The final installment in our 2022 Gift of Tone series comes from Dweezil Zappa. Dweezil’s inspiring contributions to the Fractal Audio community are too many to count. From touring, to studio work, to “Axe-Fest”, “Dweezilla” and beyond, he has made incredible use of every Fractal Audio product since the beginning. He’s created free IRs, factory presets, master classes, and more.

If the scope of that hasn’t already made you think big, Dweezil’s gift channels the monumental spirit of one of the boldest and most influential rock guitar players of all times: Eddie Van Halen. The “Eruption” solo is fire in a bottle. Who could dare to create a Gift of Tone based on such sublime stuff? We can’t imagine anyone better than Dweezil. After all, he took guitar lessons from Edward, but that’s just the beginning. If you’ve listened to his podcast, “Runnin’ with the Dweezil” you know that his admiration for and fascination with all things EVH is beyond what most others could achieve in a lifetime. What makes this preset extra special is that it is NOT the traditional Eruption sound you know — the core amp and cab tone is based on Dweezil’s arcane insider access to what the tone on that recording sounded like before it was mixed and mastered.

With great appreciation for Dweezil Zappa and this gift — and for all of you — we close this series with a sincere THANK YOU, and our best wishes that you have had and continue to have a wonderful 2022 holiday season.

Dweezil’s gift is a Preset+Cab Bundle designed for Axe-Fx III. FM9 and FM3 adaptations are also included, but these required some compromises. Custom IRs are used to create the raw amp tone, but also f0r reverb/color effects.

Scene 2 of the Axe-Fx III version allows you to use an expression pedal (EXT 1) to create the famous spaceship landing Unisex Delay ending.  Start with the pedal in heel down position (0%). Play the last note, then capture it by moving the pedal forward (50-80%). Turn down your guitar volume while it ramps down, then move the pedal to 100% (toe down) when you want the last note to fade away completely.

REQUIREMENTS: Axe-Fx III firmware 21 or newer. FM9 firmware 4.0 or newer. FM3 firmware 6.0 or newer. If the currently installed version of your firmware is too old, presets will appear blank when you load them. To import a Preset+Cab Bundle, use Import Preset in the top level Preset menu of your product’s editor.