I have a question. I can get great sounds with AX8 via my UAD Apollo twin soundcard and my Yamaha HS5 studio monitors. But for giging I use Matrix GT1000fx amp and Matrix Q12 passive 112 monitor. Now, the tones that I have "dialed in" in my studio are not exactly the same. They are harsh sounding and too much bassy. On every of your "naked amp" I must use a lot of hi/low cut in the cab block. Why didn't you use any high cuts in the cab blocks of naked amps pack? I set the low cut arround 100-150 hz and high cut arround 6.5 - 7.5 kHz. There is still a lot of the top end harshnes, especially on those plexi type amps. Why is this so? Oh, I use the Suhr guitars with Elixir Optiweb strings. Do you think, that those strings are the reason for it? Especially the single coil pickup sounds are almost unusable. I begin to wonder if AX8 is using the same technology as Axe FX-II, or is it really just the less CPU capability on AX8.
Oh, I own many OwnHammer IR's and Celestion IR's and I think the factory cabs sound better to me. Am I the only one that thinks so?
Thanks for your answers.
Hello Neli: Will try to answer questions best I can. First,
are you only using Output 1 of the AX8? Because if you are using Output2 as well, then understand there is NO cab present (FX Loop) and it sure will sound harsh and shrill with no cab into any PA or monitors! Just wanted to make sure of that before proceeding. I've sold many TonePacks and you are the first to register this issue; others are not hearing this problem you describe.
Second, I certainly do like using there Cab Block to dial out lows and highs for presets, but did not choose to do it here given the wide variety of ears and users involved. Very few real life cabs put out frequencies above 7khz. I even discussed with Fractal expert representative beforehand, to get their feedback on whether to use the Cab Block cuts too. That is the real reason I did not use the Cab block low/hi cuts beyond the 40hz cut which was recommended to me. There are few presets -- I can't recall which ones -- where I did tame highs if too fizzy with hi cut, but 80%+ of the presets have no hi cut. In reality, a CAB IR is an detailed EQ curve and does cut most of top end above 7k out on its own.
There are a handful of presets where the Cab Block cuts are different, but usually I left the hi cut alone and had the low cut at 40Hz or 50hz. You sure are free to change this any way you wish that you like. To help. if you use FracTool, you can do a "Batch processor" and change the Cab 1 setting hi cut or low cut across every Naked Amp TonePack preset to set it however you like.
Third, as far as plexis go, some vintage plexis (or even modern like JCM800 ones) ARE in fact harsh, raspy, trebly and top-end in real life played on the bright channel -- that is one reason they cut through a mix. Cliff has noted this "raspy" character in past threads about plexis. I've played many real vintage Marshall with bright caps -- that's part of what they do, although I dialed them to be warmer and not so harsh here.
The AX8 amp CPU is not the culprit for the presets sounding they way you describe (unless adding too many effects to TonePack preset) and I did dial in the AX8 presets on the AX8 itself. I doubt it is the strings or guitar (Suhr) but does it sound better if you turn the tone control down, or still sound bad?
The QSC monitors are, to me, a little bottom-heavy frequency and can be woofy to my ears, BUT I know because Dweezil Zappa uses them (he likes that woofiness).
So I am not sure where in signal chain the issue is coming from, but I'm confident it's not the TonePack presets as created if not modified, else this thread would be lit up with unhappy buyers. You might want to be sure your gain staging is right
(see my video).
You can private email me if that helps at heybuddy@austinbuddy . com
