This morning I watched Premier Guitar's recently uploaded Daniel Lanois Rig Rundown. (See: http://youtu.be/N5x_lFyjJoQ). It was one of the most inspiring videos I've watched in years. So much so that the first thing I did after breakfast was hit the studio to see whether I could build a rig similar Mr Lanois's inside the Axe-FX II. Theoretically it shouldn't have been hard to do. As usual, though, I got sidetracked by Fractal Audio's mammoth amp and effects choice and ended up building a similar but not exact rig that appealed at least to my ears. So here's a little demo of it.
Axe-FX users can download the preset from http://axechange.fractalaudio.com/detail.php?preset=2860. You'll need FW17.
For those who don't own an Axe-FX, the signal path goes something like this (all virtual except for the guitar):
Guitar to Studio Compressor running at 2:1 to Drop pedal (Whammy) set at -3 semitones (can be heard at 1:46). Next is an SDD Preamp (when you hear extra girth, it's either the SDD or Compressor being kicked in). From here the signal is split into left and right.
The left side, routed after after the SDD Preamp, is running to a Digital Mono Delay at 500ms. The delay is feeding the front end of a Bludotone Ojai and 1x12 Tweed cab mic'd with a Royer 121. From there the signal runs to a Medium Cathedral Reverb where it is summed with the right signal for final output to Pro Tools.
The right signal (post SDD Preamp) is running to a clean Carol-Ann TripTik and old Vox 2x12 cab. From there the signal goes to the Medium Cathedral Reverb where it is summed with the left signal for final output to Pro Tools.
Please remember that the only 'real' piece of hardware here is the guitar ...and the computers.
The guitar is my Smitty Coffeecaster, a custom build by Eric Smid at Smitty Custom Guitars, The Netherlands. See: http://smittyguitars.com
Thanks for watching.