Axe-Fx II "Quantum" Rev 9.04 Firmware Release

Whatever Cliff did to this firmware, it’s amazing. I just loaded it last night and my presets were great. I use the naked amp pack badger 30 a lot and the Dirty Shirley and they sounded better than ever at church this morning. I usually don’t come on here to rave about updates, but this one stands out. On my presets it just seems to have more girth and chunk without it getting bassy and flubby.
 
Whatever Cliff did to this firmware, it’s amazing. I just loaded it last night and my presets were great. I use the naked amp pack badger 30 a lot and the Dirty Shirley and they sounded better than ever at church this morning. I usually don’t come on here to rave about updates, but this one stands out. On my presets it just seems to have more girth and chunk without it getting bassy and flubby.

Second that!

9.04 and the VOX AC15 sounded amazing. I normally use that and a couple of Friedmans but the AC15 went from clean shimmers to brutal, throaty roars live in church! The bottom end was detailed and as crisp as the higher end stuff. I loved playing my guitar today!
 
Second that!

9.04 and the VOX AC15 sounded amazing. I normally use that and a couple of Friedmans but the AC15 went from clean shimmers to brutal, throaty roars live in church! The bottom end was detailed and as crisp as the higher end stuff. I loved playing my guitar today!

Nice. I’m going to have to check out the ac15 again. What cab are you using?
 
Nice. I’m going to have to check out the ac15 again. What cab are you using?

Pretty sure it’s cab 119, I’m not near my AFX but that’s the cab I tend to use on the VOX type of amps. Will let you know if it’s not that but I’m pretty certain it is.
 
It's weird -- it's like my presets are so good now, there isn't a parameter I can touch that makes them better. I don't have have to anymore. Cliff's behind-the-parameter improvements take care of it for me. Amazing

Yea, playing 9.04 over the weekend at gigs was the most satisfying experience with my AX8/AFX live I've ever had, seriously. Was really excited how livelier, punchier, and detailed/present 9.04 is playing with the band/live..the best 'cranked 4x12' feel/tone yet. Everything just crunches and jumps out at you in the most awesome way.

Had to tweak the presets a bit at the first show but I was in heaven last night with my FAS tones...ones that 'get out of your way' and just inspire to to play cuz they are 'just right'. Gotta love it when you're in that zone...9.04 is crazy good; I love it and consider it a fairly big improvement, for me anyway. Another tip of the hat to Cliff/FAS...
 
At first low volume/headphones listens I didn't notice too much difference from 9.03.
Today I went to rehearsals with my 2 CLRs and holy crap! As most of you already said it's a huge improvement on thump and liveliness, the first one was something I always missed compared to guitar cabs.
Thank you Cliff, love it!
 
This is like most firmware updates for me. My previous version presets were refined and sounding great. The new firmware is a step backwards, but after more refinement I'll go 2 steps forward for an overall improvement. :)
 
Last edited:
9.04 and the VOX AC15 sounded amazing.

The Class A-15W-TB is really outstanding in 9.04. I was going thru the AC30 variants for my blues bank and added a new killer preset based on that amp. For the "Y" amp in the preset I have another sweet tone/texture based on the Citrus A30 Drty amp. I really like how they respond to the guitar volume control.

I also tried my favorite Fender amps in a quick audition with 9.04 and can't wait to dive into them to update my blues bank. That punchy, crunchy, dynamic 9.04 goodness is abounding in every amp I've tried so far.
 
Band practice got cancelled so I thought I'd spend and hour or so scrolling through the factory presets trying amps I hadn't really bonded with before.
It took the whole evening up and I gotta longer list of amps to try next time we rehearse!

I really like 9.04

Great work Cliff and the team this is certainly one of my faves
 
Just curious @FractalAudio will this be the last firmware for the II since the III has been announced? If so thank you for all your hard work and countless updates you've given us.
 
Let me start this off by saying that I am in no way the final answer on this, but I think it's and interesting question...and I think I understand how this relationship works; so here we go.

The answer is both...kind of.
The ir/cab block does not contain any information on these parameters. The ir is simply a static filter. Having said this, a particular speaker type will have also have specific comp and time constant parameters associated with it even though the ir doesn't capture this information. In real life, an alnico jenson speaker may have different parameters than a celestian greenback, and so on. For an authentic representation of a speaker, these parameters need to be modeled. The speaker comp and time parameters found in the amp block take into consideration certain things like hi and lo frequency resonance found on the speaker page of the amp block. There is also the "motor drive" and "motor time const" parameters found in the cab block. These simply model the effect of high power levels on the speaker. It is safe to say that the parameters found in the amp block provide the most realistic simulation.

It is my guess that these parameters would vary greatly even among similar speaker types, so ...even though these parameters will alter the sound a little, in my opinion it is far more of a feel thing than anything else where these adjustments are concerned. So set them where they feel and sound right understanding that the parameters adjust how the amp responds to a specific speaker, or speaker type.

Please correct me if I have given any bad info here....

Hmmm...

I thought that IR's had some element of time dependency in them. So at least to some degree elements of the amp/speaker interaction have to be captured and reflected in the IR.
 
Back
Top Bottom