The Watering Hole

...this sounds impressive. Nope, doesn't give me the slightest urge to "sell it all" and go buy one, lol, but I have to say, IF I were forced to be a quiet, quick-n-easy home recording guy, I could definitely live with these tones, especially considering they're recorded 'direct'. The high gain stuff sounds nice. Really nice. Of course I have no idea how it FEELS to play through it, and that's big, but the results seem to be there. This and the Kempler make you wonder what the future holds.

http://youtu.be/HdeB3sqb0rk

Still want one of these (and/or a Kemper)...  I love toys.  Good thing I don't have any money - lol!  :D

Kabala — Sep 18, 2012This and the Kempler make you wonder what the future holds.

For me live it will always be tubes, but for recording one of those would be nice, but I would not spend that kind of money on any one of those things just for my recording hobby. That is unless I hit the big lotto, then I will show y'all what it means to be n***** rich.......... 8-)

CraigBert — Sep 19, 2012Still want one of these (and/or a Kemper)...  I love toys.  Good thing I don't have any money - lol!  :D

I've had both and neither lives up to the hype. I suppose it will get there one day, but it ain't there yet.

Shit, I didn't recall you having the AXE II Jon, my bad - I could've got your opinion first hand. I should point out I've never actually heard/played one of these in person, just basing things on these interwebz clips, but to me, they sound good. The presets he runs through in the vid sound fairly accurate to their descriptions from what I've heard as well - meaning the "Conford" patch sounded very much like the real Cornford amp clips, as well as the "Friedman", etc.  As for the price, I guess it's high for a piece of gear, but I dunno, something tells me I wouldn't cry over paying that much for amazing, diverse tone in a single unit IF it was as good as the real thing. Tone is paramount, not necessarily money (to a point of course :o), and that goes either way - a cheapo amp made overseas that delivers the goods, or a pricey, space age unit promising the world, lol! The proof is in the taste of the pudding, not necessarily the ingredients!

 

Both units have good points and both can sound really good, but still both lack the fundamental feel of an amp to me.  The dynamics of both units are not all that the hype cracks them up to be.   It seems fine until you then play a real amp again and you realise that the feeling of "playing" in the virtual world is still a million miles away from the real thing.   Having said that it depends on the type of music you play too I guess. If you like lots of gain then dynamics are not really going to matter too much.  I like to play from clean to fairly dirty all within one sound and just ride the guitar volume pots for the changes. Nearly there, but that bit of it is still not good enough.

I would really like to see someone produce one of these AXEFX or Kemper type of units but with a real valve amp head built into it, then I think things would really get interesting.

I'm with you on the price too.  I don't worry too much about how much something costs. If I want it and can get fun from it then why not.....we are a very long time dead after all....


edit: Sorry, I had the AXEFX Ultra not the II.

Kabala — Sep 19, 2012
Shit, I didn't recall you having the AXE II Jon, my bad - I could've got your opinion first hand. I should point out I've never actually heard/played one of these in person, just basing things on these interwebz clips, but to me, they sound good. The presets he runs through in the vid sound fairly accurate to their descriptions from what I've heard as well -
 

'Except for all those truly awful U2 patches...

Jon — Sep 19, 2012
I would really like to see someone produce one of these AXEFX or Kemper type of units but with a real valve amp head built into it, then I think things would really get interesting.

Line 6 did that with the Pod HD modeling and a tube amp head. (I seem to recall) Az had one he used every weekend at the Malibu Pier Jam. It was said to be very good stuff. Of all the modeling units I have ever heard the Pod HD is the best bang for the buck to my uneducated ears. The Kemper and the AxeFX did not impress me more than the HD for basic models, although they probably have many more bells and whistles.

desertbluesman — Sep 20, 2012[quote author=Jon G link=1347972410/0#5 date=1348077988]
I would really like to see someone produce one of these AXEFX or Kemper type of units but with a real valve amp head built into it, then I think things would really get interesting.

Line 6 did that with the Pod HD modeling and a tube amp head. (I seem to recall) Az had one he used every weekend at the Malibu Pier Jam. It was said to be very good stuff. Of all the modeling units I have ever heard the Pod HD is the best bang for the buck to my uneducated ears. The Kemper and the AxeFX did not impress me more than the HD for basic models, although they probably have many more bells and whistles.



I was thinking more along the lines of a true analog tube preamp into a very low output tube power amp into a powersoak and then into all the reverbs/delays/chorus and cab sims etc as a desktop unit rather than a full blown amp.

Jon — Sep 20, 2012
I was thinking more along the lines of a true analog tube preamp into a very low output tube power amp into a powersoak and then into all the reverbs/delays/chorus and cab sims etc as a desktop unit rather than a full blown amp.

Digitech did that a bunch of years ago. I never heard one but I know they had them out just before I bought my GNX2.

Jon — Sep 19, 2012

I would really like to see someone produce one of these AXEFX or Kemper type of units but with a real valve amp head built into it, then I think things would really get interesting.

We plugged the Kemper into a Marshall 20/20 poweramp into various cabs.
Using the Kemper Monitor Out, cabs switched off.

The room is full of tube amps, we played a bunch of them before the Kemper, same guitar, same guitarist, same guys standing around.
It's was simply amazing what the KPA sounded like through a tube poweramp pushing a real cab.
Funny thing is, no tube amp in that room sounded better, in fact the Kemper blew most of them away.
We used only stock Profiles in the Kemper, Gibson Goldtone, Matchless Chieftan, Bogner Xstacy, Buddha, Dual Rectifier...all amps not one guy standing there could ever dream of owning.

Lance — Sep 25, 2012[quote author=Jon G link=1347972410/0#5 date=1348077988]

I would really like to see someone produce one of these AXEFX or Kemper type of units but with a real valve amp head built into it, then I think things would really get interesting.

We plugged the Kemper into a Marshall 20/20 poweramp into various cabs.
Using the Kemper Monitor Out, cabs switched off.

The room is full of tube amps, we played a bunch of them before the Kemper, same guitar, same guitarist, same guys standing around.
It's was simply amazing what the KPA sounded like through a tube poweramp pushing a real cab.
Funny thing is, no tube amp in that room sounded better, in fact the Kemper blew most of them away.
We used only stock Profiles in the Kemper, Gibson Goldtone, Matchless Chieftan, Bogner Xstacy, Buddha, Dual Rectifier...all amps not one guy standing there could ever dream of owning.







all very interesting but I am talking about the valves being at the other end of the signal chain....the front so that the valves are creating the tone and distortion and then the digital stuff can create the cabs etc at the back end.

Lance — Sep 25, 2012[quote author=Jon G link=1347972410/0#5 date=1348077988]

I would really like to see someone produce one of these AXEFX or Kemper type of units but with a real valve amp head built into it, then I think things would really get interesting.

We plugged the Kemper into a Marshall 20/20 poweramp into various cabs.
Using the Kemper Monitor Out, cabs switched off.

Funny thing is, no tube amp in that room sounded better, in fact the Kemper blew most of them away.





Maybe because those are all newer Marshalls? ;)  Where are the awesome amps in that shot?

charger — Sep 25, 2012[quote author=Lance link=1347972410/0#10 date=1348594669][quote author=Jon G link=1347972410/0#5 date=1348077988]

I would really like to see someone produce one of these AXEFX or Kemper type of units but with a real valve amp head built into it, then I think things would really get interesting.

We plugged the Kemper into a Marshall 20/20 poweramp into various cabs.
Using the Kemper Monitor Out, cabs switched off.

Funny thing is, no tube amp in that room sounded better, in fact the Kemper blew most of them away.





Maybe because those are all newer Marshalls? ;)  Where are the awesome amps in that shot?

That store is the Marshall distributor in SA, so they have all the new amps and also the hand wired series amps...they have a few vintage Marshall heads laying around, but not in that demo room.

My favourite amps in that room are the two handwired series models, the 18watt ( I think it's called the 1974X) and the 20watt (cant remember the model) that both come with the 2x12 basket weave cab that looks like a mini 4x12 cab...incredible cab.

Lance, I've always considered building a 1974X.  Supposed to be one of the all time great sounding amps!  How does it sound?  How much gain does it have?

Howie

There's two them, the 2061X, 20 watt, and 1974X, 18 watt.
The 2061 has a tad more gain and to my ears sounded smoother and less shrill than the 1974.
But the magic is in that 2x12 crazy cab, don't know the model number of the cab.
Like I said, looks like a mini 4x12, but has two 12" speakers positioned on top of each other, not side by side.

The 2061 head and cab was in that room where the Orange cab now is 30 minutes before I took the photo.
Some guy who owns a Kemper, and was listening to the demo through that cab, bought the 2061 amp and cab...he's a doctor and way too rich.  :)

DTR, go rogue, buy a Hammond chassis on ebay and build an amp that will slay anything Marshall 18-watt, for 1/10 of the price. Our HFS amp (Holy Fucking Shit) was build from a $50 hammond AO-43 chassis, a $35 transformer, and a few pots and some rewiring.  It's outstanding.

those old hammond chasis aren't easy to find these days.  I think more and more people A) know what they have or B) now realize they can still get tube amps repaired.  I used to scour craigs list looking for things like that.  Most prices are 3 times what they used to be.

I'm sure I could find you an old hammond cheese for $50 Howie!  :D ;)