AX8 Firmware 9.03 Released

Anyone else had mixed feelings about 9.03?

I thought it was quite muddy and almost blanket over the cab territory compared to 9.02. So just to check I've dialled back to 9.02 and sure enough all my presets sounded so much clearer.
I've read on the Axe-Fx thread a guy wasn't digging 9.03 so played around with the bright cap and a few other settings and found the sweet spot. So I'm gonna reload 9.03 tomorrow and see if there was any way of dialling in the update for me

BTW this is in no way a dig at Fractal, this is the first time I've dialled back in the past year of ownership and if 9.03 doesn't end up working for me then thats no issue for me at all considering how good the AX8 is

Oh and Merry Christmas everyone!
 
Anyone else had mixed feelings about 9.03?

I thought it was quite muddy and almost blanket over the cab territory compared to 9.02. So just to check I've dialled back to 9.02 and sure enough all my presets sounded so much clearer.
I've read on the Axe-Fx thread a guy wasn't digging 9.03 so played around with the bright cap and a few other settings and found the sweet spot. So I'm gonna reload 9.03 tomorrow and see if there was any way of dialling in the update for me

BTW this is in no way a dig at Fractal, this is the first time I've dialled back in the past year of ownership and if 9.03 doesn't end up working for me then thats no issue for me at all considering how good the AX8 is

Oh and Merry Christmas everyone!
9.03 doesn't work for me, tried it numerous times. No big deal really, it comes down to what sounds and feels best to you.
 
That’s weird, everything I’ve heard is the opposite. More clarity. What amp models are you using?
I'm guessing it depends on the amp and the settings. I'm hearing more mids... for mid-gain Plexi tones I could see how it would be described as more "detail and clarity" but for other amps it muddy's them up. It's like when you really start pushing the power amp of a 50w tube head past the sweet spot, the highs start to give and you loose the low end tightness. That's what I am hearing.
 
I thought it was quite muddy and almost blanket over the cab territory compared to 9.02.

Interesting that that would happen to your presets; I found that, with my existing 9.02 presets, 9.03, right off the bat, very much emphasized the high mids/low treble a great deal since the low end dropped a fair bit. I had to redial (up) the low end in all of my presets, and found 9.03 to be less flubby overall, with an easier to control, tighter low end. 9.03 also seems to have a bit more clarity/detail overall, especially when you set the "CF Hardness" to around 7.5 as per Cliff's recommendation.

The cathode follower parameters are very powerful indeed; I use the Dizzy Blue (3 or 4, can't remember which at the moment) and wanted to make it bark/punch a lot more. Tweaking the various advanced parameters, along with/vs the CF parameters, I found that adjusting the CF first off was the best place to start. On that amp the Preamp/CF Comp is set pretty high, and dialing that back opened up the amp more effectively/easily then tweaking the other advanced parameters. That amp also had some aggressive hicut in the Triode Plate Frequency parameters which I also raised to get more sparkle out of it.

The CF parameters really change the feel/tone of an amp that uses it; definitely worth exploring as a 'blunt instrument' to change an amps character quickly.
 
It's like when you really start pushing the power amp of a 50w tube head past the sweet spot, the highs start to give and you loose the low end tightness. That's what I am hearing.

Yea, if the power amp is pushed to hard out of it's sweet spot everything falls apart. The amp gets very cloudy, flubby, and muddy...OP maybe try dropping the Master Volume on existing presets, and/or try with a fresh new preset??
 
9.03 doesn't work for me, tried it numerous times. No big deal really, it comes down to what sounds and feels best to you.

The beauty of Fractal is you can go back and stay on an earlier firmware and live there or wait for a newer upgrade when they inevitably come along, it's all good either way

cloudy, flubby, and muddy

This describes what I was finding.
I've tried a fresh download of 9.03 today and I might have had beer ears going on last night as it wasn't as bad as I thought, though I have found it useful to play around with the MV settings as you suggested, so thanks for that.
I know theres almost always a work around within the parameters open to us but I was probably looking for a quick fix as it's one of the first times I've really ran into any issues with an upgrade
 
Reading this with a fresh perspective it sounds like the master volume may needto be revisited going to 9.03.
I’ve been waiting for that to occur to someone. :)


...but for other amps it muddy's them up. It's like when you really start pushing the power amp of a 50w tube head past the sweet spot, the highs start to give and you loose the low end tightness.
Food for thought: what do you do when you discover that you’ve pushed the power amp past the sweet spot? ;)
 
I felt 9.02 very dark (in some good way: I tweak up presence and high and the sound was very good, but I miss something...). 9.03 has a little more bite, I haven't changed any setting in eq. I like the way it sounds and feel. :)
 
Finally got around to downloading new version. Everything seems to have more clarity. The high gains have more punch/sizzle. So far, so good.
 
FYI I did have to reset my blocks to make everything work correctly, without that I coudn't see anything in the "effect type" to chang amp types, cabs, effects, etc... don't know what else wasn't working correctly.
 
Anyone else had mixed feelings about 9.03?

I thought it was quite muddy and almost blanket over the cab territory compared to 9.02. So just to check I've dialled back to 9.02 and sure enough all my presets sounded so much clearer.
I've read on the Axe-Fx thread a guy wasn't digging 9.03 so played around with the bright cap and a few other settings and found the sweet spot. So I'm gonna reload 9.03 tomorrow and see if there was any way of dialling in the update for me

BTW this is in no way a dig at Fractal, this is the first time I've dialled back in the past year of ownership and if 9.03 doesn't end up working for me then thats no issue for me at all considering how good the AX8 is

Oh and Merry Christmas everyone!
Felt the same way about 9.02. I had to downgrade back to 8.02 for a gig.
I am now on 9.03 and it is totally fine. Way to go Fractal.......
I do feel a difference in the gain structure but it was easy to adjust to. The feel that what Fractal is famous for is still there.
 
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I had to downgrade to 9.02 since I was experimenting some issues in the amp or drive blocks. I can’t explain it well... I felt a less ‘organic’ or ‘real’ tone apart from some noise issues at the slightest touch of the strings. Reset the blocks and still the same. Got a couple of gigs next week, I’ll give it a try again after them...
 
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