Incoming! Incoming! Incoming!

The boost/pad is not intended for boosting USB output (although it does have that effects). It is for the four cable method or sending to outboard to help w/ hiss. Usually you will use this when you send the effect loop out before the amp block. The signal will be weak going to the D/A converters. This allows you to boost the signal to the D/A converters w/ maintaining the same output level.

BTW If you want to boost your output level to the usb you can just turn up the gain in the global eq.
 
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The boost/pad is not intended for boosting USB output (although it does have that effects). It is for the four cable method or sending to outboard to help w/ hiss. Usually you will use this when you send the effect loop out before the amp block. The signal will be weak going to the D/A converters. This allows you to boost the signal to the D/A converters w/ maintaining the same output level.

BTW If you want to boost your output level to the usb you can just turn up the gain in the global eq.

I have noticed on my II that I get a varying degree of "amp hum" depending on guitar and pickups. Take for instance the Shiva Clean and Shiva Lead stock presets with no tweaks. The clean is silent with all my guitars. The Lead has the hum with all guitars (noise levels vary). I was able to dial out that hum with the boost/pad. I have no clue if that is proper use or if I am hurting anything else along the path.

This is where you gurus chime in and tell me to just adjust this or that to reduce the "hum" :)

Craig
 
Further exploring the II...

Extended mono/stereo I/O possibilities: love 'em. Out1 and Out2 are fully independent.

Global blocks are a godsend. I created my "default grid", then linked the effect blocks to global "masters". I can now use the same effect settings in any preset.

Been running through the factory presets, marking the ones that I won't mind deleting. I'll probably categorize all presets later on to ease searching (type of amp, type of effect) for the wiki. The Preset Swap feature will come in handy when moving presets around (without Axe-Edit at hand).

Wishlist item for Axe-Fx III: make the LED for the Bypass button a red one. :)

I support the wish for 'wrap around' when selecting presets, making it possible to scroll from preset 384 to preset 1. thread
The Preset DIR makes it easier to jump to 1 though.

Another wishlist item: ability to use the vertical horizontal NAV buttons to skip ahead in the AMP and CAB select screens. These are long lists. It would help if for ex. the Up button would take you rightaway to the User cabs, skipping the factory cabs.
 
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Wishlist item for Axe-Fx III: make the LED for the Bypass button a red one. :)

Too funny. Just today I was trying to figure out why some presets wont load and thought I had borked the bank when nothing was changing with the presets.

Yep... had accidently hit the bypass and didnt notice it. Duh. A red one would be nice to avoid any confusion with the tempo at first glance for the impaired like myself :)


And yes, global blocks are great!!!
 
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My grid template is ready and effects are dialed in.

Onwards we go to Amps and Cabs...

I've read reviews, I've seen a couple of users selling their IIs, I've read Jay's posts, I've seen words like "evolutionary, not revolutionary"...

Well, I am more than happy. Sure, I'm in my honeymoon period, but I get GREAT results.
Organic: check.
Feel: check.
Easier to dial: check check check check!

I selected the Shiva Ld, adjusted Drive (6.5) and Master (4), selected a Bogner or Mesa cab, and the tone just rrrrrrrroars from my studio monitors. Turned the monitors off, disabled the cab sim, routed it to my Matrix and EVM: same here, full bodied tone with all nuances.
I hear serious improvements "out of the box", even though can't really describe them precisely.
Thought I'd never say it, but yes, everything has become even more real. And in particular much more clear. In fact so much more clear that a couple of factory presets sound harsh now.

Love the added OwnHammer and Red Wirez IRs. The way I'm running now is Out1 for direct tone, using factory OH or RW cabs, and Out2 to poweramp and speaker cabinets, no cab sims.
And, like Smilefan does, it's also very possible to add cab sims to the Out2 signal to my EVM speakers, using TC30 versions of Ownhammer and Red Wirez IRs. Things stay very clear.

Whoops, don't have your studio monitors turned up loud when switching to factory preset 236 (JCM 900), you'll blow them up!!
 
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My grid template is ready and effects are dialed in.

Onwards we go to Amps and Cabs...

I've read reviews, I've seen a couple of users selling their IIs, I've read Jay's posts, I've seen words like "evolutionary, not revolutionary"...

Well, I am more than happy. Sure, I'm in my honeymoon period, but I get GREAT results.
Organic: check.
Feel: check.
Easier to dial: check check check check!

I selected the Shiva Ld, adjusted Drive (6.5) and Master (4), selected a Bogner or Mesa cab, and the tone just rrrrrrrroars from my studio monitors. Turned the monitors off, disabled the cab sim, routed it to my Matrix and EVM: same here, full bodied tone with all nuances.
I hear serious improvements "out of the box", even though can't really describe them precisely.
Thought I'd never said it, but yes, everything has become even more real. And in particular much more clear. In fact so much more clear that a couple of factory presets sound harsh now.

Love the added OwnHammer and Red Wirez IRs. The way I'm running now is Out1 for direct tone, using factory OH or RW cabs, and Out2 to poweramp and speaker cabinets, no cab sims.
And, like Smilefan does, it's also very possible to add cab sims to the Out2 signal to my EVM speakers, using TC30 versions of Ownhammer and Red Wirez IRs. Things stay very clear.

Whoops, don't have your studio monitors turned up loud when switching to factory preset 236 (JCM 900), you'll blow them up!!

Error in that preset the amp model should be Brit pre not Das Metal
Same with the Cheesy Metal preset in bank C.
Amps were added after the preset were made those presets didn't get adjusted.
 
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Controls such as Presence and Bright now seem to have a more natural impact on the tone.

Problem with the II is that I now like even more amp sims than before. Which ones to choose, hmm ...

Now importing banks from the II into Axe-Edit. Ah, that goes fast. :)
Moving and deleting factory presets ... I've cleared 0 - 130 for my own presets and others.

Running through AFXII-presets from other users. Don't know why or how, but it seems like presets are better exchangable.
The ones I try all sound pretty good through my rig.
 
Controls such as Presence and Bright now seem to have a more natural impact on the tone.

Problem with the II is that I now like even more amp sims than before. Which ones to choose, hmm ...

Now importing banks from the II into Axe-Edit. Ah, that goes fast. :)
Moving and deleting factory presets ... I've cleared 0 - 130 for my own presets and others.

Running through AFXII-presets from other users. Don't know why or how, but it seems like presets are better exchangable.
The ones I try all sound pretty good through my rig.

Input levels are probably more consistent. Since the input levels are = to what your guitar puts out, the odds of having the same input levels with a similar guitar vastly increases. That can have a large impact on tone and gain level.
 
Controls such as Presence and Bright now seem to have a more natural impact on the tone.

Problem with the II is that I now like even more amp sims than before. Which ones to choose, hmm ...

Now importing banks from the II into Axe-Edit. Ah, that goes fast. :)
Moving and deleting factory presets ... I've cleared 0 - 130 for my own presets and others.

Running through AFXII-presets from other users. Don't know why or how, but it seems like presets are better exchangable.
The ones I try all sound pretty good through my rig.

Input levels are probably more consistent. Since the input levels are = to what your guitar puts out, the odds of having the same input levels with a similar guitar vastly increases. That can have a large impact on tone and gain level.

This is a big deal. I can run different guitars with vastly different output levels and the tones all stay very consistent in terms of the output levels and dynamics within the chain and are varied only really by the actual guitar and NOT just the level of output. It makes for a very satisfying and fun experience. You can really now pick up and work with a lot more nuance with a lot less effort IMHO.
 
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I have noticed on my II that I get a varying degree of "amp hum" depending on guitar and pickups. Take for instance the Shiva Clean and Shiva Lead stock presets with no tweaks. The clean is silent with all my guitars. The Lead has the hum with all guitars (noise levels vary). I was able to dial out that hum with the boost/pad. I have no clue if that is proper use or if I am hurting anything else along the path.

This is where you gurus chime in and tell me to just adjust this or that to reduce the "hum" :)

Craig
Craig, try a little noise gate (input block on left of grid). Set threshold to about -70, and Ratio around 2.64. Leave attack/release at default values. Adjust Thresh/Ratio to taste. Covered on page 119 of v1.0.11 of AxeII Manual.

or wiki -- http://wiki.fractalaudio.com/axefx2/index.php?title=Noise_gate
 
Craig, try a little noise gate (input block on left of grid). Set threshold to about -70, and Ratio around 2.64. Leave attack/release at default values. Adjust Thresh/Ratio to taste. Covered on page 119 of v1.0.11 of AxeII Manual.

or wiki -- Noise gate - Axe-Fx II Wiki

I had tried that but now realize I was only adjusting the Threshold which basically did nothing without changing the ratio too. Dooooooh. Ill play with the different ratios. I never had to mess with the noise gate on the Ultra. Works great.

I had just found that the boost pad reduced the hum by accident when I was checking out new inputs.


Thanks!
 
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On the Ultra I left the noise gate at default, except for higher gain stuff.
For that I only adjusted Threshold. Kinda hope this still works for me on the II too.
 
Its guitar and room noise that was bugging me here Yek. It is obviously more pronounced on the higher gain presets so I need to adjust accordingly. No biggie
 
You had me jealous with your first FX grid. I tried something almost identical from the get go and ran out of CPU. Then I realized you had to trim it back a bit :mrgreen
 
You had me jealous with your first FX grid. I tried something almost identical from the get go and ran out of CPU. Then I realized you had to trim it back a bit :mrgreen

Haha, you know, I changed it again and now it almost has all the functionality of that 1st grid, running at 85%. ;-)
 
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Wishlist items:
- The Preset Recall screen shows the names of Amp1 and Amp2. When Amp2 is not being used, this can be used to show the names of Amp1's X and Y instead. And if this is possible: please also an indicator on the Preset Recall screen whether X or Y is active.

I've been following this thread since it's inception and it will help me greatly when my Axe II arrives. Thank you for doing this Yek!
 
On the Ultra I left the noise gate at default, except for higher gain stuff.
For that I only adjusted Threshold. Kinda hope this still works for me on the II too.
IIRC - there may have been some issues with the gate resetting itself during the time many of the Ultra presets were converted. That may be why many have no gate on them - even if needed.
 
IIRC - there may have been some issues with the gate resetting itself during the time many of the Ultra presets were converted. That may be why many have no gate on them - even if needed.

I left a lot of them off the presets because many hardly had any noise to begin with.
 
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