Axe-Fx Firmware Version 21.00

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greiswig said:
I've been trying to match tone with some Robben Ford tracks, and some Steely Dan as well the past couple of days. I find myself surprised at how little high end there is in a lot of the tones I'm hearing on the recordings...almost like there's a rolloff in the EQ that starts around 3kHz. Those tracks seem to sit just fine, but those are really different tones. They seem to rely on mids and high mids a lot more to cut through, and leave the high end to the vocals, etc.
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This - exactly. The Axe-FX III 5 band passive style GEQ helps a lot here, like an old Pultec, when placed after after the Cab block and post-cab compression, if any. Not much above 4kHz really helps guitars sing.
 
Here is IMO by far the best representation of IIC+ on youtube and it´s without any cuts or studio magic, just raw sound with mic on V30.
now compare it again with my clip.
(I didn´t bothered to match my sound to this at all).
I can clearly here how amazing the fractal is, because that "fizz" (harmonic beauty and richness IMO) is exactly the same.
I love this fw :)

Edit : the guy has presence set at 1, mine is at 3. If I lower mine to 1, then it´s even closer ;)



 
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That sounds great.

I think the issue is the exact definition of "fizz". Previous generation modelers (and even some current generation modelers) have poor aliasing performance. This manifests as harmonically unrelated tones in the audible spectrum. These tones tend to be more noticeable in the higher frequencies because the aliasing is linear whilst we hear logarithmically so the "aliasing density" increases with frequency. This causes ear fatigue and a general "scratchiness".

The Axe-Fx has very good aliasing performance, the best of any hardware product that I've ever tested.

Conversely some circuits (primarily those with cold clippers, i.e. JCM800, SLO100, Rectos, etc.) tend to produce a fuzzy type of distortion due to the extremely asymmetric waveforms produced.

Overdriven power amps produce a type of fizz due to plate undershoot (see the Tech Note on Plate Suppressor Diodes).

Power amps also produce another type of fizz due to crossover distortion. This is exacerbated in so-called "Class-A" power amps due to the more pronounced bias shift. For lower gain tones some people actually find this desirable as it adds "chime". You can play around with this using the Cathode Resistance parameter in the Power Amp page of the Amp block (for the pertinent types).
 
austinbuddy said:
This - exactly. The Axe-FX III 5 band passive style GEQ helps a lot here, like an old Pultec, when placed after after the Cab block and post-cab compression, if any. Not much above 4kHz really helps guitars sing.
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When I hear people talking about "fizz," my mind immediately goes to the pretty high-frequency (above 2-3kHz, I think) artifact that kind of sizzles over notes and chords on some amps using some cabs. It tends to die out kind of abruptly as a note decays, and it isn't really related to the specific note...i.e. it doesn't seem like a harmonic of the note or something; it's just noise.

So when I hear a statement like "you've gotta have fizz to cut through the mix," based on my definition above, that isn't true. For one thing, if it were, only really distorted tones ever would cut through, because you typically don't get that fizz on lower gain tones. It might HELP to cut through a mix, or it might be a key component in certain tones, but it doesn't feel like a requirement.
 
I’m trying to figure what it the thing that make the 2c+ sounding different than the axe recording shared some post ago.

the amp sound less gainy, and the attack is so percussive in the original… That violence

Compression ?
 
My name is mud said:
I’m trying to figure what it the thing that make the 2c+ sounding different than the axe recording shared some post ago.

the amp sound less gainy, and the attack is so percussive in the original… That violence

Compression ?
Click to expand...
I don’t agree for a few reasons :
I didn’t matched the sound.
I didn’t matched the feel/attack.
I didn’t matched the gain level.
I will post later new comparison where I will match it as best as I can and you will hear how close it is.
I have already tried it with fantastic results but didn’t recorded yet... wait till tomorrow :)
 
Thomas Obester said:
I don’t agree for a few reasons :
I didn’t matched the sound.
I didn’t matched the feel/attack.
I didn’t matched the gain level.
I will post later new comparison where I will match it as best as I can and you will hear how close it is.
I have already tried it with fantastic results but didn’t recorded yet... wait till tomorrow :)
Click to expand...
You don’t use the 2c+ but the 2c++?
 
Thomas Obester said:
Here is IMO by far the best representation of IIC+ on youtube and it´s without any cuts or studio magic, just raw sound with mic on V30.
now compare it again with my clip.
(I didn´t bothered to match my sound to this at all).
I can clearly here how amazing the fractal is, because that "fizz" (harmonic beauty and richness IMO) is exactly the same.
I love this fw :)

Edit : the guy has presence set at 1, mine is at 3. If I lower mine to 1, then it´s even closer ;)



Click to expand...

Just wanna chime in and say all of your sound clips that I've listened to in this thread sound rad to me
 
Well. Firmware 21 makes my skillset obsolete. All of my experience to dial tones, surgical eqs, secret fixes to make amps sound perfect, no longer needed. My presets sounded like I did a low cut at 600hz after the update. I had to actually work to add the balls back in, and the amps sound perfect out of the box now. A part of me is sad everyone will get close to my tones, but Im happy its way easier 😅
 
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