Axe FX 2 XL + sounds dull please help Home recording.

G

Gredinguitar

Member
Ok so I finally saved up the money to get one after listening to examples and such on Youtube I decided to pull the trigger. My problem is it sounds really lifeless. I have tried to trouble shoot it on my own but I'm lost as to what it could be. I have made sure that the cab and power amp are on like they should be but it hasn't made a difference. My signal chain is > guitar into the front input > a trs cable out from output one left > focusrite 6i6 front > DAW. I have tried to go stereo as well using two trs cables and what not. No difference. I'll try and upload a sample of what I'm talking about to a drop box tomorrow.
 
What DAW are you using? I noticed a big difference when I plugged into GarageBand vs Ableton because Garageband has a fixed sample rate of 44.1 kHz, whereas in Ableton I can select 48 kHz which is the Axe's sample rate. I don't know a ton about sample rates and recording, but I could definitely tell a difference between the two. Probably not your problem, but maybe worth a look! :)


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I'm using firmware Quantum 1.0. My Daw is Cubase 7.5. I went ahead an bypassed the interface and tried that. It did sound slightly better but it still sounds as if there is mud or a blanket over the sound. I also went ahead and setup my daw and interface to 48khz and it didn't make a difference. I've tried other patches and the issue is present in all of them. It's like there is something off like it's flubby or hollow or something. I'm getting pretty bummed =( Here is a link to a sample of what I'm talking about. excuse the playing. I did single notes type playing, chords, and chug pattern to show. Two guitars pan'd hard right and left. No processing. https://soundcloud.com/hangingjester/test-distortion-issues
 
yeah that doesn't sound right at all.

try making a new preset. add shunts in one row, then add an Amp and choose Friedman HBE - default settings. then add a Cab block with Factory Cab 59 (should be a TV cab by ML). that should sound pretty good. if it sounds similar to what you just recorded, check the Global menu on the axe, including Global EQ.

i might also suggest Reset System Parameters in the Utility menu on the front panel. it's on a page all by itself. this will reset the Global, I/O and Tuner menus.

something seems setup wrong.
 
Your patch is abnormally dark, it has no top end at all. Maybe that's what disturbs you. What sound system did you use to balance it ?

It should be at least that bright to open things up

And to give you an idea, here's how much top end I added

dulltone.png
 
I'm in the same boat a little. I love my XL and have been using it for rehearsal through FRFR and think it sounds killer. we are knocking up a demo of a song at the moment which is high gain and I'm real trouble getting a defined high gain rhythm tone into my DAW . everything sounds great by itself but Meh in the mix . flat and undefined and the treble sounds terrible . this track has a super big bass tone and the bass player really goes to town on it so thinking that isn't helping

this is my first try recording something semi serious with the XL so I know its gonna be a learning curve

gonna try again with fresh ears tonight and dial the gain all the way down ,to where I think its not enough , to see if I get get a bit more definition and thicken it with double tracking

If oyu have nay breakthroughs let us know so I can try
 
Ok back again. So the update to latest firmware didn't do it. It still sounds washed out. Like what Speedloader was saying it lacks top end and I think the bottom is too loose. I swear this seams like a phase issue or something. I don't know though. I'm gonna walk through my setup to see if there isn't something I'm missing.

Going in through the front, the I/O is setup as follows. Main = analog, input left select to front, input mode to left only. Output 1 set to L>R. From there I go out of the left only side of the output 1 on the back into the left input of my interface. After that it's into the box. Which is like I said is Cubase 7.5. Non of the clips have any processing only a guitar hard pan'd left and right. Maybe I have something off in another area? I checked my input to see if I was maybe not giving enough signal. I did notice an increase in bite when I raised it to 100% on the front input. I clip though over anything above 20%.

I'm starting to grasp at straws here.
 
as a test, can you plug the Axe directly into a powered speaker or use headphones directly from the Axe? does it sound any different then?
 
Possibly take a look at your high cut settings on the amp and cab. You could also go through the tone stack and change the tone stacks location under preamp settings. For some setups this will make a huge difference in the baseline presence of the amp.
 
I checked the high cut and low and they are at the min level so it isn't as if the the cuts are taking away. I also did the pre amp thing as suggested. I'm done. I'm gonna contact support. The unit is just dark and I can't get the brightness it should have. Probably defective.
 
Try a PEQ block, right before the amp block. Cut 300 by -6bd see that helps you. That's a little trick that Scott turned us on to that works really well at helping the guitar sit better.
 
Ok so I thought about it for awhile. When I have used amp sims and stuff in the past I have noticed an issue with the high end of the frequency spectrum not being where it should be. (Missing) I thought this was an issue with my guitar. Well I actually just got a new one. High end issues were the reason I actual bought the new guitar in the first place. So I checked it out with a spectrum analyzer. Then compared it to my old one and they are the same pretty much. I then took and compared it to someone else's DI wav and analyzed it as well. Here is a pic of what I found. Freq spectrum.jpg The two on the left are mine. One is direct into interface and the other through the Axe. Finally the one on the right is someone else's. There is a steep drop off from about 1500 on-wards on my two in comparison. I'm not sure what could be causing this. Any ideas? These are DI guitars btw.
 
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