AMP ADVANCED SETTINGS

[ML SOUND LAB]

I've been tweaking these advanced amp settings but I'm starting to think that they don't affect the tone at all since I don't hear any differences. I could probably google all these questions BUT I'm sure there are other guys searching for these answers too so I hope someone could explain these parameters and how they effect my Axe-Fx tone. I'm not really interested in science... I just want to know what I should be hearing when I'm tweaking these knobs:

1) BRIGHT CAP
2) TONESTACK TYPE
3) TONESTACK FREQ
4) PRESENCE FREQ
5) PWR TUBE BIAS
6) B+ CAPACITANCE
7) TRANSFORMER LF
8) TRANSFORMER HF
9) TRANSFRMR MATCH
10) SPKR RES FREQ
11) STABILIZER
12) PRES/DEPTH TYPE

Now I know these names are self-evident but I keep on tweaking them without hearing any differences hoping that I'm doing something right. Are these settings affecting FEEL more than tone? If so how do I make it feel easy/good?

 

[mortega76]

I've been tweaking these advanced amp settings but I'm starting to think that they don't affect the tone at all since I don't hear any differences. I could probably google all these questions BUT I'm sure there are other guys searching for these answers too so I hope someone could explain these parameters and how they effect my Axe-Fx tone. I'm not really interested in science... I just want to know what I should be hearing when I'm tweaking these knobs:

1) BRIGHT CAP
2) TONESTACK TYPE
3) TONESTACK FREQ
4) PRESENCE FREQ
5) PWR TUBE BIAS
6) B+ CAPACITANCE
7) TRANSFORMER LF
8) TRANSFORMER HF
9) TRANSFRMR MATCH
10) SPKR RES FREQ
11) STABILIZER
12) PRES/DEPTH TYPE

Now I know these names are self-evident but I keep on tweaking them without hearing any differences hoping that I'm doing something right. Are these settings affecting FEEL more than tone? If so how do I make it feel easy/good?

Out of all these the only one I ever mess with is the BIAS... Turning it up adds girth and mid to low end body. I would suggest using a higher master and possibly a higher sag setting to get a better emphasis on what each setting sounds like.

 

[moshwitz]

Sup?

I think that most of them have a very profound affect on the tone,,especially the tone stack type,,cause hitting something with a plexi tonestack sounds waaaayyy different from hitting it with the Das Metal.

the bright cap changes the high crispness ,

the pres freq. and tonestack freq. settings most definitely makes a difference going from 500 to 2000hz.

bias and B+ Affects the sizzle of the gain...etc.

I don't really know what to tell you as I can hear clearly what each one does when you radically change it from one extreme to the other. I could see if you were just making real small adjustments but give them a whirl from one end to the other.

what is your typical monitoring situation?

MOSHON
DAVE

 

[marvinx]

It seems to me that the tone stack adjustment seems to change where most of the distortion lies frequency wise, and it seems to produce a little bit of a volume scoop at the frequency it inidicates.
but that is just a guess.

I was reading the manual for my valveking amp, which has a fender based clean channel, and i noticed the presence boosted around 3500 hz . So usually on fender type amps i raise the pres freq to that, and it makes it chimier and more balanced to my ears without being shrill.

 

[marvinx]

bias is like a real amp

3.50 is supposed to be 60-70% dissipation perfect bias for class a/b. Lower will make things a lil crunchier at first and a lil tighter, then the amp will loose volume and get harsh. Raising it sort of fattens things up, and rounds out the power tube distortion. As you approach 1 you approach class a operation and you start hearing that midrange crunchy breakup single ended amps get.

 

[shredi knight]

I've been tweaking these advanced amp settings but I'm starting to think that they don't affect the tone at all since I don't hear any differences.....


....2) TONESTACK TYPE

No offence meant man, but if you can't hear a difference when changing the Tonestack Type (not to mention about all the other ones you listed too), either your ears or Axe FX are defective.

 

[Joker]

It's probably the speakers he's using. If my memory serves me well he uses cheap little desktop speakers. No wonder you're not hearing any tone changes. Never tweak at low volume and make sure you use full range speakers.

 

[logicroxx]

[quote="Clark Kent":17j8hr9w]I've been tweaking these advanced amp settings but I'm starting to think that they don't affect the tone at all since I don't hear any differences.....


....2) TONESTACK TYPE

No offence meant man, but if you can't hear a difference when changing the Tonestack Type (not to mention about all the other ones you listed too), either your ears or Axe FX are defective.[/quote:17j8hr9w]


+1

Noticeable difference should be heard. You might consider posting two clips, both with the same eq settings but different tonestack types. This way, forum users would be able to give you some feedback on the audible differences.

 

[paulmapp8306]

some of those parameters are quite subtle. You need a decent monitoring system to hear them - and then its small differences.

However the Bright Cap, Tonestack Freqs and type, and Pres Freq (as long as you have some presence dialed in you patch) make a LOT of difference. If you cant hear any then something is wrong somewhere. If nothing is wrong - you really dont need an Axe !!!

 

[yek]

I've been tweaking these advanced amp settings but I'm starting to think that they don't affect the tone at all since I don't hear any differences. I could probably google all these questions BUT I'm sure there are other guys searching for these answers too so I hope someone could explain these parameters and how they effect my Axe-Fx tone. I'm not really interested in science... I just want to know what I should be hearing when I'm tweaking these knobs:

1) BRIGHT CAP
2) TONESTACK TYPE
3) TONESTACK FREQ
4) PRESENCE FREQ
5) PWR TUBE BIAS
6) B+ CAPACITANCE
7) TRANSFORMER LF
8) TRANSFORMER HF
9) TRANSFRMR MATCH
10) SPKR RES FREQ
11) STABILIZER
12) PRES/DEPTH TYPE

Now I know these names are self-evident but I keep on tweaking them without hearing any differences hoping that I'm doing something right. Are these settings affecting FEEL more than tone? If so how do I make it feel easy/good?

Put the Axe out of Bypass mode.

I'm one of those who doesn't touch these settings. Like I wouldn't with real amps.
It's great for the tweakers. But if I can't make an amp work for me with with the first two pages, I'm not gonna spend more anytime on it.

 

[ML SOUND LAB]

It's probably the speakers he's using. If my memory serves me well he uses cheap little desktop speakers. No wonder you're not hearing any tone changes. Never tweak at low volume and make sure you use full range speakers.

I've got decent monitoring speakers/headphones at home... I've got shitty loudspeakers in my rehearsal space but I'm replacing them with a real cab and power amp. I don't own "cheap little desktop speakers".

I guess my post was a bit misleading when I said I don't hear ANY changes. I hear subtle changes which leads to the basic visual plan to crank the settings if I don't hear a big difference. This is something I don't want to do so that's why I was asking for directions to see if you guys have tips or specific settings you like to use. F.ex. I was expecting the PRESENCE FREQ to have a huge affect on my tone but it really didn't do much. I know from my mixing experience that 2200hz is a good freq where a guitar tone really cuts through so I tried that but it really didn't do anything.

Now, that BIAS setting seems interesting. If I want a creamy, smooth and fat tone that isn't muddy and cuts through in a mix, should I crank the bias or search for a certain setting? (wow, that's like asking you guys how to get the perfect tone :lol: ... I'll ask it anyways. )

 

[mortega76]

It's probably the speakers he's using. If my memory serves me well he uses cheap little desktop speakers. No wonder you're not hearing any tone changes. Never tweak at low volume and make sure you use full range speakers.

I've got decent monitoring speakers/headphones at home... I've got shitty loudspeakers in my rehearsal space but I'm replacing them with a real cab and power amp. I don't own "cheap little desktop speakers".

I guess my post was a bit misleading when I said I don't hear ANY changes. I hear subtle changes which leads to the basic visual plan to crank the settings if I don't hear a big difference. This is something I don't want to do so that's why I was asking for directions to see if you guys have tips or specific settings you like to use. F.ex. I was expecting the PRESENCE FREQ to have a huge affect on my tone but it really didn't do much. I know from my mixing experience that 2200hz is a good freq where a guitar tone really cuts through so I tried that but it really didn't do anything.

Now, that BIAS setting seems interesting. If I want a creamy, smooth and fat tone that isn't muddy and cuts through in a mix, should I crank the bias or search for a certain setting? (wow, that's like asking you guys how to get the perfect tone :lol: ... I'll ask it anyways. )

If I"m not mistaken you have to make sure to have the PRESENCE past zero to have the PRESENCE FREQ have any effect... it only selects the effected frequency peak, no effect if it's not past zero.

 

[javajunkie]

It's probably the speakers he's using. If my memory serves me well he uses cheap little desktop speakers. No wonder you're not hearing any tone changes. Never tweak at low volume and make sure you use full range speakers.

I've got decent monitoring speakers/headphones at home... I've got shitty loudspeakers in my rehearsal space but I'm replacing them with a real cab and power amp. I don't own "cheap little desktop speakers".

I guess my post was a bit misleading when I said I don't hear ANY changes. I hear subtle changes which leads to the basic visual plan to crank the settings if I don't hear a big difference. This is something I don't want to do so that's why I was asking for directions to see if you guys have tips or specific settings you like to use. F.ex. I was expecting the PRESENCE FREQ to have a huge affect on my tone but it really didn't do much. I know from my mixing experience that 2200hz is a good freq where a guitar tone really cuts through so I tried that but it really didn't do anything.

Now, that BIAS setting seems interesting. If I want a creamy, smooth and fat tone that isn't muddy and cuts through in a mix, should I crank the bias or search for a certain setting? (wow, that's like asking you guys how to get the perfect tone :lol: ... I'll ask it anyways. )

If I"m not mistaken you have to make sure to have the PRESENCE past zero to have the PRESENCE FREQ have any effect... it only selects the effected frequency peak, no effect if it's not past zero.

or less than zero

 

[cardinal of crunk]

They all make a difference, big time.

Sometimes you won't hear it by playing a chord, letting it ring out, and changing the "power tube bias." You'll notice differences if you try some settings, play dynamically, then change the settings and play dynamically again.

 

[decipher]

but it would really help if someone could explain in laymans terms what each of those actually do...

PS- ive never owned or played a tube amp before!!

 

[quonsar]

but it would really help if someone could explain in laymans terms what each of those actually do...

PS- ive never owned or played a tube amp before!!

1) BRIGHT CAP - gets more chicks
2) TONESTACK TYPE - gets stacked chicks
3) TONESTACK FREQ - gets stacked chicks more often
4) PRESENCE FREQ - gets freaky chicks
5) PWR TUBE BIAS - gets ethnic chicks
6) B+ CAPACITANCE - gets big chicks
7) TRANSFORMER LF - gets chicks with d*cks
8) TRANSFORMER HF - gets chicks with d*cks more often
9) TRANSFRMR MATCH - do not try this at home
10) SPKR RES FREQ - gets deaf chicks
11) STABILIZER - gets sane chicks
12) PRES/DEPTH TYPE - gets smart chicks

 

[yek]

haha

but it would really help if someone could explain in laymans terms what each of those actually do...

PS- ive never owned or played a tube amp before!!

1) BRIGHT CAP - gets more chicks
2) TONESTACK TYPE - gets stacked chicks
3) TONESTACK FREQ - gets stacked chicks more often
4) PRESENCE FREQ - gets freaky chicks
5) PWR TUBE BIAS - gets ethnic chicks
6) B+ CAPACITANCE - gets big chicks
7) TRANSFORMER LF - gets chicks with d*cks
8) TRANSFORMER HF - gets chicks with d*cks more often
9) TRANSFRMR MATCH - do not try this at home
10) SPKR RES FREQ - gets deaf chicks
11) STABILIZER - gets sane chicks
12) PRES/DEPTH TYPE - gets smart chicks

 

[guittarzzan]

My two cents:

I would be less concerned with what settings others are using because, apparently, you can't hear the difference in the adjustments anyway. I would seriously troubleshoot your signal path etc and also make sure the editor is actually communicating with the axefx and changing the parameters to begin with. You could be not hearing a difference because the editor and Axefx aren't in sync...I don't know.
Every single one of those paramaters are blatantly noticeable to me...even the subtle ones. Hopefully the problem isn't your ears and you've played too loud too long and are struggling to make these distinctions. That would be worse case scenario.
I guess what I'm saying is that all the amp parameters DO change the way the amp sounds and/or responds. Until you figure out why you're not or only barely hearing any difference, you're going to be chasing your tail.

good luck

 

[SML59]

but it would really help if someone could explain in laymans terms what each of those actually do...

PS- ive never owned or played a tube amp before!!

1) BRIGHT CAP - gets more chicks
2) TONESTACK TYPE - gets stacked chicks
3) TONESTACK FREQ - gets stacked chicks more often
4) PRESENCE FREQ - gets freaky chicks
5) PWR TUBE BIAS - gets ethnic chicks
6) B+ CAPACITANCE - gets big chicks
7) TRANSFORMER LF - gets chicks with d*cks
8) TRANSFORMER HF - gets chicks with d*cks more often
9) TRANSFRMR MATCH - do not try this at home
10) SPKR RES FREQ - gets deaf chicks
11) STABILIZER - gets sane chicks
12) PRES/DEPTH TYPE - gets smart chicks

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[ML SOUND LAB]

My two cents:

I would be less concerned with what settings others are using because, apparently, you can't hear the difference in the adjustments anyway. I would seriously troubleshoot your signal path etc and also make sure the editor is actually communicating with the axefx and changing the parameters to begin with. You could be not hearing a difference because the editor and Axefx aren't in sync...I don't know.
Every single one of those paramaters are blatantly noticeable to me...even the subtle ones. Hopefully the problem isn't your ears and you've played too loud too long and are struggling to make these distinctions. That would be worse case scenario.
I guess what I'm saying is that all the amp parameters DO change the way the amp sounds and/or responds. Until you figure out why you're not or only barely hearing any difference, you're going to be chasing your tail.

good luck

I'm not using the Axe-Edit with my Axe-Fx. I create my patches manually and I'm getting amazing tones! (actually I think I create the best tones out here... they suit me ofcourse) I've got a sharp ear too and I always make sure I'm protecting my ears so that's not the issue here.

Now that I know what the presence freq does I'll never use it. Isn't it just about another parametric eq? No need for that since the amps I like sound good as they are. I must admit I was most interested in the bias option. I never understood it but now that I do I'll be tweaking it more. It is really confusing to tweak knobs if you don't understand the names or what they do... like f.ex. a TREBLE and GAIN knob have somewhat the same-ish effect on some amps. If I don't have a name for those knobs I don't know what I'm doing. This is why I asked so many questions.