Presets MASTER THREAD - AustinBuddy 1000+ LIVEGOLD TonePack for Cygnus X2

[iaresee]

So @austinbuddy shared a preview of this pack with me early on in the summer and, as testament to how hard 2020 has been, I only just got around to trying these today.

It being Strat-ur-Day I plugged my Silver Sky in the III and loaded up Bank 1. I'm already a huge fan of the Naked Amps pack and get a ton of miles out of that pack; I'll use it a reference and starting point for amp+cab combos when I'm "sound hunting" and it never lets me down. I have high expectations for the packs @austinbuddy puts out.

This pack is some next level awesome.

I made it as far as the end of Bank 1 before I realized two hours of "dad time" had elapsed and I had to go back to family mode. Each preset captured a unique and inspiring combination of sounds. I know I have a tendancy to make all amps sound the same, so whatever @austinbuddy does to fight this tendancy when he's making his preset packs I greatly admire and appreciate. The first few presets, especially with my Silver Sky, were just fantastic for RHCP-style funk-rock. They get that percussive clang thing so well and make really slamming those single-note riffs a joy. The higher gain presets worked surprisingly well with the single coils; I was not expecting this and figured I'd end up switching to a humbucker-equipped guitar to use them. That wasn't so at all.

To @trancegodz's comment on the higher gain Marshalls: I too thought they were very sizzle-ly at first, especially with single coils. But I dropped the Silver Sky for my 'bucker equipped PRS that's voiced quite dark and these presets made complete sense after the guitar swap. They're hot and top-end heavy, but with the right guitar they work very, very well. These'll cut nicely with the band.

@austinbuddy maintains his ability to easily separate me from my money -- I never feel like I haven't gotten so much more than my money's worth out of his work. He builds reference tones I find incredibly useful and inspiring. My only problem now is I've got the Naked Amps and these Live Gold banks and too few places in my III to keep all of them -- I have to choose my favorite children!

 

[Eliju]

Maybe you should think about an update adapted to 13.x so that everything fits exactly again.

It’s just been updated for version 12. The only thing that changed is drives. I don’t think there’ll be an update for a while. Otherwise AB would spend all of his time updating the pack once a month.

 

[iaresee]

This preset alone is worth the price of admission. Whaaaapoosh in spades with the Silver Sky! It's an updated and expanded version of a smilar preset in the Naked Amps pack it would seem. One of my favorites from that pack, now even better.

 

[austinbuddy]

Absolutely not. But I’m playing through a pair of CLR’s too. I’m guessing his issue may be the wah setup.

EDITED: I fix my pedal calibration issue (originally in this post) by resetting system parameters and re-doing the calibrations again, works now. Phew.

 

[austinbuddy]

It’s just been updated for version 12. The only thing that changed is drives. I don’t think there’ll be an update for a while. Otherwise AB would spend all of his time updating the pack once a month.

True. I'm working on a 200+ Bass Tonepack with my bass player Buddy Scott before he leaves town, we have three weeks to finish it. We just did 6 hours between us and it's coming together. It will be an evolution from the last one because

That's my project priority (after my 9-5 day job), I need him here as a pro bass player to get it done, so we are working nights and weekends on that.

I'm really selling Amp & Cabs dialed-in presets. The effects in the presets, including drives, are extras to me the way I think, that people should change to whatever they like. I just try to give folks a starting point that sounds good. "Make it YOUR sound" with your effects/drives etc. Drives are pretty personal. Not everyone will like what I like, and vice versa.

But in fairness, the Tuber Screamer is essential for metal amps in Bank 3 so I will tackle that sometime later in September, but it's some thing anyone can do now and I did include that firmware 13.x compatible drive as a block you can put int your block library and import into any preset in the latest TonePack update from last week. That is one you can just slip in to replace Drive2 and it should work without screwing scene and channel things up, those metal amps almost always use Drive2 Channel A.

 

[trancegodz]

Lets us know, and we can take this into a private conversation if you prefer, or hash it out here Happy to work with you to figure out what's causing this.

Thanks Buddy. I will e-mail you privately and answer all your questions.

I have only seen good reviews for your products, and lots of them, which is why I purchased them. I do not think there is anything "wrong" with the "Live Gold" preset pack. In general most of them just sound too bright for my tastes. I could tweak them to my tastes, but I didn't expect to have to, and for the time it would take to do it I could just as easily create new presets. From all of the great reviews I really expected most if not all of the presets to sound great without having to do anything.

Most guitarists have a sound or sounds in their head that they prefer, like Eric Johnson or Steve Vai for instance. The same goes for producers mixing guitar tracks on recordings, cab pack producers, preset pack producers, etc. There is nothing wrong with the way different producers mix guitars. Eddie Kramer mixes guitars differently to Roy Thomas Baker, or George Martin, or Jimmy Page, or Steve Vai, etc. They all sound great, just different.

I think I just have a different idea of what sounds good than you do. Just like Jimi Hendrix had a different sound than Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, or Jimmy Page, and Steve Vai sounds different than Joe Satriani, or Brian May. It's all personal tastes.
I think we just have different tastes and ideas of what sounds good.

I'll e-mail you privately.

 

[grandinq]

So @trancegodz, sorry you aren't happy with LiveGold -- so allow me to ask you a few questions to see if maybe there is something missed here:

1. What guitar are you using? What year (modern, vintage) and pickups (low, medium high output)? Strings (steel or nickel?)

2. What playback system -- are you using a power amp in to a real cab, or FRFRs, or studio monitors? Are you using the XLR outs or the S/PDIF out?

Be specific. This is real important for us to know.

3. Are you playing loud (over 92db) or soft like bedroom monitoring?

4. What is your Axe-Fx III Output 1 knob setting at?

5. Is your Axe-Fx III's Global Output1 EQ and Output2 EQ flat - all at zero?

6. Are you using a spring loaded pedal in exp. 1 for the wah, or not?

7. When you look at the WAH block, is the "Control" value showing at zero, or 10, or some other number?

(As example, I have a Mission pedal that will not calibrate right, and the wah shows up at 9.17 and won't turn off when I use that pedal -- while my Fractal pedal does not have this issue - something worth checking).

8. If you roll your guitar's tone knob down to 5 or 6, is it still too bright, or does that help a lot? (BTW, I dialed these in with my tone up at 10 on my bridge, but I personally usually roll my bridge tone knob down to 6-7 or so when I play whether Les Paul or Strat or even Tele).

FYI, I have a pair of high end studio pro ATC 25's monitors here. They are the monitors Guys like Eddie Kramer (Hendrix, Zeppelin, etc). and Elliott Scheiner (Eagles, Steely Dan) mix on. I had conversations with them at NAMM about these amazing, transparent speakers.

I played all those presets this morning only on my ATC 25s, and I don't hear what you described at all. (In fact, the ATCs are a little darker than the Atomic CLRs). I am working on a bass pack all day today with a bassist, but if I have some time next 48 hours, perhaps I (or someone eese here?) can make a Logic Track of the sounds I'm hearing and post it here. I'd love to hear you do the same and share so we can compare.

You are the first in hundreds who have the TonePack to say this is an issue, and that makes me think there is a problem somewhere we can fix here.

By the way, the real life JCM 800 amps and the Slash amp ARE trebly and raspy compared to many Marshall-style amps. Not amps I would grab as my first choice for a Marshall, but they can "slice through"in a mix. On those amps, you have to turn the gain up high to get them to darken up. So yes, a clean and lower gain Scenes 1 or 2 is going to be brighter sounding than the Scenes 3 or 4 versions of those amps - that's the way the real life amps work.

On FRFRs, if anything, the Atomic CLRs have very detailed mids -- they are not dark, I assure you, and others can chime in.

Last, unlike the Naked Amps which were designed for recording via studio monitors (as I said in my video), these presets were made to be played live, loud, from a good FRFR speaker about 10 feet away from you like on stage, with lots of mids and highs to punch through in a band mix, but with some bottom like a speaker cab, and so that with a good FRFR when you move around stage four feet left or four feet right, when playing, you don't lose all your sound's highs (so it's not just okay standing in one sweet spot but you move three feet and all your highs are gone - some FRFRs have that issue).

Lets us know, and we can take this into a private conversation if you prefer, or hash it out here Happy to work with you to figure out what's causing this.

Anyone else with Axe-Fx III LiveGold finding similar "everything is too bright", or finding to the contrary, that wants to weigh in (respectfully please)?

I’ve been very happy with these. I’ve made three basic versions of my go to live preset. One is based around Dirty Shirley 2, another Plexi 100 High, and the other Brit 800 34. I know my ears may feel a little different on different days, and at least one of these always hits the spot on a given day for what I am going for, a classic rock Marshall type sound.

Best preset pack I’ve ever bought.

 

[iaresee]

@trancegodz with a Les Paul, these AB Slash tones sound...like Slash to me. Nothing altered in the preset. Just Les Paul (with P90s no less) > AFIII and the Slash's AFD100 1&2 chnl AX3 preset. I start on Scene 4 for the lead sound, neck pickup. Then I play a bit with Scene 3 on the neck pickup before switching to the bridge pickup. Nice bit of bite on the rhythym tones to offset Duff and Izzy's tones.

I freaking love how you can hear my pant cuffs flapping in the recording.



(To Slash: sorry I murdered your pretty riff, buddy.)

 

[Keith White]

I just bought the Live Gold for Axe FXIII and am going though bank 1. The last 7 presets I tried (from Slash's AFD100 through Silver Jubilee) are the worst sounding presets anyone could imagine. Ice pick in your ears. I thought the wah was on full treble, but it wasn't. I have a pedal assigned to external 1 for wah and it works fine. So that's not it. I can't imagine how anyone, anywhere, in any circumstance would think those presets sounded good.

Update: I went through the presets up to the start of the Soldano section and thank God none of the rest of them sound like that, except for the 2C&2D Cameron CCV100x3 which is ice pick in your ears also.

The CLRs must be dark sounding and lacking in treble because in general almost all of the presets have a little too much treble to me. Only the ones I mentioned above are oppressive. Or maybe Austin Buddy has lost some of his high end hearing from dialing in all these presets while blasting the CLRs.

Its all in your setup man. Those presets are incredible. You definitely have something set up incorrectly

 

[austinbuddy]

Thanks Buddy. I will e-mail you privately and answer all your questions.

I have only seen good reviews for your products, and lots of them, which is why I purchased them. I do not think there is anything "wrong" with the "Live Gold" preset pack. In general most of them just sound too bright for my tastes. I could tweak them to my tastes, but I didn't expect to have to, and for the time it would take to do it I could just as easily create new presets. From all of the great reviews I really expected most if not all of the presets to sound great without having to do anything.

Most guitarists have a sound or sounds in their head that they prefer, like Eric Johnson or Steve Vai for instance. The same goes for producers mixing guitar tracks on recordings, cab pack producers, preset pack producers, etc. There is nothing wrong with the way different producers mix guitars. Eddie Kramer mixes guitars differently to Roy Thomas Baker, or George Martin, or Jimmy Page, or Steve Vai, etc. They all sound great, just different.

I think I just have a different idea of what sounds good than you do. Just like Jimi Hendrix had a different sound than Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, or Jimmy Page, and Steve Vai sounds different than Joe Satriani, or Brian May. It's all personal tastes.
I think we just have different tastes and ideas of what sounds good.

I'll e-mail you privately.

@trancegodz is a good guy, and a good contributing member of this community, and I respect him. We've been chatting privately and his set up seems solid to me (assuming his wah is not weirdly staying on like mine, which using my Mission pedals toe down is not only going to 9.16, not 10 to turn off! - he says no and I believe him).

He plays a Strat and prefers darker tones like Eric Johnson and I think that may be part of his disappointment. A Strat into a JCM 800 is...well,,, sizzly, no question. Not a choice I'd make.

The LIVEGOLD Marshall style amps are dialed in for bridge humbuckers primarily - because 90% of you guys would use them that way.

Scenes 5-8 simply boost a Tele or Strat into the amp (with Filter block 5db boost) , but there are definitely three things I can share with you guys to compensate if you find any tone is too bright for you.

1. Try/use the CS4 Brite switch reverse. A Strat is brighter than a Les Paul. Try this trick and it will help a LOT. You might lose some gain, but engaging the amp boost will make up for it. I for one would personally not use a Fender Twin Reverb with Strats and the brite switch on for example. The amps come up as Cliff set them to be default, so if the brite switch is on, I left it on. That's why CS4 is useful/handy for Strats and Teles.

2. Use the CS2 Amp Boost in conjunction with CS4. Boost that Strat hitting the amp, and it brings some bass with it and phattens the Strat up.

3.If all else fails...turn that Tone knob down... and even roll that Strat volume knob to 9 not 10 (it makes a BIG difference). That's what it is there for. I noticed one of the best blues players I've ever seen, Alan Haynes here in Austin, plays a Vibroking, and his Strat sounds heavenly and his volume is NEVER at 10, always a click under that. I actually turn my bridge tone down on my Les Paul or SG too, something I picked up from Robben Ford (But I do dial TonePack presets in with them at 10).

If you only use Strats, then feel free to turn mids UP and Treble DOWN to compensate. Again, these are a base for you to make presets YOU love and inspire you to play.

Hope that is helpful!

 

[dongzo]

I'm very close to pull the trigger on this while the sale is still on.
What's the update policy? Free of charge for a period I guess?....1yr...2yr...forever?

 

[greiswig]

I'm very close to pull the trigger on this while the sale is still on.
What's the update policy? Free of charge for a period I guess?....1yr...2yr...forever?

Just pull the trigger. Well worth it even if there wasn't update support. You get a bunch of jumping-off points that make it easier to support yourself in the future.

 

[austinbuddy]

I'm very close to pull the trigger on this while the sale is still on.
What's the update policy? Free of charge for a period I guess?....1yr...2yr...forever?

So far I've never charged for an update for any TonePack, but I do reserve the right to in the future. Part of what you pay for is one or two updates included for future.

Generally, I only do full TonePack updates when a new Fractal firmware makes significant tonal changes to the amp modeling (and alters the base preset amp sound). For example, firmware 13.x changes some drive blocks, but the amp tones are the same as under 12.14 so at the moment there is no update for 13.x (but I might look into it later this year, and I include some 13.x compatible drive blocks in the latest version if people want to swap out themselves -- read the included notes thought before you do).

 

[dongzo]

So far I've never charged for an update for any TonePack, but I do reserve the right to in the future. Part of what you pay for is one or two updates included for future.

Generally, I only do full TonePack updates when a new Fractal firmware makes significant tonal changes to the amp modeling (and alters the base preset amp sound). For example, firmware 13.x changes some drive blocks, but the amp tones are the same as under 12.14 so at the moment there is no update for 13.x (but I might look into it later this year, and I include some 13.x compatible drive blocks in the latest version if people want to swap out themselves -- read the included notes thought before you do).

Ok....thanks.
I already bought the native amps pack a while ago. Just wanted to check if anything changed since then.
The main reason for me getting this one is the live approach...and as I already own 2 x Atomic CLR it's almost a must have
I mostly use my axe at my home studio and maybe it could be an idea for you to share a few tips and tricks how to tweak the presets "down" to studio level

 

[Silvertree]

I held out as long as I could but I pulled the trigger a few minutes ago. I can't wait to get started!

 

[Brian Coonan]

I'm very close to pull the trigger on this while the sale is still on.
What's the update policy? Free of charge for a period I guess?....1yr...2yr...forever?

Yeah, just buy them. Over the last week or so I've really been going through the new ones (Live Gold) for the AFIII and they are great. I had presets that I've played with live and really liked them - but last night when I was getting ready for a show this weekend, I found that the AB ones that I liked sound SO much better than what I was using. I was actually kind of shocked because I REALLY liked the ones I made. I like making my own presets, but more for the effects that I need. I don't really have time to go through a ton of amps and cabs and do all the comparison etc (I'd LIKE to, I just don't have the time to) and am definitely ok taking advantage of someone else's hard work.

Even if there were no updates, you're going to get a BUNCH of tones that are very usable - but in this case, you will also get some updates so at least IMO, it's money well spent. I played through a lot of them at gig volume and they just sound fantastic.

(this is a non paid endorsement lol!)

 

[austinbuddy]

Thanks everyone for all the love. I'm really proud of these presets and am glad you guys are finding them as inspiring to play as I did.

I need to do some other projects but will come back to these again. At some point I bet Fractal will update the drives in the FM3 too like they have for the Axe-Fx III.

As always, if you find little things wrong here and there, let me know and we'll get them fixed when a new update comes. I forget to label two of the Divided by 13 Amps preset names as "LO" and "HI" this last round -- it's always something!

 

[dongzo]

And here we go....got the pack....and have said goodbye to my family for at least the rest of the week

 

[X-Mann]

Hey all.....

X-Mann here & I just finished reading this entire thread!!!!

I’ve been building my own song based presets on the FM3 with some good success, but after watching these videos & the Leon Todd “5-Minute Tones”, I realize that there’s a lot more I could do for better tones.

I like that these presets are made for the “Amp in the room” tone & feel.

I’ll be purchasing these when I get hone today & checking out all the little things. I hope to learn a lot now that I have a pretty good feel for the FM3.

More to follow......& Peace! X

 

[X-Mann]

I bought Austin Buddy “Live Gold” FM3 presets & can’t believe the clarity & quality of these amp models!

I can’t get past the JMP-1 model......Lol

I’m using them with a pair of Friedman ASC-10’s & it’s like it was made for them. I will be re-building some of my song based presets around these stellar amp tones too.

Yea, Wow!!! All of these are working for me so far & I’m finding the Cab IR’s funny at times too. I only know (& Luv V30’s), but there are many great amp/cab combinations. The Satch amps very cool & a great gain structure to them. I’m going to make some preset copies & add some FX & do some tests.

I did notice that the Output (#1) on some of these amps is hitting right at O dB & at times going into the red a bit. I know not to mess with the amp output volumes as you’ve mentioned & to only go down In volume using the Per scene Volumes......

Do the lead Scenes have a set DB boost for live band use already?

I’m interested as to what you guys are doing with these killer presets as far as Scene based Song presets. How are you tweaking the volumes &how are they working in a band setting?

I know it really helps that these amp models we’re made at volume & through a Rock Solid FRFR system!!! A++ There’s a clarity & feel laying through my FRFR that sounds stellar. The only downside is that the presets I’ve created sound slightly week or not as amp like and clear to me now!

More on this later.......X