Axe-Fx II "Quantum" 2.00 Public Beta Deux

Would anybody who had been upgraded yet, what improves how, i cannot update at the moment, but sonic improvement dosn't help my curiosity...thx !
 
Wow! This update is fantastic!
Dialed up Cliff's 1970 Plexi simple recipe in 5 secs and cant stop playing that. It reacts so well to my guitars. Then dialed up a simple Tweed 5F8 and matching cab on an adjacent preset and that was amazing as well. The only tweak I made was input trim to control breakup in relation to my vol knob- but wasn't required. Both just smoother now, with that realism "cab interaction" that I'm not sure how to explain. And I thought it was great before! Anyhow I could spend a long time on just these two tones using volume knob on the guitar only no effects... And to think I have all these world class effects to build around these amps.. Can't wait to try these in rehearsals in a live band mix. Thanks Cliff for your vision and the endless pursuit of perfection! It's really great to be able to be a part and experience these improvements as they happen.
 
andyp13 said:
Has anyone tried the new update without using an frfr cab, using the Axe fx and a guitar cab with no cab sim, is there still much of a difference?
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Man! I use a Mesa 2:90 + Two cab 212 with no cab sim! It's fantastic!!!!!
Smooth drive, smooth clean. Everything I ever dreamed.
Few adjustments and everything sounded wonderful!!!!!

Thanks Cliff and Fractal Team!
 
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So I have to chime in again, guys. I never thought I would end up like this, but here we go....

This is absolutely major playing experience. Tried Mark II+ model, matched against a Petrucci YT video and this thing is a monster for palm mutes! And I am no shredder, but this ..., played with just palm mutes for maybe like 20 minutes. Then I tried Hot Kitty. Again, matched it against YT video as I do not know the amp. This things is ... well ... bad :). Then I tried Shiva clean with master on 10 and the shimmer is something beautiful! Then I tried Shiva lead and again, this thing has something wonderful about it. Also I noticed that when I finally engaged a delay, there is much better stereo separation (I am on headphones) than before. The notes just bounce and jump and swirl and twist, they are like alive. The decay of the notes is also worth noticing. The way the notes die, especially on distortion or on drives - that is completely different than before - at least to my ears. I think I understand now, why there is so many tube amps and people claim they are different.

It is really weird experience to put into words, because I was one of those boys who claimed probably on firmware 5 before quantum, that this is it :) I thought quantum was extraordinary. But this is a whole another level - Cliff said it already somewhere in this thread - it is about subtleties - and I think I get what he was talking about - you just want to play the same note or group of notes over and over and see how different it is going to be from the previous one - and you can just do that for hours ... :) I don't know if this will have any other improvements, but I am holding my tongue now, BUT even if Cliff doesn't release another firmware or even if he starts charging for new ones - and nobody could say a word against it - I will be happy with this unit as a little child with a new toy every time I turn it on.

Cliff and FAS team - thank you for giving this to us for free - you are amazing.
 
This one is definitely making me go back to the drawing board on my presets.

I had also JUST dropped a new set of pups in my main guitar, which I knew to have more low mids than the old set.

New FW with old settings (only through headphones and only for about 15min so far) was super boomy, but I can't wait to try it through a real cab. My high gain had a LOT of advanced parameter tweaks to get a juicy, bouncy feel. With the new FW, and judging by my quick comparison, I'm guessing I'll be able to nail these tones far easier with less deviation from default values... which in my mind is a win for realism, even if it costs me time in re-dialing.
 
The other main thing that jumped out at me...

Note bloom is off da hook.

Previously I could only sort of notice it in amp models famous for this aspect. Now I hear it all over the place. My Deliverance preset of all things has a clear, unmistakable separation between the fundamental and swirling harmonic content.

Shit is insane! This is gonna be fun!
 
I've played the new beta direct recording and through my mesa 290. It sounds great through my mesa. It sounds like the axe fx 2 direct with IRs when I'm recording direct. Remarkably similar to the last quantum fw with some minor improvements. Marginal. Not drastically different.

I am really not sure what people are talking about with these "massive" changes. But I'll smoke some of what they're smoking, I guess. I would assume some of it is the volume change that came with the fw making people fall victim to the dynamics war.
 
I agree everything is sounding awesome and feeling good. The one thing I noticed last night were the recto's did have this muddy sound to them that I couldn't really dial out. I'll have to spend more time with them tonight to rule out user error. Luckily I don't use the rectos in any of my presets anyways lol was just checking out all the amps.
 
Speculum Speculorum said:
I've played the new beta direct recording and through my mesa 290. It sounds great through my mesa. It sounds like the axe fx 2 direct with IRs when I'm recording direct. Remarkably similar to the last quantum fw with some minor improvements. Marginal. Not drastically different.

I am really not sure what people are talking about with these "massive" changes. But I'll smoke some of what they're smoking, I guess. I would assume some of it is the volume change that came with the fw making people fall victim to the dynamics war.
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LOL I have not updated yet but generally I always feel like FW' are small stead improvement. I never felt like from one FW to the next there was massive crazy changes. Now when I compare over the long run IE FW 4 vs Q1.6 there is massive difference there
 
Here we go on getting called out for saying we like it and noticed improvements.. Not sure where anyone said changes were massive.. lol It feels better in general, no doubt about it. Are we allowed to say that? The noticeable changes are there though. For me I spent about 20 minutes digging in on Q1, then immediately loaded Q2, and dug in on Q2 listening for improvements, but first adjusting volume back to my targets for my presets. There was no doubt there are improvements, IMO. Probably depends on amps and preset you use as to how noticeable changes are.
 
Paulinfl said:
Here we go on getting called out for saying we like it and noticed improvements.. Not sure where anyone said changes were massive.. lol It feels better in general, no doubt about it. Are we allowed to say that? The noticeable changes are there though. For me I spent about 20 minutes digging in on Q1, then immediately loaded Q2, and dug in on Q2 listening for improvements, but first adjusting volume back to my targets for my presets. There was no doubt there are improvements, IMO. Probably depends on amps and preset you use as to how noticeable changes are.
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If you are referring to Speculum. I don't feel like he called anyone out. He was just stating that his experience did match the experience of others. I do think some guys on the forum get very wordy and make interesting word choices when describing what they experience. I personally stick to my own lane. I don't try to get other people's tone, I don't use many amps. I just want to sound good and feel good. Almost every single FW update for me has yielded better sound and feel. It has been slow and steady for me and I am totally cool with that.
 
brokenvail said:
If you are referring to Speculum. I don't feel like he called anyone out. He was just stating that his experience did match the experience of others. I do think some guys on the forum get very wordy and make interesting word choices when describing what they experience. I personally stick to my own lane. I don't try to get other people's tone, I don't use many amps. I just want to sound good and feel good. Almost every single FW update for me has yielded better sound and feel. It has been slow and steady for me and I am totally cool with that.
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Agreed. I hear what Spec is saying. Just wanted to clarify my review - no shot at spec intended.. None the less, I love this community.
 
I have a question that is sincerely not meant as a challenge. Let's assume for the sake of argument that 99/100 people could not tell the difference between a real world recorded amp and that amp's equivalent Q1.06 modeled counterpart. That would mean that only 1 out of 100 people can hear the difference, and the "gap" between real and modeled is incredibly small.

Now, let's also assume for the sake of argument that Q2.0 does indeed narrow that "gap." Let's say it even closes that gap! Wouldn't it stand to reason that only the 1 person out of 100 who could hear the difference at F/W Q1.06 could hear the improvements in the jump from 1.06 to 2.0 (the narrowed "gap")?

How is that everyone can tell a difference when 1.06 was already insanely close to the real thing-- close enough to fool 99/100?

These are theoretical numbers, so feel free to invalidate my assumptions. I'm just wondering what all of your thoughts are.
 
What or how much of it you hear is dependent upon many things. If you are a super high-gain guy then probably not a huge difference since you're probably relying primarily on preamp distortion and running the virtual power amp clean. If you're like me and enjoy a mix of preamp and power amp distortion then you'll likely hear at least some improvement depending upon your hearing abilities. It takes years of training to hear some of these things.

If you're a medium gain person and like Class-A amps, i.e. AC-30, then you should hear decent improvements as there is an entire separate algorithm for those types of amps now.
 
FractalAudio said:
What or how much of it you hear is dependent upon many things. If you are a super high-gain guy then probably not a huge difference since you're probably relying primarily on preamp distortion and running the virtual power amp clean. If you're like me and enjoy a mix of preamp and power amp distortion then you'll likely hear at least some improvement depending upon your hearing abilities. It takes years of training to hear some of these things.

If you're a medium gain person and like Class-A amps, i.e. AC-30, then you should hear decent improvements as there is an entire separate algorithm for those types of amps now.
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You just described me. Medium gain is my game. Thanks Cliff.
 
I'm almost exclusively playing acoustic and classical right now, so I don't get much Axe time these days. I loaded this up and DAMN! it's good stuff...and I didn't think there was a lot of room for improvement after Q1.06. Even more than before, there's a sense that there's nothing between my guitar and the 'amp'. I don't know how else to put it
 
FractalAudio said:
What or how much of it you hear is dependent upon many things. If you are a super high-gain guy then probably not a huge difference since you're probably relying primarily on preamp distortion and running the virtual power amp clean. If you're like me and enjoy a mix of preamp and power amp distortion then you'll likely hear at least some improvement depending upon your hearing abilities. It takes years of training to hear some of these things.

If you're a medium gain person and like Class-A amps, i.e. AC-30, then you should hear decent improvements as there is an entire separate algorithm for those types of amps now.
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Thank you for chiming in. My Axe-FX is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I'll definitely spend some time with the Class A amps on the old firmware before upgrading to hear the differences.
 
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