wat
Well-Known Member
Except today's modellers ACTUALLY sound 95% like the real thing and not "95% like the real thing"
I'm so torn. Amp or Axe FX?
- Thread starter emroth
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Except today's modellers ACTUALLY sound 95% like the real thing and not "95% like the real thing"
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I own a Kemper so my view will naturally be biased, but I f*cking love this thing. Playing through my Alto monitor my amp GAS has vanished. The response from your playing is stellar and so you don't need access to any amps to profile, there's a massive rig exchange with some excellent profiles.
PBGas
Well-Known Member
Get a powered Kemper. If you hear an amp you like, you can simply profile it and have it for yourself. If you want to run it through a regular cab, you can. If you want to use a passive FRFR, you can do that as well. Just such a fantastic solution.
Hollowway
Extended Ranger
Again, that's what everyone who thought that said about the original POD. Or the Rockman. And that today's Axe-FX doesn't sound 95% like the real thing is what is said by people who don't think it sounds like the real thing. The point is, as long as we are comparing modelers to amps the amps will remain the good standard, and the question of why not buy the real thing will remain. Not that I'm arguing this point - I'm convinced enough that they sound like the real thing. Just pointing out that as long as modelers are modeling, as opposed to creating, there will always be a group of people who want the real thing.
Misfit
Well-Known Member
Fractal... especially if you Prog, so many more tone options.
Fenriswolf
Well-Known Member
If you saw my FT thread a week after I got an AxeFx you can guess my answer to this, but if you want to do a bunch of reading and tweaking get an AxeFx. I got one because I liked all the clips I heard that were recorded with one, but I realized I was so far in over my head and I only needed it for basically one thing, I would be better off with a regular amp, and I can just use my pod for everything else when I get the sudden urge to try out some random genre.
So my advice, if you need a lot of different tones for something and don't mind the huge learning curve, get the AxeFx. Just make sure you're prepared to do a LOT of tweaking to get a good sound out of it. Because I spent a week trying to and I traded it for a regular amp because if I didn't I was going to shoot the damn thing I was so frustrated. I know when I was trying to sell it someone messaged me and told me to just take the time to learn how to use it, but the more I messed with it, the more I realized it just wasn't for me. That's what I've always missed about my 6505, I work a lot so I don't have time to sit and tweak something for a month to get a good tone, I want something I can turn on and it sounds good. But buy all means, if you're more patient than I am and have the time to mess with it, get the AxeFx, it's amazing for what it is. If you already know exactly what you want, and don't want to have to do so much tweaking, just get a regular amp, even if you have to get more than one.
So my advice, if you need a lot of different tones for something and don't mind the huge learning curve, get the AxeFx. Just make sure you're prepared to do a LOT of tweaking to get a good sound out of it. Because I spent a week trying to and I traded it for a regular amp because if I didn't I was going to shoot the damn thing I was so frustrated. I know when I was trying to sell it someone messaged me and told me to just take the time to learn how to use it, but the more I messed with it, the more I realized it just wasn't for me. That's what I've always missed about my 6505, I work a lot so I don't have time to sit and tweak something for a month to get a good tone, I want something I can turn on and it sounds good. But buy all means, if you're more patient than I am and have the time to mess with it, get the AxeFx, it's amazing for what it is. If you already know exactly what you want, and don't want to have to do so much tweaking, just get a regular amp, even if you have to get more than one.
narad
Progressive metal and politics
You can't take the 95% guys seriously though - they didn't come up with that figure in a lab, wearing thick black glasses and long white lab coats. They just mean it's close, and amps are always a moving target. I can get what I perceive as better tone out of the Axe-II Diezel patch than I could with my Herbert. Does that mean amps sound 95% as good as an Axe-II? And by the Axe-III they'll only sound 90% as good? I think we're at the point where it's time to stop thinking of one category as an approximation of the other, and think of them simply as sound shaping tools with their own slightly different tonal signatures.
The one thing I don't prefer the Axe for is the warmth of a Fender-y clean channel, but I get all sorts of cool cleans out of the Axe that I've never heard in a real life counterpart.
So with all that said, if you don't care about cleans, I'd totally get an Axe. And if you only care about all sorts of trippy heavy-delay djent cleans, then definitely get an Axe!
Legion
Slightly cynical, mostly okay, completely drunk.
Whoa the 95% was a pseudorandom number close to 100 that I pulled out of my ass and you guys are going nuts with it 
Narad makes a good point though.
Narad makes a good point though.
Misfit
Well-Known Member
Axe FX
Dead-Pan
Well-Known Member
Prog Djent = Axe
Everything = Kemper
5153 = good at what it does, not Djent
Everything = Kemper
5153 = good at what it does, not Djent
Hmmm.. I think the 5153 will do "djent"(i hate this term and it's snob fanobois) easily.
Pretty much any modern high gain head will "djent" well with the right settings, guitar pickups and possibly a boost.
I have a 6505 and an Armageddon. Turn the gain and bass down on the amp, add a clean boost up front, and they're "djent" machines. OMG! and i am not even using Periphery pickups!!!!111
ncfiala
Silence you bastard
Get an amp.
And why are so many people using phrases like prog/djent and prog djent? These two styles of music have absolutely nothing in common. One tries to do new and creative things (in other words, be PROGRESSIVE). The other relies almost exclusively on cliches and copycating. I'll let you decide which is which.
Get an amp.
And why are so many people using phrases like prog/djent and prog djent? These two styles of music have absolutely nothing in common. One tries to do new and creative things (in other words, be PROGRESSIVE). The other relies almost exclusively on cliches and copycating. I'll let you decide which is which.
Get an amp.
Agreed. I am not sure why so many here think prog and djent coincide. I think it has something to do with sounding more "elite" and intelligent in their minds. I reference them together to emphasize how ridiculous it sounds.
broj15
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agreed. Some of us would rather spend time playing than tweaking our "tone".
Given To Fly
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We like to make things up and then pretend they are real. Or maybe I just missed the djent/progressive section of iTunes and in CD shops.
Trainwreck1446
Well-Known Member
I have never regretted my Axe FX 2 purchase.
molsoncanadian
Crunchy Riff, Eh?
Amp. I owned an axe for quite some time, and after going back to tubes I kind of have a laugh every time I see one of these threads. I certainly fall under the umbrella of coming full circle. I tried FRFR, power amp cab ect ect. Back to a mesa mark V.
At the end of the day, axe fx, pod, ect ect. They are ALL trying to simulate the real thing. You can have the real deal, or a digital attempt of the real deal.
I guess if you want super compressed spiked mids for that extra poopy djent sound than axe fx will do! And it will do quite well.
Not to berate FX users, it is indeed a fantastic unit, but I would have to agree that there is something quite fascinating going on inside those hot little magic glass tubes. Witchcraft of sorts I believe.
At the end of the day, axe fx, pod, ect ect. They are ALL trying to simulate the real thing. You can have the real deal, or a digital attempt of the real deal.
I guess if you want super compressed spiked mids for that extra poopy djent sound than axe fx will do! And it will do quite well.
Not to berate FX users, it is indeed a fantastic unit, but I would have to agree that there is something quite fascinating going on inside those hot little magic glass tubes. Witchcraft of sorts I believe.
7 Dying Trees
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You know, modellers are all cool, and excellent tools for studio use and for gigging when you have to fly, but I have to say, there is always something about the feel of playing a tube amp that they don't quite replicate, best i could compare it to is that almost spongy feeling, less rigid, more fluid, there is definitely magic in them tubes!
If you want loads of sounds, i'd say get the axe fx, if you want a tweakable amp behind you, and like other people have said, don't need a million sounds then just get an amp more suited to the sound you want. To be honest, a 4 channel amp is enough if you think about it, a lead tone, a rythm tone, a clean tone and then if you really really really need it a dirty tone, or a broken up clean, or whatever. The rest you can just flavour with effects.
If you want loads of sounds, i'd say get the axe fx, if you want a tweakable amp behind you, and like other people have said, don't need a million sounds then just get an amp more suited to the sound you want. To be honest, a 4 channel amp is enough if you think about it, a lead tone, a rythm tone, a clean tone and then if you really really really need it a dirty tone, or a broken up clean, or whatever. The rest you can just flavour with effects.
7 Dying Trees
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Oh, and its better to know one amp well, than a millian amps superficially if you want to get your sound out of something
fortisursus
Well-Known Member
There is a beauty to simplicity. I've never tried an Axe, but every modeler I get so focused on tweaking that it drives me nuts and I want to throw it out the window. Also pretty recently I remember attending an Angel Vivaldi show. Angel was running through an Axe Fx and the rhythm guitarist was using a 6505. It was not contest. The 6505 sounded much more alive.
