A Perfect Circle using Axe FXs last nite on brazilian Lollapalooza

[jangoux]

Hey guys,

Last nite APC was one of the headliners of Lollapalooza Brazil..I watched the whole show on the TV and after a couple of songs I was feeling the guitar tone to be REALLY weird and digital sounding. Very 'Pod-y'. It was interesting because before them, a bunch of indie bands played with lots of vintage-ish and boutique tube amps and the difference of how the amps breath was REALLY apparent. Anyway, I was really annoyed of the digitalness of their tone and it turns out they're using Axe Fx stuff. For smaller touring bands using them must be great because carrying a bunch of 4x12s and big heads around is a headache but I cannot understand bigger bands using this IF this is how Axe-Fx sound. Is this the reality of how those things sound or just the product of bad tone?

I remember a few years ago when Iha and the bald guy used some JCM2000 and it sounded very good (for what they were trying to make).

Anyway, here's a Youtube clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqu1SqHtNRI

 

[Jind]

Sounds like that's his current rig - at least thats whats listed on his Wikipedia entry:

Gear

Guitars - Gibson Les Pauls, predominantly a 1991 Les Paul Classic given to him by Trent Reznor. Plays Ernie Ball strings, with Dunlop 1.0mm Nylon picks. Tom Anderson Pickups. H3+ Bridge H1- neck
Cabinets - VHT Straight Cabinet / 4x12
Effects - Axe-Fx Ultra
Pedalboard: Voodoo Labs Ground Control Pro
Tuner - Korg DTR-1 Rack Tuner
Amp - Naked Amp by Dave Friedman of Rack Systems

Billy has replaced his previous effects rig with an Axe-FX II made by Fractal Audio. He is also using Naked amps made by Dave Friedman of Rack Systems.

I think its just becoming more common for artists are going to lighter rigs for tours and by using the Axe-FX unit he's guaranteed to have the same tones night after night instead of relying upon rental gear in foreign countries - it just seems easier and possibly more cost effective.

I recently saw the tour rig video for Coheed & Cambria and they have gone completely Axe-FX for touring - from the videos I've seen it sounds great. I just think it's becoming commonplace.

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

Yeah, I saw Opeth and Meshuggah each in the last 6 months and both were using AxeFX, which seemed insane to me at least for Opeth. I think it's more likely that the quality of the TV recording was shitty.

 

[colonel kurtz]

i'm not at all surprised...listen to their albums. the tones on there are almost all digital - i know much of the 1st album was with the old stock protools amp sim, and the parts that were tube amps were with diezels...which are the closest thing you can get to not sounding like a tube amp

all in all, i'd think the axefx would perfectly suit their sound and needs...just like with meshuggah, who have done everything possible for the last decade plus to not use actual amps

 

[trianglebutt]

Jesus christ, forget the guitar tone, what the fuck is Maynard doing?

 

[jangoux]

lol

It must be a Brazil thing because most that come here sing this band hehe The Franz Ferdinand guy sang almost the whole show half a step sharp..

 

[Line666]

Jesus christ, forget the guitar tone, what the fuck is Maynard doing?

Eating all the pies by the look of it.

 

[JeffTD]

I'm not going to judge guitar tones from a mono live recording of a festival; it's foolish to assess the AxeFX (or any piece of gear at all) given these circumstances.

 

[arv_foh]

I'm not going to judge guitar tones from a mono live recording of a festival; it's foolish to assess the AxeFX (or any piece of gear at all) given these circumstances.

I bet it was a stereo mix summed to mono for broadcast and yeah this might be what happens when you sum a stereo AxeFX signal to mono..

I saw APC a few years ago at a yearly festival we have here and the mix was phenomenal.. and is this small-worldy enough for you, the FOH guy who mixed that APC show mixed a band at my venue on Friday.

 

[LeSedna]

It's the very first live video where Maynard's singing is not as convincing as usual ! He's out of tune most of the time. I'm betting some kind of cold or sickness, his yell at 3:15 stops at a lower pitch than he usually can, like he just cannot hit the note. At the end of the song he sings the lower octave to the last sentence, etc

I would still pay lots to be able to sing remotely close to this in a live situation !

 

[XxSicRokerxX]

I've seen deftones a few times live within the last few years, Steph uses an AxeFX (not sure which 1) live, sounds pretty damn good to me, but I cannot say the same for the guitar tone on their new album (recorded w axeFX), its not bad, but it sounded much better/fuller on Diamond Eyes (not AxeFX).

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

Simple math; fly in gigs + axe fx = more money for the artists instead of renting or shipping their stuff to the venue.
Opeth used boss pedals before going axe fx if i remeber correctly, most bands I see on festivals use lightweight rackgear instead of their huge rigs.

 

[joelplagues]

I bet it was a stereo mix summed to mono for broadcast and yeah this might be what happens when you sum a stereo AxeFX signal to mono..

I saw APC a few years ago at a yearly festival we have here and the mix was phenomenal.. and is this small-worldy enough for you, the FOH guy who mixed that APC show mixed a band at my venue on Friday.

What show did you have on and was it Eric on FOH or was it their other regular guy? I was sure eric was doing lollapalooza anyway.

I worked for APC at the beginning of this current tour starting in Brisbane Australia. So can probably help with any questions.

Both Billy and James are running Axe FX's atm.
Billy has 2 Marshall Cabinets. One usually under the drum riser (The cabinet with grey weave front) and another one to the side of the riser so he can make his guitar feedback. I believe we mic'd the grey one. James was again Axe FX and through a Mesa cab iirc and Telefunken m80s on both rigs. I was monitor and stage assistant so I don't know how it went out front(could probably ask though) but both rigs took an output from the axe-fx as well.

 

[colonel kurtz]

It's the very first live video where Maynard's singing is not as convincing as usual ! He's out of tune most of the time. I'm betting some kind of cold or sickness, his yell at 3:15 stops at a lower pitch than he usually can, like he just cannot hit the note. At the end of the song he sings the lower octave to the last sentence, etc

it's definitely the worst performance i've ever witnessed from maynard

i've seen tool a couple times...APC once...watched tons of live vids of theirs, and i've never seen/heard him sound that shitty. if i'd paid money for that, the guitar tone would be the last thing i'd be disappointed with...