Axe-Fx II "Quantum" Rev 1.00 Public Beta

Just in case anyone in this forum is interested in authentic feedback and not fanboyism about the QUANTUM beta...

Little background before my rant, I've had the Axe 2 since FW6, had an AxeFx Standard before that. I've been recording stuff with it for the longest time, and have seen it go up and down in quality with each FW release (usually up!!).

Quantum is great - for the gigging and bedroom guitarist. It improves feel considerably, especially with the hot rodded Marshalls.

That said, I feel we're back to FW 12 in terms of muddiness. FW18 was the first time I had a feeling I didn't have to "push" the axe to the front of a mix, it would go there on its own without special EQ boosts, compression or anything, just like a normal miked amp does. In QUANTUM that is gone, I have to keep pushing things again, the amps are muddier. I've tried the 5150s, Friedmans, JVM410, JCM800 yesterday.

Does anyone else share the same feelings? I'm a guy who simply pulls up a cab or two and an amp, plays with the tone stack, presence, and sometimes master vol, and leaves it there. As much as I can tweak, I've found every time I mess with more advanced stuff I can go for hours at end only to land at a worse spot than I began. I do use the new preamp sim in the cab block though.

So to sum it up, I'm not saying QUANTUM sucks. Far from that, it's definitely an improvement in terms of feel. But for the studio guitarrist, it's lacking. It's a step back. I'm sure there's people in the forum with the mixing and tweaking skills to work around that in a mix, but for me it's not, and I'm guessing there's a lot of people like me out there.

Shoot me :)

Alex

Well as far as "authentic feedback goes" My experience with Quantum is pretty much opposite from yours ! Everything about it is better ,Bass response , clarity, character, Feel ,Realizm etc!! Just because others are having positive experiences , in no way adds up to fanboyism !! Hoot! ( No offense intended , just authentic feedback)!
 
Why label positive feedback from others as "fanboyism", and label your own experience "authentic"?
Hi yek! I never said my experience was authentic, and didn't mean anything bad by saying fanboyism. I just felt like I was the party pooper since I couldn't cheer along with everyone is all, and therefore I'm excusing myself. So please, read my first sentence as "I love the Axe too, sorry to crash the party"

For the record: I'm not dismissing your comments about Quantum.
I also only use basic amp controls. My experiences are not the same as yours.
Everyone has the right to their opinion. I never meant my post is absolute truth, should've added IMHO, YMMV, In my experience, etc to the end of the post to make this clear.

Thanks for the reply!
 
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Well as far as "authentic feedback goes" My experience with Quantum is pretty much opposite from yours ! Everything about it is better ,Bass response , clarity, character, Feel ,Realizm etc!! Just because others are having positive experiences , in no way adds up to fanboyism !! Hoot! ( No offense intended , just authentic feedback)!

See my reply to yek below, I didn't mean anything bad by saying fanboyism. I just felt like I was the party pooper since I couldn't cheer along with everyone is all, and therefore I'm excusing myself. So please, read my first sentence as "I love the Axe too, sorry to crash the party"

Great that it's working out for you, I just wanted to, as a beta user, give my feedback to Cliff who asked us all to test it out ;)
 
Wow much smoother and pleasing to the ear. Feels more real. I think it's a big change in the feel compared to the sound/tone.

Big difference for me was I had to lower the high pass filter in the cab block as a lot of bass was lost, but for the better as it's more focused. Went down from 140hz to 100hz.
 
Quite the opposite for me. It feels much more open and natural.

Just in case anyone in this forum is interested in authentic feedback and not fanboyism about the QUANTUM beta...

Little background before my rant, I've had the Axe 2 since FW6, had an AxeFx Standard before that. I've been recording stuff with it for the longest time, and have seen it go up and down in quality with each FW release (usually up!!).

Quantum is great - for the gigging and bedroom guitarist. It improves feel considerably, especially with the hot rodded Marshalls.

That said, I feel we're back to FW 12 in terms of muddiness. FW18 was the first time I had a feeling I didn't have to "push" the axe to the front of a mix, it would go there on its own without special EQ boosts, compression or anything, just like a normal miked amp does. In QUANTUM that is gone, I have to keep pushing things again, the amps are muddier. I've tried the 5150s, Friedmans, JVM410, JCM800 yesterday.

Does anyone else share the same feelings? I'm a guy who simply pulls up a cab or two and an amp, plays with the tone stack, presence, and sometimes master vol, and leaves it there. As much as I can tweak, I've found every time I mess with more advanced stuff I can go for hours at end only to land at a worse spot than I began. I do use the new preamp sim in the cab block though.

So to sum it up, I'm not saying QUANTUM sucks. Far from that, it's definitely an improvement in terms of feel. But for the studio guitarrist, it's lacking. It's a step back. I'm sure there's people in the forum with the mixing and tweaking skills to work around that in a mix, but for me it's not, and I'm guessing there's a lot of people like me out there.

Shoot me :)

Alex
 
Soooo... you're saying that all of the overwhelming positive response shows that we're all fanboys and those opinions are wrong and don't matter? I mean, it's OK to have a different opinion and all, but to start right off insulting the group and coming in with such a condescending attitude attitude you really seem to be just looking to stir things up.

I think you're reading way too much in a word. I didn't mean anything bad by saying fanboyism. I just felt like I was the party pooper since I couldn't cheer along with everyone is all, and therefore I'm excusing myself. So please, read my first sentence as "I love the Axe too, sorry to crash the party"

My main thing is recording as well, and I'm really finding just the opposite. The bass is tight, the highs have more realistic and smooth sizzle to them. (I notice this because I've recently been recording a real amp again, partly to reset my expectations and partly for fun.) I'm not hearing this mud you mention. If anything I have to spend less time with tweaking and simply match up an amp and cab and I'm off. No major secrets in the mix either. It just seems to fit well.

One thing you might check is to see if your cabinet is still what you had assigned to the patch before. Some people have reported that user cabs aren't lining up properly, and although I haven't checked mine, I did find a few of my patches that sound different, so I have just moved on to a different patch and found the sound I'm looking for. Yes, I did have to make a few changes on some patches even then, but we're not talking about advanced stuff here. Just a few subtle nudges to the tone stack and presence and I was back with better overall tone and much better feel.

Glad to hear QUANTUM is working for you, turns out I'm the oddball it seems! Thanks for the tips, I'll surely check on the cabs and upload them all again. I don't even bother having "patches" with all the firmware updates anymore, I just pull up the same patch every time and dial in amp/cab to taste, since reseting the amp models kills the gain / presence and MV tweaks anyway.

I've recorded some stuff last sunday and those recordings worked better in the mix than the stuff I dialed up yesterday - it's not the same patch so it could very well be that I was in a bad tone day and am blaming it on the Firmware :)

Anyway, sorry to bust your chops on the fanboy comment, but you'll get more help from us "fanboys" if you don't come in with the guns blazing and just ask a few genuine questions without the attitude.

By no means, you had every right to. It's amazing how the lack of speech intonation in text can make one's intentions seem aggressive rather than just a little brash. Count me in as a Fractal fanboy btw, if you dig up my other posts in this forum you'll see I'm no troll, just an opinionated happy owner of the magic black box.

Cheers,

Alex
 
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See my reply to yek below, I didn't mean anything bad by saying fanboyism. I just felt like I was the party pooper since I couldn't cheer along with everyone is all, and therefore I'm excusing myself. So please, read my first sentence as "I love the Axe too, sorry to crash the party"

Great that it's working out for you, I just wanted to, as a beta user, give my feedback to Cliff who asked us all to test it out ;)

All good, observation and shared experience (positive or negative) is great ! Presentation is the key though! The fanboy thing got old a long time ago! 100% chance of pot stirring!
Nuff said , back to what the thread is about!
 
I wanted to quickly add my experience.. I loaded it last night and was only able to play using (very good) headphones, which has never been even remotely a good way for me to assess anything w/ the Axe FX.

I was pretty skeptical reading this thread because I've been through every FW update since FW1 w/ the Axe FX II. They've improved dramatically over time, no question, but it's usually been pretty subtle for me. This one is not subtle in the least to me. It's a dramatic improvement. I couldn't believe how much better.. f'in hell. I'll wait to add any more thoughts until I have time to play at volume and get into my usual approach of building up some presets from scratch to really get a feel for the new FW.

I will say- this is the single biggest improvement I've experienced w/ this gear. Damn...
 
I wanted to quickly add my experience.. I loaded it last night and was only able to play using (very good) headphones, which has never been even remotely a good way for me to assess anything w/ the Axe FX.

I was pretty skeptical reading this thread because I've been through every FW update since FW1 w/ the Axe FX II. They've improved dramatically over time, no question, but it's usually been pretty subtle for me. This one is not subtle in the least to me. It's a dramatic improvement. I couldn't believe how much better.. f'in hell. I'll wait to add any more thoughts until I have time to play at volume and get into my usual approach of building up some presets from scratch to really get a feel for the new FW.

I will say- this is the single biggest improvement I've experienced w/ this gear. Damn...

This is exactly how I felt too after loading this Firmware, the feel and tones are off the charts, I can't believe Cliff has yet again moved this product forward like this, I'd expect this to be in like the Axe III but it's here WOW... Can't wait to see where it goes from here!!!
 
I hear a low mid hump and a top end shelving regarding equalization differences.

It is smoother and more "amp like", but will require a reworking of my presets.
 
Finally got to jack into the Q continuum...

Aside from some volume adjustments between presets, one patch being a bit on the bright side (a minor presence adjustment fixed that) and a few cleans needing to have some gain dialed back, my tone sounds pretty much exactly the same.

That being said, I do feel a dramatic difference in the way the tones play. There's an obvious increase in playing dynamics, and something I just can't properly describe, but it's like a subtle interaction in the air, that even translates at lower level practice volume.

And I mean this in a VERY good way, this update is not something you hear, it's something you experience with a guitar in hand. I like it.


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Hey Yek and, since I am such a big fan of your all your presets, I am curious .Does this FW change necessitate the creation of a new batch?
 
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Bahaha I love it
 
Oh, yeah! I also, I had to change my Fractal-Bot backup file naming convention. Darn it.


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