A question about studio monitors and the Axe-FX II -- what are you using?

5150

5150

Inspired
Hi everyone!

I've recently purchased an Axe-II (about a month ago now), and have been steadily learning the unit. My patches are getting better, which for me seems like an odd thing to say, as most folks here are saying to simply load up an amp->cab combo with a touch of reverb, and get "the correct sound for that amp". I'm not finding it to be all that easy, but I am getting closer to sounds that make me want to play, instead of tweak knobs/parameters.

That said, I'm starting to question my monitors. I have a pair of Equator D5's which I think sound shockingly good with recorded reference material. I'm starting to wonder about them with the Axe-FX. (It's also entirely possible that I'm doing something wrong). I'm going directly out of the rear of the Axe, balanced outputs, with a pair of xlr connections into the back of each monitor. USB cable to my workstation for using Axe-Edit.

When I listen to other people's recordings of the Axe, it sounds fine on these monitors. What I'm hearing is quite hard to describe, but I'll try. When I play directly from the Axe to my monitors (using a patch with amp->cab->verb, etc) the sound seems to be fizzy/direct/harsh, right in the "middle" of the tone. It kind of makes all the dirty sounds sound alike. It's almost the auditory equivalent of a residual camera flash in your vision. (Someone takes your picture with a flash, and you get the bright circle of color in the center of your vision for a few seconds, that blocks what you see directly in front of you, but not necessarily your peripheral vision). It's like I'm getting "peripheral vision hearing" when I play direct. LOL! I know that sounds weird, but I'm just trying to put words to it.

Is anyone else using the Equator D5's? Is it worth trying a better monitoring solution, or am I doing something wrong on my end?
 
Hello,

I am only a few months ahead of you with the unit but:

I am using HS8's Yamaha - & I am happy with the results. I tried a couple other sets of monitors at the same time & liked them the best.

I am running the same cabling method. You have to tweak & go by what sounds good to you. Presets I download from axechange rarely sound good to my ear for whatever reason. Probably different pickups, wood, picking techniques, xxxxx... I typically will leave the amps alone & play around with irs... It is all in the IRs as far as I am concerned. I find value in checking out how people route the signals on the AxFX2. What goes where & why kind of thing.

Don't let anyone guide you too much on what sounds good to you. I love Petrucci & Saraceno's sound but refuse to chase it too much. Everyone would end up sounding the same. Not much fun.

What was the question? Oh yead... HS8s - Yamaha...
 
Sorry... Couple other things to mention.

Try putting some foam under your monitors. Gives a truer reference when I A/B with & without the foam. I just used some medium density foam from work about 2" thick. You do not need the music store bought versions of these in my opinion.

Also try starting with less gain and adding it as needed. When I record 8 out of 10 times I reduce the gain of a new tone after hearing it track single, double or quad. Yeah... I like guitars. They seem more open & round.
 
I agree with everything above said by wyzyguy. I also have the same Yamaha monitors and they are great. The 8 inch speaker gives some extra low end without having to add a subwoofer. I will say they are great for dialing in your recorded tones, but not so much for louder gig volumes. I have found that for dialing a patch for playing with my band I run the main outs to the yamahas, but the run line out 2 to my powered pa monitor, an ev elx-112p. I crank up the ev some to give me some volume. Like it was said above I also find that 99.9 percent of the presets on axechange don't work for me, even if I have heard soundclips of it online and thought it sounded great.
 
I use the Yamaha HS80M and they're great. As said before, isolate them from what they sit on. If your testing live patches always use your live wedges.
 
I use Yamaha hs80m's as studio monitors and a mackie hd1221 wedge for live monitoring. I find the yamahas to be better for overall patch creation as they are brutally honest in the midrange. The best thing you can do is learn YOUR monitoring setup (using reference tracks helps) and figure out where the strengths/weaknesses of your monitors lie.
 
I'm using the Mackie MRs, nice and cheap but great sound. Accurate enough, especially for the price. Don't overthink this shit... Even if that's what got us here in the first place!
 
It sounds pretty much like you are doing something wrong, especially if you say that recordings done by other people sound better on your equators.

Check the gain staging and start to rule out factors by eliminating them. Maybe also do a recording for us to listen to and decide whats missing.

Don't go out buying new monitors just out of frustration. I'm almost perfectly sure its not your D5's, since they are pretty good monitors.
 
Monitor placement is very important - try moving them (or yourself where possible) back, forward, wider, narrower, higher, lower - and see if the sound improves. As mentioned above - isolation pads are a good idea to de-couple the monitors from the surface they are on.
 
I own an Axe for more than 2 years now and must admit I never been pleased that much by the sound coming from my monitors (Adam A7x). Of course, records through the same monitors sound great ! Also, using my headphones, the sound is really good. But when I play with my monitors, it´s like the sound was distant, feeling like the monitor is on a tunnel or something...
 
JT2 said:
I use the Yamaha HS80M and they're great. As said before, isolate them from what they sit on. If your testing live patches always use your live wedges.
Click to expand...

Hey man. I use these too. They absolutely crank, i never play them at full volume. Not too expensive. I would recommend them!
 
I have HS80M but no Axe FXII yet! What? Still waiting for my order to arrive. Going off the previous responses it will sound great.
 
I have the "Blue Sky Pro Desk 2.1" system in my studio and they are incredible. My mixes translate well (I also have a well treated room) and my Axe II sounds lucious through them. I would also add that I recently had the opportunity to extensively test an "Atomic CLR" in my studio (thank you Scott Peterson!) and it sounded wonderful and 99% identical to my Blue Sky system. I say 99% only because the Blue Sky has a subwoofer.

Although the CLR can get MUCH louder. I will be purchasing a CLR very soon.
 
i'm using the equator D5's for most of my studio work. from cutting demos, recording music beds, jingles and of coarse, programming my AFII. I have them on Auralex MoPads. Make sure your boundary switch is set correctly! everything seems to translate very well and accurately to other systems. I'm using Atomic active CLR's live. From the D5's to the CLR's the sound is pretty consistent.
 
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