Axe-Fx II Quantum Rev 3.00 Public Beta

F*ck. I normally do not have to adjust much on FW updates or get a feeling of incremental improvement but this one is pretty bad, for me... IMHO. I know this is not the popular opinion here, in fact it seems like everyone so far has been positive but a lot of high end edge is gone and everything sounds warmer and darker in a not good way (I know warm is generally considered 'good' but am not sure what other word to use), especially noticeable on palm mutes on the open A and E. Cannot get along with Marshall high gain tones so far. A lot of edge feels gone. This is frustrating.

Have reflashed twice. Am not a noob. Have checked all the usual suspects. Dang. Have never had oa FW I have considered rolling back on or holding off on. I guess I will try to redial some more sounds from scratch but have not had much luck with my goto amps: Atomica and Cornford.
 
F*ck. I normally do not have to adjust much on FW updates or get a feeling of incremental improvement but this one is pretty bad, for me... IMHO. I know this is not the popular opinion here, in fact it seems like everyone so far has been positive but a lot of high end edge is gone and everything sounds warmer and darker in a not good way (I know warm is generally considered 'good' but am not sure what other word to use), especially noticeable on palm mutes on the open A and E. Cannot get along with Marshall high gain tones so far. A lot of edge feels gone. This is frustrating.

Have reflashed twice. Am not a noob. Have checked all the usual suspects. Dang. Have never had oa FW I have considered rolling back on or holding off on. I guess I will try to redial some more sounds from scratch but have not had much luck with my goto amps: Atomica and Cornford.

As a fellow Atomica lover, I've got a few tips that MAY help you, or at least might be worth trying in hopes to help you get some of that edge back.

This FW really shines with the Dynamic Presence, but the effect only becomes apparent as the power amp starts overdriving. At the Atomica default master volume setting at 5, you won't hear a difference even when maxing out the DP, so try bumping the master volume up to 6. It'll stay tight, but will also allow you to start hearing and feeling the effect of the DP. Try setting it at 5 and see how you feel.

Other things to try:
(FWIW, I use Modeling Version 2.01)

On the Dynamics page, set the Comp Type to Feedback and set it anywhere from 0.75-1.5.

On the Speaker page, try backing off XFormer Match little by little until you get the attack and forwardness you're after.

Power Amp page: turn up Pwr Amp Hardness.

Lastly, the Atomica is pretty low end heavy, so even backing down the Depth to 3.75 really helps to keep the attack clear.

Some of this might help....or none of it may help, but I really hope you're able to nail the tone you're after. Good luck!
 
As a fellow Atomica lover, I've got a few tips that MAY help you, or at least might be worth trying in hopes to help you get some of that edge back.
Thanks, JY. Really appreciate the constructive input, hopefully I will be able to get some time tomorrow to bang on this some more. Will definitely spin your ideas on the Atomica. I never thought to try 2.01 pre-modeling. That might help me out, too... I have tended to be pretty 'low maintenance' as far as FW updates go, and just tweak existing presets really mildly and get happy pretty quick... but like I said, this one has me befuddled. I wonder if it'll change a fair bit with the 'measurements' that Cliff needed to do. Perhaps I just have not hit on a recharacterized amp.
 
F*ck. I normally do not have to adjust much on FW updates or get a feeling of incremental improvement but this one is pretty bad, for me... IMHO. I know this is not the popular opinion here, in fact it seems like everyone so far has been positive but a lot of high end edge is gone and everything sounds warmer and darker in a not good way (I know warm is generally considered 'good' but am not sure what other word to use), especially noticeable on palm mutes on the open A and E. Cannot get along with Marshall high gain tones so far. A lot of edge feels gone. This is frustrating.

Have reflashed twice. Am not a noob. Have checked all the usual suspects. Dang. Have never had oa FW I have considered rolling back on or holding off on. I guess I will try to redial some more sounds from scratch but have not had much luck with my goto amps: Atomica and Cornford.

This was my exact same experience when I loaded in fw 2.04. It was much darker than before (not sure if this was already the case with the first Q2 versions since I skipped those). Too dark for my taste on almost amp. Never had to do that much tweaking before just like you say. I'm suprised that Q3 is even darker (if that's the case. Haven't tried this beta myself). From which fw do you come?
 
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Interesting reading....It's a weird thing, I've got nearly 50 working presets now that I use regularly, and I've got them 'roughly' to my liking without altering any deep parameters in the amp blocks. I'd love to go into a deep tweak-fest and improve a lot of them, and I know I could do some cool stuff, but I know that every time there's a firmware update, I'd have to go in and re-do a lot of my work, so as things are, I can happily do the update, and not have to change a thing, and this is the case here with the 3.00 beta. Everything just sounded 'better'. For the time being Its just nice to be along for the ride.
 
i would try resetting the amp block before you get into some heavy tweaking...
This^^ resetting the block makes a pretty substantial difference for me (tighter and brighter)! Anytime something doesn't sound quite right after new firmware it's the first thing I do!
 
Is there a way to mass reset the blocks? I've been thinking about upgrading, but I'm trying to assess the work involved. I'm on 1.6 and I'm pretty happy with the results.
 
F*ck. I normally do not have to adjust much on FW updates or get a feeling of incremental improvement but this one is pretty bad, for me... IMHO. I know this is not the popular opinion here, in fact it seems like everyone so far has been positive but a lot of high end edge is gone and everything sounds warmer and darker in a not good way (I know warm is generally considered 'good' but am not sure what other word to use), especially noticeable on palm mutes on the open A and E. Cannot get along with Marshall high gain tones so far. A lot of edge feels gone. This is frustrating.

Have reflashed twice. Am not a noob. Have checked all the usual suspects. Dang. Have never had oa FW I have considered rolling back on or holding off on. I guess I will try to redial some more sounds from scratch but have not had much luck with my goto amps: Atomica and Cornford.

Considering your experience, I know you're not a noob on this thing. But have you tried re-loading the FW?

When I first loaded up Quantum 1 I was in a very similar position. I actually had a miniature crisis and almost sold off my Axe-fx II because I was so put out with the way it turned out - no joke. Then, for whatever reason, I decided maybe - JUST MAYBE - I got a bad FW load, and I reloaded it.

It was night and day. It was the first time it ever happened to me, but I'd heard of users getting similar results. I'm glad I did because before that I couldn't get any amps to sound "right". Haven't had the issue since, but if I ever do the first thing I'm going to do is re-load the FW and see if anything changes. Also, it's a beta, so your chance of encountering a strange bug is even higher. Good luck!
 
This^^ resetting the block makes a pretty substantial difference for me (tighter and brighter)! Anytime something doesn't sound quite right after new firmware it's the first thing I do!

Just wanted to clarify something here: you mean reset (e.g. Hit bypass twice in rapid succession), then change patches and then change back? That way you'd still have the same settings on most controls as before.

Or do you mean just reset it and go to the defaults and start all over again tweaking?

FWIW, the only thing that I've needed to do on the few presets I've been using is to bump up presence or maybe the treble knob. Yes, it sounds darker to me after the update, but the highs are sweeter and easier to dial in right.
 
Just wanted to clarify something here: you mean reset (e.g. Hit bypass twice in rapid succession), then change patches and then change back? That way you'd still have the same settings on most controls as before.

Or do you mean just reset it and go to the defaults and start all over again tweaking?

FWIW, the only thing that I've needed to do on the few presets I've been using is to bump up presence or maybe the treble knob. Yes, it sounds darker to me after the update, but the highs are sweeter and easier to dial in right.

Sometimes I think people really need to go back and just listen to recordings of amps. The modeling continues to improve and sound more amp-like, and I think sometimes (and this isn't a knock against fractal) people forget how amps really aren't THAT bright until you start pushing them into extreme territories. I think this modeling is an improvement, personally. And I think the biggest keys I've found here are using dialed amounts of dynamic presence and depth to taste. What a SOUND! :D
 
Just wanted to clarify something here: you mean reset (e.g. Hit bypass twice in rapid succession), then change patches and then change back? That way you'd still have the same settings on most controls as before.

Or do you mean just reset it and go to the defaults and start all over again tweaking?

FWIW, the only thing that I've needed to do on the few presets I've been using is to bump up presence or maybe the treble knob. Yes, it sounds darker to me after the update, but the highs are sweeter and easier to dial in right.
Just change the amp model , then back to the original one , advanced parameters will default as well as master volume and prescence, set them back to your values .drive, bass, mid , treble stays the same.
 
Just change the amp model , then back to the original one , advanced parameters will default as well as master volume and prescence, set them back to your values .drive, bass, mid , treble stays the same.
Thanks. I'll try it today and see if it makes much of a difference.

To zenaxe, the reduced treble in presets I've tried can be easily dialed back in and sounds better than it did before...less strident.
 
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Is there a way to mass reset the blocks? I've been thinking about upgrading, but I'm trying to assess the work involved. I'm on 1.6 and I'm pretty happy with the results.
Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but in the UTILITY menu under PRESETS all the way at the bottom is the option to SET ALL AMPS TO DEFAULT.
 
This was my exact same experience when I loaded in fw 2.04. It was much darker than before (not sure if this was already the case with the first Q2 versions since I skipped those). Too dark for my taste on almost amp. Never had to do that much tweaking before just like you say. I'm suprised that Q3 is even darker (if that's the case. Haven't tried this beta myself). From which fw do you come?
In my experience, the new Q3 sounds brighter.
 
I don't comment on here much, as everybody seems to do well at that without me, but this update has made the amps sound more real than ever, particularly with the way they respond to dynamics - pick attack, rolling off the volume etc.

Classy.
 
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