References to "Preset doesn't sound like Promo-Video" topics?

[LucasLeCompte]

Presets are going to sound different from other people since the original preset was set up in a different room with a different guitar on different monitors/cab. You will have to tweak any preset you download most of the time to get it to sound prefect on YOUR set up.

 

[softmonaut]

If that is truly the EQ curve you are using, something is very off somewhere in the chain. That curve would be horribly bright and nasty!

Right, unnaturally extreme settings. I'm not giving up hope that I just have to flip a switch somewhere and everything will be fine ...

 

[Budda]

Put on new strings and get out a new pick.

Also, give your ears time to adapt to the sound. Everything could be dark now and seem fine on Wednesday.

 

[biggness]

That's an EQ curve that indicates loss of hearing in the high frequencies, which is the first to go.

Or something is wrong with your setup/signal chain. Lol

YouTube some audiometric tests and see how you fare.

 

[softmonaut]

That's an EQ curve that indicates loss of hearing in the high frequencies, which is the first to go.

That is also possible. Against this is the fact that I hear presets from other sources clearly and brilliantly. I bought a preset and I know how it should sound (sounds great in promo video as they all do). It then sounds very dark on my AX-FX. With this A / B comparison, I am probably out as a source of error. Until further knowledge I'll wait until Wednesday

 

[Jason Scott]

Yes, I have three guitars, all equipped with humbuckers. None of them stand out particularly - in the positive or negative sense. That means they are all equally bad or the guitars are not the problem.

I don't have a sound sample at the moment, but I can show the settings of OUT EQ 1 to compensate for the dark sound. I think they are very extreme. As far as I know, these EQ settings are usually flat.View attachment 90036

When you can, post a sample with and without EQ compensation.

 

[laxu]

For me, many presets tend to sound like through a woolen blanket (especially with the Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro headset, less with the Genelec 8030), i.e. there is a lack of brilliance. Especially noticeable when I use the neck PUs and gained presets.

There is something wrong with your setup if those sound dark. The DT series tends to have a lot of high end and the Genelec 8030 should be capable of being pretty flat within the limitations of the room. I would use the Genelecs as your reference output system.

You should not need extreme EQ curves with it if other content like YT videos sound fine to you if you use the Axe-Fx as an audio interface on your computer.

Make sure your input and output levels look good and your global settings are configured right. Poweramp sim on and cab sim on with global EQ set flat or off.

If several guitars do this it's probably not something like a tone knob turned down but maybe a bad cable? Connecting just guitar -> Axe-Fx 3 -> studio monitors should sound great if you are not trying to play at very low volume.

 

[Jason Scott]

There is something wrong with your setup if those sound dark. The DT series tends to have a lot of high end and the Genelec 8030 should be capable of being pretty flat within the limitations of the room. I would use the Genelecs as your reference output system.

You should not need extreme EQ curves with it if other content like YT videos sound fine to you if you use the Axe-Fx as an audio interface on your computer.

Make sure your input and output levels look good and your global settings are configured right. Poweramp sim on and cab sim on with global EQ set flat or off.

If several guitars do this it's probably not something like a tone knob turned down but maybe a bad cable? Connecting just guitar -> Axe-Fx 3 -> studio monitors should sound great if you are not trying to play at very low volume.

He's just saying the presets themselves sound dark through those headphones.

 

[tysonlt]

Can you try a factory preset? Maybe the AC20, which definitely isn’t dark. I’d think about resetting system parameters too. I never touch global EQ because I KNOW I’ll forget it’s there!

Lots of good points about cables etc; it’s not that we don’t believe you, but checking the simple things first is a good strategy. Different cable, flatten global EQ, make sure input levels are good, turn it up, etc.

What would really help is a recording with a stock preset. If that sounds dark, we’ll have something to compare to. If you could record a dry track as well, we could run it through our own units and isolate the issue further.

 

[FusionFanatic]

Every single thing affects the sound.

Number 1... the player. Pick, fingers, attack.

The guitar. Yes, tone woods affect the sound of an electric guitar.

Pickups... another biggie.

Your amp settings. Okay... this applies less if you bought someone’s presets. But... what did ‘they’ use? See next...

Speakers... cabs, monitors, FRFR

Amp... FRFR, tube, solid state

All a huge impact on the tone.

 

[Piing]

My solution: I did stop paying for presents a while ago. It is worth, and fun, to tweak your own sounds. Enjoy the process as part of the musical development

 

[softmonaut]

Hello folks,
please excuse the break, I haven't given up
In order to implement the requirements, however, I first have to install a DAW (Reaper on Linux, native, not Wine), set up AXE-FX as an audio device and learn to reamp with a DI track. Especially with the connection of Reaper and the AXE-FX there are currently still difficulties ("ALSA: error finalizing input device parameters"). I check this out with the help of the Reaper forum.
After that I can hopefully provide you with the sound samples you want.
By the way, what is the recommended way to post sound examples here?

Lots of good points about cables etc; it’s not that we don’t believe you,

No problem, I take all advice seriously. I couldn't find anything suspicious here. Just used a different cable; no difference.

My solution: I did stop paying for presets a while ago. It is worth, and fun, to tweak your own sounds. Enjoy the process as part of the musical development

Yes, I only bought the one preset mentioned above for a direct comparison. After contacting the author, he indeed identified an incorrect setting. Speaker impedance curve in the amp parameter "Speaker" was set to #60. That sounded really very dark. Now its 4x12 Friedmans. Better!

Until later...

 

[softmonaut]

Finally here are my tracks: "Dry Guitar DI track" reamped with some presets (see track title for preset and scene number)
Guitar: G&L Tribute Asat Deluxe TR,
Pickup: G&L AW4370C humbucker in bridge position; nickel covered; fresh set of strings;
Cable: Kirlin Premium, 5m
Axe-Fx-3: FW17b4, IN 1/INSTR level @ 60% (peak on strong strumming); Power Amp Modeling = ON; Cabinet Modeling = ON; OUT 1 EQ flat








Nice exercise to deal with the topic of recording / reamping. I hadn't done it before.

 

[tysonlt]

Finally here are my tracks: "Dry Guitar DI track" reamped with some presets (see track title for preset and scene number)
Guitar: G&L Tribute Asat Deluxe TR,
Pickup: G&L AW4370C humbucker in bridge position; nickel covered; fresh set of strings;
Cable: Kirlin Premium, 5m
Axe-Fx-3: FW17b4, IN 1/INSTR level @ 60% (peak on strong strumming); Power Amp Modeling = ON; Cabinet Modeling = ON; OUT 1 EQ flat








Nice exercise to deal with the topic of recording / reamping. I hadn't done it before.

We might need some context for those recordings. Are they all commercial presets? Which ones do you like or not like? For my taste, presets 1 and 3 sounded great, and 2 sounded dark, and 4 sounded boxy. However, in the context of a mix, those sounds might be perfect (eg for a second guitar maybe)

 

[shawnb]

Another key component is picks.

Size, shape, type, thickness, etc.

It's the direct transfer from person to string and often overlooked. Different picks yield different tones/timbres.

Years ago when I was learning to sweep pick in 30 days various people from this channel very kindly and graciously sent me a variety of guitar picks. I had like 30 different variations. And in the end there were 3 picks that bring out my best but in different purposes. The Jazz III 1mm was a great all rounder, but better for chugging. Some triangle pick that was different from the other triangles was a dream for high efficiency picking and sweeping but terrible for anything else, and the John Pettrucci signature pick that is good for basically everything except the way I sweep pick.

All other picks, I can play the same thing and it sounds like a different player.

 

[Jason Scott]

@softmonaut, thanks for uploading the DI and other samples. Can you upload one or more presets you think showcase the issue? I've been reamping your DI, and with a lot of my presets, the result sounds almost identical to my LP; a guitar I've always thought sounded a bit dark but never had to EQ massively to brighten.

 

[sprint]

, if even a simple chord sounds significantly different, then something seems to be wrong,

if there was no post production on the promo-video, and if you had listened to the promo-video thru the same FRFR you play guitar thru, then having the preset seller's di from the promo-video, along with the preset would solve this question without any doubt - re-amping that di through the preset on your Axefx should replicate what you heard (picks, hands, guitar removed from the equation) - if the sound is still way off, then you have clear possibilities: global settings, but my guess is that it would be the same.

 

[squealie]

I haven't followed the whole thread.

I spent my first weeks with Axe3 thinking that my rig didn't sound like the great clips.

I spun up a Leon video and followed along. He provides his IRs magnanimously.

My PRS sounded just like his through my monitors.

Downloading presets is a crapshoot.

 

[softmonaut]

We might need some context for those recordings. Are they all commercial presets? Which ones do you like or not like? For my taste, presets 1 and 3 sounded great, and 2 sounded dark, and 4 sounded boxy. However, in the context of a mix, those sounds might be perfect (eg for a second guitar maybe)

The presets are all unchanged factory presets. PxySz in the tracktitle means Preset no. xy, Scene no. z; FW17B4 stand for Firmware version 17 Beta 4.

Can you upload one or more presets you think showcase the issue?

Interestingly, I also find that these recordings don't sound really dark. My favorite here is "Stone in Love".
Meanwhile I think the sound problems arise when I play the EVH Wolfgang Standard especially with neck pickup. The above recordings were made with the G&L Asat. I will try to provide a few examples for the EVH as well.

if there was no post production on the promo-video, and if you had listened to the promo-video thru the same FRFR you play guitar thru, then having the preset seller's di from the promo-video, along with the preset would solve this question without any doubt - re-amping that di through the preset on your Axefx should replicate what you heard (picks, hands, guitar removed from the equation) - if the sound is still way off, then you have clear possibilities: global settings, but my guess is that it would be the same.

Yes, that would make a very interesting comparison possible. For this, however, I/we need the corresponding DIs.
Maybe you guys would like to provide DIs with specs of your guitars as well?

 

[Jason Scott]

Interestingly, I also find that these recordings don't sound really dark. My favorite here is "Stone in Love". Meanwhile I think the sound problems arise when I play the EVH Wolfgang Standard especially with neck pickup. The above recordings were made with the G&L Asat. I will try to provide a few examples for the EVH as well.

In a previous comment, you said, "I have three guitars, all equipped with humbuckers. None of them stand out particularly - in the positive or negative sense. That means they are all equally bad or the guitars are not the problem," which lead me to believe you were experiencing the issue with all of your guitars. However, if that's not the case, then perhaps the guitar in question (ie. EVH Wolfgang Standard) is the issue, as I'm not hearing anything particularly dark or muffled when reamping your DI through my presets.

As mentioned by others, commercial presets (or virtually any preset made by someone else) may or may not sound consistent with their representative demos, and in my experience, that's often related to differences between guitars.