Axe-Fx II "Quantum" Rev 9.03 Firmware Release

I thought there were a few amps where Cliff modded the control so it was more usable across the entire range (?) -- but I may be thinking of something else...
 
This was decided at a bar in Cliff's hometown, on Saint Patty's Day. Fortunately there were enough Scottish Axe Fx users to drive the issue. We might use just a wee bit more gain, aye cap'n?
 
Guys what am I missing? I have the Axe FX Mark II. I've been enjoying the platform for years. I upgraded from 9.0 to 9.2, didn't test my patches, went to band practice and was amazed at how bad all my patches sounded. My cleans were all of a sudden crunchy and things like my Mutron patch sounds like they were in oatmeal. Came home upgraded to 9.3, things sounded worse to be honest. I downgraded back to 9.0 and everything sounds back to normal. I saw some discussion around "re-amping" but wasn't sure what that meant. Sorry, if this has all been answered before. I'm sticking with 9.0 until I can figure out what changed. Thanks for all the help folks!
 
brianoc said:
Guys what am I missing? I have the Axe FX Mark II. I've been enjoying the platform for years. I upgraded from 9.0 to 9.2, didn't test my patches, went to band practice and was amazed at how bad all my patches sounded. My cleans were all of a sudden crunchy and things like my Mutron patch sounds like they were in oatmeal. Came home upgraded to 9.3, things sounded worse to be honest. I downgraded back to 9.0 and everything sounds back to normal. I saw some discussion around "re-amping" but wasn't sure what that meant. Sorry, if this has all been answered before. I'm sticking with 9.0 until I can figure out what changed. Thanks for all the help folks!
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Not sure if it's needed, but sometimes a soft or hard amp-block reset is called for to establish all the functions of the new FW models, and until done, a previous preset may sound different than before.
 
What do you mean by hard amp reset? Delete and re-add? Adjust settings? Any way to copy settings and just paste?
 
brianoc said:
What do you mean by hard amp reset? Delete and re-add? Adjust settings? Any way to copy settings and just paste?
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From what i understand, to do a hard reset, you select the amp block in either Axe-Edit or from the front panel, and then do a double click on the 'bypass' button on the front of the AFX. Just write down the knob settings if you need to keep them, and any other important tweaks, becuase the reset will reset the knobs and advanced parameters to defaults.
 
brianoc said:
What do you mean by hard amp reset? Delete and re-add? Adjust settings? Any way to copy settings and just paste?
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In Axe-Edit, right click the Amp block, select Edit, then Reset Block. Alternately, from the drop down menu at the top of Axe-Edit, select Block and then Reset.
 
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brianv4 said:
I've often (not really often) wondered why some models seem to have more gain than the real amp - considering the goal of authenticity. Perhaps a marketing strategy since so many players these days use high gain? No complaints, just an observation which is easily adjusted as @greiswig stated.
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I've noticed the same thing. I think it may be related to how we hear things and the whole amp in the room thing. Tones we hear as clean in the room can actually sound quite distorted when they are recorded. Since we are basically listening to the recorded tones, they also sound harder driven than we expect from our experience with the real amps.
 
brianoc said:
Guys what am I missing? I have the Axe FX Mark II. I've been enjoying the platform for years. I upgraded from 9.0 to 9.2, didn't test my patches, went to band practice and was amazed at how bad all my patches sounded. My cleans were all of a sudden crunchy and things like my Mutron patch sounds like they were in oatmeal. Came home upgraded to 9.3, things sounded worse to be honest. I downgraded back to 9.0 and everything sounds back to normal. I saw some discussion around "re-amping" but wasn't sure what that meant. Sorry, if this has all been answered before. I'm sticking with 9.0 until I can figure out what changed. Thanks for all the help folks!
Click to expand...

Yes, 9.00 is different. But to me 9.00 is the one that is off compared to pre 8.00, 8.02, 9.02, 9.03 and so on. 9.00 is one of the few FWs that I skipped because my old presets sounded way different. I just stayed on 8.02 until 9.01b came out. Maybe you are on to something unique? I hope you don't miss the point to jump back on track.
 
Man, I need to update soon. I've been waiting but I just need to jump in. :)

For the new folks there are three "options" every time we get a new firmware:

1. Amp block reset - Select different amp then back to the amp you want and will have new features (but will keep your settings)
2. Hard amp block reset - Double-click "bypass" button while in amp block. This will put all EQ at noon and "stock". Your will lose your personal settings as far as gain, EQ, etc.
3. Leave everything as is - A lot of times Cliff will tell us that no amp reset is required. Most of us old timers do it anyway because we are paranoid. LOL

As far as the amp reset goes, there is no wrong or bad way. One allows you to keep the settings you had but enjoy new adjustments to the amp. Years ago this is something people were begging for because we would do a firmware update and some guy would have a gig and literally would have to go thru all of his presets and adjust each dial to what he previously had.
 
I am going to try it today. Hopefully, it fixes this boomy thing that started happening where the amp cause all my speakers to overload on Palm mutes.
 
I always rest the ampblock when I start tweaking, so I have a fresh baseline. Even when they say you don’t have to. Imho. Ymmv. It also helps me remember what I do to get to where I like.
 
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Per the above, you will "keep your settings" if that refers to the basic EQ knob settings. The rest is gone fer good!

(From WIKI - "When a new amp type is selected within the AMP block (on hardware or in the editor), that amp type is loaded with its default parameters. Meaning: the default parameters applying to that specific amp type. But not all! The basic gain and tone settings are left untouched. These are: Drive - Overdrive - Bass - Mid - Treble - Output Level. Plus some other parameters mentioned below. This method of defaulting is referred to as 're-select' or 'soft reset' ").

"So if you set Bass to 3.00 (default is 5.00), and you switch to another amp type, Bass will still be set at 3.00. Most other parameter values will be (re)set to default settings. The list below shows which parameters are affected, following the order of the tab pages of the AMP block on the hardware.

  • PRE: Input Trim, Cut/Fat/Brt switches, Bright knob
  • PWR: everything except: Output Level
  • SPKR: everything
  • EQ: all sliders and EQ Type
  • PWR DYN: everything except: Comp Type and Speaker Comp (Quantum 9)
  • PRE DYN: everything except: Output Level
  • DYNEQ: everything except: Char Type, Char Q
  • ADV: everything except: Input Select and Speaker Time Constant (Quantum 9)
  • TREM/MIX: Trem Depth
Note: Master Volume gets defaulted when you reselect an amp type. This is important, because it may make your presets louder or softer."

So IMHO The Spkr Comp stuff radically changed things - there was no way to only soft reset on a lot of moderately tweaked amps. Except in some cases, where just an adjustment of the Spkr Comp knob to 3 or thereabouts was okay, because those were minimally tweaked, and 3 was a decent setting for them. But I experienced amp models where 3 was too much, and I think some where it might have been too little.

Of course, its so easy to dial in sounds nowadays, that presets that are more or less generic can almost be instantly remedied if it needs it - but I'm referring to presets that must be very specific and capture a very particular or difficult-to-capture sound.
 
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I'll just say it again. AxeLive let's you pick which parameters to set to their new defaults and which to keep at the values you chose
 
I hate to be a pain, but... Concerning the extra IRs that the XL and XL+ users have stock, they just are not in the ultra res sample folder for mark I users. I have a screen shot of what IS in there. If we are not supposed to have them so be it, but as of right now I have been told they are in there multiple times and that is just not the case.

32072-00ac0af0c3e29b483e5badaab51ef671.jpg
 

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ak49climber said:
I hate to be a pain, but... Concerning the extra IRs that the XL and XL+ users have stock, they just are not in the ultra res sample folder for mark I users. I have a screen shot of what IS in there. If we are not supposed to have them so be it, but as of right now I have been told they are in there multiple times and that is just not the case.

32072-00ac0af0c3e29b483e5badaab51ef671.jpg
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They are not all in there per my understanding. Specifically, I think the recently added Celestion IRs are not included.
 
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