Anybody running Axe FX into front end of valve amp?

MatthewShreddery

Do any of you run your AxeFX into the front end of your amp? 
Ive got a hot rod deluxe and I’m experimenting with using the axe as a virtual pedal board into the front  of the HRD. It’s sounding good, but the area letting me down is the drive sounds of the axe. 

Anybody got any tips please?

EDIT: no amp sims or cab sims are being used. Strictly fx only

Jonathanthomas83

To each their own but it’s an expensive pedalboard, IMO. You’re missing out on an awful lot by doing so. Why you thinking of doing that then?

Dominic

Is it an expensive pedalboard when you think of the cost of 8 quality pedals?

MatthewShreddery

Jonathanthomas83 said:

To each their own but it’s an expensive pedalboard, IMO. You’re missing out on an awful lot by doing so. Why you thinking of doing that then?

It's not that expensive when you add up the cost of the individual pedals this is replacing.

The way I'm running it (after an entire day and evening of experiments) is with 5 scenes assigned to buttons 1-5 on the MFC101, and the other 10 buttons are for the individual pedals in the chain, should I want to manually switch something on or off in that scene.
I also have button 16 as a tap tempo, and 17 is my tuner.

Expression pedal 1 is master volume and I'm yet to find a use for exp 2, probably will be wah or possibly gain assigned to the drive block.

So what I've essentially got is a pedal board with 10 decent 'pedals' on it, all connected up to a looping system for easy switching. All of which can be chopped and changed as and when I see fit.

The reason I'm doing it is I've realised I'm not an amp modelling person. I find it can sound great in isolation, but whenever I play live it lacks the feel of a real amp.

I liked the idea of going back to a valve amp so I bought the HRD. Then I thought rather than buying a bunch of new pedals -  and all of the other stuff like power supply, board etc (all of which I can't afford) - why not try the Axe FX into the amp.

I've tried to get the whole FRFR thing to work for me and it simply doesn't. I've had the Matrix 2x12 FRFR cab, plus I've had QSCK 12's and Yamaha DXR 10's and nothing seems to make me happy like a valve amp and some pedals!

Roland

Context: When I first got an Ultra I used 4CM to replicate my existing way of working with a Boss GT-8. That allowed me gig with it whilst I worked out how to use amp modelling. 4CM is important because, to my ears, a lot of FX sound better after the preamp.

Tips: As a starting point I broke out a TS-9 and Cry Baby, which I used before the GT-8, and replicated them in the AxeFX. Not only do you have to get Drive and Tone settings right, but you’ve also got to match Send and Receive Levels. You can use the AxeFX’s built in meters to help do this.

This was before Scenes were invented. If I were doing it again I still wouldn’t start with Scenes. If you get your building blocks right before you start assembling them into Patches. Scenes are then a further level of sophistication.

MatthewShreddery

I'm loving using Scenes - it's just a simple way of avoiding tap dancing. I hate using different patches. It's all too tempting to over complicate things when you do that.

I've been down the rabbit hole of trying to make a perfect patch for every song in a set. It's too much of a faff in my experience. I like to get a few core sounds that get me into the ball park of most of the stuff I cover in my band.

David5150

Just a thought but would a Fractal FX8 make more sense if you're not using amp or cab sims?

MatthewShreddery

To be clear, I already own the Axe Fx 2 XL. Had it a few years. It's great. I do use it for big shows direct to front of house with Amp and Cab sims running, but for my pub gigs I like to use a traditional amp. It's just so much more fun to me that way.

MatthewShreddery

So I gigged it last night and think it sounded pretty good. Need to make some adjustments, especially when it comes to using different guitars through it, as my Strat felt a bit weird through it, whereas my musicman (the one I used to set up my patches) was great. 

All in all not not a bad first attempt