Presets MASTER THREAD - AustinBuddy's 1400+ NAKED AMPS TonePack for firmware Cygnus X2

Third party presets and packs for Fractal Audio products
So I did buy the presets and have barely got off the Marshalls with Green on the powercab and the Fenders with Jarvis. I’m solely using them with the speaker modelling on the powercab, but will echo what everyone else has said. Fantastic presets and just what I want. I’m not a big effects person and keep it minimal, so with just the tiniest of tweaks I got the sound in my head.
The JCM800 is my all time favourite amp and the Axe 3 version is the best I’ve heard. With a bit of tweaking of the basic tone controls and the odd drive pedal, I spent a good couple of hours nailing some of my favourite tones.

I’m new to Fractal products, but finding the UI easy to use except for one thing. I’m sure I’ll get used to it, but I’m not finding the amp controls intuitive as they’re the same for each amp model. Yek’s guide is amazingly helpful and I’m learning as I go, but these presets have taken a lot of the work out, so I can easily try a HBE with the fat switch on or off, etc.

I have a real JVM 410HJS that I was struggling to dial in on the Axe for some reason, but a few tweaks again to the basic tone controls with austinbuddy’s preset and I had the sound I remember. I lived on crunch orange and red with that and this preset nails them.

Can’t wait to keep going through the rest of the presets if I can pull myself away from the Marshalls.
I’ve bought a lot of presets for other products and these might be the most expensive, but I’ll confidently say already they’re the best. Not just sounding, but also the content and way they’re done. Great stuff.
 
I’ve bought a lot of presets for other products and these might be the most expensive, but I’ll confidently say already they’re the best. Not just sounding, but also the content and way they’re done. Great stuff.

Hi @Sambora73: appreciate your honest evaluation and your support! You can imagine all the myriad of playback systems out there these get heard on I try to account for.

These presets were designed and created on Atomic NEO CLRs, which are as flat as I can find in my price range. I dial in presets initially at 92db minimum (to defeat the dreaded Fletcher-Munson curve effect) on a pair that are my studio monitors.

Then I go through every preset again with a pair stacked on top of each other, one on the floor in and one on top of that one, with both pointed in different directions slightly off axis from me, 12 feet or so away, to simulate a stage gig, and I make any needed last tweaks for low end and high end then. The CLRs disperse more widely/better to my ears than other monitors I have tried, but you still lose some high end on stage if you walk a few feet left or right - that is the case with any cabinet, real or FRFR. :)

Here is a link to a video tutorial I did on learning the amp block, it may help some? People don't often realize the interaction between the amps' input gain/drive, master, and the LEVEL control (the latter of which colors your perception of the tone in the listening position, BUT does not affect the tone itself). You probably already know this stuff, but maybe others can benefit from the concepts in the video. There are some people who still turn up a Mesa Dual Rectifier master volume in the amp model to 8 -- no one does that in the real world, and it sounds like mush when ya do.

I rarely leave the main amp page when I make a presets/scenes. The other secret is getting the right Cab IR, which is a sometimes tedious but ultimately rewarding process. There are still some amp presets I know in these TonePacks that will totally sound even better with better IRs (such as commercial ones), and I do encourage people to experiment. Just did the best I could with whatever the factory cabs would offer. Sometimes it's not the intuitive choice!

Get great satisfaction when expert and discerning players who know tone (as you appear to be!) offer high compliments on the product, as you did above, and am humbled and grateful.

Speaking of discerning players:, in today's latest story: Guthrie Govan is a past TonePack customer and once shared with me he has used an AustinBuddy Friedman amp preset he tweaked slightly in his AX8 for past clinics and for gigs. I can't wait to hear what he does with the new Axe III TonePack!
 
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I mean, if he gave out a sampler pack with like 10 different amp models, how many folks that otherwise would of bought the pack would think "you know, this really does everything I need right here.....", vs. how many additional people would buy if they tried the samples and thought "these are awesome, I want more, take my money" ?? I think its more likely the former than the latter, as I think most people who are willing to buy, bought regardless, just based upon reputation et al.

Likewise, I think if there was a sampler, there would be complaints that it doesn't have such and such model... like " The Fenders and Marshalls are great, but I'm interested in Mesa's or _______" so then you'd still not appease all the people.

Thanks lqdsnddist -- you nailed my thoughts exactly. It feels a little like "Sophie's Choice" dilemma (if you read the book, she has to pick which of her two kids to save from Nazis, the other dies) to me. Out of 1000+ crafted presets, pick out say 10 that are "representative"? Nah, impossible. I simply can't do it, or do it justice. So, I don't.

I do load some presets from the collection to Axe-Change at times, you can check there. Steel String Sings I think is up, from older TonePack nice clean (SRV Dumble). I think a Marshall Super lead Sustain/Iron man (ha!) Axe III one is up. I have been meaning to put some more up, just too busy to get to it working on things.

@ToneControl, you might scroll down here on my webpage to hear TONS of clips of 700+ Naked Amps TonePack....both videos with Lance Keltner and SoundClips from various local Austin musician friends. There are plenty of examples, some cleans in sound clips. In one year, I've only had one person demand a refund -- and then learned they had the wrong firmware installed! ;)
 
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I am loving these sounds...
I’ve started to play with a few of the effects... ok, I’ll confess... I had to drop a pitch block in to the Vai preset (you know the one) and then had a whole ‘for the love of god’ / ‘liberty’ moment going on. Great fun.
Anyway hours later (and I mean hours later... these sounds are too much fun). I was going to do the same and add a pitch block in to the Mesa mark IV preset, but it wouldn’t seem to let me. I noticed that the cpu was up over seventy something percent. I deleted some blocks and the cpu dropped to 60ish and it let me add the pitch block in ok.

I’m guessing that the cpu is high in some presets because you’ve given us / or programmed so many options / channels to choose for each block, but I wanted to check that this was the case and that I wasn’t doing wrong. Please remember I’m very new to this stuff and there is a lot to learn.
Thanks in advance

Gordon.
 
I’m guessing that the cpu is high in some presets because you’ve given us / or programmed so many options / channels to choose for each block, but I wanted to check that this was the case and that I wasn’t doing wrong. .

Gordon: You aren't doing it wrong! Some amp models with multiple CABS being used in tandem will drive up the CPU usage. If a preset has 3 or 4 cabs turned on, you can try and mute a few of them (if the tone still sounds good to you) and you will gain some CPU. Sometimes I loaded it up because it kept sounding better with four cab IRs instead of one. hahaha.

You can also set reverb to normal rather than high resolution too if reverb is present.

The main other thing that drives up CPU is the drive blocks - they chew up a lot. Thats' why instead of three drive blocks in some presets to cover multiple types (fuzz, overdrive, boosts/distortion) I'll drop a drive block or even two -- because I had CPU issues. So if you have two drive blocks, just drop one, and then use the other with four channels to set up the drives you want, and save some CPU.

Glad you are having fun! The Vai presets were fun to create. At first I struggled with that amp "naked" to make it sound good, but after I studied what he did with his amps in real life, the sounds came.
 
Austinbuddy - many thanks for the super quick response and the advice re cpu and cabs etc.

There are so many great sounds in the pack. My favourites (for today) are the ‘Vai’ with the pitch block added and the ‘make my electric sound acoustic’ one. Both are fundamentally different types of sounds, but both fantastic. Who knows which two I’ll pick to fixate on next.

Out of interest, it would good to hear what top two presets everyone else is having the most fun with this week.

AB do you have a favourite preset that you keep going back to?

Cheers,

Gordon.
 
AB do you have a favourite preset that you keep going back to?

Too many to name, depends on style of music...I do love my Bogner XTC Blue w/Boost sound though, it's my old real "gig rig" for Austin 6th Street reproduced...

In terms of favorite amps, I love the Deluxe Tweed, the DC30, the Jumped Plexi, the AC15, the XTC, the Captain Hook, the Ford Dumble, and the Diezels both Herbert and VH4.

I love the preset for the Diezel Herbert "Salvation" which is I think a channel 3 Herbie sound (I think scene 6)...that to me is exactly the same guitar (w/humbuckers) sound as the song "Sometimes Salvation" by the Black Crowes in the live version. Every time I play that I want to play that song with crushing rhythm section.

Right now, just for myself, on both my AX8 and my XL, I've made a main rig template presets of my go-to effects (stripped down for AX8 due to memory limits), and I'm now picking from the Naked Amps I love and creating rig presets -- one clean, one lower gain, one medium gain, and one high gain or lead, a set for each amp.

I use footswitches 1-4 and then 5 is my tuner/tempo. I'm going to refine this further so the preset can work with a single coil or humbucker with a quick footswitch hit to boost the amp input trim to 1.3 tied to controller 11. Controller 12 is assigned to the amp boost switch. Fun stuff!
 
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Hi @Sambora73: appreciate your honest evaluation and your support! You can imagine all the myriad of playback systems out there these get heard on I try to account for.

These presets were designed and created on Atomic NEO CLRs, which are as flat as I can find in my price range. I dial in presets initially at 92db minimum (to defeat the dreaded Fletcher-Munson curve effect) on a pair that are my studio monitors.

Then I go through every preset again with a pair stacked on top of each other, one on the floor in and one on top of that one, with both pointed in different directions slightly off axis from me, 12 feet or so away, to simulate a stage gig, and I make any needed last tweaks for low end and high end then. The CLRs disperse more widely/better to my ears than other monitors I have tried, but you still lose some high end on stage if you walk a few feet left or right - that is the case with any cabinet, real or FRFR. :)

Here is a link to a video tutorial I did on learning the amp block, it may help some? People don't often realize the interaction between the amps' input gain/drive, master, and the LEVEL control (the latter of which colors your perception of the tone in the listening position, BUT does not affect the tone itself). You probably already know this stuff, but maybe others can benefit from the concepts in the video. There are some people who still turn up a Mesa Dual Rectifier master volume in the amp model to 8 -- no one does that in the real world, and it sounds like mush when ya do.

I rarely leave the main amp page when I make a presets/scenes. The other secret is getting the right Cab IR, which is a sometimes tedious but ultimately rewarding process. There are still some amp presets I know in these TonePacks that will totally sound even better with better IRs (such as commercial ones), and I do encourage people to experiment. Just did the best I could with whatever the factory cabs would offer. Sometimes it's not the intuitive choice!

Get great satisfaction when expert and discerning players who know tone (as you appear to be!) offer high compliments on the product, as you did above, and am humbled and grateful.

Speaking of discerning players:, in today's latest story: Guthrie Govan is a past TonePack customer and once shared with me he has used an AustinBuddy Friedman amp preset he tweaked slightly in his AX8 for past clinics and for gigs. I can't wait to hear what he does with the new Axe III TonePack!

You’re very welcome my friend, really appreciate the work. The video was very helpful as I’m coming from the helix that mirrors the real amp controls so it’s the one aspect of the im struggling with. Everything else is very intuitive.

I spent two years down the IR rabbit hole, constantly changing an tweaking everything, which is why I love the powercab. With your presets I just look at the cab model you’ve chosen in the first block and choose the matching one. So far I’ve everything covered with those 6 speaker models and it sounds great, but no doubt different than your original. The FRFR mode doesn’t work great with the axe though, sounds very dull and muffled. Rex kindly pointed out it’s to do with the inherent high freq/trebly/harsh tone of the helix. Do you have any tips on dialling that back in so the FRFR mode is useable?
Saying all that, I’ve never used the cab models in the axe and really want to give them a go. The sheer amount scares me though!
I’m hopefully going to get a proper studio type desk and have both the powercab and my studio monitors hooked up at the same time. Best of both worlds, but it would be nice to just use the powercab.

Though you’re very kind, I would wouldn’t say I was either expert or discerning, except maybe with Marshalls. If there’s one amp I know inside and out, it’s them. They’re pretty much the only amps I’ve ever owned and all I used before I got into serious modelling. I know some complain about the number of Marshalls in the Axe, but I’m in heaven.

Thanks again.
 
The video was very helpful as I’m coming from the helix that mirrors the real amp controls so it’s the one aspect of the im struggling with. Everything else is very intuitive.

I spent two years down the IR rabbit hole, constantly changing an tweaking everything, which is why I love the powercab. With your presets I just look at the cab model you’ve chosen in the first block and choose the matching one. So far I’ve everything covered with those 6 speaker models and it sounds great, but no doubt different than your original.

The FRFR mode doesn’t work great with the axe though, sounds very dull and muffled. Rex kindly pointed out it’s to do with the inherent high freq/trebly/harsh tone of the helix. Do you have any tips on dialing that back in so the FRFR mode is useable?
Saying all that, I’ve never used the cab models in the axe and really want to give them a go. The sheer amount scares me though!
I’m hopefully going to get a proper studio type desk and have both the powercab and my studio monitors hooked up at the same time. Best of both worlds, but it would be nice to just use the powercab.

Marshalls. If there’s one amp I know inside and out, it’s them. They’re pretty much the only amps I’ve ever owned and all I used before I got into serious modelling.
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The main amp page is where to live, don't worry about everything else in the advanced settings too much, you may use it 5% of the time. 95% of the time you can get the tone right from the main amp page and the right IR.

I'm just not familiar with powercab, so i can't really help you. Everything should sound pretty great out of your studio speakers coming direct out of the Axe III. I'd figure out what mode of the "powercab" comes closest to what the sound is like out of the studio monitors and use that?

On Marshalls, having dialed in 263 amp channels, I can tell you there are a WHOLE LOT of nuanced flavors of Marshalls in modern amps; it was striking to me how many of the amp models really are just slightly different tweaked Marshalls as the core tone...sounds great!
 
Just a reminder:

The special "save20" coupon code discount available just to past 700+ Naked Amps Tonepack customers who want to buy the 1000+ Axe III Naked Amps TonePack is set to expire on September 4th (Tuesday after Labor Day in the US).

If you can't get the "save20" coupon to work on checkout (about 1 in 30 or so seem to have had this issue, not sure why), just email me at heybuddy @ asutinbuddy.com and we can manually add past customers to the coupon list and get you squared away.

Also, going to start adding some more amp presets now to the core collection, that we have a mostly fully functioning Axe-III Edit and I can rearrange presets easier in Preset Manager. Will build out the collection out even further, do some more single-coil specific presets, maybe some drive block-driven tones too.

When the update for 11.x comes around, eventually (but not before) those additional presets will be included when you download free update. I'll also have ported over most of Bonus presets from the 700+ TonePack that were not included in the original 1000+ Axe III TonePack out now.

I'll also try to get an AustinBuddy newsletter update out this Fall too. Not everyone uses the Fractal Forum, I know (but they should!).
 
Just a reminder:

The special "save20" coupon code discount available just to past 700+ Naked Amps Tonepack customers who want to buy the 1000+ Axe III Naked Amps TonePack is set to expire on September 4th (Tuesday after Labor Day in the US).

If you can't get the "save20" coupon to work on checkout (about 1 in 30 or so seem to have had this issue, not sure why), just email me at heybuddy @ asutinbuddy.com and we can manually add past customers to the coupon list and get you squared away.

Also, going to start adding some more amp presets now to the core collection, that we have a mostly fully functioning Axe-III Edit and I can rearrange presets easier in Preset Manager. Will build out the collection out even further, do some more single-coil specific presets, maybe some drive block-driven tones too.

When the update for 11.x comes around, eventually (but not before) those additional presets will be included when you download free update. I'll also have ported over most of Bonus presets from the 700+ TonePack that were not included in the original 1000+ Axe III TonePack out now.

I'll also try to get an AustinBuddy newsletter update out this Fall too. Not everyone uses the Fractal Forum, I know (but they should!).
This is amazing!
 
I’m starting to believe in a conspiracy theory that Austin Buddy and Michael Britt are the same person.

Finally got off my butt and used AxeManage to move around Cliff’s presets, delete some i never used on my Axe2 and AX8, and load-up AB amazing patches (as i did with my AX8). Everyone - just buy these patches, especially if you are not getting the tone you want. I’ve owned Fractal products since 2008 and AB’s patches finally got me exactly to the tone i wanted. Not that Fractal’s patches were not great, but AB’s just work for what i hear in my head. It helps that he used a CLR to test these patches because that’s what I use (as well as a Friedman and rhe surprisingly good L6 Powercab.

Plus, AB gain stages the patches for best sound and headroom. Just that alone was worth the price of admission.

While there are many great free patches on Axexchange, at least in my experience, they are hit or miss for me and firmware updates tend to bork them after a while.

Thanks AB.
 
Here's three fun presets I just uploaded to Axe-Change for the Axe-Fx III...the first one is new, the second two are already in the Axe III TonePack.

1. Brian Might or May?- a Queen patch I made after seeing "Killer Queen" live. The guitar player uses an AX8!

2. Texas LoneStar -- has some good Andy Timmons clean and lead sounds in scenes 5 to 8, this is from the 1000+ Naked Amps TonePack.

3. Diezel Herbert Amp -- has multiple scenes (awesome amp!), including one of my favorite tones of all, Scene 5 "Salvation" which totally makes me want to play the Black Crowe's "Sometimes Salvation" with my Gibson SG.

Enjoy!
 
OK, having way too much fun with this stuff...
Thanks for the tips, I tried your preset suggestions and it has made me wish the waiting list for the foot switches would reach my name soon.

I also worked out how to insert your JimiLondon user cab tonight, it was surprisingly easy to do (Axe-edit is very intuitive). So I've been playing around with those presets all night.

Summary - This Axe Fx III is a monster of a machine and the variety of sounds you get out of these presets (especially if you add switching between single coil and humbuckers) is impressive (and more importantly for me fun).

I'm beginning to feel sorry for my Boogie, as it hasn't been switched on since plugging in my axe fx...

Cheers.
 
Cooper Carter's awesome demo video featuring an example riff or song snippet using every amp channel modeled in the Axe-Fx III is done! So proud -- every preset uses a preset/scene from the AustinBuddy 1000+ Naked Amps TonePack!!! Cooper just added his own effects for a few of them.

Check it out here:





Cooper is running a contest until 9/4/2018 (which, as a reminder, is also when the "save20" check-out coupon discount to buy the 1000+ Axe-Fx III Naked Amps TonePack for previous 700+ TonePack purchasers runs out):

From Cooper: "If anyone can name ALL 263 riffs, they'll win a 30 minute Skype guitar or Axe-Fx lesson with me, a Fractal Audio swag pack, Ernie Ball gear pack, and a copy of @austinbuddy's 1000+ Naked Amps TonePack for either the Axe-Fx II or III, which I used to do this video (with a few fx added here and there to the naked amps).

We'll take answers until 9/4/18 at midnight, emailed to info [at] coopercarter.com."
 
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