Gain Enhancer Appreciation Thread

I’m a simple man in many ways and rarely, if ever, stray any further than the authentic tab of the amp page. This is the main reason I love the Axe FX, I don’t need to fiddle to get a great tone.

Anyway, with that being said, I gave this a try for shits and giggles and added 0.5 to some of my presets. I don’t really what it’s doing exactly, but I like it. I like it a lot!
 
Do huh??? I didn't think my tone needed it's gain enhanced. I'm obviously missing out on something and now have something to play with today. I'm keeping this thread's page up. 'Enhanced Gain'.... who'd of thunk it?
 
At the risk of looking dumb, I'm going to ask this anyway: Where do you guys place it in the chain? After the amp block, before the cab? After the Cab? Before the amp?

I really hope the answer is not use your ears...lol.
 
At the risk of looking dumb, I'm going to ask this anyway: Where do you guys place it in the chain? After the amp block, before the cab? After the Cab? Before the amp?

I really hope the answer is not use your ears...lol.
LOL use your ears and fingers to dial in the amount you want, but the location cannot be changed.

The Gain Enhancer is a part of the amp block. On the Amp block -> Dynamics page -> Out Comp Type "Gain Enhancer" -> set Out Compression/threshold/Clarity to desired amount. Just add .5 out compression to a patch you like to get a sense of the difference.

It's baked into the amp block so you cannot move it before or after any other block type.
 
At the risk of looking dumb, I'm going to ask this anyway: Where do you guys place it in the chain? After the amp block, before the cab? After the Cab? Before the amp?

I really hope the answer is not use your ears...lol.
Like @KyleHowdy said, it's in the amp block, but I'm going to guess you're talking about the Enhancer block (which is totally different from gain enhancer). You'd usually place the Enhancer block (used to modify and enhance the stereo image of your output) somewhere after the amp block. The amp block sums to mono, so don't put it before the amp block. I usually put it right at the end of the chain, when I use it, which isn't that often.
 
LOL use your ears and fingers to dial in the amount you want, but the location cannot be changed.

The Gain Enhancer is a part of the amp block. On the Amp block -> Dynamics page -> Out Comp Type "Gain Enhancer" -> set Out Compression/threshold/Clarity to desired amount. Just add .5 out compression to a patch you like to get a sense of the difference.

It's baked into the amp block so you cannot move it before or after any other block type.

Ahh...Thank you. I was reshuffling my chain to make room for the Enhancer block. Now I can get down to business...lol
 
I hear the 'hair' it adds. The deal breaker for me is that I get a nice clean single coil tone on this preset when I back off the volume. With the Gain Enhancer it adds some dirt and doesn't sound crisp. But.... I'm sure if I re-read this thread I may find I can control that with the threshold/clarity etc... settings. Maybe I've enhanced my gain by all the tweaks I should've documented along the way...lol. I'll keep playing around and digest the suggestions in this thread.

My next statement belongs in the 'wish' thread: An export to .csv feature that documents all of a particular block's settings. That way I could sort or compare when trying to recreate things, etc..
 
I hear the 'hair' it adds. The deal breaker for me is that I get a nice clean single coil tone on this preset when I back off the volume. With the Gain Enhancer it adds some dirt and doesn't sound crisp. But.... I'm sure if I re-read this thread I may find I can control that with the threshold/clarity etc... settings. Maybe I've enhanced my gain by all the tweaks I should've documented along the way...lol. I'll keep playing around and digest the suggestions in this thread.

My next statement belongs in the 'wish' thread: An export to .csv feature that documents all of a particular block's settings. That way I could sort or compare when trying to recreate things, etc..
You can export whole preset to csv, html or pdf with FracTool
 
I find that just a touch of gain enhancer can give an additional bite of note definition to really thick distortion that's getting more sludgy than I prefer with some amps at higher gain.

On the other hand, I make far greater use of its menu buddy: feedback compression: With clean or on the edge of breaking up tones for dynamic wiggle room with the guitar volume pot, even modest settings like compression 1.2 and threshold of -12db to -21db allows a nice shine and shimmer to the high end and keeps transient spikes under transparent control. Using a higher threshold like -9db to -12db and a higher ratio; say 3 ish; will restrain the bite of a Tele bridge pickup without otherwise altering the tone, in a way the tone knob won't address.

These are a really great parameters, because they can give a type of enhancement and nuance that otherwise might require adjustments throughout the whole gain staging and tonal system to get a similar result. That said, they are not optimal for every circumstance, and too much compressor yields soft mud, and too much gain enhancer can sound like a wood chipper, so I do not use them willy nilly.
 
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I find that just a touch of gain enhancer can give an additional bite of note definition to really thick distortion that's getting more sludgy than I prefer with some amps at higher gain.

On the other hand, I make far greater use of its menu buddy: feedback compression: With clean or on the edge of breaking up tones for dynamic wiggle room with the guitar volume pot, even modest settings like compression 1.2 and threshold of -12db to -21db allows a nice shine and shimmer to the high end and keeps transient spikes under transparent control. Using a higher threshold like -9db to -12db and a higher ratio; say 3 ish; will restrain the bite of a Tele bridge pickup without otherwise altering the tone, in a way the tone knob won't address.

These are a really great parameters, because they can give a type of enhancement and nuance that otherwise might require adjustments throughout the whole gain staging and tonal system to get a similar result. That said, they are not optimal for every circumstance, and too much compressor yields soft mud, and too much gain enhancer can sound like a wood chipper, so I do not use them willy nilly.
Thanks for this tidbit, very informative!
 
I hear the 'hair' it adds. The deal breaker for me is that I get a nice clean single coil tone on this preset when I back off the volume. With the Gain Enhancer it adds some dirt and doesn't sound crisp. But.... I'm sure if I re-read this thread I may find I can control that with the threshold/clarity etc... settings. Maybe I've enhanced my gain by all the tweaks I should've documented along the way...lol. I'll keep playing around and digest the suggestions in this thread.

My next statement belongs in the 'wish' thread: An export to .csv feature that documents all of a particular block's settings. That way I could sort or compare when trying to recreate things, etc..
Gain Enhancer simulates the way the sound waves from your amp feedback into your guitar. This results in a little more gain, so you would have to dial your amp gain back a touch to compensate and keep the tone at the same dirt level.

Have you ever heard people say that you need less gain on stage than you do at bedroom volume levels? Similar concept.

Edit: this is also why I only put mine at 0.5. It gives me a little something I’m missing without the amp there, but it doesn’t overpower things. My other reason for setting it low is I play live and get some of that effect naturally on stage, so I don’t want to overdo it.
 
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I find that just a touch of gain enhancer can give an additional bite of note definition to really thick distortion that's getting more sludgy than I prefer with some amps at higher gain.

On the other hand, I make far greater use of its menu buddy: feedback compression: With clean or on the edge of breaking up tones for dynamic wiggle room with the guitar volume pot, even modest settings like compression 1.2 and threshold of -12db to -21db allows a nice shine and shimmer to the high end and keeps transient spikes under transparent control. Using a higher threshold like -9db to -12db and a higher ratio; say 3 ish; will restrain the bite of a Tele bridge pickup without otherwise altering the tone, in a way the tone knob won't address.

These are a really great parameters, because they can give a type of enhancement and nuance that otherwise might require adjustments throughout the whole gain staging and tonal system to get a similar result. That said, they are not optimal for every circumstance, and too much compressor yields soft mud, and too much gain enhancer can sound like a wood chipper, so I do not use them willy nilly.

Thanks for this post. I wanted to understand the alternatives in that parameter. This is a great explanation to get me started. Then again, I'm not sure why I'm chasing tone, when I have the best tone I've had ....EVER....lol. Chasing the dragon... Of course, I've said that same thing and have the older presets to compare a year ago to the tone I've built today and of course...it gets better each with each one. More clarity and more dynamics, with gain on tap.
 
I think the new Gain Enhancer in 9.01 is one of the coolest new features in a while.



Experimenting with this, I've found it adds a real liveliness to the tone that you normally need a real amp for. It also adds to the sustain nicely. It's different from just adding reverb and I think this was the biggest piece of "in-the-room tone" that was missing.

Currently, I've got it dialed in at 0.50 where it breathes a little life into the tone but doesn't make chords mushy. I'm curious to hear how it will sound live. Where I play, the volume levels are pretty moderate and we use in-ear monitors so I think it'll work well.

This is one of those things I just assumed was impossible to model and I'm super stoked that we have it now! Of course, there are certain aspects that are impossible to model, such as the harmonic feedback from the pickups, but I feel like what we have now is 95% of it. Thanks, Cliff!
Where can I locate it? Sorry if that's a dumb question.
 
Wow just tried this setting for the first time, it took my favorite Herbie 3 preset and added just a little something to it, not a groundbreaking difference but just one of those easy little tweaks that add up to making a fantastic sounding preset.
 
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