Overcaster
Inspired
Edit: Okay I am real dingus. There was a compressor in my chain, yeah that explains everything
I'm totally agree with you. Cygnus is a very nice improvement in amp modeling, but the Friedman amps sounded 1000 times better with 15.01... I hope Cliff will do something for the final release.After owning ax8 for years, a week ago, I received my axe3 mk2.
I have been checking fw 15.01 quite extensively.
I was totally amazed by how this fw sounds compared to ax8 10.01.
Yesterday, I had finally a bit of time for myself, so I wanted to check at least a dozen of my favourite amp models in ax3 running on cygnus beta fw.
In the end, I tried only 2 models for straight 3 hours- cameron ccv and herbie - two of my absolutely favourites for higher gain stuff.
I must say I am beyond impressed - these 2 amp models punches so hard, that I was double checking, if output of ax3 goes into my tiny "Marley frfr" speaker as seen on a pic.
The note bloom, feel and low end is just amazing.
Side effect of that is that I had to add more treble/presence than before - no complains though.
Then I plugged ax3 into Fryette PS-2 and orange 2x12.
What the F... ?????????
This Cygnus goodness is much, much more noticable when using tube power amp !
It´s the best sound I ever had (I used to own tons of friedman amps, diezels, fortin, mesa boogies, etc.).
Then of course, I wanted to compare cygnus friedman models to my real Friedman JJ 100 with deluxe mod (as seen on a pic).
Here I feel like the friedman models has some mistake in this beta, as they sounded much closer and better in fw 15.01. to the real amp.
Needed to say, I know how friedman amp works and how to dial them in.
No amount of tweaking in cygnus could help me, no preamp low cut, no negative feedback settings.
I was not able to try more models, so Camerons and Diezels are outstanding, but friedmans I am not impressed at the moment.
ALL things considered, this Cygnus fw is like buying again new ax3 after owning it for a week.
Edit : pic added
Edit : I also found that the amp level now vary a lot.
for example : CCV models 1B loud, 2A normal level, 2C very quiet, 2D very quiet... they used to be equal volume wise.
Sure, I can post the preset after I clean it up a bit. The IRs I used were the YA 5153 412 57m-1 and SM7-CN at equal levels.
I was looking for a clean amp to use some real high gain pedals with yesterday and tried this amp for a moment. It felt very bouncy like a Rectifier. It wasn't the sound I was looking for or remembered so I moved on. I really like the Solo 100 out of the box but I'm working to see if I can clean up the Engl or just use the Archean clean.
Where do i get the Cabs ?
Not an expert on the Bassman, but going from memory the 65 Bassman seems to be more of that grinding and growling. I really like the Dweezil Bassman, but it's not stock and has it's own vibe going on. Very cool thing though.
I like to boost around 750hz, gets the tone into the more "vocal" range.
Years ago I remember one of the Rocktron guys saying thatbetween about 1200 and 1300
Also agreed. They were my favorite since day one but now I can't seem to make them work for me. I hope there is just some tweaks that need to happen.
I tweak everyday. Not out of necessity, it's more like a sonic adventure. The Cygnus improvements just seem to expand the pallette of satisfying, usable tones.
Part of my daily playing is budgeted for Axe FX exploration. Trying a new amp, messing with a new setting, etc. I bookmark the crap out of this forum and then chip away at some ideas that everyone throws out.
That's the way to do it.
My problem is I find a sound I like, then load it up the next day and think it sounds like shit. Must be ear fatigue or something.
I was just thinking about setting aside some time every week to mess with a new amp model. Tried the Solo 100 for the first time last weekend and had a blast, now I'm keeping a list of models to try
Gotta make an effort to search out new things otherwise I'll just stay in my Mesa / Peavey / FAS Modern comfort zone. And it's just making me better at dialing in tones too.
