Orange Rockerverb VS Axe-Fx Matched

[Clark Kent]

Yadda yadda blah blah once again. I'm currently recording an album with my band and here's a clip from the first song we recorded. In the studio I'm using a simple setup:

Baja Tele -> Rockerverb 100 MKII -> PPC412 -> SM57

So I thought I'd see how the Citrus on the Axe-Fx compares to that tone after tone matching.



IMO there's a clear difference and I think it's Axe-Fx's fault. I think the original track sounds more Marshally and the Axe-Fx version is a bit fuzzier. Anyways the difference isn't all that big but I'm still not going to use the Axe-Fx for the recording. Maybe if I have to do some fixes later on.

THOUGHTS!

 

[tempe]

I prefer the first clip, as to which it is I'm not sure. I prefer the upper mids on it to the second clip, seems to sit in the mix better.

 

[Lon]

sounds good, but me having a rockerverb and an Axe2 myself i found the axe-emulation of the rockerverb to be very inaccurate (i know this is about tonematching but the general characteristics are still generated by the amp-emulation i presume)

addendum: i found clip2 to have a minor amount of "more balls", i prefer the sound of clip2.

 

[Sludgekicker]

maybe if you could adjust the low mids a bit on the axed guitars which I assume is the second one, you could get closer to the original sound?

 

[Clark Kent]

sounds good, but me having a rockerverb and an Axe2 myself i found the axe-emulation of the rockerverb to be very inaccurate (i know this is about tonematching but the general characteristics are still generated by the amp-emulation i presume)

addendum: i found clip2 to have a minor amount of "more balls", i prefer the sound of clip2.

Yeah I 100% agree. The gain on the Rockerverb was at noon. The gain on the Axe-Fx was on almost full. And even then I felt like it didn't get close to the sustain of the Orange. Also the middle and bass on the Rockerverb affect each other in a huge way. Not so on the Axe-Fx.

The second clip is actually the Axe-Fx and it has a different kind of overdrive character. Ends up sounding like the Axe has more low end. But then again the dynamic difference is the biggest difference here and I can't have them running on the same volume because it varies so much.

 

[Lon]

Yeah I 100% agree. The gain on the Rockerverb was at noon. The gain on the Axe-Fx was on almost full. And even then I felt like it didn't get close to the sustain of the Orange. Also the middle and bass on the Rockerverb affect each other in a huge way. Not so on the Axe-Fx.

The second clip is actually the Axe-Fx and it has a different kind of overdrive character. Ends up sounding like the Axe has more low end. But then again the dynamic difference is the biggest difference here and I can't have them running on the same volume because it varies so much.

This is most likely a result of cliffs approach to rebuilding amps (he separates the single parts of amps and replicates them with mathematical models, so the orange tonestac is probably just a regular tonestack with adjusted frequencies and q rates and therefore lacking the interaction between pots).

In genreal i would just not try to replicate reality with an axeFx, of course its advertised as such but i found to reach way better results if one looks at the amp-models as "general characteristic guidelines" for the sound and then twiddles with the knobs to shape the sound to the desired output. The result counts, not the way to get there.

addendum2: i still think bitching about the axeFx not being a 100% accurate replication of the reality is bollocks (NOT directed at you clark, just in general!) because it actuallydoes all the calculations in pseudo-realtime, and the whole workflow is laid out to be a live-tool not another way of silent recording.

I think its a nice thing that if you want to capture a real amp to the utmost max you need to mic up a real amp, but vice versa i do not think most productions benefit much from a real amp anymore...

addendum3: the CV50 model is like a lot of other axe models just something cliff threw together for the benefit of having it listed on a featurelist (ZOMG! ORANGE), for example i found the marshall and mesa models to be very accurate and others to be just... you know, in the ballpark, but not really there. This is also the main reason why i still own my Rockerverb (i sold my 6505), because its one hell of an awesome amplifier but the replication of it sucks.

 

[drew_drummer]

Think I prefer the 2nd. I think it's the real amp.

PS Clark, I got a Rockerverb

 

[MatrixClaw]

I really don't particularly like either tone, but if I had to choose, I kinda like the second better. Both are pretty similar, it's not like the listener is really going to care either way.