Axe FX Demo 1 - dueling Marshall Rigs

[John Czajkowski]

Axe FX Demo - dueling Marshall Rigs

Here is my first foray into the nefarious Axe FX underworld. Thanks, Cliff; I am now fully corrupted. J I am quickly trying to program an Ultra unit to cover the guitar side of my sounds for the Hectic Watermelon Warped Tour gig – or other things were I doubt I will want to haul around my twin towers ego rig. In the process of building several parallel twin-amp rigs within the Axe FX, I have steadily begun to realize just how powerful Cliff’s machine is. Of course, it totally deals with all the Eclipse stuff, but I am really impressed with what a tweaker’s delight it is all throughout the amp modeling signal chain – from tone stack, to power amp, to speaker cabs to mic options. I’ve used or had every modeler or whatever since I first took a Zoom box with me to Desert Storm back in the day. Granted, I have had to tweak on the ultra for a few days to really feel comfortable, I now think I am there on quite a few rig simulations for most of my own music.

This first sample is to check that I have my classic Steve Morse type rhythm and lead sounds ready which I use on about three tunes. It uses one present that A/B’s with pedal 1 between a punchier medium gain JCM 800 and a slightly more saturated JCM 900. The rhythm is really dry and the lead always comes in with dual delay tempo mapped L and R with a quarter and dotted quarter. Pedal two adds a slightly modulated delay tot eh lead at 32 ms with no feedback, so it is more like a mild chorus. It also adds a little more delay. So, in summary this first preset I made is a rhythm/lead A/B with a B’ state. This is from my tune, “Steve’s Stunt Double” from my last album with Jerry Goodman, which really puts these types of tones through their paces as you are all over the guitar in all the flattering and unflattering tone zones. I’m curious to hear what you think.

AXE FX Clip:

http://users.bandzoogle.com/hecticwatermelon/files/AXEFX_clip_1_SSD.mp3

TAB:

http://users.bandzoogle.com/hecticwatermelon/files/Steve_sStuntDouble_Score_TAB.pdf

[Mondoslug]

It sounds great is what I think as does the playing.

So...you're gonna run this into a stereo power amp and be done with it?

[jb70]

very rocking john! i like, i like. i am also an axe fx convert. i've had my ultra for a little over a month now and i'm patiently waiting for cliff to come out with his midi footswitch and frfr enclosure. it is a great time to be a guitar player :)

[cdaloia]

John,

Wow........first of all your playing is so great.

That is a serious guitar sound you've got going with that gizmo.
Great ears to figure that out.
You crazy......:cool:

Chuck

[John Czajkowski]

Mondoslug, actually my 2-50-2 keeps blowing fuses right and left on one side, so I need to get it serviced. I have another power amp, but think I'll just take this to the gig all by itself with my little baby Stewie (RJM Mastermind) controller. Just gonna have the sound guys put a monitor behind me with 100% guitar cranked! It will eb a fun experiment if nothing else.

Jack, it gives me new tones I didn't have before, but I don't think it turns my whole time-space-continuum inside out. It is a stunning piece of gear, but I'm not seeing it as a religious transformation...yet What is up with the stuff you mentioned? Please do tell! In a year or two as CPU's continue to double in speed, this thing is going to get really scary...

Mr. Chuck,

Thanks for listening through this tune that I've posted before with the full band mix...a bit redundant, but this is a very important homebase tone set for me. (Thanks for the note the other day) :)

[Wagster]

Dang that sounds awesome John.Thanks for the tab.

[Guitar Slinger6]

Fantastic playing, the song is kicking.

[jb70]

Jack, it gives me new tones I didn't have before, but I don't think it turns my whole time-space-continuum inside out. It is a stunning piece of gear, but I'm not seeing it as a religious transformation...yet What is up with the stuff you mentioned? Please do tell! In a year or two as CPU's continue to double in speed, this thing is going to get really scary...


right on. cliff has a midi foot controller and a full range type of enclosure coming out soon. i have been running mine through a little roland amp for the time being and it sounds pretty darn good. i was lucky enough to hear one thru 2 qsc enclosures at the ny amp show. it sounded like god. haha! seriously. so, whatever cliff has coming out should sound as good as the qsc's (and will only weigh about 40 lbs). i also heard it thru a pair of stereo atomic amps and while it sounded good, it sounded twice as good thru a full range enclosure. have fun!!!

[ToneZappa]

Sounds very good John its always a big decision to change rigs completely and your twin towers set up sounds great any way. But the AXE-FX sure does sound powerful. Ive always used multi FX units in the studio but never live (apart from sometimes a BOSS SE70 or BOSS GT-5 in an FX loop) More and more of the good players here on TGP are getting the AXE-FX and Iv,e heard some great sounds on the Fractal Audio forum over the last year. I think I shall have to get on the Ultra list I know I could make it work for my kind of sounds.

The phrasing on the clip really sounds like a violin. Always love your playing..........Happy tweaking !!! :cool:

[solo-act]

KILLER playing/meter/technique/melody/tone !!!

John's post is a perfect example of the difference between a talented player with the right mindset, and a typical inexperienced, un-creative player when it comes to the axe-fx.

In the hands of talent and imagination, the axe-fx comes into its own. In the hands of inexperience and impatience, it's a confusing, frustrating black box.

I believe the axe-fx is an instrument -- no different than a guitar or a real tube rig. In fact, it's far beyond a typical amp platform in variation and choice. Like any instrument, you can get by with the basics (downloaded patches and presets). You can learn a few chords and a couple licks, and mess around with it in your spare time. But if you really want to unlock the instrument and turn it into an extension of you....that takes time and effort, and the axe-fx is no different in that regard.

[Scoredog]

very cool!
the Axe-Fx is great but like most rigs its the guy behind the wheel.

[Woodyworld]

Crikey that does sound good.

Damn fine playing maestro!

[mike walker]

Rockin John!!

Mike

[Scott Peterson]

When you let monsters run the rig, the gear is secondary to the music.

May the Axe-FX serve you well John. Just keep making the music.

[enchan-ted]

Man! You just nail Steve's sound and feel but definitely have your own thing going on......very cool.

Axe-fx sounds great.....dare I say better that Morse's tone....a little warmer and dryer.

Great stuff

[guitarcrazy2004]

cool playing....me like the Dregs....:BEER

[John Czajkowski]

Thanks so much guys, I totally appreciate your taking the time to listen to this little experiment. Sooooooo...just got back from playing my first gig with my the Axe FX Ultra at the Vans Warped Tour this evening. I still can’t quite believe I actually did this as I usually haul out a truckload of gear – which is fine when I have help and time. However, I din’t have the later today as Warped Tour shows are super fast un-load and off-loads with only a 25-minute set or so depending on the stage. Instead of bringing this, plus controller board and speakers, all I bought was a 4-space rack loaded with the Axe FX, an RJM Mastermind controller (which ingeniously fits inside- thanks Ron), a Roland expression pedal and a latching pedal. Oh yeah, I also had my guitar and a big parachute bag full of merch. Since I didn’t even bring a power amp and speakers today, I just had the sound crew put two big monitor wedges behind me stood up on their sides with 100% Axe FX and it was instant guitar rig. It felt good, and the sound was comfortable onstage. Afterwards, people who really know my sounds live told me it was huge out in the crowd, but just drier – as I always keep the wets lower if in doubt. The only thing that I was not totally comfortable with was not having my synth and piezo, but we only did the heavier numbers this evening so it was cool. So, in the final analysis, instead of having to burn 1 Phelps unit (the amount of energy MP burns in one hour during training) to move my rig, today, I used about 0.1 at most.

[Lucidology]

Wow ... you actually did a gig with it then ....1?!
This I got to hear .... That's very cool John ...
You make that baby sound incredible on your clips ... I'm sure you'll do the same live ...

[John Czajkowski]

Wow ... you actually did a gig with it then ....1?!
This I got to hear .... That's very cool John ...
You make that baby sound incredible on your clips ... I'm sure you'll do the same live ...

Thank you, Joseph. Yeah, you can't beat that thing for easy set-up at festivals from a practical gear-hauling standpoint, but I felt really comfortable with it too in terms of sounds and control. I felt just like a busker - gig bag on my back, little rack in one hand, and merch bag in the other. Quite a change from my normal gear onslaught you have witnessed. :NUTS

[John Czajkowski]

cool playing....me like the Dregs....:BEER

Thanks, Steve is one of those guys I have spent years studying as he is such a total guitarist/composer. Doing my last album with Jerry Goodman was a dream come true, but even more fun to let a new type of sound emerge. Of course this one is clearly a SM hat tip. :)

GuitarToneBesides beautiful lead soloing, it's even more impressive to hear someone who knows how to play rhythm, which IMO is more important than lead and more difficult to master than lead.

The tone is irrelevant.

I agree with some of that. I think that there is most importantly a very practical function of tone: clearly, it must serve the arrangement of timbres in the orchestration. It is only one this is achieved that the beauty of a tone is important to me. Now, a whole different school of thought in producing and mixing is to find the most beautiful tone or tone quality of a player and then construct the mix around that while making sure not to cancel anything out in the featured part. This is a very viable and popular way to mix, but it just isn't how I usually do things.

So, to me rhythm and lead are all about creating a result greater than the sum of the two. I enjoy hearing and writing counterpoint activity where rhythm and lead are interdependent.