Axe-Fx II Technical Questions Thread

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Hi guys, I have a few technical questions. Thanks for your advice!

1) I Am Experiencing Very Little Dynamic Range:
With no dynamics in my grid (compressors, gates, limiters etc), playing at the very softest levels (barely touching the strings) with green input lights is only a little softer in volume than banging my strings and strumming hard with orange input lights (headphones or rear outputs). I know my real amp doesn't react this way. Is there something that's limiting the dynamic range or is this the Axe Fx II's inherent DR? Does this have something to do with the inputs being normalized for unity gain? This occurs even with the Master volume high for increased touch sensitivity. I know the 24 bit ADC's are capable of 144 dB's DR but I'm not getting anywhere near that having tried 3 guitars and several presets.

2) Are There No User Preset Locations To Save To?
If I don't want to over-write any of Cliff's well-created 384 factory presets, are there any User preset locations I can save edited presets to? If so, I can't find them.

3) Some of The Presets Are Very Bassy At Low Drive (eg Plexi Normal)
With no EQs in the grid and the bass turned all the way down, some presets still sound very bassy, especially at low drive settings. One that really sounds this way is the normal Plexi preset. Shouldn't the treble peaker Drive control attenuate this? The Marshall Leads I've heard don't sound this way. Is this normal for the Axe Fx II?

Thanks again for your advice!


1) The more gain, the less dynamic range. What you're experiencing has nothing to do with the DR of the converters. I suspect it's simply Fletcher-Munson effect. The PERCEIVED dynamic range through monitors or headphones will never seem as great as through a power amp at high volumes.

2) All presets can be written over. You can restore the factory presets via the Utility menu.

3) The Plexi Normal has no treble peaker that's why it's bassy. You are probably confusing this with Input 2 on a Plexi (which is the Plexi Treble model). Again this is probably more a function of your monitoring than anything else. FWIW, the Plexi Normal channel sounds identical to my reference amp which is particularly good copy.
 
1) The more gain, the less dynamic range. What you're experiencing has nothing to do with the DR of the converters. I suspect it's simply Fletcher-Munson effect. The PERCEIVED dynamic range through monitors or headphones will never seem as great as through a power amp at high volumes.

2) All presets can be written over. You can restore the factory presets via the Utility menu.

3) The Plexi Normal has no treble peaker that's why it's bassy. You are probably confusing this with Input 2 on a Plexi (which is the Plexi Treble model). Again this is probably more a function of your monitoring than anything else. FWIW, the Plexi Normal channel sounds identical to my reference amp which is particularly good copy.

Ok, thanks Cliff!
 
Now that we have USB in the Axe FX II. Is there any technical reasons you see preventing an iPad being connected to the Axe FX II and controlling the Axe Edit software? I am hoping and hoping that one day this will be a possibility.
 
Now that we have USB in the Axe FX II. Is there any technical reasons you see preventing an iPad being connected to the Axe FX II and controlling the Axe Edit software? I am hoping and hoping that one day this will be a possibility.
You want to control Axe-Edit on an iPad, or run Axe-Edit on an iPad? There are midi interfaces for the iPad, so I'm not sure that midi over usb simplifies things very much.
 
Now that we have USB in the Axe FX II. Is there any technical reasons you see preventing an iPad being connected to the Axe FX II and controlling the Axe Edit software? I am hoping and hoping that one day this will be a possibility.
The AxeEdit app would need to be ported, and UI modified for iPad use.
 
Hello Cliff,

As I'm not yet able to afford the Axe II, I'm occupying myself at work by reading the manual and I was a little surprised by what I read about the DRIVE in the AMP block (Page 51, 5.1.1). The manual states "The DRIVE control has a fixed range of 50 dB, which means that drive knob positions may not reflect those required for the same sound on the amp being simulated."

With how accurately the Axe recreates great amp tones, I was a little stunned to see that it didn't model the gain range from amp to amp. My knowledge of the inner workings of amplifiers is minimal (I am a licensed ham radio operator, so I'm not totally in the dark), but I would have thought this would have a considerable effect on the sound and feel. I was hoping that if you had the time and were so inclined, you'd share why you chose this route. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach vs modeling the actual gain range in each preamp?

BTW: I'm not intending this to be one of those whining posts from people about how the Axe doesn't meet their self-imposed expectations of what it's SUPPOSED to be, so please no flame/troll replies. I'm just curious about it from a technical standpoint.
 
Hello Cliff,

As I'm not yet able to afford the Axe II, I'm occupying myself at work by reading the manual and I was a little surprised by what I read about the DRIVE in the AMP block (Page 51, 5.1.1). The manual states "The DRIVE control has a fixed range of 50 dB, which means that drive knob positions may not reflect those required for the same sound on the amp being simulated."

With how accurately the Axe recreates great amp tones, I was a little stunned to see that it didn't model the gain range from amp to amp. My knowledge of the inner workings of amplifiers is minimal (I am a licensed ham radio operator, so I'm not totally in the dark), but I would have thought this would have a considerable effect on the sound and feel. I was hoping that if you had the time and were so inclined, you'd share why you chose this route. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach vs modeling the actual gain range in each preamp?

BTW: I'm not intending this to be one of those whining posts from people about how the Axe doesn't meet their self-imposed expectations of what it's SUPPOSED to be, so please no flame/troll replies. I'm just curious about it from a technical standpoint.

Doing it this way allows you to do things that are not possible on the actual amp being modeled. Tune with the ears, not the eyes
 
With this new humbuster feature does it matter if you have any effects in front of the Axe-FX? I run a Fuzz pedal and wondered if the humbuster feature would still work?

If it does I guess you run the TS to TRS cable between the axe-FX and the pedal(s) then normal cables to the guitar??

Thanks
 
Humbuster is a feature of the Axe II outputs, not its inputs. What you plug into the Axe's input is not affected.
 
Hi, I just posted this under recordings:

http://forum.fractalaudio.com/recordings/38196-my-first-axe-ii-clip-ac-30-model.html

I'm having trouble with clicks and pops over USB into Logic. A couple are me changing the pup switch but most of the high frequency clicks are NOT me. They are not there when not recording. Not super loud, but random and definitely noticeable. Also can't figure out how to increase levels in Logic to hit yellow (almost red). The USB volume is fixed and anything I do on the Axe gives me a clip light. Thx in advance!

After making changes to the AC-30 model, it is FANTASTIC!!!!
 
Hi, I just posted this under recordings:

http://forum.fractalaudio.com/recordings/38196-my-first-axe-ii-clip-ac-30-model.html

I'm having trouble with clicks and pops over USB into Logic. A couple are me changing the pup switch but most of the high frequency clicks are NOT me. They are not there when not recording. Not super loud, but random and definitely noticeable. Also can't figure out how to increase levels in Logic to hit yellow (almost red). The USB volume is fixed and anything I do on the Axe gives me a clip light. Thx in advance!

After making changes to the AC-30 model, it is FANTASTIC!!!!

Don't know about the clicks and pops, but the input level via USB to Logic is fine for me. Having the extra headroom is a good thing!
 
I run an ancient box with WinXP. Using USB with default settings - no noise, no pops, no issues. Pushed hard, ran hard to test. Nothing negative to report from here. The USB recording has been a positive experience, and I post that sincerely.
 
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