Atomic CLR after 2 months

Philip

Philip

Inspired
I got a CLR wedge about mid September. When I plugged it in, I expected to be totally blown away. I wasn't. I think the main reason was that I really liked the sound that I had dialed in on my previous atomic FRFR cab and wedge. I re worked my main core amp block for a few weeks and really started to like what I heard. The last few weeks I have been blown away. This is the best my rig has ever sounded. I am VERY happy with the purchase. A few things I like, in no particular order: no more high pitch feedback like I got from the older atomic. I can literally stick my guitar up to the amp and it feeds back like an amp should. The low end is SO MUCH tighter. The unit itself is nicer feeling and has a smaller footprint and is easier to lug.

I reverted back to some old presets that I had saved from my old set up and plugged in the old atomic in to compare today. CLR wins hands down. I liked my old sounds and I had a bit of a rough transition, but I am very happy with the purchase.

Thanks Tom. Well done.

-Phil
 
All these threads about how good the CLR is are making wanna sell my monoblock and cab and get a CLR.
 
I think FRFR is the way to go with the Axe-II. Obvi, if you like your sound and your rig works for you, then roll with it, but if you are using a real cab you are missing out on a huge piece of what the Axe can do- all the cabs. They sound great. I do mainly U2 with my setup. Used to lug an AC30 and use it with the axe. But being able to dial up the other speaker configs is awesome, like the Fender sound on songs like Vertigo. It takes major transition to go this route, but it is really cool and sable from venue to venue.
Also, it doesn't hurt to try it out. There are return policies, but I would say if you buy a CLR, give it a few months at least. If you don't like it you should be able to sell it and not lose too much money.

-Phil
 
I must confess I am struggling with mine, live it just always feel sterile and brittle, I'm sure they must work as this many people cant be wrong. I tried a ton of presets tonight with all different tips about cutting the EQ, lowering the high cut etc but it just never seems to get into the zone for me, I dont know what my expectations were as I have no real frame of reference to say either way as I've not heard any other setup to compare to.
Seriously considering looking for a tube power-amp like a MESA and going back to guitar cabs.
 
Sted said:
I must confess I am struggling with mine, live it just always feel sterile and brittle, I'm sure they must work as this many people cant be wrong. I tried a ton of presets tonight with all different tips about cutting the EQ, lowering the high cut etc but it just never seems to get into the zone for me, I dont know what my expectations were as I have no real frame of reference to say either way as I've not heard any other setup to compare to.
Seriously considering looking for a tube power-amp like a MESA and going back to guitar cabs.
Click to expand...

Some FRFR monitors require a great deal of tweaking, others do not. If I was you I would seriously consider non-frfr solutions before giving up on the Axe-Fx. I would take a close look at a Matrix amp with a pair of NL12 cabs.
 
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Sted said:
I must confess I am struggling with mine, live it just always feel sterile and brittle, I'm sure they must work as this many people cant be wrong. I tried a ton of presets tonight with all different tips about cutting the EQ, lowering the high cut etc but it just never seems to get into the zone for me, I dont know what my expectations were as I have no real frame of reference to say either way as I've not heard any other setup to compare to.
Seriously considering looking for a tube power-amp like a MESA and going back to guitar cabs.
Click to expand...

Are you a high gainer or light gainer? ;)
 
I as well have not impressed with the tones out of the box. I was expecting to hear all of these different amps/tones but all I got was what sounds like is one amp with varyied levels of saturated gain. I too have no reference point as to what a vox, or dezial or higher sounds like to dial in those tones. But, can my frustrations be a setup issue? Am I not using the FX right? Unfortunately, I have more questions then answers...so each day I put in a little time figuring things out. Maybe one day the bulb will light up... Like it did the other day when I noticed some patches sounded terrible only to find out that the wah-wah block was engaged.

Joe.
 
godwentpunk said:
I as well have not impressed with the tones out of the box. I was expecting to hear all of these different amps/tones but all I got was what sounds like is one amp with varyied levels of saturated gain. I too have no reference point as to what a vox, or dezial or higher sounds like to dial in those tones. But, can my frustrations be a setup issue? Am I not using the FX right? Unfortunately, I have more questions then answers...so each day I put in a little time figuring things out. Maybe one day the bulb will light up... Like it did the other day when I noticed some patches sounded terrible only to find out that the wah-wah block was engaged.

Joe.
Click to expand...

A big part of the sound will come from the cabinet, or in the case of an Axe-FX/FRFR setup, the cab IR. If you're using similar sounding (or the same) cabs IRs with different amps, you'll get different levels of gain as you've found, and maybe a different feel/response depending on which amps you're jumping between and how you have them dialed, but the actual sound you get will be heavily influenced by the cab IR.


If you're using say a Vox model with a Vox cab IR, then a Diezel model through a Recto V30 IR, then a Mark series model through an EVM12-L IR... and they're sounding really samey aside from gain levels... then yeah, that's a bit odd.
 
Try this:
Before next rehearsal go there a little bit earlier, you need fresh ears.

Put the CLR behind you in backline position, set the Preset knob on the CLR to backline.
Don't turn the CLR on.

Connect your Axe OUT1 left to the CLR Input 1 and start the Axe and go to the I/O settings in the Axe and set the OUTPUT 1 MODE to COPY L>R.
Set the Input level 1 on the CLR to 12 o'clock and the Master level on the CLR to Max and the Sub switch on the CLR to Off. Turn on the CLR.

Make sure the Output EQ on the Axe fx is zeroed out.
Choose a blank preset.
Choose an Amp block and a Cab block, nothing else.

Choose an Amp type that you are familiar with and choose the settings you used to have with that amp. If you are not familiar with some amp, choose some that you think you would like and double klick the Bypass button to default the settings.
Set the gain knob on the Amp and maybe the bass knob. Some amp requires the bass to go down when gain goes up,(Mesa Boogie Mark type amps for example).
You could adjust the Presence slightly but leave the Middle, Treble, Master and everything else at default.
Only adjust the Level parameter in the Amp block to get appropriate volume together with the Output 1 knob on the Axe.

Now go to the Cab block and doubble click on the Bypass knob to set everything to default.
Use the Wiki pages where you can see the suggested speaker types and Cabs for your Amp type. Try a Cab out of the Mix Cabs (number 75-118) first.
If those are not ok for your taste then try the other suggested Cabs and use the additions of mics to season the Cab flavour.
And if you use a mic on a Cab use the Proximity parameter to get the desired Oumpf. Be careful because high Proximity settings can clip the output of the Axe. Not desirable. To avoid the clipping you only need to turn down the Level parameter in the Cab block or in the Amp block, they do the same thing.

If you are not satisfied or at least in the ballpark with a Mono Cab, then try the Cab block in the Stereo setting and use either two different Cabs that compliment each other or the same cab in both left and right but with two different mics. A 57 Dyn and a R121 COND is a good start because you get the mids from the 57 DYN and the bottom and sizzle from the R121 COND.
Since you use a Stereo CAB and you only use the left output from the Axe, then you Pan L/R to the middle in the Cab block.

When you have choosen a good Cab, go back to the Amp block and fine tune by using the Middle, Treble, Bass, Presence and Gain knob.

For some extra touch, go to the Speaker Tab in the Amp block and adjust the LF RES FREQ to getthe bottom Oumpf in the correct place.

Good luck!
 
When I got my CLR's I had owned the Axe FX II for 6 months and had to do everything over from scratch, this had to do with some major changes in FW from 10 to 11 as well, but I needed to redo them anyways, as the more you learn the better your ability to dial in will become.

The #1 and the MOST IMPORTANT thing of all. Have a reference or idea of what tone you want before you do anything. Aimlessly looking for a tone by blindly tweaking knobs is a complete waste of time and will only serve to frustrate you. I suggest listening to a favorite track and taking note of the tone. Keep playing it back while tweaking as to refresh your reference. (this is just for learning how to dial in, once you "get it," aimlessly tweaking to find something new can be a good thing).

Now, Start by loading a bank of factory presets (MAKE SURE YOU BACKUP 1ST and/or save anything you don't want to lose)
go through the factory presets and pick one you like and use that as a base to tweak off of. out of 384 presets, AT LEAST ONE of them should be good no?
disable any effects blocks and put a looper block in the first block of the grid and record a short phrase.
now with the looper playing back, go through cabs and you will notice how drastically a cab IR can change the tone completely.
Once you find a close match to the tone you want using only different cabs, start tweaking the Amp and Cab settings to dial it in.
Try to do this without any other effects, just amp and cab, and/or drive if you like that route.
If you are looking to copy a certain tone but just can't quite get it there, there is the ability to tone match as well. See the wiki or manual.

Also, dial it in a decent volume as if you dial in at low volumes, when you turn it up it will be either muddy or ice pick or both.

A major stepping stone I have noticed with new users to the modeling world is they expect that raw guitar cabinet in the room tone from an FRFR solution. While it is possible to dial it in like this, the point of FRFR is to reproduce what you would hear from a microphone on a guitar cab, processed through a desk and output to a FOH, or Isolated recording. This is what's great about the CLR's is, what you hear in them is nearly identical to what the audience will hear from the FOH or what a direct recorded track will sound like.

The last and final piece of advice I have is to realize that your guitar tone isn't as important as you think it is. Don't over think it, Don't over tweak it. In the mix with a band, a lot of those fine details you spent hours tweaking alone will get eaten up by drums and bass, so try to dial in your tone to compliment them, not fight for space with them.
 
jeppekristoffer said:
<Epic post>
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Thanks mate, I did get there early tonight to try and dial in at volume, I did also use it in all the different positions though I didn't build a cab/amp from scratch. I'm going to book some studio time alone to try and get this thing going to my taste, it may just be the last chance I give it! thank you for the reply and apologies to the OP for a slight hijack!
 
Indeed.

Cab sims are THE key to tone! Out of the whole array in the axe-fx I found only a couple that I liked. And still wasn't entirely smitten with. It's a huge rabbit hole to go to third-party IRs since there are literally hundreds of thousands of them.

If it's so easy with a real amp/cab, then why is it so hard to find an IR that is the shiznit? Because we're essentially (close-) micing a cab and then amplifying the result. When you're playing in a room with a real guitar amp/cab you're not putting you're ears against the grille. You're there, off to the side, above several feet away with all kinds of other sounds blending in, reflections, rest of the band, stuff your brain does to make sense of it all, it's never the same as up against the grille, but we're conditioned to like it that way. But now we're micing the cab. Ever tried to mic a cab? It's really painstaking process to find the sweet spot. Every time it took hours and usually I still wasn't satisfied. Still, that's what it takes to get a good tone, either on tape or through a good frfr solution and that's what any one of us need to do.

Find the IR that is your sweet spot.

And that may even change with different amp sims.
 
Severed said:
Epic post #2!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response mate, I've basically just gone in and tried some factory presets, some of yek's, some of fremens and some of my own, I organised them into banks going from clean, crunch, heavy and lead and then tried the CLR in different positions with these patches as well. My least favourite is the wedge position as it seems very spiky in this position, up behind me in FF was better but I kind of lost a bit of monitoring then.
I understand about what you mean about the difference between FRFR and a real amp/cab, my usual gigging amp is a Matchless Independence so comparing anything to that is possibly a little unfair as its one of the finest amps I've ever heard, in my humble opinion of course.
I've previously used a palmer with my amps to go FOH which I really liked the sound of, I honestly thought the Matrix/cab option would suit me but I tried it and was a bit underwhelmed to be honest, again, this could just be my lack of experience with the axe, I'm not trying to belittle anyones opinions here!
I will have a go at the looper idea though, I love everything about this set up other than the sounds I actually get to hear, it would be great to experience someone elses set up who knows these things better than me but I don't think thats realistic at present.
Thanks for the comments guys, I appreciate all suggestions and help.
 
I've been using a pair of CLRs for a week now and I don't think it's so much different in dialing a tone compared to poweramp/cab. In my case it was EVM12l and matrix gm50

The key is:
- Find right IR
- HIGHPass and LOWPass. I usually end up on 100Hz / 7000Hz

That's it =)
 
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