Korg AX1000G

i said it was easy to use. i didn't say you could get a good sound out easily. the distortions are pretty bad... infact dismal, and they are very good on the boss gt-3 (a friend has one). the only thing that really saves it is its ambient (echo) effects. these are very good, and sh*t in the boss gt-3's mouth. the pedal and mod. effects are not bad - but they lack 'that something' which makes the standalone effects worth buying. they lack soul and warmth i think. a bit weak is the word i'm looking for here. after a years experimentation with this, i have discovered some pretty good sounds, but the good sounds limit you to working with about a 1/4 of the board's effects. my setup is a parker fly p-38 into the effects into a peavey bandit 112. the bandit isn't particularly good, because it has alot of background hiss and i have spent quite alot of time trying to get rid of it. but the second channel (with slight overdrive settings) helps to give the effects a little warmth. it's hard to get the sounds of my favourite artists becuase people like jonny greenwood use complex settings, which i dont even think are possible on this. it's also quite hard to find a good lead sound. the amp models never really leaped out at me as being particularly brilliant - and i don't think they provide the tonal differences that the real amps would do. also - the parameters on this don't go up (or down) in 0.1 (out of 10), they go up and down in 0.3 and 0.4, and this can be quite annoying when you're being really fussy, and you can clearly hear the difference between (for example) 7.3 and 7.7. just thought i'd throw that in strangely, i managed to use it on my keyboard (piece of 80's crap) and get a pretty mellow choir like sound (like in the back ground of alot of radiohead songs) - although it is a bit weak.

if i could afford it, i wouldn't depend on it - but as i'm a poor man, and can't afford back ups, i have to. the knobs are a little shoddy. the drive tweak knob cracked down the side within a month, and kept falling off. the 1st big button became a bit sticky too - but i thinks thats because my bother spilled beer on it (he never told me he did - but you have to assume these things). apart from that it's made out of some pretty solid feeling metal that would be hard to dent without a hammer.

since i dabble in a bit of metal from time to time, distortions are essential - and i'm not particularly pleased with this.

i also dabble in a bit of ambient psychadelia sort of stuff and the echos do kick lots of ass, which is probably why i still own this.

i've been playing for about a year and a half now, and got this for christmas (11 months ago).

at the time i was very pleased with it, as i was pretty much still a novice - and if you're just starting out, you'll be very pleased with it too.

it's just... you grow out of it - you find that stand alones are capable of alot more, especially sonic experimentation.

you also have the fun (or bore - which ever way you look at it) of finding out the different orders to put the pedals to find which ones work better etc.

you have alot more freedom to get rid of and buy pedals that suit your fancy and if you dont like ring modulators - tough! because korg used up a space for it - and you can't replace it with anything else.

what i'm trying to say is - when you buy your multi effects - unless you want to shell out more money, you don't have much choice as to what goes into it.

think of it as a sample booklet of carpet.

you have small pieces of carpet to take back home and decide which carpet you want in each room in your house - to see what it would look like.

it's only when you get the carpet fitted (you buy stand alones) that you realise what it really looks like (what the sound actually is).

... a nice analogy there i thought...

 

if it were stolen, i wouldn't buy another, i'd buy stand alones, but i'd certainly be annoyed that i lost my amazingly great delay settings.

 

design wise, it should have a foot controllable on/off switch (so you don't have to bend down to take the power lead out). it should also have a bank down switch, because it's straining to twist your foot, with the ball of your foot on the bank up switch and press the 4th big button with your heel, and do that numerous times until you get to your desired setting - it's either that or bend down and do it with your hands.

also you can't really use it with shoes on, especially if you have boots or wide soled shoes on, because you end up pressing lots of buttons at a time.

if it were upto me, i'd have the buttons a bit further spaced apart, with the metal switches a la Yamaha DG stomp.

 

at first, this little gizmo helped me practice and make music, but now it's slightly constrictive, becuase it doesn't go to extremes in terms of the parameters, and once you get passed the stage of learning what you have to do and learning how to create your own thing, it's not particularly amazing.

 

although, it is a VERY good unit if you're a beginner, and will keep you ALOT more interested in guitar than your normal clean amp setting.

this will also give you endless hours of playing random stuff and faffing with the mods, pedals, and delays - which is especially good if you're a beginner, because it means you can make sounds which aren't normal, and this will boost you eagerness to learn the damn thing (this is if you're anything like me).

 

myself, i have grown out of this, but would thrust this upon a beginner, because i got so much enjoyment out of it, and really will make you play guitar alot more, improve your technique and your eagerness to learn!!!!!

 

 

p.s. if i wrote this 8 months ago, it would get straight 10's!!!