Axe-Fx II Firmware "Ares" 1.00 Public Beta

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I may wait for the final release to update but I know this will be another step forward as usual. Nothing surprising to me about that after witnessing 7 years of outstanding, faithful service as an owner of a II and member of this forum. I only wish this kind of thing was the norm and not the exception with other companies. Thanks Cliff and co. for all the hard work!

Yesterday i updated a friends Axe FX that was in FW 9, first i went to F10.01 and it was a revealing improvement and then to ARES beta and there was another improvement, not as notorious, but it was one step up.
 
After updating, I am finding a fizz behind the decay on my mostly clean sounds. I revert back to 10.01 and it's crystal clear again. Is it just me? Here's a clip.


I found that Ares 1.0 beta definitely added quite some gain compared to previous fw's. I even started a thread about this, still waiting to hear an official word about it, but in the meantime I went back to 10.01 (which was already awesome in the first place!)
 
I'm thrilled with this so far. I've only had about an hour to mess with it, but on my main angle severe patch it just seems overall better. In q10 I was getting kind of annoyed at not finding a balance between so little gain that it lost balls & bite and so much gain that it was out of control with no definition. This beta seems to have remedied that without having to tweak the patch at all.

I also took some time to scroll through some other amps that I’ve always wanted to like in the past (Marshall’s, orange, Mesa) and for the most part they all just instantly seem better than I remember. Gonna have to mess with it a lot more, and I so far still don’t think anything will knock the engl out my top spot, but I might actually start using other models occasionally.

This makes it just that little bit easier to hold onto my xl+ for a while longer rather than trying to sell a bunch of stuff to get the 3. Not that the 2 wasn’t more than I need already...I’m just the type that convinces myself to get the latest and greatest all the time.
 
I, too, reverted back to 10.01 since the gain was significantly raised in the beta. Its more bass heavy too.
Shure? Seem to me less bass, more clarity.

FW Ares 1 works great in bandsituation, cutting through without icepicky, modern heavy sounds but also with AC 20/Fendersounds.

the new Friedmann HBE - seems to me the best, evil Friedman. we only have to handle the more gainy basicsounds.

I hope, the final version will sound like the beta!
 
Maybe it’s just my imagination that there’s more bass due to the increase in gain. Tested the FW with a Vibrato AB and there was significantly more gain which may have given the impression of more bass.

Anyway, I’m sure Cliff will look into it and make sure it’s correct.
 
I agree, I didnt find it bass heavy, just way crunchier in a sort of unnatural way - again, specifically the ac30tb and fender tweed deluxe. Especially comparing it the 3.01 on the AF3 which is the bomb, so I would assume the gain should be similar. BTW, off topic, I just discovered the floor reflection in the cab block on the III, all I can say is "wow"!
 
After installing the new firmware, my start-up screen still says ”Quantum”. Is it because it’s a beta version or have I done something wrong?
 
Shure? Seem to me less bass, more clarity.

FW Ares 1 works great in bandsituation, cutting through without icepicky, modern heavy sounds but also with AC 20/Fendersounds.

the new Friedmann HBE - seems to me the best, evil Friedman. we only have to handle the more gainy basicsounds.

I hope, the final version will sound like the beta!
After installing the FW, Is it necessary to reset amp blocks to figure out improvements into presets sound or not?
Thanks
 
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