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.

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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.

A close-up photo of the Grey Overdrive guitar effects pedal, made by Ritual Devices.
The Ritual Devices Grey Overdrive pedal on my pedalboard.

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.

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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.

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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 …

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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.

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Studio Diary #18: Recreating The Sound Of My Speaker Cabs Using Celestion Impulse Responses

Now that I’ve added the Two Notes Torpedo CAB M to my setup, the next challenge is to set it up to sound like my actual speaker cabs do.

One day, I want to make my own impulse responses of my speaker cabs. I want to be able to share them with you, so that you can recreate the signal chain I use for yourself. That’s something I can’t do with any impulse responses that I buy.

I’m going to be using Celestion’s official impulse responses on the CAB M, until I can replace them with my own impulse responses.

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