They say buses come in threes. After a quiet couple of months, I’ve had three new (to me) tweed-tone preamps all arrive within 48 hours of each other.
Sadly, I won’t be keeping them all …
Continue reading “New Arrivals: May 2025”#PlexiTone: Synergy Plexi Module + Axe-FX 3 For Reference Marshall Plexi Tones
After last week’s success with my Synergy BMan module, I decided to see if the same approach would work with my Synergy Plexi module and the Axe-FX 3.
This is a bit more of a quick and dirty effort. But hopefully you’ll agree that the results are, at the least, very promising.
Continue reading “#PlexiTone: Synergy Plexi Module + Axe-FX 3 For Reference Marshall Plexi Tones”#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”Quick Listen: Ritual Devices Grey Overdrive With Strat And Tele Bridge Pickups
Quick Listen is where I capture and share guitar tones that I’ve dialled in. No exploration; little discussion – just a quick audio demo or two along with a documented signal chain.
Today, I’ve grabbed my Ritual Devices Grey Overdrive, to find out how well it can rock out when I’m playing single-coil bridge pickups.
Continue reading “Quick Listen: Ritual Devices Grey Overdrive With Strat And Tele Bridge Pickups”#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”Quick Listen: Plexi-Style Amp with a Les Paul
Quick Listen is where I capture and share guitar tones that I’ve dialled in. No exploration; little discussion – just a quick audio demo or two along with a documented signal chain.
Today, I’ve dusted off the plexi-style amp that I bought back in 2019, and paired it with a Gibson Les Paul and Celestion Creamback impulse responses. Have a listen.
Continue reading “Quick Listen: Plexi-Style Amp with a Les Paul”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 #58: Introducing The 65 Nashville Pedal Platform Preset
‘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.
Last time, I covered how I’ve split my old ’65 Clean’ pedal platform preset into two, by adding a new ’65 Vintage’ preset based on the two Deluxe Reverb amp models. Yeah, turns out there’s a bit more mileage to be had out of those amp models …
Continue reading “Studio Diary #58: Introducing The 65 Nashville Pedal Platform Preset”Studio Diary #57: Splitting My 65 Clean Pedal Platform Patch In Two
‘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 recently took a look at Umbrella Company’s Hitchhike Drive tweed-in-a-box overdrive pedal. The whole blog post ended up being rescued by the Axe-FX 3’s Deluxe Reverb amp model. Since then, I’ve tried it with a couple of other pedals and had a similar experience.
A single ’65 Clean’ pedal platform patch clearly isn’t enough. I need to split it up into two separate flavours.
Continue reading “Studio Diary #57: Splitting My 65 Clean Pedal Platform Patch In Two”Studio Diary #56: Selecting Delay And Reverb For My Pedal Platform Presets
‘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.
When I switched over to using the Axe-FX 3 as my pedal platform, I just dialled it in to sound as close as possible to my Neunaber delay and reverb pedals. Now it’s time to give it some proper thought, and make sure I’m happy with my choice of delay and reverb effects.
That’s what I’m going to be doing in this blog post.
Continue reading “Studio Diary #56: Selecting Delay And Reverb For My Pedal Platform Presets”