Triaxis + 50:50 / 2:90

[Greatdeceiver]

So I am thinking of getting the triaxis + 2:90 combo, but I also consider triaxis + peavey 50:50 . So apart from power, what would be the pros and cons of each combo? Many people call 3xis and 2:90 soul mates but I have heard about people preferring 50:50 with it.

 

[Executioner213]

I am unfamiliar with the 50/50, but here's my two cents:

The Triaxis/2:90 are usually paired because you can control the power amp dampening through the Triaxis. Meaning you can switch the modern/deep/half-power settings for any channel you have via the Triaxis, and be able to have different settings on different channels, basically.

I might be a rare example, but MY Triaxis makes a lot of hum on my gain channels. I've sent it into Mesa to have them try to amend that, and though they said they cleaned some stuff and put a couple new 12AX7's in it, it still makes the noise. When I explained this to them, they were baffled and said "all tube amps make some noise" - not like this. This is like having your guitar next to a CRT monitor at all times, and I've tracked everything back to my Triaxis. Clean channels sound GREAT. Gain channels, I have to do a little bit of dancing on my floorboard to mute shit between songs. I'm even using an Ebtech Hum Eliminator in my chain, and going into an NS-2 before the preamp. Here's the kicker - my effects loop makes it worse! I think I have a fucked up Triaxis, which pisses me off because I bought it new and asked about this ever since I got it 4 years ago: nobody knows the answer to this. My tone is good, it's just got an incredible amount of hum to it. I'd like to have my peice of shit G-Major in the effects loop, but I can't even do that.

So...like I said, my end of things might not help your choice, but at least I feel better about getting my problem off my chest.

Are you talking about the Mesa Stereo 2:50? If so, it appears that it doesn't have the same plugin options of the 2:90 as far as controlling it with the Triaxis. I guess your choice would also depend on how much power you think you need as well. In my opinion, the 2:90 is too much for me because I never turn it up past 5(12 o'clock)....even then, it seems like my cabinet flattens that out and there isnt' really any more actually volume to be pushed through it, just more noise/distortion.

 

[Greatdeceiver]

Oh sorry its supposed to be peavey 50:50 hehe, edited my first post

I wont need much power, since everything that has tubes and wattage bigger than 50 can blow the whole island up.
Damn it sucks to buy something new and it turns out fucked up... Will keep an eye out for this

 

[Executioner213]

Oh yeah, also...

If you do get the 2:90, and for any reason...whether it be because you don't ever want to change any of your power amp dampening settings or because you end up going with a pre-amp other than the Triaxis and cannot control them from there...here is a trick I learned from watching a video of John Petrucci's tech set up his rig. Get a couple of these (preferably in straight form though):
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/prod...ight-Angle-14-Circuit-Breaker-Plug?sku=339108

The on/off switch on these plugs acts as an on/off switch for those amp dampening features. This is good if, lets say, you normally have your amp on full power...but you are playing a smaller venue and only want to run half power. Instead of going into all your patches and changing everything beforehand, you can just plug one of these into it and use the on/off switch to turn the half power feature on and leave it on until you unplug it or switch it off.

I have one of these in my "modern" plug with it always on...I mostly do it so I don't have to program that into any channels, and it makes it so I need one less cable in my rack for clutter.

 

[Greatdeceiver]

kk thx for the advice. I cant find a 2:90 anywhere around me to try it so I will have to order one from the net if I decide to go with it

 

[MetallyGuitarded]

As a user of a Triaxis/2:Ninety rig I can say that the Triaxis/2:Ninety combo is a great match. The half-drive mode and the deep mode are pretty dramatic changes and certainly help you get a more broad spectrum of tones. I don't use the Modern mode much personally but some guys swear by it.

I think if you want to take full advantage of what the Triaxis can do the 2:Ninety is the way to. I can also tell you that after hauling mine around for over 10 years, it is really heavy and way more power than anyone but Petrucci really needs. I'd say get a Mesa 20/20 or something similar if you don't want all the switching or need all the power.

Executioner213 I've never heard of what you're going thru with the noise. I assume you've tried the different positions on the power switch? I just installed a DiMarzio Evolution in my guitar after having spent the last 15+ years using EMGs and even though I forgot to wire the ground to the bridge I still get hardly any noise. I even use my Triaxis/2:Ninety sitting at my computer and it's fairly quiet considering the gain levels. I'd say try non-Mesa tubes if that's all you've ever had in it. I just retubed my rig with JJ's and it's a whole new beast now. You guys might also want to check the Triaxis group on YahooGroups. There's a bunch of TA owners there who can offer a lot more help/info. Bob from www.eurotubes.com even posts there a bit.

Here's the link if you wanna check it out. http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Triaxis/

I don't know if you can read the posts without joining but it's free and easy.

 

[Greatdeceiver]

Yeah I really don't need all that power.. The thing is, I have been holding myself back on gear all the years i have been playing guitar, and I finally want to get something real that I won't have to trade in for something better

 

[Nitsuj]

So I am thinking of getting the triaxis + 2:90 combo, but I also consider triaxis + peavey 50:50 . So apart from power, what would be the pros and cons of each combo? Many people call 3xis and 2:90 soul mates but I have heard about people preferring 50:50 with it.

I'm a triaxis 50/50 user. The poweramp has a lo/hi switch that cuts the power from 50 to 15 watts and is really useful for bedroom levels at night. The Stereo 2:Fifty allows you to swap in EL34's but does not have a lo/hi switch.

I think the main reason why you would want a 2:90 is the poweramp's headroom and its switching features. Just provides you with more tweaking options. And if you're planning on recording, I'd say the 2:90 will really give you the punch you need.

 

[Kazrog]

Not to hijack a good thread, but...

Has anyone used a Triaxis with impulses? Seems like it would be a great way to get full bodied tone in the box with saveable presets. I would love to hear a clip if anyone here has done this, or can do it, with say, GuitarHack impulses or whatever you find sounds the best. I'm interested in purchasing a Triaxis for this reason but I've never heard a clip of it and it's a lot of money to invest in something I haven't heard attempted.

 

[Greatdeceiver]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing actually. It is possible to record triaxis without a poweramp right? And then use impulses?

 

[MetallyGuitarded]

I was gonna try the Triaxis/Impulse thing but my 'sound card' is a lame Creative SounBlaster Live. Not much chance of a high quality signal. I may try it anyway but I gotta round up the right cables, etc. I'm not sure what/if there is a diffence in impedence/db levels between the Triaxis line out and the SoundBlaster line in. I know the Triaxis has record outs that don't sound anything like amp as I've read they're supposed to...

I have an idea though. What if I just recorded some riffs with my regular preset, line into the PC and then post 'em here for you guys to toy with? Or would I just use a clean sound? Both maybe? Anyone want to do that? I'm only just getting into all the recording stuff so forgive my uber-noobage. I love to experiment with settings, routings, etc so I'll get to it eventually.

 

[Kazrog]

I have an idea though. What if I just recorded some riffs with my regular preset, line into the PC and then post 'em here for you guys to toy with? Or would I just use a clean sound? Both maybe? Anyone want to do that? I'm only just getting into all the recording stuff so forgive my uber-noobage. I love to experiment with settings, routings, etc so I'll get to it eventually.

Feel free to post your raw Triaxis tracks of your usual preset (not the clean sound), just try and set your output level on your triaxis low enough that you won't clip your sound card input and it _should_ be OK. If you have a mixing board like a Mackie you can use that to lower the level going into your sound card if the Triaxis can't do this elegantly itself. (back in the day I did sound card recordings through a Mackie mixer all the time and got usable results.)

Your preamp signal should sound kind of buzzsaw and lo-fi but not with any digital pops (clipping.) The level coming out of the Triaxis should be very consistent if you're using the kind of distortion that most of us here do.

In spite of the poor converters on the Sound Blaster this should be reasonable enough quality to give some idea of the potential once some of us post clips of it run through impulses. Thanks in advance!

 

[MetallyGuitarded]

Hey peeps, I put a .rar file up with a few REALLY rough takes of me just screwin off for you guys to toy with. If you are looking for anything specific just let me know ( ie: less gain, more mids, a coherent riff/song ) I had no idea what to play and I'm so tired my mind is near totally blank! I also JUST recently switched back to E standard tuning from B standard so I'm still feeling like I'm climbin the rope in gym class if you know what I mean.

It's way late and I'm sure these clips are sloppier than a greased eel in a bucket of snot. I used 4-5 different presets of mine I use at home for low-volume apartment jamming. I didn't tweak them since I had no idea how they would sound impulsed. They're mid-gain to high gain, depending on who you ask I suppose... LD1 Red, LD2 Yellow, LD2 Red, etc. I don't remember which is which but there's at least 3 different modes there. I loaded KeFir and a couple of GuitarHacks impulses and I thought it sounded pretty good at around a 70% wet mix -12db gain. It certainly needs tweaking but considering the 15 minutes I put into it, not bad.

Here's the link to the files http://www.metallyguitarded.com/triaxisdirect.rar

 

[Kazrog]

Here's the link to the files http://www.metallyguitarded.com/triaxisdirect.rar

hahahaa, I love the story... the link is dead, but I found the right link by capitalizing it differently:

http://www.metallyguitarded.com/TriaxisDirect.rar

So I fired up your recordings in Pro Tools on my Mac G5 with AltiVerb to run my own impulse that I made of my Mesa Boogie Oversize 4x12 with vintage 30s into my Audix i5 mic, and it sounds awesome! With the exception of the first clip, which sounded thinner, quieter, and noisier than the others, these are all killer tones with a lot of potential, I will be picking up a Triaxis unless I can match or beat this tone with the forthcoming Amplitbue Metal or ReValver Mk III plugins.

I uploaded a medley of all the clips run through my impulse as we speak... link is below. Don't worry, they all sound better than the first one.

http://backmask.com/sneapforum/MetallyGuitardedTriaxis_KazrogImpulses.wav.zip

 

[MetallyGuitarded]

Wow, that sounds pretty descent indeed. I don't think any of the patches I used had the gain above 6. Also, I forgot to run the ground wire from the controls in the guitar to the bridge when I installed the Evolution last week. ( I've been an EMG guy for the last 15 years ) So that and sitting next to a CRT monitor and a PC didn't help the noise situation.

Hey Kazrog, did you quantize those clips at all or was I just that tired that I don't remember my rhythm being that 'on'? Maybe it's the absence of a drum truck to reference...? Oh well. Now I just have to get everything else to sound good.

FWIW, I just retubed the Triaxis with a new set of standard JJ's from Eurotubes. The improvement that made was quite dramatic so if you get the Triaxis I'd highly recommend some JJ's or something besides 'stock' Mesa tubes. The Mesa tubes sound OK but don't hold a candle to the JJ's.

Clearly I'm a noob but thanks to you fine folks I'm learning quite a bit and much faster than I was on my own. BTW - I used Reaper to record that and the only tweaking I did was setting the Triaxis output to get the peaks at/around -2db. I don't think it clipped at all. Is that a descent way to set the input level? If anyone else has some ideas/suggestions for some other stuff I might try lets hear 'em.

Well, it's been 5 hours since I uploaded those files and now I have to go to work... yippee, I guess.

 

[Kazrog]

Haha, no I didn't quantize it, although I did chop off some of the line noise at the beginning and end of the clips, and I cross faded between clips. I use JJ tubes in my 6505+ and I would naturally probably do the same if I got a Triaxis, thanks for the tip and that's great to know! I figured your clip was a passive pickup and considering that I am an EMG die-hard I think it's a good sound too, EVOs are pretty cool.

The level of the clips was fine and there was no clipping whatsoever, and overall in spite of the clips being a little bit noisy they weren't bad quality at all, and the playing was a lot better than you said it would be, LOL.

Thanks again!

 

[MetallyGuitarded]

Hey Kazrog ( or anyone interested ), I plugged the Triaxis record outs into the soundcard and recorded this riff. This is the LD2 Green on the TA ( currently my preset 36 ). I think this sounds way better than the direct out but not sure how well it'll take to impulse files. You wanna toy with it and see what you can get out of it? I was gonna play with it with GuitarRig, Boogex, PristineSpace, etc but I gotta get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. I'm in training half a day every day and it's hard enough to stay awake when I'm interested in the class... The spelling/case of the link should be right this time.

http://www.metallyguitarded.com/TriaxisDirect.wav


I'll post my own results once I get a little more free time.

 

[Kazrog]

Sounds like the recording out is doing some kind of internal cabinet simulation (albeit not very well) which probably won't sound as good through impulses. Believe it or not, what you want is that buzzsaw preamp tone to go into impulses with, because that's exactly what a real tube head is serving up to its power amp and to the speakers. I'll mess with it later though to see if it sounds cool at all, but I think it will most likely sound more cavernous and less up front.

 

[Greatdeceiver]

So is it possible to turn the sim off?

 

[MetallyGuitarded]

Greatdeceiver, if that was directed to me, well, yes. The Triaxis has a set of 'compensated' outputs called Record Outs. If you just plug the regular Outputs to your mixer/DAW then you get just the buzzsaw of a raw preamp tone. I haven't tried it with a clean tone yet though. FYI - When you use the Record Outs, the 'Master' is the output volume. The two knobs on the far right only apply to the main Outputs.