While the Waggoner/Waring train is choo-choo-choo-in', here's a cool interview they did with Mesa a while back. They discuss tones and inspiration. Top notch gear nerdery.
I've been patiently listening to Coma Ecliptic and I have to say it might end up being my favorite release of theirs. Way too early to say, but it could happen.
I wonder if the new album is the Mark V also? It's a different tone from what I'm used to hearing from them but I really like it. Not a ton of gain but it sounds huge (I'm thinking about, "The Coma Machine.")
i'm pretty sure they switched to using axe-fx 2s when they recorded parallax 2 (can't remember which interview it was, i'll edit in the link if i happen to find it), which means they must have switched not too long after that mesa interview, making it hilarious to me that at the end of the interview they were talking about how essential tube amps are to their sound and playing. i can't really fault them though as i've always been in love with both of their tones, especially the racktifier paul used to usetasty, delicious tone. i'm willing to bet they used a similar setup to parallax's for this album
i'm pretty sure they switched to using axe-fx 2s when they recorded parallax 2 (can't remember which interview it was, i'll edit in the link if i happen to find it), which means they must have switched not too long after that mesa interview, making it hilarious to me that at the end of the interview they were talking about how essential tube amps are to their sound and playing. i can't really fault them though as i've always been in love with both of their tones, especially the racktifier paul used to usetasty, delicious tone. i'm willing to bet they used a similar setup to parallax's for this album
edit: found it, or one of them. apparently they ran the axe 2 through the power section of a mark v when recording
Fractal Audio Systems -
Finally gave it a full listen. As usual it's a quite a bit to digest, but Ectopic Stroll and Life in Velvet blew me away from the start
In an earlier interview they mention that they do rely on the Axe more overseas as it's easier than shipping amps, which is what made the Axe so appealing to begin with.
the (IMO) more mature sound.
Very dense album, but I definitely enjoyed it the first listen through. I was actually quite fine with Tommy mostly using clean vocals.
I may be wrong, but at Temples Festival (UK) it looked like they were using strictly Axe FX II. The tone was SO direct coming out of the P.A.