AX 8 muddy tones

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kevin williams

New Member
I am new to digital modelers. I have tried several in the past but never got a decent tone. My problem is the same with the AX 8. All amp models sound muddy and fake to me. no punch no clarity.
I am running the left XLR out to an EV ZLX-12P powered speaker. I have tried to EQ different patches without success.
What am I missing. This can't be what this thing sounds like or no one would buy it. I'm sure things have to be tweaked but this is so far off that I must be missing some basic thing that everyone knows in the world of modelers. Any help would be appreciated.
I normally use a Fuchs ODS 30 and a Blackstar Studio 20 with a pedalboard with great results
 
Search for presets of players tones that you are trying to match. At this point, I believe I use zero factory patches. I have several fantastic patches provided by users here. Don't be afraid to edit. I personally add a 2-3k equalizer boost on many patches as they sounded muddy to me. After the boost.... perfect!
 
How loud are you playing?
Agree with above that you need to give it some volume to get the tone to open up.
 
I'm using nearfield monitors for editing (dynaudio bm6a mkii)...and if I can roughly at 75% of full power....but never less than 50%
 
I am sorta flabbergasted, i do play mainly on real amps and old school effects. Of the amps i play Marshall Superlead 100, Marshall 1986 ... Marshall 45/100 and some others, i play VOX AC15 and AC30 and derivatives ... I play Fender Twin; Vibrolux and Super .. BF style. Other than that I play old school amps and effects, most of them sounds pretty close to the real deal on the ax8, not always dead on but pretty close. I play D style amps (and those are frigging amazing in the ax8) so i am very curious where you loose out and where you want more :) just a question :)
 
kevin williams said:
I am new to digital modelers. I have tried several in the past but never got a decent tone. My problem is the same with the AX 8. All amp models sound muddy and fake to me. no punch no clarity.
I am running the left XLR out to an EV ZLX-12P powered speaker. I have tried to EQ different patches without success.
What am I missing. This can't be what this thing sounds like or no one would buy it. I'm sure things have to be tweaked but this is so far off that I must be missing some basic thing that everyone knows in the world of modelers. Any help would be appreciated.
I normally use a Fuchs ODS 30 and a Blackstar Studio 20 with a pedalboard with great results
Click to expand...

How about posting a patch so we can see your settings?
What kind of sound are you after? Artist/song?
What guitar do you play?
How about pickups?
Did you read through the excellent manual or checkout some of the great tutorials available?
http://axefxtutorials.com/
 
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if all the amps sound muddy and fake to you yes something is wrong. And I disagree about the presets. that's kind of a long ongoing discussion. There are some great presets...without even tweaking. Cannot help, sorry, except to say hope someone can help you figure it out..

EDIT: If you are trying out all presets and saying this then something is wrong in your setup for sure.

If it's patches you are building . Post one like someone else suggested. Good way to get help.
Lots of real smart players on here....
 
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I agree - the other day I fired up the factory Friedman BE and HBE patches for some fun. Man - straight out of the box they rocked really well. My "valve purest" buddy sat they mouth open and said ... "if ever I got one of those, that is the only tone I would ever need".
 
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I appreciate everyone's input.
I have improved the tone somewhat through eq and of course cranking the volume but there is still some weird "artifact" that doesn't sound good to me.
I'm thinking it might be this speaker but I haven't had too much time to devote to it. I played my acoustic through my LR Baggs D.I. into the EV and it sounds great!
Some one asked what guitars etc. :
2015 Gibson R9 Les Paul Stock PU's
2014 PRS P22 Stock PU's
The tones I'm trying to get would be:
- cranked plexi
- D style amp
- Super reverb ish
- high gain of some type
My intension in buying this was to get a tone good enough to gig with so I didn't have to carry all my tube amp/pedal board gear. I'm using this fairly cheap EV speaker because its what I had.
I guess I could get a something like the ASM-12 but you would think this EV would be a little closer to an acceptable tone. If I used a power amp/speaker cabinet set up, I might as well carry my current rig.
I'll continue to work on it after the weekend!
Thanks again for your help
 
mmpete said:
I agree - the other day I fired up the factory Friedman BE and HBE patches for some fun. Man - straight out of the box they rocked really well. My "valve purest" buddy sat they mouth open and said ... "if ever I got one of those, that is the only tone I would ever need".
Click to expand...
Kinda weird quoting myself ... but ... I forgot to mention that I had not been really impressed with these two amps at bedroom levels. My awe came when I was goofing around in a rehearsal studio at loud volume.
 
Have you heard any AX8 or AxeFX demos that sound good to you?

Have you tried recording yourself (with AX8 direct to a recording interface) an listened to the recording? Recorded guitar tones is very different from being in the room with a boiling amp.
 
kevin williams said:
I appreciate everyone's input.
I have improved the tone somewhat through eq and of course cranking the volume but there is still some weird "artifact" that doesn't sound good to me.
I'm thinking it might be this speaker but I haven't had too much time to devote to it. I played my acoustic through my LR Baggs D.I. into the EV and it sounds great!
Some one asked what guitars etc. :
2015 Gibson R9 Les Paul Stock PU's
2014 PRS P22 Stock PU's
The tones I'm trying to get would be:
- cranked plexi
- D style amp
- Super reverb ish
- high gain of some type
My intension in buying this was to get a tone good enough to gig with so I didn't have to carry all my tube amp/pedal board gear. I'm using this fairly cheap EV speaker because its what I had.
I guess I could get a something like the ASM-12 but you would think this EV would be a little closer to an acceptable tone. If I used a power amp/speaker cabinet set up, I might as well carry my current rig.
I'll continue to work on it after the weekend!
Thanks again for your help
Click to expand...

I have some Yamaha DXR10's ($550 each about)and the amps sound fabulous. All of them? Nope. Most of them. Yup. As I stated so do many of the presets. Many without tweaking. My studio monitors sound great also. Just some old HR624mkII's mackies that are about 8 years old now. I use mostly the Fenders, Dumbles, Wreckers, Boogies and now the CapnHooks. Hope you get it sorted out.....
 
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Post a clip of one of those tones you don't like, and tell us what you don't like about it. That will go a long way toward helping us help you. Otherwise, we're kind of shooting in the dark.
 
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