Axe Fx II, DAW, and Headphones. How do I get a good sound?

chrisallen8888 said:
I think one of the challenges is we have been listening to and playing in front of "real amps" for so long. It's only natural to want to hear our guitar the same way no matter what gear we use.

But once I let go of the "in the room" sound and realized that the axe is creating a sound that you'd hear from the control room of a studio, it all made sense and making my tones became so much easier. Also, using full range speakers instead of guitar cabs, I can hear almost exactly what the audience is hearing, making sure it's good.

So many are concerned only with what their cab sounds like and assume it sounds good from the audience, but it could be totally different!
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could not have put it better myself. exactly my experience and philosophy as well.
 
as for the OP, also remember that you're not only hearing the speaker, but the ROOM as well, which also has a big influence on how we hear thing. for eg, take your stereo outside and blast it - will sound very different to if you did it in your studio, and different in your bedroom, and different onstage. I won't advise tweaking on headphones, but if you ARE using them, you can use one of the global EQ's to compensate for the sound that you are used to with your FRFR setup, or just make a GEQ or PEQ block for the headphones that you can bypass when you run thru your FRFR speakers. You might even find that you'd have to adjust the global gain - you'd be surprised how much the drivers on the cans can make the overall gain sound! :eek:
 
chrisallen8888 said:
I think one of the challenges is we have been listening to and playing in front of "real amps" for so long. It's only natural to want to hear our guitar the same way no matter what gear we use.

But once I let go of the "in the room" sound and realized that the axe is creating a sound that you'd hear from the control room of a studio, it all made sense and making my tones became so much easier. Also, using full range speakers instead of guitar cabs, I can hear almost exactly what the audience is hearing, making sure it's good.

So many are concerned only with what their cab sounds like and assume it sounds good from the audience, but it could be totally different!
Click to expand...
+1. The "cab in the room" is something that can only be enjoyed by the guitarist, and maybe a handful of people around him. The audience, for the most part, will never hear it.
 
Very interesting points and a lot to consider/adjust to. I've no nor have ever had any expectation that Axe would sound like "in room" it's just right now I'm a noob at Axe and I can't even get it to sound good. Distortion is harsh and more digital sounding than guitar rig. Not a cut on FA or the Axe. This is definitely on I'm taking responsibility for and I've kind of changed the game in the middle of the first inning so it's going to take me some time. Please, keep the tips and knowledge coming. I really do appreciate everyone who has posted relevant material to this OP a great deal.
 
when you say harsh and digital sounding, do you mean thru headphones? cuz I have that experience with headphones sometimes as well. Not only with the axe, but other instruments occasionally as well. I suppose the guitar usually is more noticeable cuz of the rich harmonic content and the pronounced midrange.
Sounds great on frfr otherwise tho. Another reason to not trust cans fully....
 
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Our sound guy tonight told me the guitars were a little "bitey", so what the hell do I know. In my defense, it sounded great on in my monitors! We hire him to take care of foh.
 
I've tried a number of cans with my AxeFx and the results have definitely varied. I started with a set of HD-280s and hated them. They had a significant mid hump compared to my monitors to the point that nothing translated. For a year and a half, I was content with a pair of $20 ATH-M2X cans. Note: When playing with the AxeFx (as opposed to tracking in a loud room), I prefer open-backed cans.

A couple months ago I got headphone GAS and tried some ATH-M50s. I found them to be lacking, particularly in the low end. They went back to the store pretty quickly. It's not so much that they sounded bad but they certainly didn't make my ears any happier than the much cheaper headphones I was already using.

I was then torn. There were some other sub-$200 headphones I could try or I could just go up to the next echelon of $250-400 cans. The limited opportunity to purchase locally and/or try before you buy got me to go with the "tried and true" Beyer DT-880s. I found some B-stock units at a significant discount and they really make my ears happy. Not only are they pretty darn flat from a frequency standpoint, the graphs I've seen indicate that they're accurate in the time domain as well.

Really, my point is that, at least in the consumer space, YMMV when it comes to headphones. Even as tastes vary, the sound of headphones varies even more at the lower price points.
 
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jon said:
when you say harsh and digital sounding, do you mean thru headphones? cuz I have that experience with headphones sometimes as well. Not only with the axe, but other instruments occasionally as well. I suppose the guitar usually is more noticeable cuz of the rich harmonic content and the pronounced midrange.
Sounds great on frfr otherwise tho. Another reason to not trust cans fully....
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Yea definitely not a big fan of cans but we have such a great opportunity to practice more now that we have the drums isolated in a booth. In addition with all of us using cans we really hear each other and tighten up the sound. I keep wondering if it's something I'm doing or something I haven't done because this thing can't sound this badly. I'm trying a lot of different tweaks and the distortion sounds very bitter and cold. I've switched over to Waves GTR just to compare and the Waves sounds better than my Axe. I know it's me...........but what?
 
aleclee said:
I've tried a number of cans with my AxeFx and the results have definitely varied. I started with a set of HD-280s and hated them. They had a significant mid hump compared to my monitors to the point that nothing translated. For a year and a half, I was content with a pair of $20 ATH-M2X cans. Note: When playing with the AxeFx (as opposed to tracking in a loud room), I prefer open-backed cans.

A couple months ago I got headphone GAS and tried some ATH-M50s. I found them to be lacking, particularly in the low end. They went back to the store pretty quickly. It's not so much that they sounded bad but they certainly didn't make my ears any happier than the much cheaper headphones I was already using.

I was then torn. There were some other sub-$200 headphones I could try or I could just go up to the next echelon of $250-400 cans. The limited opportunity to purchase locally and/or try before you buy got me to go with the "tried and true" Beyer DT-880s. I found some B-stock units at a significant discount and they really make my ears happy. Not only are they pretty darn flat from a frequency standpoint, the graphs I've seen indicate that they're accurate in the time domain as well.

Really, my point is that, at least in the consumer space, YMMV when it comes to headphones. Even as tastes vary, the sound of headphones varies even more at the lower price points.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I haven't really thought of trying different cans since I just figured the ATH-M50's sounded great on everything else. Forgive my lack of experience I've just never used headphones before. Okay, so I've purchased an in-ear-monitor. Sure SE 535 and they will be here today so I'm stoked. I know, I know.......$450 is a big sum but if they don't work out I have other uses for them. I'll keep you posted. Cheers
 
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