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.