How do you make single strings sound thicker on clean sounds?

unix-guy said:
Yeah, do the same for your edge of breakup. Dial in the amp so it's a bit dull and not as driven as you actually want it, then stick a Micro Amp, RCB, SDD, etc in front. Use the Tone and High / Low Cut to shape the tone.
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Don’t forget the FET’s!! My personal favorites. :D
 
My go to solution is output compression and also the MicroBoost drive block with Drive on 1 and Drive Level above 5. Works great for cleans and dirty sounds.
 
Moke said:
Here is a simple example of how you could use the 'Multi-Comp' block to "thicken" the higher, single notes.
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Thanks! This was the first time I tried a Multi-band compressor. I experimented with different settings and was able to get in the ball park of what I wanted. It definitely makes a big difference. I can't believe I'd never tried the Multi-band compressor before. It is really a powerful tool.

Do you prefer a Multi-band compressor before or after your amp?

If you are using a Multi-band compressor do you take the regular compressor out of your preset or use them both together?
 
Perdikament said:
You may be able to solve this by simply lowering your Hi-cut. You can bring it down lower than you think, and the thing is, once you start bringing it down you can actually start to crank up the Treble & presence on the Amp a bit more without it getting ice-picky. So that right there could thicken things up for ya.
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Thanks for the tip on hi-cut. Another thing I had not tried before. This really makes a difference also.
 
When I want to give more meat to the higher notes without making the lower strings to sound like a fart, I insert a Filter with a Pitch-Follower modifier assigned to the gain, to bump the Lo-frequencies only at the high notes.

No need to use thick gauge strings anymore. This is even better.

Filter-Pitch-Follower.png


This is more surgical than the the multi-band compressor, because you can precisely define the frequency to boost, the Q, the gain, and the range of notes that will be affected.
 
I really want to thank all of you for your helpful suggestions. I am slowly working my way through all of them and they are really making a difference.
 
If you're working on just clean sounds, bypass that cab block and see if the 'thick' doesn't jump out and punch you straight in the face. If it does, the IR is gutting the 'thick' frequencies you're missing, and trying to add or enhance freqs the IR has gutted will just make a phasey net-zero mess.

If the amp model has the 'thick' frequencies (which it do, it's the same as the real amp), and the IR guts the thick, just do some IR searching until you find one that has the 'thick', bypass/engage the cab block to check and see what the IR is filtering out...if you had miked up the cab yourself you would have moved the mic till you found the 'thick', but with IRs you only get what's been shot. That's why I like those OH vector cabs, no way you can't find your preferred freq center with 396 IRs of the same mic on the same cab. ...times 4 different power amps. ...times 6 mics. :openmouth:
 
Also, what was the amp master vol set on the test amps, and what was thr master vol set on the models when they lacked thick? ...you straight up don't need studio wizardry multi band comp parallel dynamic depth resonance juice boxes to get the T H I C K.

It's all in the master volume knob, and the virtual power amp + virtual speaker page.
 
You can taylor how the amp handles the input.
Put an EQ before the amp block and boost some highs and mids and put another EQ after the amp block to lower the same frequencies again afterwards.
That way you make the amp compress more on the frequencies boostet, so highs and mids cause more sag and compression, so the amp block reacts different.
You can also use the input section of the amp block for this and use it's output EQ, but the basic idea is easier to understand with two separate EQs pre/post.
 
Piing said:
When I want to give more meat to the higher notes without making the lower strings to sound like a fart, I insert a Filter with a Pitch-Follower modifier assigned to the gain, to bump the Lo-frequencies only at the high notes.

No need to use thick gauge strings anymore. This is even better.

Filter-Pitch-Follower.png


This is more surgical than the the multi-band compressor, because you can precisely define the frequency to boost, the Q, the gain, and the range of notes that will be affected.
Click to expand...
Hi Piing, where do you place the filter block and does it also work for distorted sounds?
 
trancegodz said:
I use my AxeFX live in the same way Dweezil Zappa does. With powered QSC cabinets (or JBL) at a volume comparable to what I would be using with real amps, so I can hear myself over a loud drummer.

I have an Axe FXII, Axe FXIIXL+, MFC-101, and Axe FXIII and FC-12. I obviously like Fractal Audio products. I think the Axe FXIII sounds better than it ever has currently. I really like the latest firmware and I was trying to dial in my favorite real amps more closely by directly comparing them side by side with my Axe FX.

My comparisons were with my live Axe FX w/ 2 FRFR cabs set up sitting right beside the real amp I was comparing it to with both at the same volume.
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This undoubtedly accounts for the difference. Your FRFR speakers aren't going to sound like your unmic'd cab. While they can be made to sound great, they represent the sound of a cab filtered through a specific microphone's frequency response rather than through a speaker directly. If you were to hook the Axe up to a power amp and run it into a cab, the sound of that would be directly comparable to your unmic'd cab.
 
trancegodz said:
Thanks! This was the first time I tried a Multi-band compressor. I experimented with different settings and was able to get in the ball park of what I wanted. It definitely makes a big difference. I can't believe I'd never tried the Multi-band compressor before. It is really a powerful tool.

Do you prefer a Multi-band compressor before or after your amp?

If you are using a Multi-band compressor do you take the regular compressor out of your preset or use them both together?
Click to expand...
Does the AX-8 have this feature?
 
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