8 string guitar + AXE FX 2 = too much bass? what do u guys do?

Stillbruch said:
OK, sorry if I came on a little strong. I also have to add that pickups might perform very differently if you put them in another guitar.
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Totally fine man which emgs were you referring to 808? 57/66? Personally I've only tried 81/85 and wasn't impressed :/


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efx said:
Meshuggah never recorded without a bass player nor do they play live without one....
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Sorry, I was going by what I have heard in the past about Meshuggah (not personally a fan) and a couple of apparently incorrect sources I found after a quick Google before I posted that.

They have however played live in the past without a bass player, and without one of the guitarist filling in on bass (they also played shows where they did do that).
 
ericplays7 said:
Totally fine man which emgs were you referring to 808? 57/66? Personally I've only tried 81/85 and wasn't impressed :/
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I was referring to the 81/60-combo. One of my guitars is a Jackson Dinky DKMG. It sounded dull and lifeless with any pickups but the EMG 81/60. I use them @18V, which provides more dynamic range than the usual 9V (they clip later - clipping on active pickups sounds nasty in a bad way). It's ok if you weren't impressed. You can hear people saying all kind of things about EMG-pickups from sterile, soulless, harsh ... IMO, that's neither right nor wrong. It's about personal preference and taste. I just think they are amongst the tightest pickups because I never got them to sound muddy on any guitar I owned (unless by tweaking the amp).
 
Stillbruch said:
I was referring to the 81/60-combo. One of my guitars is a Jackson Dinky DKMG. It sounded dull and lifeless with any pickups but the EMG 81/60. I use them @18V, which provides more dynamic range than the usual 9V (they clip later - clipping on active pickups sounds nasty in a bad way). It's ok if you weren't impressed. You can hear people saying all kind of things about EMG-pickups from sterile, soulless, harsh ... IMO, that's neither right nor wrong. It's about personal preference and taste. I just think they are amongst the tightest pickups because I never got them to sound muddy on any guitar I owned (unless by tweaking the amp).
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You're talking about completely different pickups. 808s are pretty widely reviled by 8 string players.

As for the OP, I usually drop my bass down to around 9 o'clock, turn on the cut switch, turn up the low cut on the speaker page of the amp block to around 80hz, turn up the low cut on the cab page to taste, and then add a bit of girth back in with the resonance level on the speaker page and proximity setting on the cab block. Lately, I've replaced the Drive block with a filter block with high and low cut settings more or less where they are on the 808 mod.
 
Ben.Last said:
You're talking about completely different pickups. 808s are pretty widely reviled by 8 string players.
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I've never played an 8-string guitar and I didn't know about the 808s having a bad reputation. Looks like I'll have to try them out.

But eventually, I just wanted to explain why muddiness had nothing to do with a pickup being active or passive.
 
Stillbruch said:
I've never played an 8-string guitar and I didn't know about the 808s having a bad reputation. Looks like I'll have to try them out.

But eventually, I just wanted to explain why muddiness had nothing to do with a pickup being active or passive.
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Active or passive, no, but it does potentially have to do with which specific pickups are being used.
 
shredi knight said:
Sorry, I was going by what I have heard in the past about Meshuggah (not personally a fan) and a couple of apparently incorrect sources I found after a quick Google before I posted that.
They have however played live in the past without a bass player, and without one of the guitarist filling in on bass (they also played shows where they did do that).
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Could you be thinking of Animals as Leaders? They perform with just two 8-string guitars and drums; no live bass player (although I believe they play along to a pre-recorded bass track when playing live since they use a click anyway).

As efx mentioned, the bass is a huge part of the Meshuggah low end. I was already a fan and had listened to them for a few years when I read about this and began listening specifically for the contributions of bass and guitar. The guitars are pretty midrange-heavy, especially on Obzen and Koloss, and the bass really fills out the low end and completes the "sonic picture" of the Meshuggah tone. This directly relates to the subject of this thread, and is why a lot of newcomers to the Axe-Fx need to be reminded to regard the tones they're getting from the Axe as "mix-ready." When jamming at home, we may enjoy hearing a deep, rumbling low end, but in a mix this will often interfere with the bass (and maybe kick) frequencies, and can lead to mushiness and flabbiness, especially with low tunings.

The guys from Animals as Leaders change up their Axe-Fx presets from time to time, but I know that they both often use one of the Friedman models, which has a strong characteristic midrange. They tune the 8th string down to E, and I think the strong midrange helps the low stuff cut through and avoids mushy flab/flabby mush.


Here are a few threads about 8-string tone:
http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii-preset-exchange/80377-8-string-pointers.html
http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-f...ing-trying-get-nice-aal-tone-if-possible.html
 
All great suggestions. To address some of the points in the OP, I don't find it shocking at all that the 8 string is too woofy or muddy with the bass knob at noon. I get the same results with my 6 or 7 strings. And for that matter, I would have gotten the same results on any of my old Mesa amps.
 
I play an M80M with my "vintage" AxeFx Standard -> absolutely no muddy/bass issues here. Depending on the amp and the cab simulation I sometimes have to tame the high's/presence as the Lundgren Pickup is very screamy when playing power chords.
 
Paging Funeral John this is his territory he played his 8 here and dialed in a patch off the cuff from memory and demonstrated the 8 to us here..
My bass playing amigo here was impressed with how much range it had and no mush or flub we were using eon 15s set flat eq wise which I was skeptical for about 30 seconds and was then dropping F bombs all over the living room.

Funeral John can help you this is his yard he knows it well..
John ??? Care to shred some light ?
 
I've used a bunch of amps on the Axefx with my C8 Hellraiser and I'd say it just comes down to your amp cab combo. Eitherway, you can get a good, non bass-y tone by just using the Amp and Cab block and maybe a stomp boost.
 
I have an rg2228 with bareknuckles and absolutely no mud. My 8 string is just as tight as my six string. Just dial out the boom . If anyone wants some advice pm me it's real easy to do
 
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