New factory presets?

chris said:
What would the changes be?
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Speaking as a relatively new III owner, it seems that a lot of the presets were developed using guitars with massively more output than mine. My guitars all have low output PAF or noiseless SC type pickups, and I never “tickle the red”, even with the input level maxed.

What I found is that many of the stock patches need significant gain and level adjustments. The stock patch output levels can vary wildly from patch to patch. Many of the clean fx patches barely sound at all without a significant dose of input trim and/or output level in the amp block.

The other day, I tried to match the tones in this video:

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/the-10-best-high-gain-factory-presets.161162/#post-1929733

Downtuned high gain is not really my thing, but what I found was that I needed to add a lot of amp block input trim and a lot of bass just to get in the ballpark. Cooper's pickups are clearly a lot hotter and bassier than my PAFs.

Now none of this bothers me much, I know how to deal with it, and I know it’s impossible to do a set of patches that’s going to be right for everyone. But having to trim and level almost every patch just to properly audition gets to be a bit of a drag. It might be nice to have a set of alternate patches that are gained and leveled for lower output guitars.

It would definitely be nice to have sound bites of the patches by the developers. I would have had no idea that the patches Cooper Carter played sounded like that without his video. Those stock high gain patches just sounded thin and harsh using my guitars with no adjustments.
 
Most of the presets in my experience don't work for me either. You need to find an amp you like and then an IR that works. Adding stuff like delay, reverb, etc is easy but the core tone takes some time. I find that I need to roll off lows and highs in the cab block (I use direct tone - FRFR).
 
Actually Cooper Carter in his recent video on 10 best high-gain factory presets mentioned that an update to factory presets is being prepared, if I understood correctly
 
Seems plain enough that your issue is coming from low-output pickups, not the presets. Which really isn't an "issue" at all. It's just a difference. Get some hotter pickups if you want everything to be hotter. Or just do what you're doing and adjust the input trim. Presets are starting points, not one-size-fits-all magic bullets.
 
Godam said:
Actually Cooper Carter in his recent video on 10 best high-gain factory presets mentioned that an update to factory presets is being prepared, if I understood correctly
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I was referring to the Petrucci Rig preset. I believe the updated version using the JP signature model is in the FM3 presets. Just pull that into Axe-Edit.
 
ccroyalsenders said:
Seems plain enough that your issue is coming from low-output pickups, not the presets. Which really isn't an "issue" at all. It's just a difference. Get some hotter pickups if you want everything to be hotter. Or just do what you're doing and adjust the input trim. Presets are starting points, not one-size-fits-all magic bullets.
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I don't have an "issue".

Not everyone likes high output pickups. PAF pickups and low output SCs are what they are, and do exactly what I expect, which is produce a lot of chime. They work fantastic for low gain stuff and brown sound gain levels, which is my wheelhouse.

He asked what could be changed on the presets and I answered. I didn't say it was a problem for me, other than having to do a lot of levelling.
 
I don't see why someone would really want to get high gain sounds from a guitar with low output pickups ?

I have some strats and a jag etc with low output pickups, and they are great for what they are, but I use them with amps and styles that make, for the lack of a better word, 'sense'...

I'm not really wanting to use my tele with a 5.2k bridge through a Skull Crusher or Savage.... I run that guitar through a Deluxe and other amps suited to weak vintage pickups for vintage sounds.

I use my humbucker equipped guitars with hotter pickups through the heavy amps, which works great
 
lqdsnddist said:
I don't see why someone would really want to get high gain sounds from a guitar with low output pickups ?

I have some strats and a jag etc with low output pickups, and they are great for what they are, but I use them with amps and styles that make, for the lack of a better word, 'sense'...

I'm not really wanting to use my tele with a 5.2k bridge through a Skull Crusher or Savage.... I run that guitar through a Deluxe and other amps suited to weak vintage pickups for vintage sounds.

I use my humbucker equipped guitars with hotter pickups through the heavy amps, which works great
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I use low output pickups for high gain. As do many others. I don't like the tone of high output pickups, clean or gained up.
 
guitarnerdswe said:
I use low output pickups for high gain. As do many others. I don't like the tone of high output pickups, clean or gained up.
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How low is low though ? Are you trying to use a vintage 5k strat bridge to get drop tuned chuggy modern metal stuff ? Or are you talking about "low" output being like a PAF or similar....

I certainly don't use stuff like modern actives, or crazy hot ceramics, but still reach for my strat with a Super Distortion in the bridge for when I want to play heavier stuff....

Maybe I just look for a reason to justify owning so many guitars LOL
 
Moke did a really cool thing where he created three versions of the AS8 factory presets for low, medium, and high gain pickups. I thought he did that for the Axe-FX III, but it looks like he didn‘t release it yet.
 
One feature I miss from the AxeFX II was the way you could apply a global gain to guitar input. That way if you happened to be playing a guitar with low output pickups, you could turn that up and your presets would sound right. For some reason, that feature is not on the AxeFX III.
 
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