clarky
Axe-Master
1: Amp and Cab only
Start with just an amp and cab in the grid.
Leave plenty of space before and after the amp and cab, so consider having the amp in col5 and the cab in col6. Dial in a nice basic dirty / hi-gain tone.
2: “Cleaning” the tone
Assign a modifier to the amp's input-drive where the max setting represents your full-on dirty tone and the min setting is your clean tone.
- Is the tone clean enough?
-- Yes: job done
-- No: assign the same modifier to the input-trim so this also lowers as the XP moves to heel so you can get as clean as you need to be.
Note: play with the shape of the modifier’s curve to get the transitions between clean and dirty to feel right as you move the XP.
As the XP moves from heel to toe do you want the amp to?
- Stay cleaner for longer and all the gain piles in closer to the toe
- Dirty up sooner
- Have the transition between clean and dirty tone to be more linear
Personally I like the first option because it offers more 'expressive control' at the clean end of things. You need to experiment with this part of it to see what works best for you.
my settings [for my 5153Red] here are
For the Input-Drive
min=0.4
max=5
start=0
mid=30
end=100
slope=50
scale=1
offset=0
damping=4
off value=5
For the Input-Trim
min=0.1
max=1
start=0
mid=45
end=100
slope=100
scale=1
offset=0
damping=4
off value=5
Your min and max values will of course be different depending on what amp you choose, how clean you want it to get, how dirty you want it to get, if the amp has boost / bright / saturation switches on / off etc.
The reason I set the damping to 4ms is to make the XP react more quickly to movement. I want minimal lag.
The 'cleaned tone' will most likely now have a few problems. I should be too thin, it loses its feel and body, it is most likely too quiet and it will be too dry
We must address each of these issues one by one.
3: Fix-up the cleaned tone’s EQ and level
After the amp, you need to have a shunt followed by a mixer block.
For this example, place them on row2 on the grid.
In parallel with the shunt, add a PEQ block [row1 on the grid right above the shunt].
In the mixer, assign faders 1 and 2 to your morphing modifier and set them up so that when the XP is at toe, fader 1 is at min and fader 2 is at max, and when the XP is at min, fader1 is at max and fader2 is at min.
When you move the XP from toe to heel and back, you should see the faders moving in opposite directions.
What this does is to use the mixer to cross-fade between the shunt and the PEQ.
This means that we can fix up both the EQ and the level of the cleaned tone
in the PEQ. Just use bands 1 and 5 [1 for the lows, 5 for the highs], and apply large boosts [most likely 8dB or maybe even more].
With the XP at heel, dial in the settings of bands 1 and 5.
For example, mine are set like this
band 1 = 200Hz, Q=0.7, gain=8dB
band 5 = 2500Hz, Q=0.8, gain=8dB
I found that my cleaned tone was too quiet, so I set the level of the PEQ to 3dB
You're essentially killing two birds with one stone here, both the EQ and level of the cleaned tone.
Mixer modifier settings:
Gain1 [which in my case is row1 and controls the PEQ level]
min=0
max=100
start=100
mid=0
end=0
slope=100
scale=1
offset=0
damping=4
off value=5
Gain2 [which in my case is row2 and controls the signal through the shunt]
min=100
max=0
start=100
mid=0
end=0
slope=100
scale=1
offset=0
damping=4
off value=5
notice that my mister gain curves are the same, but have the min and max values reversed
the idea here is that they have an identical behaviour in opposite directions
4: Thickening the tone
You'll now find you've mended the cleaned tone's EQ and level but it's still missing something. It’ll feel a little brittle / wiry / lacking body.
Place a compressor before the amp.
We only want it to kick in as the tone cleans, so assign the mix control to the morphing modifier where XP at toe has the compressor totally dry and XP at heel has the compressor 100% wet.
Personally I preferred the compressor to kick in when the XP is around the mid point so the mix increases as the XP moves down to the heel.
My settings here are
min=0
max=100
start=100
mid=0
end=0
slop=100
scale=1
offset=0
damping=4
off value=5
For personal taste reasons, I liked the 'pedal 1' compressor
sustain = 3.5
emphasis=0
attack=10
release=10
Of course with the XP at heel, you can experiment with the compressor settings unit you find the tone and feel you're looking for.
Now your cleaned tone should be sounding thicker / better and feeling nicer to play.
5: Sweetening
The cleaned tone will be a little dry so we can sweeten it with some reverb.
Add a reverb in parallel with one of the shunts a few blocks after the mixer.
Set up a nice long ambient reverb. We only really want this to kick in once the dirty tone cleans from about the mid-point of the XP and to be strongest at heel.
Assign the Reverb Input-Gain to the morphing modifier and use similar curve settings as those used for the compressor’s mix control.
Experiment with the min and max settings so that you end up with a nice dry dirty tone and a nice reverb drenched cleaned tone.
If however you’re cleaning a soloing tone, you may want to have a moderate reverb when dirty, and make it more soaked when cleaned.
The above is a pretty basic configuration.
There’s much more stuff you can do with this.
Also, if you intend to us this method in a multi-tone / scene controlled preset, there are other things we need to consider.
We can look at that to.
Start with just an amp and cab in the grid.
Leave plenty of space before and after the amp and cab, so consider having the amp in col5 and the cab in col6. Dial in a nice basic dirty / hi-gain tone.
2: “Cleaning” the tone
Assign a modifier to the amp's input-drive where the max setting represents your full-on dirty tone and the min setting is your clean tone.
- Is the tone clean enough?
-- Yes: job done
-- No: assign the same modifier to the input-trim so this also lowers as the XP moves to heel so you can get as clean as you need to be.
Note: play with the shape of the modifier’s curve to get the transitions between clean and dirty to feel right as you move the XP.
As the XP moves from heel to toe do you want the amp to?
- Stay cleaner for longer and all the gain piles in closer to the toe
- Dirty up sooner
- Have the transition between clean and dirty tone to be more linear
Personally I like the first option because it offers more 'expressive control' at the clean end of things. You need to experiment with this part of it to see what works best for you.
my settings [for my 5153Red] here are
For the Input-Drive
min=0.4
max=5
start=0
mid=30
end=100
slope=50
scale=1
offset=0
damping=4
off value=5
For the Input-Trim
min=0.1
max=1
start=0
mid=45
end=100
slope=100
scale=1
offset=0
damping=4
off value=5
Your min and max values will of course be different depending on what amp you choose, how clean you want it to get, how dirty you want it to get, if the amp has boost / bright / saturation switches on / off etc.
The reason I set the damping to 4ms is to make the XP react more quickly to movement. I want minimal lag.
The 'cleaned tone' will most likely now have a few problems. I should be too thin, it loses its feel and body, it is most likely too quiet and it will be too dry
We must address each of these issues one by one.
3: Fix-up the cleaned tone’s EQ and level
After the amp, you need to have a shunt followed by a mixer block.
For this example, place them on row2 on the grid.
In parallel with the shunt, add a PEQ block [row1 on the grid right above the shunt].
In the mixer, assign faders 1 and 2 to your morphing modifier and set them up so that when the XP is at toe, fader 1 is at min and fader 2 is at max, and when the XP is at min, fader1 is at max and fader2 is at min.
When you move the XP from toe to heel and back, you should see the faders moving in opposite directions.
What this does is to use the mixer to cross-fade between the shunt and the PEQ.
This means that we can fix up both the EQ and the level of the cleaned tone
in the PEQ. Just use bands 1 and 5 [1 for the lows, 5 for the highs], and apply large boosts [most likely 8dB or maybe even more].
With the XP at heel, dial in the settings of bands 1 and 5.
For example, mine are set like this
band 1 = 200Hz, Q=0.7, gain=8dB
band 5 = 2500Hz, Q=0.8, gain=8dB
I found that my cleaned tone was too quiet, so I set the level of the PEQ to 3dB
You're essentially killing two birds with one stone here, both the EQ and level of the cleaned tone.
Mixer modifier settings:
Gain1 [which in my case is row1 and controls the PEQ level]
min=0
max=100
start=100
mid=0
end=0
slope=100
scale=1
offset=0
damping=4
off value=5
Gain2 [which in my case is row2 and controls the signal through the shunt]
min=100
max=0
start=100
mid=0
end=0
slope=100
scale=1
offset=0
damping=4
off value=5
notice that my mister gain curves are the same, but have the min and max values reversed
the idea here is that they have an identical behaviour in opposite directions
4: Thickening the tone
You'll now find you've mended the cleaned tone's EQ and level but it's still missing something. It’ll feel a little brittle / wiry / lacking body.
Place a compressor before the amp.
We only want it to kick in as the tone cleans, so assign the mix control to the morphing modifier where XP at toe has the compressor totally dry and XP at heel has the compressor 100% wet.
Personally I preferred the compressor to kick in when the XP is around the mid point so the mix increases as the XP moves down to the heel.
My settings here are
min=0
max=100
start=100
mid=0
end=0
slop=100
scale=1
offset=0
damping=4
off value=5
For personal taste reasons, I liked the 'pedal 1' compressor
sustain = 3.5
emphasis=0
attack=10
release=10
Of course with the XP at heel, you can experiment with the compressor settings unit you find the tone and feel you're looking for.
Now your cleaned tone should be sounding thicker / better and feeling nicer to play.
5: Sweetening
The cleaned tone will be a little dry so we can sweeten it with some reverb.
Add a reverb in parallel with one of the shunts a few blocks after the mixer.
Set up a nice long ambient reverb. We only really want this to kick in once the dirty tone cleans from about the mid-point of the XP and to be strongest at heel.
Assign the Reverb Input-Gain to the morphing modifier and use similar curve settings as those used for the compressor’s mix control.
Experiment with the min and max settings so that you end up with a nice dry dirty tone and a nice reverb drenched cleaned tone.
If however you’re cleaning a soloing tone, you may want to have a moderate reverb when dirty, and make it more soaked when cleaned.
The above is a pretty basic configuration.
There’s much more stuff you can do with this.
Also, if you intend to us this method in a multi-tone / scene controlled preset, there are other things we need to consider.
We can look at that to.
Last edited:
