I recently bought a Blackstar Debut 100RH amp head.
This is going to be an additional pedal platform amp. Read on for my first impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Blackstar Debut 100RH Amp Head”Studio Diary #61: Remastering My Original Pedal Platform Presets For Axe-FX 3 Firmware 28.05
‘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.
Fractal Audio have recently overhauled their amp modelling in the Axe-FX 3 / FM-9 / FM-3. And my recent dive into the Orange Getaway Driver has shown me that I need to revoice my signal chain. I’m taking this as an opportunity to re-evaluate everything about the pedal preset I’ve built for the Axe-FX 3.
I spent most of Spring dividing my playing time between the pedal platform patches that are based on the DRRI and using my real Tweed Deluxe amp. When I came back to my original 57 Vintage and 65 Modern presets, I could hear a stark difference – and not in a good way.
So, before I finally wrap up this series on the pedal platform patches, I want to go back and re-master those two original pedal platform presets. There’s been some recent Axe-FX 3 firmware updates that make this easier to do and sound better than ever.
Continue reading “Studio Diary #61: Remastering My Original Pedal Platform Presets For Axe-FX 3 Firmware 28.05”#TweedTone: Dialling In A 5F6 Bassman Reference Tone For 2025
Recently, I posted about my latest attempt at creating a reference tone for my 5e3 Tweed Deluxe reissue amp. I’m still wrestling with creating a similar 5e3 reference tone purely in the Axe-FX 3. Sadly, I’m nowhere near ready to write up my promised comparison of the two.
I decided to take a break from that, and work on another reference tone that I’m going to need for future #TweedTone blog posts: capturing the mighty 5F6 Tweed Bassman sound.
Here’s how I got on. There’s audio demos to listen to, and a full breakdown of the signal chain that I used, with plenty of photos / screenshots to show you everything.
Continue reading “#TweedTone: Dialling In A 5F6 Bassman Reference Tone For 2025”#TweedTone: Dialling In A 5e3 Tweed Deluxe Reference Tone For 2025
New year, new (and hopefully improved!) reference tone from my Fender 57 Custom Deluxe amp.
All made possible thanks to a late 2024 freebie from Origin Effects … and me figuring out how I’d been using my Fryette Power Station PS-100 wrong …
Continue reading “#TweedTone: Dialling In A 5e3 Tweed Deluxe Reference Tone For 2025”Studio Diary #60: Choosing A Pair Of Compressors
‘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.
Fractal Audio have recently overhauled their amp modelling in the Axe-FX 3 / FM-9 / FM-3. And my recent dive into the Orange Getaway Driver has shown me that I need to revoice my signal chain. I’m taking this as an opportunity to re-evaluate everything about the pedal preset I’ve built for the Axe-FX 3.
Now that I’ve covered all the blocks that help me explore what a pedal can do, I want to focus on a few extra things that I’ve added just for me, starting with compressors.
Continue reading “Studio Diary #60: Choosing A Pair Of Compressors”Studio Diary #59: EQ Toys For Guitars And Pedals
‘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.
Fractal Audio have recently overhauled their amp modelling in the Axe-FX 3 / FM-9 / FM-3. And my recent dive into the Orange Getaway Driver has shown me that I need to revoice my signal chain. I’m taking this as an opportunity to re-evaluate everything about the pedal preset I’ve built for the Axe-FX 3.
Regular readers may recall that I’ve mentioned “EQ toys” many times throughout the year. It’s finally time to talk about them, and explain what these EQ toys are, how they came about, and how I use them.
Continue reading “Studio Diary #59: EQ Toys For Guitars And Pedals”New Arrivals: October 2024
I wasn’t supposed to buy anything at all this month. Christmas is fast approaching, and I’m one of those people who gets their Christmas shopping done super-early. Which, indeed, I have done 🙂
Then I found a couple of real bargains, and decided that I didn’t want to pass up those opportunities. Oh, and I needed a new power supply for my pedalboard too.
(And I got a sneak peak at a very special guest that’s coming before the end of the year!)
Continue reading “New Arrivals: October 2024”#TweedTone: ToneX One Offers A Great 5e3 Tweed Deluxe Sound – At A Price
I’m lucky enough to own a physical Tweed Deluxe amp. I also think that a Tweed Deluxe amp rig for home use has become so expensive in 2023, it’s difficult to justify. So I’ve started looking at alternatives, to see how they compare to the real thing.
This time around, I’m looking at one of the most hyped products of 2024: IK Multimedia’s ToneX One profile/capture playback pedal, and a stock 5e3 Tweed Deluxe profile/capture that comes free with it.
Continue reading “#TweedTone: ToneX One Offers A Great 5e3 Tweed Deluxe Sound – At A Price”Studio Diary #54: The Challenge Of Keeping Up With Fractal Audio’s Firmware Releases
‘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.
Fractal Audio have recently overhauled their amp modelling in the Axe-FX 3 / FM-9 / FM-3. And my recent dive into the Orange Getaway Driver has shown me that I need to revoice my signal chain. I’m taking this as an opportunity to re-evaluate everything about the pedal preset I’ve built for the Axe-FX 3.
Today, I want to briefly talk about the consequences of (what is probably) Fractal Audio’s greatest strength: their regular stream of firmware updates to make their products get closer and closer to the real amps that they’re replacing.
Continue reading “Studio Diary #54: The Challenge Of Keeping Up With Fractal Audio’s Firmware Releases”Studio Diary #53: Multi-Channel Virtual Instrument Support Finally Comes To Universal Audio’s LUNA
Earlier in the summer, I went out and bought Apple’s Logic Pro (in part) because LUNA lacked support for virtual instruments (like drum plugins) that had multiple output channels.
A couple of days ago, Universal Audio released LUNA v1.7.0. The big feature? They’ve finally added multi-output plugin support.
My other reason for moving away from LUNA still stands. UAD’s plugins are prohibitively expensive for an amateur band like ours who collaborate remotely.
But for my solo projects (if I ever actually get round to them … 🙄)? I do love tracking guitars in LUNA …