I was seeking.

 

[Robert]

Congrats, it's an amazing unit! I wouldn't mind having one... and for recording, it must be pure heaven.

Welcome home, Plankster!

 

[tunghaichuan]

Cool rig. :AOK:

You want as much clean headroom as possible in your power amp for your intended use. You definitely don't want the transistors to clip in the power amp. Overkill is good. :dude:

tung

 

[Plank_Spanker]

Robert, I bought the FX with live performance in mind, but it will be sweet when we do record another demo - which I hope is soon.

Tung,

My only complaint about the power amp is that it weighs a ton - but I had it laying around gathering dust and it works well. Lots of headroom!

Now, it's off to start editing / creating patches. There is an an insane amount of parameters than can be tweaked - the tube amp sims alone, for example:

Preamp drive

Power amp level

Warmth

Output transformer low freq rolloff

Output transformer hi freq rolloff

Presence

Speaker resonant frequency

Sag

Bias

Damping

Depth

Lots of stuff to experiment with, and it's going to be fun!

 

[Tone2TheBone]

There there...there's a good beast...

Nice setup Plankster.

 

[Plank_Spanker]

Thanks, T2B!

This is a seriuous departure for me, but one that I've been considering for several years. The Axe FX allowed me to take the leap.

I'm still scratching the surface, but I see great sounds in my future with this rig.

 

[TS808]

Congrats Plank!

I've read alot of rave reviews about the Axe FX..