Cab Pack First Impressions

[Jason Smith]

First off, I’m going to start out by saying that I’ve been doing all I can to emulate Syn’s tone for years. Same picks, same strings, same guitars, same amps. As you can see in my profile pick I even have one of his actual USA Custom Shop guitars, only 10 of that specific line were made. I’ve been obsessing with his tone and playing since I started out. I was even lucky enough to meet him earlier this year. We had a short convo about the axe FX and how he was making the switch.
I say all of this so that you all should be able to trust me a bit when I say that I have a pretty good idea what I’m talking about when I say that this can pack is the real fucking deal. Seriously. I loaded all the cabs I could fit into my axe FX 2 mk ii, selected a nice high gain amp model, and the rest was history. It was that easy to get his tones. There are so many really good IRs in that bundle pack. I really really like the different Hellwin IRs, the ISO box IR, and the Stage IRs. They cut through so nice for leads and there are a bunch of great cabs for those heavy rhythms too. I really didn’t even have to try to do tweaking to get good sounds. The cabs more suited for cleans are super sweet as well.
Anyway, if you’ve been thinking about it, just do it. You will not regret it. You can sound exactly like The man himself with these. It’s crazy how easy it was to get your tone, Syn. Thanks so much for doing this and thanks to fractal for such a great machine.

 

[Ed Seith]

Great write-up! I certainly agree on the quality of the pack, and that for someone like you, it’s likely the last link in the chain to sounding like The Man, aside from stealing his Marlboro-tatted fingers and stitching them onto your own hands, but hey – you can go too far sometimes, right?
I’ve so far found myself settling on the 4×12 Hellwin 121 A for my heavy tones, and I think the Sound Kitchen for the mellower ones. I find the quality of the IR and the clarity overall fills a space where my previous heavy-hitter, Misha Mansoor’s Zilla pack, was a little lacking.
I’m mostly interested in my own tones, rather than comping someone else, and I initially balked at the price, but I have to say, the quality is there and I found the cabs that will fuel my recording and performing tone for years. That makes it worth it.
If you manage to dial in the rhythm tone Syn/Zacky use in Exist at around the 2:20 mark, I’d love it if you’d send me a copy to play with. You might also consider posting a bunch of your stuff to AxeChange with a Syn tag, too.
Thanks!

 

[Jason Smith]

I definitely like to add a little bit of my own flavor tone wise when I’m writing my own stuff, especially when I’m writing heavier metalcore type stuff but with some of these cabs all that would mean id adding a drive block. I could definitely get that tone you’re talking about. I remember using one of the hellwin IRs and they had a gritty sound like that. It might have been one of the 57 mixes but I could be wrong. If I have time after work I’ll see if I can dial it in today

 

[Ed Seith]

Thanks, man. I’m using the 5153 Blue, the 50 watter, I think, but my tone is actually more mid-heavy than most. Pure opposite of the DIME tone, for sure.

 

[Adam Ashbridge]

Awesome stuff Jason! That’s great and all, but i don’t think I’ll ever be able to afford an Axe FX unfortunately I’ve just recently got my first Syn guitar. It was second hand and i had to do a part exchange for my ibanez to get it. I dont work many hours due to personal health reasons and childcare etc…
I’d love to get an Axe FX, as it would solve all of my tone problems. I mean, what I’ve got now isn’t bad, but I’m just making the best of a bad situation!
Maybe one day, if i win some money or something haha

 

[Jake Young]

I’m going to have to second what Jason’s saying! I only went with purchasing “The Stage” IR and just with that particular IR, it’s never been easier to dial in a Syn tone, even without having the presets. And for the record I’ve got a handful of patches that I would call “my tone”…but I’m a tone chaser..and a bedroom guitarist that enjoys jamming along with various albums so I’m always trying to achieve what I hear on said albums. Aaand something else that will help get close to Syn’s Axe III tone….Cooper Carter (the guy that helped shape the III tone for Syn) posted in the Fractal forums that they used the 5153 red channel

 

[Stewart Carmichael]

When buying the cab packs, is there any reason to getting just one? For example, just the Hellwin, or is it better to get all of them? I’m new to using fractal, up until this past year I’ve only ever trusted pedals, so I don’t quite understand what the Sound Kitchen would do? Thanks!