Does anyones Axe-FX II sound this good?

My Axe sounds great with p90's, vintage strat pups, hot Lace Sensor's, Duncan Distortion, JB's and AII's, Filtertron's, Dano lipsticks etc.

Basically every guitar I have, with every type of pickup, all sounds unique and distinct (for good or bad based on a given preset) which is kind of the point.

I remember with early modelers that there really was very little, if any, tonal differences between a lot of LP's I owned. They all sounded pretty generic, and even on a strat, very little differences between positions 1 and 2. With the Axe now, there is a drastic tonal difference between those, and the in-between position sounds just like it should.

I guess its a double edged sword if someone with guitar X and preset Y gets a fantastic tone, but guitar Z sounds like ass with the same preset, but that is kind of the price of realistic modeling. Those tonal differences between guitars are going to be quite apparent.

But again, I kind of like all my guitars with different pup's all having their own unique tones. Kind of makes it easier to rationalize all the money I have hanging on the wall when they don't all sound the same
 
Just want to clarify, I don't use post processing of any kind of any of my videos that are showcasing presets (like the one linked above). Any differences you're hearing are coming from an almost infinite number of variable differences, most importantly the differences in my fingers and yours, and my guitar and yours :) I think people really underestimate how much these two in particular can change tone! Give five guys the same preset and you'll be getting different tones, for sure!
 
I think people really underestimate how much these two in particular can change tone! Give five guys the same preset and you'll be getting different tones, for sure!

Look who showed up to the party!

Thanks for all you do Cooper, it has helped me in my AFX journey's thus far immensely!
 
Thanks Cooper. You are an inspiration. After listening to your video, I thought something was wrong with my gear. I have since learned it is the nut behind the wheel. I have learned a lot since I posted this. While my fingers will likely *never* sound as good as yours, I have made some tweaks to make my guitar/finger combination sound a lot better (at least to my ears). I will be posting my findings shortly. I really enjoy your videos and playing. Thanks for your contributions to the community.
 
Thanks Cooper. You are an inspiration. After listening to your video, I thought something was wrong with my gear. I have since learned it is the nut behind the wheel. I have learned a lot since I posted this. While my fingers will likely *never* sound as good as yours, I have made some tweaks to make my guitar/finger combination sound a lot better (at least to my ears). I will be posting my findings shortly. I really enjoy your videos and playing. Thanks for your contributions to the community.

Thanks so much for the kind words! Glad my videos have been helpful, and it's certainly flattering to be considered an inspiration. Looking forward to your clips!
 
Just want to clarify, I don't use post processing of any kind of any of my videos that are showcasing presets (like the one linked above). Any differences you're hearing are coming from an almost infinite number of variable differences, most importantly the differences in my fingers and yours, and my guitar and yours :) I think people really underestimate how much these two in particular can change tone! Give five guys the same preset and you'll be getting different tones, for sure!

I said the very same thing on the first page of this thread. It's amazing how no matter what rig I play I always sound like me.
 
I use the factory Studio Clean for my live clean channel. Tweaked the bass/mid/treble controls for the guitar, but that's it.

For literally all of my tones, I only use basic controls and they sound, IMO, fantastic.
 
I was just listening to this utube video by G66 called 8 Great Axe-FX Factory presets. I thought - my gawd that sounds really good. So I fired up my axe-fx II, dialed up the same presets A/B'd them, and they do not sound nearly as good as the ones in the video. Mine sounds flat and 2D where the video sounds like it has more tops, more depth and more balls. I mean not even close. Anybody know what they are doing to post-process the sound? Does anyone else's Axe-Fx II sound like this fresh out of the box with no tweaking?

I hope mine is not broken....



-Jim


what monitors or headphones are you using, are you using a poweramp to a cab? How is your room acoustically. There are lots of variables that can make the sound differ. Those are a few bassic things you might want to onsier. Also what gtrs and pickups did they use? What scale length string tension tuning.... Did they run any processing in DAW all orts of stuff.

Did they run direct via analog, usb or spdif? All factors. If they went direct into console analog you have to factor in the preamps in the console mixer or audio interface... I didn't read the replies just starting with basic questions that might help you out.

Also I would get to upset about it. I hardly ever use factory presets. Infact my first preset is blank and my second is a row of shunts so I can make presets based off ideas and refine them. Not bagging on facotry presets but my guitars are all modded in bizarre ways, use very unusual pickups, have to many strings etc, the factory settings dont sound up to par with what I would like to hear. There are cool ideas in there I might take inspiration and make presets off of in the future but I wouldn't worry about it. TBH first time I got axe fx I plugged my carvin dc400 I had at the time in and really wasn't a big fan of any of the factory presets other than heavily effected once and more because of concept and atmosphere than tone. After playing for a few minutes I started reading manual and tayloring presets for my needs and thats the way its been since... So don't get too down on it.

Not to knock the man who made the video at all and put all the effort into it to help the community(respect!) but I personally didn't really like the sounds he played. That's my personal preference though. If he likes it and you like it and you like the sounds you are getting that's what counts as we all have different tastesl

OH an btw I spent an afternoon with guitars and friends auditioning factory presets and while alot of them sounded unique and had interesting things going on in different scenes we all agreed that we probably would never want to use straight factory presets. Not for death metal, not for reggae, for jazz.... possibly for punk because its punk...
 
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So I fired up my axe-fx II, dialed up the same presets A/B'd them, and they do not sound nearly as good as the ones in the video.
Use the same wood in guitar, same pickups, same strings, bridge, nut, frets etc. Add exactly same skill and playing hand to it and you'll get exactly same tone.
 
I think I should clarify what my problem is. I am not trying to copy anyone's tone or fingers or guitars. My observation is that of the quality of the overall tone, for all patches. There just seems to be a difference in the overall sound quality. I would characterize it as 2D vs 3D, distant vs punchy and in your face. Ballsy and clear vs flabby and brittle. For example, I did a comparison using Ozone's match EQ and found that for all my guitars/presets I have to add a high shelf EQ starting at 1K and going up to 16K to get it to sound close. Also the distortion I get sounds characteristically different. If distortion was a comb, mine sounds like a comb with coarse spacing, vs a very fine tooth comb. So it is an overall sound with all my patches.

I have tried doing a system reset and reloading all the presets for FW18. It actually changed the sound quite a bit doing this, but I still feel something is missing. I find I have to mess with the sound in the DAW after I record to make it sound good (not great), where other people seem to record directly, add nothing and it sounds great. I have made improvements by tweaking, however my perception is it should sound, I guess for lack of terms, "better" without my having to.

I have been doing a number of tests, and I hope to have something to post soon. But I am making progress and learning a ton about the unit. And FWIW, I still love my AXE FX. It does not sound *bad*, that is not what this is about. I think I am looking for that final 10% that will get me where I want to be. I just want to reduce the amount of tweaking I need to do to every preset if I have something basic screwed up (which is likely the case). It really seems I am missing that high end sparkle that adds depth and clarity.
 
Just want to clarify, I don't use post processing of any kind of any of my videos that are showcasing presets (like the one linked above). Any differences you're hearing are coming from an almost infinite number of variable differences, most importantly the differences in my fingers and yours, and my guitar and yours :) I think people really underestimate how much these two in particular can change tone! Give five guys the same preset and you'll be getting different tones, for sure!

I agree 1000+ with this..... its it what makes our tones individual. Some tend to forget this crucial part and focus on settings rather.
 
I think I should clarify what my problem is. I am not trying to copy anyone's tone or fingers or guitars.

I think your problem is that you're not reading with understanding. Read carefully what Cooper and I wrote.

It's not about copying anything from anybody. It's about various differences between guitars and hands that play them. All this affects the tone MASSIVELY. So if you think that you'll download presets presented by Cooper playing MM Majesty (for example) and you'll get the exactly same tone playing Fender Strat SSS with maple fretboard (again - for example), then think twice... three times... five times... and more, until you'll get the point.
 
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Maybe search out some professional DI guitar tracks and focus on reamping those through the presets?

That would eliminate one big set of variables.
 
has the OP stated what he monitors with? there is also a different sensation when listening to playback vs playing yourself...
 
Yes, volume can be a huge factor. When you're playing, you need enoug volume to drown our the acoustic sound from your guitar. It actually takes quite a lot of volume to do this. If you don't turn it up enough, the tone and gain of your sound can change dramatically.
 
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