New Axe-Fx III Sounds Dark/Muddy, Advice?

K

kingskot

Member
Hey guys, I know that there are other threads on this, but the solutions I've found in them so far haven't worked for me, so I thought I'd try a new one showing exactly what I'm hearing. In a nutshell, all of the presets sound dark/muddy/boxy/lifeless, especially the high gain presets. Here's the stock Brit 800 preset, scene 3, no adjustments. The drive block is turned on about half way through, also all default settings (removed "www" to post):

dropbox.com/s/xnsg2om2efc6lsm/fx3_brit800.mp3?dl=0

It sounds much less alive, has much less "shimmer", as compared to the same preset demo'd here (although it's unclear if the preset was tweaked):

youtube.com/watch?v=h1AcNN_K8xQ

Sounds the same going straight to the monitors, through headphones, and through the USB into my DAW. Here's what I've tried so far:

  • replacing cables
  • change output from -10 dB to +4 dB
  • make sure cabinet and power amp modelling are turned on
  • make sure the input level is "tickling the read" (although I have to turn up the input level pretty high to get there)

The above recording was done with an Ibanez prestige with stock DiMarzio PAF pups, which aren't very hot. I also tried an Iceman with DiMarzio D Activator pups, which are much hotter, there's more gain/distortion but the "flatness" issue is the same. In any case, I get much brighter, nicer tones out of my amp, and even using Positive Grid's bias amp, so I don't think the issue can be just the guitar. I also tries the USA IC+ preset (scene 4) to compare with the above YouTube video, it has the same problem.

I've been tweaking EQ, amp setting, cab block settings, etc., and I can get it to sound a bit better, but I'm wondering if there's something wrong here. I'm not much of a gear head, I was hoping to get great stock tones out of the box. Does this sound right to you guys for this preset, is this what you would expect to hear? I don't want to make any enemies here, I see people getting some amazing sounds out of this unit, but I have to say that this preset sounds pretty bad to my ears....

Thanks for any advice you can give!
 
What kind of monitors are you using? Usually when I hear things like this, it's because a cab model is going into a non-FRFR monitor. Such as if I run my AxeFX into my Fryette power amp and into my Mesa 212 cab, but forget to turn off the cab modeling.
 
Ben Randolph said:
What kind of monitors are you using? Usually when I hear things like this, it's because a cab model is going into a non-FRFR monitor. Such as if I run my AxeFX into my Fryette power amp and into my Mesa 212 cab, but forget to turn off the cab modeling.
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Yamaha HS8s with XLR cables. So I should be good, right, power amp and cab modelling should be on?
 
Not to sound like a douche, but is your guitar tone all the way up? In all seriousness I've had this happen to me when I let my friend borrow a guitar and he likes to faff with the tone pot and when I got it back and started playing, it sounded exactly as you say. I was checking parameters all over the place trying to figure it out till I finally checked the guitar tone control. I had another instance where my wah was slightly cocked and making a horrendous tone which consumed about 30 mins of my playing time.

Has it always sounded like this or has it just started?

Also check your output EQ's.
 
Romo82 said:
Not to sound like a douche, but is your guitar tone all the way up? In all seriousness I've had this happen to me when I let my friend borrow a guitar and he likes to faff with the tone pot and when I got it back and started playing, it sounded exactly as you say. I was checking parameters all over the place trying to figure it out till I finally checked the guitar tone control. I had another instance where my wah was slightly cocked and making a horrendous tone which consumed about 30 mins of my playing time.

Has it always sounded like this or has it just started?
Click to expand...
I should have said, I did check the tone knob and the pickup selection (and again, I hear the same issue across two guitars). I just got the unit brand new yesterday, based on the demos I heard I was hoping to have my socks knocked off with the presets right out of the box, so I hope it's something simple like this....
 
kingskot said:
make sure the input level is "tickling the read" (although I have to turn up the input level pretty high to get there)
Click to expand...
This does not affect tone. It's for optimizing signal to noise for the AD conversion.

@Cooper Carter could comment more on his video.

I believe the Majesty (his guitar) has pretty got pickups.

I don't hear any effects in your recording but I do in the video.

Also, don't know what version of firmware you're using or was being used in the video.
 
unix-guy said:
This does not affect tone. It's for optimizing signal to noise for the AD conversion.

@Cooper Carter could comment more on his video.

I believe the Majesty (his guitar) has pretty got pickups.

I don't hear any effects in your recording but I do in the video.

Also, don't know what version of firmware you're using or was being used in the video.
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The input level does affect the tone, but only at the extremes of the adjustment range.
 
unix-guy said:
This does not affect tone. It's for optimizing signal to noise for the AD conversion.

@Cooper Carter could comment more on his video.

I believe the Majesty (his guitar) has pretty got pickups.

I don't hear any effects in your recording but I do in the video.

Also, don't know what version of firmware you're using or was being used in the video.
Click to expand...
I updated the firmware to the latest version last night. I didn't add or remove any effects, so I guess something was added in the video. SInce you listened to the clip, do you agree that it doesn't sound great "out of the box"? I think that's part of the question here, is this a reasonable thing to hear for a stock preset, and it just needs a bunch of tweaking, or is something wrong?
 
Team.AppleJuice said:
How many different IR's have you tried? Sometimes if I just cant get the tone I want no matter how much I tweak the amp, it's usually because I'm using the wrong IR.
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I haven't played around too much with different IRs. This one sounds so different compared with the demos I heard that I wanted to make sure that there isn't something wrong before I spend hours tweaking (which I was kind of hoping I wouldn't have to do, but it is what it is).
 
kingskot said:
I updated the firmware to the latest version last night. I didn't add or remove any effects, so I guess something was added in the video. SInce you listened to the clip, do you agree that it doesn't sound great "out of the box"? I think that's part of the question here, is this a reasonable thing to hear for a stock preset, and it just needs a bunch of tweaking, or is something wrong?
Click to expand...
Which "latest"? There's a current FW 16 beta... But the official latest is 15.01, I think.

I don't use the factory presets at all... But I agree that the clip you posted isn't inspiring sounding.

Also, the factory presets were created at a specific point in time. They sometimes get updated, but it isn't often and definitely not for every FW release.

The video was posted in May, 2020... Lots of changes since then.
 
unix-guy said:
Which "latest"? There's a current FW 16 beta... But the official latest is 15.01, I think.

I don't use the factory presets at all... But I agree that the clip you posted isn't inspiring sounding.

Also, the factory presets were created at a specific point in time. They sometimes get updated, but it isn't often and definitely not for every FW release.

The video was posted in May, 2020... Lots of changes since then.
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Right, version 15.01.
 
I would say you absolutely need to tweak it to suit. Those presets are only meant as an example of what can be done and are by no means a "one-fits-all" solution. If you think it needs more treble, then get cranking on the treble controls, slip a GEQ in, what ever it takes to make it sound right to you.

Its all subjective but I didn't think you're clip sounded bad, though I have no clue what tone you're looking for. If you think you were getting closer to what you wanted through tweaking the preset then I think that's the best course to take. I dont use any stock presets at all, I may find one that's in the ballpark but then I will adjust anything and everything to tailor it to what I want.
 
kingskot said:
I haven't played around too much with different IRs. This one sounds so different compared with the demos I heard that I wanted to make sure that there isn't something wrong before I spend hours tweaking (which I was kind of hoping I wouldn't have to do, but it is what it is).
Click to expand...

Yeah, honestly I wouldn't worry about how the stock presets sound at all. There's too many variables to consider as to why you're not sounding exactly like the one specific video you posted.

Have you tried creating your own patches though? I think people usually have better luck just starting from scratch.
 
Romo82 said:
I would say you absolutely need to tweak it to suit. Those presets are only meant as an example of what can be done and are by no means a "one-fits-all" solution. If you think it needs more treble, then get cranking on the treble controls, slip a GEQ in, what ever it takes to make it sound right to you.

Its all subjective but I didn't think you're clip sounded bad, though I have no clue what tone you're looking for. If you think you were getting closer to what you wanted through tweaking the preset then I think that's the best course to take. I dont use any stock presets at all, I may find one that's in the ballpark but then I will adjust anything and everything to tailor it to what I want.
Click to expand...
Well, again, I really like the preset sounds in those demos, and I was hoping to get something close to those right out of the box, but maybe they were tweaked and I will just have to do the same.
 
Team.AppleJuice said:
Yeah, honestly I wouldn't worry about how the stock presets sound at all. There's too many variables to consider as to why you're not sounding exactly like the one specific video you posted.

Have you tried creating your own patches though? I think people usually have better luck just starting from scratch.
Click to expand...
Not yet, I’ll try that. I was kind of hoping for a “you don’t have X set correctly” answer that would get me closer to the preset demo video out of the gate, but maybe it’s kind of a crapshoot with the presets, as you say.
 
kingskot said:
Not yet, I’ll try that. I was kind of hoping for a “you don’t have X set correctly” answer that would get me closer to the preset demo video out of the gate, but maybe it’s kind of a crapshoot with the presets, as you say.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wish it was that easy lol. But honestly, I think you'll probably get closer to the tone you want if you just create the patch yourself.

Pull up an amp, and just go through the IR's until you land on one that sound decent and go from there.
 
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