Using VU meter in Axe Fx II - Cleans vs Crunch/Lead - Issues......

[Tremonti]

I leveled everything silently using the VU meter to just hit zero....except for leads which were +2.5db. Then I powered on the wedge and listened.....the cleans were way quieter. What is the science behind this? How do I go about leveling better with this dilemma?

Thanks for help in advance!

 

[warlockII]

That's interesting as it's opposite for me...if I have my cleans at zero, they are WAY louder than my distortion patches.

 

[Tremonti]

I'll post two contrasting shortly. Maybe there is something I'm doing wrong in the patches?

 

[LPaulasBestFriend]

I'll post two contrasting shortly. Maybe there is something I'm doing wrong in the patches?

I'm even using this kind of leveling.
And it works good.
But mostly I use FreeOrbanLoudnessMeter.
When it is configured in the right way, it does it the same way as the internal VU-meter.
With one big difference; It shows even the peak level for a second or more ...
That helps a lot ;-)

If you work with the VUs, it is important, to do it in the right way.
I'm strumming all the 6 (open)strings downwards in a powerful way;
But if doing so, you must have in mind, that chords in the 7th or 9th fret for instance may have a bit higher level.

To set all the scenes and presets to 0 dB, you then should do it allways in the same way (for instance as described above)!

Here's the configuration for the Orban tool:



Use the VU-meter scale to check the levels.

Regards
Mike

 

[chris]

it could be bass or treble that is present in the preset due to tone settings, but you can't hear it or perceive it out of the speakers. that's why meters are just a reference.

try to figure out if those frequencies are skewing the meter reading, and reduce them if possible. if you just go by ear and level them till they sound the same, you might be sending a ton of bass to FOH or whatever that you don't even know about, skewing your tone there too.

 

[Tremonti]

Here they are......

 

[Livstone]

I find this as a real trial and error operation. I use the VU meters as a guide and then at while playing at performance level with the band I can see where the levels need tweaking and I'll make changes as needed until satisfied. That's the only thing that I've found that works...albeit not always on the first go round!

 

[Tremonti]

Ok...Oddly enough that clean patch was really the only "clean" one that was problem....but looked again and it had not saved at zero. When I did it was fine and all other patches seemed to be fine, clean or crunch, with things set at zero.