musicman0001
Experienced
I am sooooooo happy!
Since FW 20.X the improvements till today (21.02 beta) have reached for me that I do not need to go into heavy tweaking to get all amps to work with my guitar. And lately almost all amps and effects sound and feel super great. And what I definitely notice is the 3D feeling and that amps suddely open up and "bloom". And with the latest implementation also the compressors are super and I can use almost all compressors without messing up the sound.
When I started with modelling (line6 UX and all HD models) I was NEVER happy as all my IR's and or amps would never work the way I wanted it. Then AXE FX 2 came (uhm I bought it haha) and I was super impressed with the quality compared to the Helix. I even sold most of my amps and effects as with tweaks I could make it work for me. Home with IR's and with band I used cab. So still with tube power amp and cab.
Then I went for AXE FX 3. Better then Ares, but still struggling with certain frequenties and tweaks. The feel was already better than FX2 Ares. Then update after update things got better and better. With the latest beta version the sound and usability of amps and effects has been super.
Of course it also got better as I learned a lot about amps and IR's and settings that work for me AND some things that worked and improved A LOT and made my life so much easier, I wanna share some with you.
Number one being:
Made sure that my guitar and especially my pick-up settings are correct with my reference IR, JCM 800 on stock settings with reference songs (Sweet Home Alabama for Tele PU's, All Right Now for Humbucker) & then at least 2 other amps I use (Fender for SRV Strat sounds and JPC Pull me Under preset both again with reference music). I do this for both my versatile guitars: Musicman Steve Morse (Gibson Les Paul/Fender Tele sounds, even some good stratty tones) and Ibanez AZ stratocaster with great (classic) strat sounds and some extra due to humbucker and dynaswitch. (And I do this on high volume (!!) - see "Close Second).
Close second:
Get your monitors setup right with volume high and have the stereo image set up correct and try to find the sweetspot (especially for bass and highs, that it's not boxy) and I forgot to mention that this is for both audio and guitar sound from axe fx. This is important for several reasons to do on high volume. The first being the most underestimated (especially when going with IR's and FRFR) as the effect of Fletcher Munson ( https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/what-is-fletcher-munson-curve-equal-loudness-curves.html ) but also because you will have the impact from your speakers on the strings and guitar which and you will earlier hit the blooming and 3D like sound (at least that is my experience). And when I want to save a preset for future use I always check the preset wit ha reference sound and guitar set up correct (tuned and PU's referenced) on LOUD volume. And for this reference I always use the same reference presets with always ONE IR)
ONE IR with cab adjustement on 60% - low cut at 80 and high cut 15000 (with above taken care of first)
After playing around so much I suddely had something that worked for my room and studio set-up. From a preset that I downloaded from @Burgs I started using one of the IR's to match burgs sound and when using it with other amps I found a setting that worked for so many amps with my 2 guitars tuned to the IR. Only for the MESA's I have to make different MARK EQ settings.
After I found all correct settings I NEVER had such good sound.
And also all other amps and their settings remain or are in line with normal prefferred settings for the specific sounds. Only some presence settings are lowered as the IR I use is giving quite some frequenties in the high. And it's not a dark IR.
And last but not least also other Amps I didn't like before start to be really great fun to play and also pedals are less troublesome. (I didnt use much fuzz due to this and the dumble never worked for me (now it does!! and indeed a great non high gain amp as are the two stone amps).
Of course the last settings could only work for me or my environment (a non threated small rectangled room).
Anyway's: due to all my work I really appreciate the axe fx even more (as I can almost use standard or stock settings. And I can now also see that certain amps use similar settings for bass, gain and treble to get a specific sound, except the presence.
Since FW 20.X the improvements till today (21.02 beta) have reached for me that I do not need to go into heavy tweaking to get all amps to work with my guitar. And lately almost all amps and effects sound and feel super great. And what I definitely notice is the 3D feeling and that amps suddely open up and "bloom". And with the latest implementation also the compressors are super and I can use almost all compressors without messing up the sound.
When I started with modelling (line6 UX and all HD models) I was NEVER happy as all my IR's and or amps would never work the way I wanted it. Then AXE FX 2 came (uhm I bought it haha) and I was super impressed with the quality compared to the Helix. I even sold most of my amps and effects as with tweaks I could make it work for me. Home with IR's and with band I used cab. So still with tube power amp and cab.
Then I went for AXE FX 3. Better then Ares, but still struggling with certain frequenties and tweaks. The feel was already better than FX2 Ares. Then update after update things got better and better. With the latest beta version the sound and usability of amps and effects has been super.
Of course it also got better as I learned a lot about amps and IR's and settings that work for me AND some things that worked and improved A LOT and made my life so much easier, I wanna share some with you.
Number one being:
Made sure that my guitar and especially my pick-up settings are correct with my reference IR, JCM 800 on stock settings with reference songs (Sweet Home Alabama for Tele PU's, All Right Now for Humbucker) & then at least 2 other amps I use (Fender for SRV Strat sounds and JPC Pull me Under preset both again with reference music). I do this for both my versatile guitars: Musicman Steve Morse (Gibson Les Paul/Fender Tele sounds, even some good stratty tones) and Ibanez AZ stratocaster with great (classic) strat sounds and some extra due to humbucker and dynaswitch. (And I do this on high volume (!!) - see "Close Second).
Close second:
Get your monitors setup right with volume high and have the stereo image set up correct and try to find the sweetspot (especially for bass and highs, that it's not boxy) and I forgot to mention that this is for both audio and guitar sound from axe fx. This is important for several reasons to do on high volume. The first being the most underestimated (especially when going with IR's and FRFR) as the effect of Fletcher Munson ( https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/what-is-fletcher-munson-curve-equal-loudness-curves.html ) but also because you will have the impact from your speakers on the strings and guitar which and you will earlier hit the blooming and 3D like sound (at least that is my experience). And when I want to save a preset for future use I always check the preset wit ha reference sound and guitar set up correct (tuned and PU's referenced) on LOUD volume. And for this reference I always use the same reference presets with always ONE IR)
ONE IR with cab adjustement on 60% - low cut at 80 and high cut 15000 (with above taken care of first)
After playing around so much I suddely had something that worked for my room and studio set-up. From a preset that I downloaded from @Burgs I started using one of the IR's to match burgs sound and when using it with other amps I found a setting that worked for so many amps with my 2 guitars tuned to the IR. Only for the MESA's I have to make different MARK EQ settings.
After I found all correct settings I NEVER had such good sound.
And also all other amps and their settings remain or are in line with normal prefferred settings for the specific sounds. Only some presence settings are lowered as the IR I use is giving quite some frequenties in the high. And it's not a dark IR.
And last but not least also other Amps I didn't like before start to be really great fun to play and also pedals are less troublesome. (I didnt use much fuzz due to this and the dumble never worked for me (now it does!! and indeed a great non high gain amp as are the two stone amps).
Of course the last settings could only work for me or my environment (a non threated small rectangled room).
Anyway's: due to all my work I really appreciate the axe fx even more (as I can almost use standard or stock settings. And I can now also see that certain amps use similar settings for bass, gain and treble to get a specific sound, except the presence.
