JoeyBTL
Inspired
For the longest time I felt like something wasn't right with the sound of my Axe Fx II Mark 1. I tried going through different pieces of my setup to narrow it down, blaming my cables, monitors, guitars..everything but the possibility that its the actual Axe Fx. I could never (within the past year or 2) get tones that sounded as good dynamically and sonically as the II is capable of. Well last week I was once again messing with presets and whatnot and although I usually use Axe Edit to control the unit, I reached down to the adjust something on the face of the Axe and it froze. I can't remember exactly what I was doing..maybe trying to reset the amp block, but it completely froze and that has never happened before. Any button mashing of the front panel did nothing for about 15 seconds. After it came back, I start to play and was amazed at how the sound transformed. The touch sensitivity was amazing. The tone was lush and saturated. I was blown away because I did nothing. This is what I've been missing. I even tried cab sims that usually sound like crap to me (various sims from the Misha Mansoor cab pack, so it shoudn't sound like garbage) and they sounded like I would imagine a good IR of a V30 should sound like. I was even trying random ones that I never use and it was just there. It felt like I was playing a great amp, just through different cabs. I was very pleased. But skeptical. I turned it off to have dinner and went back later to play more and it was gone. It had reverted to the previous crap.
After researching, I found that resetting system parameters was suggested for such things as I'm describing. I did that and it was back! I was again amazed and happy that I was able to do something to remedy it, rather than a fluke when the unit froze. Well here we are again about a week later and its back. And I've reset the system parameters like 5 times today and nothing. Still sounds like it shouldn't sound.
So I'm coming here to see what else I can do. I don't know what is corrupted where to make this occur but I want the good stuff back. I don't know if completely wiping the unit and reloading stuff is the answer but I couldn't find exactly how to do this. I read about reseting a device on the wiki: https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Reset_system_parameters
but it references things like sending an "empty bank" to the unit which I don't have, and downloading a clean system data file that I don't see linked anywhere. So I don't feel that without more info, I could complete this. If I could somehow and this should fix everything, I'm all for it.
I do know it is not any cables/guitars/my computer/monitors etc. because this sound comes out from my mackie monitor, which is connected via XLR cable, as well as when I record direct via USB to logic. So from two sources it gets the same result. Also, it sounds like crap no matter what guitar I use, or IR, or amp sim. Just different flavors of it.
I wish I knew what caused it in the first place. I don't know if it has to do with it always being hooked up via USB to my computer and shutting down the Axe with Axe edit and logic open or something like that. If that is the case, I can be more diligent in the steps I take to shut it off. But something has certainly corrupted it. I've never done any sort of full reset in the time I've owned it. Just all the firmware updates.
I've attached the best example I have to show you how it sounds. First part of the recording is right after it changed to being "right". The best way to explain it is how the muted legato type stuff I was playing "pops" the right way. It comes out clear and punchier like it should. And again, the sensitivity is great. I'm barely touching the strings on some of the parts it still is coming out. This is compared to the second half of it which was after it changed back, I had to record to make sure I wasn't hearing things and you can tell how much different it sounds. The kind of too bassy, and not tight in the right ways and theres basically not touch sensitivity. Sounds like terrible amp or something. I realize it may not sound as apparent as it feels, but those are both through the same amp block settings. I think slightly different IRs but nothing that would make a vast difference. The effort it took my fingers to make the two clips were a lot different, thats for sure. When its playing "bad" like this, I feel like I have to play at 10/10 to squeeze everything I've got out of the sound. When its playing "good" there is very little effort and its more natural. I've tried reseting different presets, starting from blank presets, all of that stuff and it does no good.
Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated!
After researching, I found that resetting system parameters was suggested for such things as I'm describing. I did that and it was back! I was again amazed and happy that I was able to do something to remedy it, rather than a fluke when the unit froze. Well here we are again about a week later and its back. And I've reset the system parameters like 5 times today and nothing. Still sounds like it shouldn't sound.
So I'm coming here to see what else I can do. I don't know what is corrupted where to make this occur but I want the good stuff back. I don't know if completely wiping the unit and reloading stuff is the answer but I couldn't find exactly how to do this. I read about reseting a device on the wiki: https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Reset_system_parameters
but it references things like sending an "empty bank" to the unit which I don't have, and downloading a clean system data file that I don't see linked anywhere. So I don't feel that without more info, I could complete this. If I could somehow and this should fix everything, I'm all for it.
I do know it is not any cables/guitars/my computer/monitors etc. because this sound comes out from my mackie monitor, which is connected via XLR cable, as well as when I record direct via USB to logic. So from two sources it gets the same result. Also, it sounds like crap no matter what guitar I use, or IR, or amp sim. Just different flavors of it.
I wish I knew what caused it in the first place. I don't know if it has to do with it always being hooked up via USB to my computer and shutting down the Axe with Axe edit and logic open or something like that. If that is the case, I can be more diligent in the steps I take to shut it off. But something has certainly corrupted it. I've never done any sort of full reset in the time I've owned it. Just all the firmware updates.
I've attached the best example I have to show you how it sounds. First part of the recording is right after it changed to being "right". The best way to explain it is how the muted legato type stuff I was playing "pops" the right way. It comes out clear and punchier like it should. And again, the sensitivity is great. I'm barely touching the strings on some of the parts it still is coming out. This is compared to the second half of it which was after it changed back, I had to record to make sure I wasn't hearing things and you can tell how much different it sounds. The kind of too bassy, and not tight in the right ways and theres basically not touch sensitivity. Sounds like terrible amp or something. I realize it may not sound as apparent as it feels, but those are both through the same amp block settings. I think slightly different IRs but nothing that would make a vast difference. The effort it took my fingers to make the two clips were a lot different, thats for sure. When its playing "bad" like this, I feel like I have to play at 10/10 to squeeze everything I've got out of the sound. When its playing "good" there is very little effort and its more natural. I've tried reseting different presets, starting from blank presets, all of that stuff and it does no good.
Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated!