A

Others' presets can often sound very different with your own hands/guitar even if you monitored a sample of the other person's performance using the same preset on the same frfr system you play thru. My advice is to make your own presets and use others's presets as a basis to learn techniques for doing your own.

And this
 
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Do the factory presets work for you?

The issue could be your pickups. If they are unusually high output or unusually low output then you might need to adjust the trim parameter.

The way you play, your monitoring setup, the room resonances, your ears/ personal preferences, and guitar / pickups all have a big impact on the end result.
 
I downloaded a few afx2 presets when I first purchased my afx3 and converted them with fractool. Some sounded terrible and had anomalies like rhythm guitar patches being drenched in 20 second long reverb.
 
I've never downloaded any that sound remotely good. Most are awful. Hard to believe only a handful of people who charge for presets are any good at it.
 
In the end, just build your own, or modify paid/downloaded ones to suit you and your guitar(s). I buy from a couple of companies that have presets that broadly work for me, but EVERY ONE has still required some modifications to my taste.
 
James Barney said:
Hey guys, I’ve had the axe fx 3 since launch and I (somehow) only recently started downloading presets for it. Most of them are originally for the axe fx 2, but still, for some reason pretty much all the presets I download sound TERRIBLE, like extremely terrible, I get people have different rigs but some of these have me seriously questioning if the people who made them are mentally well, even some the high rated presets on axechange are pretty much unusable. Am I doing something wrong on my end? This seems very odd to me. Also, why does no one include the cab in their tone match presets?
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Stick to presets that were created with the same firmware version you're currently using. The older a preset is, the worse it will sound when used with current firmware. If you're thinking "but almost all the presets in Axechange were made with firmware versions much older than what I'm using", you have just discovered why not many people use Axechange :).
 
James Barney said:
Hey guys, I’ve had the axe fx 3 since launch and I (somehow) only recently started downloading presets for it. Most of them are originally for the axe fx 2, but still, for some reason pretty much all the presets I download sound TERRIBLE, like extremely terrible, I get people have different rigs but some of these have me seriously questioning if the people who made them are mentally well, even some the high rated presets on axechange are pretty much unusable. Am I doing something wrong on my end? This seems very odd to me. Also, why does no one include the cab in their tone match presets?
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Kind of an obvious question, but have you tried a different guitar and monitoring solution?
 
You'll definitely want to update your presets to the latest firmware... afx2 patches will absolutely not sound right on afx3 and are not meant to.

Second thing to consider... not all these patches were created by people with a good ear for tone and most of them are done with a completely different guitar, different speakers, different room and treatment... (this should not be overlooked as the room these patches are created in, if not treated really well, will not translate outside that room in many cases), than you own so translation to a new rig is almost impossible.
 
@James Barney

There are many causes for poor sound quality. It can be a setting, physical hardware, perception (expecting blues getting death metal presets and sound), ... yada yada

If the ideas presented by others, as well as what I have below, are not helping your situation, please help us know your setup as well as attach a specific preset you've downloaded, that really sounds terrible to you. We can try it on our units, and see how that sounds to our group. I have definitely downloaded more than a couple, that were not usable, for me. I play mainly hard rock into early Metal, so that is the type of sound I'm looking for, when I download.

Does your guitar have active pickups (requires batteries on the guitar)? If so, have you replaced with fresh batteries, as this can make anything potentially sound like shite. Same for some headphones, if you are using some to monitor your sound.

1. Are you listening via headphones, powered monitors or FRFR speakers? If so, do you have both Power Amp Modeling turned On and Cabinet Modeling Active?
2. Are you running through a power amp (solid state or tube) or guitar amp, and into a normal cab (1x12, 2x12, 4x12)? If yes, some still prefer the Cabinet Modeling set to Active, even though this can be redundant, going through an actual Cabinet.
3. Are you current (or close) with your AF3 firmware? (currently 18.03 for instance)
4. Do you have a Global EQ setup that might sound wonderful on a specific preset, but not align with other's creations?

The IR you use is also a make-or-break piece in the presets. Some IRs make the best sounding preset wholly unusable. Also, on presets you download, if the cab (IR) is assigned to User1, User2 or User3, confirm assigned the slot # is not EMPTY. Always best to obtain (purchase or download if not a commercial IR) the same IR as was originally used, or assign to one that is similar in your User banks or in the other banks included in our AF3s.

I do hope one of us can give you the missing piece to your puzzle.
Best of luck, Lee
 
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