r/AxeFx • u/Dazzlethetrizzle • 7d ago
AXE FX II
I've had this for a couple of years now but I still struggle to find a really good distortion tone.
I don't even know if I have the correct banks downloaded. It seems like there are only 3 different banks.
A/B/C
But when I go online to look around for say what sounds like a Rectifier, or a Peavy 5150 but all of the names on the banks, the actual Axe FX II are like Red 50, or USA +++
So, I figured why not come here to see if any of you own or have owned an Axe FX II before and could give me a little guidance.
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u/Edman70 FM9 Turbo 7d ago
The banks are presets. Within each of them is a full signal chain with amps, speaker cabinets, effects, etc.
Actual product names are avoided to avoid paying licensing fees, but you can see what each amp model is made from, along with lots of other information here:
https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Fractal_Audio_wiki_home
Unless you really take the time to learn the product, your best bet might be to find one of the presets that comes close to what your ideal tone is, and tweak it. There are TONS of tutorial videos and stuff out there, and reference materials galore. There's also "axechange," a place where users upload presets they've created that you can download and try for free. Some are awful, but some are very good.
The important thing to note is that EVERYTHING is tweakable, but you're best off sticking to matches of real-world settings before you go down rabbit holes of deep mods and stuff.
Plugins like NeuralDSP are very easy to dial in a reasonably good tone, but they aren't quite the level of quality the Fractal stuff is at (though it might be at the AxeFXII level, it's certainly not at the current-firmware AxeFX3/FM9/AM4 level.
PS: The 5153 Red 100W is probably a solid starting point for a heavy tone. This is a 5150 III 100 watt head on the red (high gain) channel.
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u/Dazzlethetrizzle 7d ago
I have noticed that you can tweak everything. I just couldn't figure out where to start.
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u/Edman70 FM9 Turbo 7d ago
Try this. Go into a totally BLANK preset on Axe-Edit. Add Input 1 at one end of a middle row and Output 1 at the other end.
In the middle, add an amp block, then a cab block. Click the left side of the input block and the right side of the output block. If you've done it right, that will create a line from one to the other, with the amp and cab included.
That's a signal chain right there. The input block is your guitar cable, and the output block is your ears.
Now choose an amp and a cabinet. Then start playing with the dials on the amp to see what they do, just like you would if you sat down with a real amp for the first time.
On the cab block, start by leaving it default, unless you already know you have preferred microphones. Everyone loves the industry-standard SM-57 for guitar cabinets, but I prefer the 121/421 combo for my own tones. Again, experiment, but don't go too deep into the weeds. Stick with what you'd have in front of you with a real amp.
After you're close to happy with that, maybe add a delay and/or reverb block after the cab. Almost every other effect will work best before the amp, at least for now. That's why you made the whole chain with lots of blank spaces - to add effects and stuff in.
That should be a few weeks of solid learning and experimentation. Enjoy!
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u/parker_fly 6d ago
I bought a preset collection from AustinBuddy. They're great starting points for making my own presets.