Firmware upgrades, general question

Cowmilker5

Cowmilker5

Member
Greetings,

First post, been reading the forum for awhile, picked up an Axe-fx III in early February, whole new world for me (long time tube amp guy), I love it, this device is amazing.

I just did the firmware update, my first one on an amp modeler, been in the computer/networking biz for 2+ decades, so I get what firmware/software upgrades do, just never really experienced it in this context.

It seems that many of the presets have changed, not the settings, but the tone/sound, some for the better, others not so much, not bad, but different. Maybe this is just me, and my ears are hearing different on a different day, but I don’t think so.

How do you deal with this, what’s the best protocol for upgrading/moving forward with firmware updates, and keeping your “go-to/song specific” presets as your used to hearing them.

Do you just go through, and re-work the presets, one by one?

Get a second unit, run the upgrades through that, sort things out, and then port over to your main “working” amp?

Just deal with it on the fly?

Not upgrade if your happy with your current presets?

It seems the upgrades come fast and furious in this world, which is very cool, so I figure I better sort this out.
Any advice would be appreciated, or if this has been covered in another thread please point me there,

Cheers
 
You can always revert back to a previous firmware... So you can try it out and determine how much work it is to re-adjust your presets.

Factory presets are going to be a challenge, as they were created at a specific firmware.

Some FW updates are dramatic, some are subtle.

I prefer to stay current, so I adjust presets as needed.
 
unix-guy said:
You can always revert back to a previous firmware... So you can try it out and determine how much work it is to re-adjust your presets.

Factory presets are going to be a challenge, as they were created at a specific firmware.

Some FW updates are dramatic, some are subtle.

I prefer to stay current, so I adjust presets as needed.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, I'm starting to get the picture. I was wondering about reverting to older fw versions, good to know you can do that, sounds like it's fairly easy/common too, thats cool. I like to stay current as well, guess I'll just have to get quick at dialing in presets.

Do you find that with the fw updates (the more dramatic ones) you have to go so far as to change some of the preset IR's, or usually just tweak the amp settings?
 
Cowmilker5 said:
Thanks for the reply, I'm starting to get the picture. I was wondering about reverting to older fw versions, good to know you can do that, sounds like it's fairly easy/common too, thats cool. I like to stay current as well, guess I'll just have to get quick at dialing in presets.

Do you find that with the fw updates (the more dramatic ones) you have to go so far as to change some of the preset IR's, or usually just tweak the amp settings?
Click to expand...
It really depends on the nature of the update, but mostly it's just adjusting the amp settings. Sometimes, resetting the amp block is required.

The Drive block changes in the 3.x firmware required re-working the drive settings.

One thing to note regarding reverting: if you have saved a preset under newer firmware and then revert, the preset will show up as blank under the old firmware.

Always backup before updating FW.
 
Deasnutz said:
How do you reset the amp block? Or any block for that matter? Thx
Click to expand...
From the front panel: edit the block and push in Knob A (it'll say "Reset" above it), press enter to confirm when prompted

From Axe-Edit III. select the block and chose "Reset Channel" from the "Block" Menu (or press the key combo: Command+I on Mac, or Ctrl+I on Windows)
 
Cowmilker5 said:
How do you deal with this, what’s the best protocol for upgrading/moving forward with firmware updates, and keeping your “go-to/song specific” presets as your used to hearing them.
Click to expand...

One step I take is to ALWAYS make a full backup before I update the FW. My reasoning is flawed though, I do this so that should I need to rollback the FW then I have the presets "as they were" before I updated the FW. This is not really necessary, and I only do it out of pure obsessive compulsive disorder desires and I have never had to rollback a FW or preset in the last 5 years of updates.

But there will always be that one time that you wished you had made a backup, and you will kick yourself if you didn't.

Tonewise, I always read the release notes, and then update my blocks accordingly. I mostly use global amps/cabs so this process is fairly easy for me to update my 40+ presets.

EDIT: I see backups were already mentioned, sorry for the repetition.
unix-guy said:
Always backup before updating FW.
Click to expand...
 
How big the changes are, that's what makes the difference to me.

When there are small changes and there are only improvements to my sounds I just stay on the new firmware and I don't start to reaudition everything.

When there are big changes and my sounds get worse I search for the settings that I need to change to get my sounds back and I apply these changes to all my affected presets, so I get my sound back as easily as possible. Usually that's faster than reseting and reauditioning for me, since I digged deep down in the advanced parameters hole and have many personel settings there, so I try to avoid resets.
This time the class A amps are way off and need lots of retweak.

When your advanced parameters are on factory defaults everywhere, just reset the block.
 
I like to stay current. Partly I'm sure due to neophilia but also if you skip a few updates the change when you do update will be that much bigger and I'd rather make small frequent tweaks to presets than major less frequent ones.
 
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I'm in the camp of upgrade if you find the new features or tweaks something you just can't live without. Coming from the AX8, everyone got excited over the latest firmware, touting how much better it sounded than before. Well, didn't it sound incredible and absolutely the best it ever sounded on the previous firmware? It either sounds great or it doesn't.

That said, as mentioned I'm coming from the AX8, and still using it live, there's still a lot for me to learn and understand with the III so I'm staying current at the moment since it's not needed for live use at this time. Once I have some presets dialed in, upgrading is going to become a tougher decision.

This idea that we should expect or look forward to new firmware in order to make the III sound better makes absolutely no sense. Does it happen? Yes, and I'm completely blown away when it actually does make it sound "better". But I didn't buy the III, or the AX8, hoping that it would sound better in the future.
 
Another thing......when there is a dramatic firmware upgrade that has all the hype, outstanding reviews and ooohs and awwws....

These no doubt will have serious upgrades, additions and re-workings of the controls!

Though FAS may implement measures to limit the disparity in the sounds,...one should expect to re-set the block(s) and re-dial in the sound as your previous settings were set for the previous should I say..."inferior" firmware.
 
reclavea said:
Another thing......when there is a dramatic firmware upgrade that has all the hype, outstanding reviews and ooohs and awwws....

These no doubt will have serious upgrades, additions and re-workings of the controls!

Though FAS may implement measures to limit the disparity in the sounds,...one should expect to re-set the block(s) and re-dial in the sound as your previous settings were set for the previous should I say..."inferior" firmware.
Click to expand...

This really makes a lot of sense, I'm new to the AXE, so the context of a software upgrade changing my core guitar sound kinda caught me off guard,(old guy, kinda slow on the uptake I guess). But I've been thinking about it quite a bit, and (duh) it's really the nature of the beast. Whenever I upgrade an operating system, or photoshop, or excel, I'm usually looking for the upgrades/changes, hoping that things look different, work different, and I usually have to tweak, and learn something new.

I guess this is just SOP for most here, suppose I'm just in transition, thanks for all the help.
 
JoKeR III said:
I'm in the camp of upgrade if you find the new features or tweaks something you just can't live without. Coming from the AX8, everyone got excited over the latest firmware, touting how much better it sounded than before. Well, didn't it sound incredible and absolutely the best it ever sounded on the previous firmware? It either sounds great or it doesn't.
Click to expand...

I'm sure people in the 50's thought cinemascope was the best that movie technology would ever get.
 
chucma said:
One step I take is to ALWAYS make a full backup before I update the FW. My reasoning is flawed though, I do this so that should I need to rollback the FW then I have the presets "as they were" before I updated the FW. This is not really necessary, and I only do it out of pure obsessive compulsive disorder desires and I have never had to rollback a FW or preset in the last 5 years of updates.
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Not necessarily flawed though.

A full backup includes system settings, etc. It's a good idea.

Also, if you upgrade, start fiddling around and save something then decide to revert... You will want the backup!

Although... You can always take a backup from the newer FW and use FracTool to load it into older FW in that case.
 
JoKeR III said:
Yes, but there's a big difference between creating new technology and tweaking current technology.
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Yes, but the point is what is currently top of the line is always considered the best. It doesn't mean it cant ever get better.
 
Interestingly, I accidentally "updated" to FW 1.16b or somthing. Most of my beloved presets disappeared - and of course I never back up! However, I noticed the mistake (tuner looked funny, too) and updated to actual correct update and everything was as it should be. All my presets were back and working perfectly where just 5 minutes ago they were blank and had no sound. So something in the updates definitely preserves the preset data somehow.
 
decreebass said:
Interestingly, I accidentally "updated" to FW 1.16b or somthing. Most of my beloved presets disappeared - and of course I never back up! However, I noticed the mistake (tuner looked funny, too) and updated to actual correct update and everything was as it should be. All my presets were back and working perfectly where just 5 minutes ago they were blank and had no sound. So something in the updates definitely preserves the preset data somehow.
Click to expand...
The preset data is preserved no matter what. But older firmware may not know how to interpret presets that were made with newer firmware, so those show up as blank.
 
bdrepko said:
Yes, but the point is what is currently top of the line is always considered the best. It doesn't mean it cant ever get better.
Click to expand...
Okay, your point trumps mine. Geez, reading a lot into a comment about waiting for big changes, additions or 'improvements' before updating an already great product.
 
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