recording

Back in January 2019 NAMM I’d heard about the brand new Marshall JCM800 SC20H Studio head, but thought nothing of it as I was still in full flow, Kemper-loving heaven. The Kemper had killed my “GAS” for amplifiers successfully for the last 12 months or so, but recently, my passion for amps has bitten me, with a vengeance. I had a brief flirt with amps back in January 2019, but it didn’t amount to much as ultimately, the amp in question didn’t quite live up to my expectations and the Kemper trumped it in terms of versatility....

After seeing a video comparing the Axe FX III and the Kemper (that has unfortunately now been deleted by its maker, Camilo Velandia— an Axe FX III owner) which I spoke about in my previous post, “One year later with the Fractal Axe FX II XL, was it a keeper in 2018?”, my first instinct was to try the Kemper in the interim, whilst I wait for the Axe FX III to arrive in the country....

In March 2017 I made the massive leap to a fully digital guitar rig. I can now document my year long journey from Axe FX newbie to massive digital convert. Big investment I had to sell a lot of my old analog gear, including my amp and pedals, to get back some of the money I spent on the Axe FX II XL. It was a huge make or break investment of time, money and loss; of things I’d come to cherish....

Sometimes, you just need to accept the facts. [Disclaimer: this is an old article and explains my thoughts about the Fractal Axe FX II XL in 2017] So, after finally coming to a place where I could accept that I had most of the basic tones covered, why did I still want more? Why was I still missing my Mesa? Why did I suddenly feel the urge to buy a Plexi style amplifier?...

I had a lot of questions after my first blog post — “How to get a great guitar tone at any volume”. Here’s a few and I’ll add more over time. Feel free to ask more questions in the comments. What if I have an amp/speaker combo, not just an amplifier head? You can still use a reactive load box with it. Unplug the internal speaker and go straight into the load box....

Stereo with one amp, wet/dry, no microphones, any speaker you can think of, consistent beautiful tone, low volume…a guitarists dream! It’s always been a passion of mine to be able to hear what my guitar sounds like in stereo. I bought my first stereo effects pedal, a DOD FX747 Supersonic Flanger way back in 2000. Since then, I’ve been on a mission to find a good stereo solution that wouldn’t involve two separate amps....