Guitarist Adrian Belew and his Axe Fx

Legendary guitarist Adrian Belew (King Crimson, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Frank Zappa, Nine Inch Nails, etc) playing his signature Parker Fly through a Fractal Audio Axe Fx Ultra guitar processor and Atomic powered cabs. You can't really hear what he's playing, but you can certainly tell that he is blown away by the Axe Fx. Thanks to Tom and Matt from Fractal for coming by and showing us some crazy tricks with the Ax. It (along with the new Atomic cabs) has to be the one of the greatest sounding, most flexible guitar setups ever. Check them out at http://www.fractalaudio.com/

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Guitar
• Adrian
• Belew
• Axefx
• Fractal

[peteytwofinger]

my understanding of adrians style is that he is not SO much concerned with tone , he seems to enjoy the really odd effects , those usually are notorious for making the guitar sound very un-natural . i would think he of all people would be willing to sacrifice some tone for some unbelievably cool sounding transformations , he always was ahead of the curve as to what was out there .

[TheOnlineAudioSchool]

@peteytwofinger This was when Adrian first started playing with the Axe-Fx. The guitar rig has come a LONG way since then. A Muse Receptor is on the way this week which, combined with the Axe and the other toys, should be completely obnoxious. He constantly comes up with tones that just don't exist anywhere else. And, he never stays with the same gear for more than a few years, just to keep things fresh. Good stuff.

[TheKingofBastards]

What a freak!

[TheOnlineAudioSchool]

@karlboman You're right, as far as I know. RIght now he uses tubes on the power amp side of things: Atomic full range tube guitar wedges with adjustable tweeters. He also uses a Bose L1 system with 4 subs. but only for loops, samples, and synth stuff.

[peteytwofinger]

what an endorsement , did you hear him cackle at the end ? you know you've got a winner on your hands if it can make ADRIAN BELEW start loosing it !

[srapfenige]

@karlboman He became an endorsee of Randall round 98 or 99.

B4 that, I've red interviews or stage gear listings stating he used Triaxis+2:90... He's named as user on the Triaxis product page on Mesa site BTW.

Remember that an endorsee is an employee of a brand. Generally, it's mandatory u show up with the brand and talk bout it in interviews. Imagine Vai using an Excalibur an U-guitar or a DropTop, which r much betta guitars instead of a JEM? Ibz would sue him: he's payed big bucks 2 play it

[srapfenige]

@karlboman @karlboman

Read the Triaxis page on Mesa site. I remember havin red a list of his stage stuff in an interview just b4 he used Randalls and Fripp staded he should go back to tube amps too. Randall endorsement is from 98 or 99... The fact about endorsement is that u become an employee of a brand... Generally, it's mandatory u must be seen using smth and nothing else. BTW, I used some digital preamps and even softwares in the past. Fuck! Tubeys are the real thing

[karlboman]

@srapfenige Really? In every interview I've read he only ever mentions his Johnson amp, and that's been at the core of his rig on all the post-'95 KC DVDs. Never heard of any Mesa stuff until now.

[srapfenige]

@karlboman

He just used the Triaxis + 2:90 with King Crimson...Frankly, don't think I'm against Fractal, well, if they do a 1U rack, maybe will I go for it . but surely not for replacing the tubeys and I gave many tries to lotsa modelin stuff was it hardware or software... Give a try with Dynaudio or PMC monitors. I bet u don't want to listen to mp3 on em too :)

[karlboman]

@srapfenige I don't think he's used tube amps as a primary amp since the late 70's, if even then...