Ax-8 sounds tinny/cheap, would hard reboot help?

JimFractal

JimFractal

New Member
During the pandemic, I left my Ax-8 in storage, and just played through an amp. When I recently pulled it out for band practice, everyone said it sounded horrible. It was thin, tinny, and the amp modeling sounded highly artificial. I was running the same basic presets Blues Jr, USA Clean, Super Crunch, Thick & Chunky, etc. I am running the same pre-pandemic set-up: AX-8 straight to a JBL EON 615 self-powered PA. JBL EQ+ is turned off.

It's the same band, same PA, same songs, same Fender HSS USA guitar, same mogami cables. XLR-L out of AX-8 to JBL 615 XLR-L in. The levels on the Ax-8 OUT1 is maxed.

Playing straight into my cheap Fender Blues Jr sounds 100 times better than my AX8 set-up. And a year ago, I would have said the exact opposite thing, the AX-8 was way better.

I checked for a firmware update, but there wasnt a newer one. I tried presets in higher banks that I hadnt fine tuned, and they all sounded bad. I tried running the AX-8 into other speakers I had around the house include a JBL EON 10, JBL Compact, and even into the Blues Jr bypassing the Amp in the preset.

I'm so desperate that I am ready to blow the whole thing up and go to the factory reset. Is there anything else I should try first? And if a clean wipe would help, what's the best way to reset the AX-8?
 
I would first suggest going into the Global Setup menu and make sure the Power Amp Modeling and Cab Modeling are both <ON>.

If that isn't the issue and you still want to reset it, the Reset function is found in the Setup>Utility Reset page <Reset System Parameters>.
 
A couple other ideas... While it's powered off:
  • Turn each knob back and forth real fast several times (be sure to put Out 1 and Out 2 back where they were). Sitting still for a long time may have settled one of them into a "dirty" position, and this will clean it up.
  • Re-seat all the cables.
 
Thanks for the info. At Joker III's suggestion, I did check the Global settings and for good or bad the Amp Modeling and Cab Modeling were already both ON. I think Geetarplayers suggestion did help a little but its still not great. (It hadn't been plugged in all year, but I reseated the cables anyway) I really don't want to blow the whole thing up, but I feel like its my last choice.
 
Is there a wah stuck on in the preset? I’ve made presets before with a wah, but booted them up later forgetting to plug in an expression pedal. The preset defaults the wah all the way up until I plug a pedal back in.
 
mpatton523 said:
Is there a wah stuck on in the preset? I’ve made presets before with a wah, but booted them up later forgetting to plug in an expression pedal. The preset defaults the wah all the way up until I plug a pedal back in.
Click to expand...
Yes. The wah block can be a real nuisance this way, and it's remarkably easy to not figure out that it's doing this.
 
a PA speaker next to a guitar amp is always going to sound weaker. just physics, especially an open back cab
 
Hi Jlynnb1 - I totally agree, but one of the things I loved about the Fractal was the ability to go straight to the PA and monitors. It was a lifesaver on cramped stages. Still not sure why the sound is so bad now, it’s like I’m using a cheap knock-off modeler.
 
Playing with my Ax8 in a new venue this weekend, found that Level was very important to the tone, where Master was less. OK, relatively new to the whole Fractal Audio thing, but the nice patches I had set up ahead of time, then needed to adjust the volume (limited FOH support), got thin when I tried reducing volume, compared to master. Just an idea.
 
jefsummers said:
Playing with my Ax8 in a new venue this weekend, found that Level was very important to the tone, where Master was less. OK, relatively new to the whole Fractal Audio thing, but the nice patches I had set up ahead of time, then needed to adjust the volume (limited FOH support), got thin when I tried reducing volume, compared to master. Just an idea.
Click to expand...
some fletcher munson coming into the picture maybe.
 
jefsummers said:
Playing with my Ax8 in a new venue this weekend, found that Level was very important to the tone, where Master was less. OK, relatively new to the whole Fractal Audio thing, but the nice patches I had set up ahead of time, then needed to adjust the volume (limited FOH support), got thin when I tried reducing volume, compared to master. Just an idea.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Jefsummers. This does seem to be more what I’m dealing with. Now that I’m in a practice situation, volumes are pretty low and just sounds horrible. I’ve been so reluctant to reset the Ax-8 because I’ve invested a hundred hours of time setting up the perfect 8 rigs in Bank 1. I have the output knobs on the AX-8 permenantly cranked to 10. Are you advising to roll this back to 5 or the 12 o’clock position on this Ax-8 knobs? And then turn up the PA?
 
JimFractal said:
Thanks, Jefsummers. This does seem to be more what I’m dealing with. Now that I’m in a practice situation, volumes are pretty low and just sounds horrible. I’ve been so reluctant to reset the Ax-8 because I’ve invested a hundred hours of time setting up the perfect 8 rigs in Bank 1. I have the output knobs on the AX-8 permenantly cranked to 10. Are you advising to roll this back to 5 or the 12 o’clock position on this Ax-8 knobs? And then turn up the PA?
Click to expand...
Correct me if I’m wrong, but can’t you save a backup of those 8 presets on your computer? That way after you reset the unit you can load them back in.
 
You say your on the latest firmware. Can you confirm you've done the system parameter reset?

  • Perform a reset: Utility > Reset. This will restore all parameters in Global, I/O and Tuner to factory defaults. THIS does not impact presets or user cabs.
 
I found leaving the Level pegged and reducing the Master worked, though we were short a sound guy. My preference would be to leave both cranked and let the sound guy adjust board volume. In a practice session, reduce the volume on the powered speaker (or whatever you are using - that brings an idea. If you are using an amp in your practice rather than a powered speaker the amp may be very sensitive to levels)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom