Screeching noise even with gates?

H

Hayden Craig

Member
Hope this is the right place to post this. I'm gonna give as much info as I can.

Ibanez Universe with Evolution 7 pickups
direct into focusrite scarlett 2i2, USB to computer

Any kind of tone with gain at all, if I go past about 5 on the input drive, I just get a horrible, awful screeching ring all the time. When I am copying some other people's tones with the axe fx, I get screeching while their's sounds perfect. Somewhat paradoxically, I feel like I also have no sustain. Just tons of noise all the time, including a layer of noise underneath when I'm actually playing. I can't seem to make any kind of metal tone at all because of this problem! Even with low gain I have this ringing sometimes. So how is everyone getting such heavy, crazy tons, with gates, and no noise over the playing, and with the cutoff perfect? I even tried to download some of those periphery tones and they do it too, and theirs don't sound like that at all.

I'm following the very common pattern I see of Gate -> compressor -> drive -> amp -> cab -> delay/reverb

In some tones there's even 2 gates, one on front and back, and I still get this. Here's a small example:


I'm trying to get some djent tones and it literally seems impossible with the axe fx for me, which is funny because i know so many that get it just from the axe fx alone. So something is up on my side and I can't figure out what.
 
Is your guitar facing a speaker? Sounds like feedback.

This sound is not normal and not what happens with an axe-fx.
 
Whether it is or not it still does it. I usually play facing a speaker but I usually record just using mixing headphones. I tried playing away across the room and the noise is still there for the most part. I also tried to follow this guy's djent tone tutorial:


(Sorry I can't post links yet)

And I will spare you the recording of it literally just blaring that sound insanely loudly all the time. The input drive is only at like 6.5 on this preset and the drive has no actual drive. He also has 2 gates. The previous tone I showed you before has actually even less gain than that and I still get it.
 
If you play only with only headphones, no interface, DAW, etc, do you still hear this?

If so, post a preset... Something is not right.
 
Hayden Craig said:
Whether it is or not it still does it. I usually play facing a speaker but I usually record just using mixing headphones. I tried playing away across the room and the noise is still there for the most part. I also tried to follow this guy's djent tone tutorial:


(Sorry I can't post links yet)

And I will spare you the recording of it literally just blaring that sound insanely loudly all the time. The input drive is only at like 6.5 on this preset and the drive has no actual drive. He also has 2 gates. The previous tone I showed you before has actually even less gain than that and I still get it.
Click to expand...

any tutorial you follow won’t give you the same result because something additional is happening with your setup. i only mentioned that “it’s not normal” so you aren’t wondering why you get that noise but no one else does when you follow their examples.

does your guitar and cables and anything else you’re using besides the AX8 work properly with other setups? have you tried a different room and different electrical outlet? if not, please do. this could be electrical interference caused by something on that circuit.
 
Sorry it took me so long to reply. I work and go to school full time to figuring this out is kind of hard to do. The problem isn't really that I can't match his tone, the problem is I can't match or play anything, because everything is so noisy and doing anything makes a ring.

I am now playing with only headphones and no speakers and it's still there. In fact, with just an amp and a cab, with the input drive at 5, there's constant noise over the signal. Even worse, you can hear it, noticeably, while I play. I'll give another example, and also upload the patches I'm using.



I go from just amp and cab, then turn on the drive. There's noise the whole time and it's basically standard settings. Nothing else is going on. No speakers either. All headphones. EDIT: Also I only have this one guitar, Ibanez Universe. :( Hard to test. I don't have any friends that play the instrument either. They all play bass or brass.
 

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Hayden Craig said:
Sorry it took me so long to reply. I work and go to school full time to figuring this out is kind of hard to do. The problem isn't really that I can't match his tone, the problem is I can't match or play anything, because everything is so noisy and doing anything makes a ring.

I am now playing with only headphones and no speakers and it's still there. In fact, with just an amp and a cab, with the input drive at 5, there's constant noise over the signal. Even worse, you can hear it, noticeably, while I play. I'll give another example, and also upload the patches I'm using.



I go from just amp and cab, then turn on the drive. There's noise the whole time and it's basically standard settings. Nothing else is going on. No speakers either. All headphones. EDIT: Also I only have this one guitar, Ibanez Universe. :( Hard to test. I don't have any friends that play the instrument either. They all play bass or brass.
Click to expand...

As we’ve been saying, this noise is not normal.

Does the guitar make that noise with any other amp? Something is not working correctly.
 
I originally played on 2 different things. I had Guitar Pro, which I used as a VST in FL studio, and I also had a BOSS GT-10. There a tiny bit of noise in the BOSS, but very little in the Guitar Rig tones, and those also sound pretty powerful and full. The first actual song on my soundcloud is a clip from the Guitar Rig.
 
Have you tried using USB as your interface instead of the Scarlett?

Was your Axe Fx purchased new or used? If used, try doing a system reset...
 
Hayden Craig said:
There a tiny bit of noise in the BOSS, but very little in the Guitar Rig tones,
Click to expand...

the same exact noise? Did you use high Gain on those? Anything could have changed from the time you used that to the Axe now. Do you have a different guitar to try?

Go to a high gain preset on the Axe. If you unplug the cable from the guitar and hold or tap the tip of the cable so it hums, is that noise there or just a hum?
 
unix-guy said:
Have you tried using USB as your interface instead of the Scarlett?

Was your Axe Fx purchased new or used? If used, try doing a system reset...
Click to expand...

So I actually sent the AXE FX II XL + back already because I thought there was a problem with it. They reset it and informed me the unit itself is fine. I also got a setup on my guitar and paid to have them check the electronics and my pickups and such. Also fine. I have not tried to direct USB. I'm assuming you mean directly USB to my computer, and then monitor through the headphone jack on the front?

chris said:
the same exact noise? Did you use high Gain on those? Anything could have changed from the time you used that to the Axe now. Do you have a different guitar to try?

Go to a high gain preset on the Axe. If you unplug the cable from the guitar and hold or tap the tip of the cable so it hums, is that noise there or just a hum?
Click to expand...

The noise is like it on the BOSS, yes. That was one of the reasons I moved away from the BOSS as well. But at least on the boss I could put some serious gain and volume, and get (sometimes) some really nice tones out of it. Still the best playing high on the fretboard of anything I've tried so far. I used the same guitar on it, but I also owned an old Ibanez RG and that had even less noise, but didn't have that power I was looking for.

If I tap or hold the end of the guitar cable, it doesn't give me the noise like in the tone. That's more like a buzz, there's not really that constant white-noise. But that hum is pretty intense.
 
Hayden Craig said:
If I tap or hold the end of the guitar cable, it doesn't give me the noise like in the tone. That's more like a buzz, there's not really that constant white-noise. But that hum is pretty intense.
Click to expand...
If the noise doesn’t happen when your guitar is unplugged then it’s problably the guitar causing the noise, or picking up interference from a computer screen or other noise causing thing.
 
My hunch is that your pickups are probably hot and thus the culprit, hence why I'd recommend trying another guitar if possible. You might also try turning down the volume pot on the guitar a bit and see if that makes any difference.
 
unix-guy said:
Yes, that is what I meant.
Click to expand...
I've tried this before with no results really. It plays about the same.

chris said:
If the noise doesn’t happen when your guitar is unplugged then it’s problably the guitar causing the noise, or picking up interference from a computer screen or other noise causing thing.
Click to expand...

This isn't something I considered, so maybe this could be it. I am actually moving within a couple weeks and will have a nice, better space to organize all my equipment. Currently I have a lot of things stacked together near my computer and the AXE FX.

Jason Scott said:
My hunch is that your pickups are probably hot and thus the culprit, hence why I'd recommend trying another guitar if possible. You might also try turning down the volume pot on the guitar a bit and see if that makes any difference.
Click to expand...

My bridge pickup is very hot, for sure, as a lot of the people who have done setups on it commented! I originally bought it because I wanted the most powerful, sustaining, screaming highs. Maybe this has backfired for me though. I wanted that feedback-ish sound but not like this complete noise. Usually I see people playing right in front of a cab to get that small feedback to increase their sustain or make their guitar have that scream i've always wanted.


In any case I really appreciate you guys all trying to help me. That needs to be said!
 
Hayden Craig said:
This isn't something I considered, so maybe this could be it. I am actually moving within a couple weeks and will have a nice, better space to organize all my equipment. Currently I have a lot of things stacked together near my computer and the AXE FX.
Click to expand...

A fairly quick way to rule out interference coming from something in the room is simply to use the Axe FX in another room with headphones.
 
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i started having the same issue recently since the latest firmware update. i keep looking around the unit to see what changes I might have made that caused the issue. certain amp combos do it even worse. marshall preamp with modded tube screamer in front does that noise plus feedback even at almost no volume to my speakers. I also recently connected a patch bay set to through and I need to eliminate it as a problem also.
 
Sorry it takes me so long to get back. Busy busy. Still committed to getting this problem solved though.

Singtall said:
i started having the same issue recently since the latest firmware update. i keep looking around the unit to see what changes I might have made that caused the issue. certain amp combos do it even worse. marshall preamp with modded tube screamer in front does that noise plus feedback even at almost no volume to my speakers. I also recently connected a patch bay set to through and I need to eliminate it as a problem also.
Click to expand...

I don't really know if it was after the latest firmware, but it does seem worse now than ever. My pickups are pretty hot so I thought I might just not have noticed. After these other guys suggestions, I realize it's pretty constant no matter what circumstances I'm playing.

Jason Scott said:
A fairly quick way to rule out interference coming from something in the room is simply to use the Axe FX in another room with headphones.
Click to expand...

So I actually tried this. My computer and studio monitors were off, and I was listening directly through headphones. Still quite a bit of noise. I think it might be the setup or it might just simply be my guitar. But I know it's not the unit at least. But when I use my guitar with my guitar rig, for example, even using the Axe FX anyway to put the dry line into FL studio, the guitar rig tones sound great still. I'm not really sure what's happening here. I will probably record a clip of the AXE FX - > Guitar rig, and one that is just one of my AXE FX tones, and you guys can compare to see just how much worse the AXE FX sounds.
 
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