‘Studio Diary’ is an occasional series where I talk about building a home recording setup for hobbyists and enthusiasts like us. I share my personal experiences, and the thinking behind some of the decisions that I’ve made along the way.
Many of us have tales of “the one that got away” … a guitar or an amp that we’ll always regret not buying at the time. This is one of those tales, and the story of how I’ve recently reproduced something similar in my Axe-FX 3.
And it’s all thanks to That Pedal Show.
Table of Contents
- The Amp That Got Away
- That Amp Has Haunted Me Ever Since
- Which Of The Two TPS Amps Are You Chasing?
- What Is The Deluxe Verb Model In The Axe-FX 3?
- Solving The Mystery Of The Lack Of Mid-Scoop
- But What’s It Like With Pedals?
- Final Thoughts
The Amp That Got Away
Back in 2017 (9 years ago now!), there was one amp in my local guitar shop that stood out from the others: a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue (known as a DRRI for short).
Regular readers may have seen me refer to this amp many, many times. To this day, that particular DRRI is the best pedal platform amp that I’ve ever plugged into. Everything – and I do mean everything – sounded better through that amp. And everyone sounded better through that amp too.
I should have bought it. I didn’t, and that’s something that I’m always going to regret – even though not buying it started the journey that led me to my beloved Tweed Deluxe amp and the Axe-FX 3.
So why didn’t I buy it? I’m a home hobbyist player, and I simply didn’t have the space for it at home. (This is why I prefer amp heads and especially the Synergy amps system: much easier to make space for those at home!)
Someone eventually bought the amp, of course. Ironically, I believe it was bought via the store’s web store, by someone who’d never even heard it. I hope they fell in love with it like we all did.
Because I sure as heck still have a crush for that amp.
That Amp Has Haunted Me Ever Since
No matter how hard I try, I’ve never been able to create my memory of that particular DRRI’s sound.
Part of the problem is that I only ever heard it at the store. It’s never been here at the house. I don’t actually know what a DRRI would sound like at home. Having played my Tweed Deluxe both at the store and at the time, I do know it wouldn’t sound the same.
The other part of the problem? It’s been the best part of 9 years. There’s no way that I can remember that amp tone accurately any more. At best, I can hope that one day I’ll play through a rig that gives me that same feeling inside.
And then That Pedal Show posted this fantastic episode:
Both amps sounded amazing. And the timing is great: we’re (more or less) at the end of another period of big amp modelling improvements to the Axe-FX 3. They deserve their own blog post, but the tl;dr is that I’ve been able to drop a lot of the extra amp EQ’ing that I’ve had to do in the past.
So I sat down one weekend, used the TPS episode as a reference sound, and had a go at building a preset that would give that same feeling that I remember from that DRRI from all those years ago.
Which Of The Two TPS Amps Are You Chasing?
There are two amps featured in the TPS video:
- Fender 64 Hand-wired Deluxe Reverb
- Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue
That 64 Hand-wired Deluxe Reverb really caught my attention during the intro jam.I loved the tones Mick got out of that through its stock speaker.
There’s a couple of “Deluxe Verb” models (one for the normal channel, and one for the vibrato channel) in the Axe-FX 3.
But I’m not exactly sure which Fender Deluxe Reverb amp this model is reproducing …
What Is The Deluxe Verb Model In The Axe-FX 3?
The Deluxe Verb amp model (and supporting cab) in the Axe-FX 3 seems to be a mashup between two different combo amps. I’m definitely confused by what I’ve read.
According to Fractal’s official wiki, the amp model is based on an original 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb. But, we only have Dynacab IRs for the speaker from a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue (the Jensen C12K), and the amp model defaults to the “1×12 Deluxe Verb RI” speaker impedance curve.
(Just to add to the confusion, the Axe-FX 3 also has a “1×12 Deluxe Verb” speaker impedance curve. But no Dynacab IRs for the original speaker?)
It seems to me that we don’t have a complete vintage Fender Deluxe Reverb in the Axe-FX 3, and we don’t have a complete Deluxe Reverb Re-issue either. We’ve got the circuit of one, but the speaker of the other?
This would explain something that has been bugging me for years.
Solving The Mystery Of The Lack Of Mid-Scoop
I remember that DRRI amp in the shop as being slightly mid-scooped. Rightly or wrongly, that’s the classic Deluxe Reverb sound in my head.
And the Deluxe Verb model in the Axe-FX 3 has never sounded all that mid-scooped to me.
Again, it’s TPS to the rescue. In their YouTube video, they run the two amps through different speakers, and demonstrate that the 64 Hand-wired amp has more mid-scoop than the DRRI amp does. The problem isn’t a simple EQ: the problem is the speaker.
I can’t find the 64 Hand-wired’s speaker in the Axe-FX 3, but we do have something that (to my ears) works well enough: the 1×12 Black Magick Dynacab IR, which is captured from a Jensen P12Q speaker.
This speaker change has helped to bring back the mid-scoop character that I was looking for.
Here’s a couple of audio examples to demonstrate the difference:
The difference is probably quite subtle, and I feel like there’s more I can do to get the Black Magick Dynacab IRs dialled in. Hopefully you can hear what I’m chasing there?
But What’s It Like With Pedals?
That DRRI from 2017 was a simply amazing pedal platform amp. Every pedal we tried at the time sounded killer through it. I’ve love it if I could recreate that in the Axe-FX 3.
I think a great way to test this is to use some kind of Marshall-in-a-box (MIAB for short) pedal. These kinds of pedals are literally trying to make a non-Marshall amp sound like a British rock powerhouse of an amp.
I’m going to go with Marshall’s recent 1959 pedal. It should give me a decent idea of where I am with my DRRI recreation in the Axe-FX 3.
Let’s start by hearing it through the same 1×12 Black Magick Dynacab IR config that I liked so much earlier.
It’s a nice sound in its own right. I just don’t think that it sounds very much like a Marshall plexi amp. The overdrive character lacks bite and that signature Marshall aggression and percussiveness to me.
What can I do about it?
First thing I can do is change my 1×12 Black Magick Dynacab IR from a blend of two mics to a single SM57. For the clean Strat, I was also using the Condenser mic to add warmth and richness. Here, it’s back to doing the thing it’s terrible for: killing clarity.
Here’s how that sounds:
To discuss that, I think it would help if I had an actual Marshall plexi amp to compare against. So let’s switch over to my Synergy Marshall JMP rig, and make a quick reference recording. I’m using the exact same guitar.
To my ears, the 1×12 Black Magick Dynacab IR that I’ve dialled up sounds quite different to my Marshall JMP reference recording. It just doesn’t have the energy in the upper mids. I think it’s interesting in its own right, and another option to add to the toolkit.
Speaking of options, let’s give the DRRI Dynacab IR another chance. Let’s go back to that, and go down to just a single SM57. Here’s how that sounds:
I think, character-wise, that’s a lot closer than with the Black Magick Dynacab IR.
The main thing that stands out to me is that mid-hump of the DRRI Dynacab, compared to the Marshall JMP amp. That can probably be addressed through some added EQ … but as this is a virtual amp, maybe switching over to a set of V30 impulse responses would give the best results.
There’s only so far we can hope to get without extra help or outright cheating.
Final Thoughts
Is it fair to ask any DRRI (real or virtual) to try and sound like a real Marshall JMP rig? Probably not, and yet that’s why we buy these Marshall-in-a-box pedals.
And is it fair to compare the Axe-FX 3 against a very faded memory of an amp that I’ve never even heard here at home? Definitely not. It’s just that music – and guitar tone – are as much emotion as anything. It’s always going to be “the amp that got away” to me.
Maybe it’s the amp modelling improvements that were shipped in recent firmware. Maybe it’s just the amount of time I’ve spent with the DRRI model. Either way, this is the first time in years that I’ve felt pretty happy with what this model sounds like.
I’ve had an absolute blast with this amp model.
Mostly, though, I’m coming out of this feeling guilty. I’ve spent all of March on this – and a fair chunk of the long holiday weekend this Easter – when I should have been working on the Marshall Origin long-term review that I’ve promised my regular readers.
And I think that’s the largest lesson from all this. As musicians – as artists, really – it’s important to follow your heart, and be true to yourself. While I grew up chasing the rock tones of a roaring Marshall, that’s not the sound that I express myself well with any more.
(Man, that sounds so pretentious. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that I’m just a home hobbyist here!)
Anyway, the time isn’t entirely wasted from the point of view of that Marshall Origin review. As part of that review, I’m going to need to compare the Marshall Origin to the sound of plexi pedals into other amps. This gives me one of those amps. So there’s that.
It’s just not why I did it 😁