Brand New Axe FX II......Hmmmm; not too happy! Help!?!

pharmd07 said:
I recommend checking out Audio Technica's ATH50M headphones. They sound great!
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Just remember to put about 24 hours of pink noise through those bad boys at an acceptable volume.

I never really liked the sound coming out of my Axe-fx headphones output. Some people beg to differ, but there's something about it that just doesn't do the sound justice.

I personally like to lower the volume in my cab block rather than my amp block. Whatever works for you is great, but I find with setting up scenes (you'll get to that later) I can better control the base loudness of my amp choices by setting the cab at like... -10 db and changing my amp volume from there. Then, if I decide to default my amp to tweak from the start (as I like to do), I'm not running the risk of blasting my monitors, or even more importantly, my very sensitive eardrums.

I'm glad you've worked this out, bro! Keep working at it and in no time you'll be in tonal nirvana. I know it's taken me a while to finally get to where I'm super happy, but now I feel like I can get any sound out of the Axe-fx that I want. And with FW 10 on the horizon (hopefully) it's only going to get better. Huzzah!
 
I agree with Speculum Speculorum. I initially set the cab block so it's level is the same bypassed. While in the Edit menu on the cabs Mix page, press the Utility button and page over to the Status page to monitor level changes; use the FX BYP button to see the difference in level of the cab block in bypassed and unbypassed state.

As well, to help set input levels, I use the input meter on the tuner page for more granularity; just switch back and forth using the Tuner and I/O buttons and adjust input levels accordingly. Even further down the rabbit hole, play with the input impedance of each patch and the speaker page on the amp block; the resonant frequency curve should be made to look similar to the speaker you are using. Remember this unit is full range so Hi and Lo Cut are your friends, normal guitar speakers only typically have a range of ~70 - 5,500 Hz.

You'll get there, use AxeChange Axe Change -The Official Site for Fractal Audio Presets, Cabs and More to find patches and to learn ideas. So much more to think about ... isn't that nice :)
 
Re headphones. I checked out the ATs along with some others - really great phones. I actually went with AKG 271s, but it was a tight call. Either are great for not really that much outlay.
 
Everyone goes through this. Get a comfortable chair plug it in for recording or live play have you manual ,your laptop most of the presets are right there adjust a few knobs amps,output,fx spend a couple months learning the Magic Box. Its like getting a new dog you teach it it teaches you, in the end you have a friend for life.
 
Forum burp? Posted when there were only 4 or so replies. Saved and noticed a ton of replies with the issues resolved. Time stamps showed an hour or more had passed. Removed redundant reply. :)
 
Kriig said:
Or Beyer DT770...

I cut the bottom freq and 16 k completly. Yesterday i boosted 500-1000 too. Everthing sounds fatter without boom. I allways try to master eq with the global eq. So if i switch speaker setup, i´ll change that eq. Much faster than eq every preset IMO.
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Yep. I quit eqing every preset as well. The global eq is a godsend when switching from rig to rig.
 
Headphones : try raising the room level in the cab block. Makes a huge difference to me.
But, my audio tech headphones must be defective.anyone with the m50 have this issue ?

I need to try another pair, but I spent a lot on these things.

Any lead solo type playing with gain does not sound pleasing, everything else sounds fine, except that.... Like a filter is missing or something. But thru my monitors, it sounds fantastic.
 
The type of headphones makes a huge difference. I have three different pairs here. I like the Beyer DT770 best. But, in general, modelers sound like crap through headphones because you don't get any acoustic reinforcement of the guitar. It makes everything sound harsh and lifeless.
 
I have found my DT990 Pro (250 ohm model) sound quite decent thru the Axe. My much more midrangy wireless Sennheisers not so much.

That said, for me messing with the room parameters in the cab block was the key to get headphones sounding decent.
 
If you're using headphones and quiet studio monitors I'm not sure why you're surprised that there's no sustain and the tones sound thin. You'll never get much sustain without the guitar's own sound interacting with the guitar itself.

The stock presets should sound absolutely kickass right out of the box. Maybe try some different speakers.
 
Some good advice here; I might jut add that when I got my Axe II I was a bit underwhelmed too. It wasn't until I started tweaking and making my own patches from scratch that I switched to "Oh crap, this is the best thing ever!"

Not a criticism of the stock patches,BTW. Just... Make it your own :)
 
I have to agree with some of the posts here that mention the presets being somewhat under-whelming. A while back I made a suggestion in the "Wish List" forum for a Preset bank that had an example of each and every amp in it's most basic & characteristic form.

It seems everyone's suggestion to inquiries like this one is to start with a basic amp block -> cab block (maybe with a drive pedal in front). And play around with an amp that's familiar and in it's typical use (i.e. Marshall: overdriven, Fender: clean, Mesa: heavy scooped, etc.). Why wouldn't Fractal simply make one of the banks (D for instance) be this? It would be a better starting point for guys that are replacing a bunch of "real" amps and would like a realistic starting point. As opposed to a bunch of weird, pitch shifted, reverb'd out, multi-tap delayed, synth effected sound that aren't really useable in most scenarios (which there are probably 30-50 of).

Maybe once AE is back up and running I'll put this together myself and post it for collaboration.
 
freeBase said:
I have to agree with some of the posts here that mention the presets being somewhat under-whelming. A while back I made a suggestion in the "Wish List" forum for a Preset bank that had an example of each and every amp in it's most basic & characteristic form.

It seems everyone's suggestion to inquiries like this one is to start with a basic amp block -> cab block (maybe with a drive pedal in front). And play around with an amp that's familiar and in it's typical use (i.e. Marshall: overdriven, Fender: clean, Mesa: heavy scooped, etc.). Why wouldn't Fractal simply make one of the banks (D for instance) be this? It would be a better starting point for guys that are replacing a bunch of "real" amps and would like a realistic starting point. As opposed to a bunch of weird, pitch shifted, reverb'd out, multi-tap delayed, synth effected sound that aren't really useable in most scenarios (which there are probably 30-50 of).

Maybe once AE is back up and running I'll put this together myself and post it for collaboration.
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Have you never scrolled through 000-040...?
 
ccroyalsenders said:
Have you never scrolled through 000-040...?
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Sure have... boggles my mind why they stopped at 40, yet filled up the other 350 presets with overly effected, complex, not-quite-so-uesable sounds. There are what, 80 amp models in this thing?? At least have 1 preset for each and go even simpler (less verb, delay, etc.).

Like I said, we all are able to put this together ourselves, but for the newbie, or someone looking to buy, it makes pretty solid sense to me!
 
guitarzpt said:
Beyer DT770 are way too mid scooped for me to be of any use in guitar sound.
I have a pair and I hate them...
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Totally agree. Actually, if you look at the frequency graph (check it out on headphone.com) you'll see they have a big dip from 2k-6khz. Due to this, you primarily end up hearing the highs and lows which make them sound mid-scooped. The DT770s sound great for movies or games but not guitar-oriented music IMO.

The DT880s are more "flat" and sound considerably better with the Axe.

Raising the room level in the cab block is a must for headphone usage. Also experiment with the enhancer, reverb, delay, detune, splitting the signal chain hard L and hard R, etc. Each works better in some situations rather than others.
 
I found it helpful to download presets from the Axe-Change and basically reverse engineer them; just dive into the various parameters of a preset and mess around to see what makes them sound so good. Mark Day has some awesome presets that have taught me a lot about preset creation and using room ambience to get a nice fat sound.

You'll also find that some amps become your favorites based on the style of music you typically play. For me, the Friedmans get a great cranked Marshall sound, or if you want something more ballsy with more low-end punch, try the Diezel VH4, Channel 4.

Keep in mind the cabinets are a big part of your tone as well, so be sure to experiment with those too.
 
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