Axe-Fx III 16.00 Beta 5 "Cygnus" Firmware - Public Beta #2

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What is this idea that increased dynamics somehow hurts sustain? Doesn't happen with the Mesa/Vox/Marshalls I own. That's on the player IMO.
 
A sound follows an ADSR hull curve. A sound has an attack first, then decay and sustain follow. And they have to be seen in relation to its other.
Make the attack some louder, so the sustain is some lower in comparison and vice versa. More dynamics will not 'hurt' sustain, but you amplify the attack more.
Sounds complicated, but when you play with the dynamics knob and listen to the sustain instead of the attacks, your hear something.
I tend to listen more to the attacks and when the sustain rings out I'm already at the next note that I play so I might oversee err overhear the sustain from the perpective of a player. I guess I'm not the only one.
 
Leise said:
Here are my Patches

I Use a Strandberg OS7 with Abasi Set
Mesa 20/20 Poweramp
Old Engl 4x12 Cab with V30 from early 90´s

I didn´t use efects or some special eq or something...just this patches.
I get my 3 about 2 weeks but came from an 2xl what i used for some years and had some expirience to dail in that kind of tone what i want :)
I hop sombody can help me to use new beta5 and get that result i have in the 15.1 becase the beta sounds in some kind that i can´t describe bette but with the missing lowend...
Thanks to all
Click to expand...

After a quick look over your settings I noticed that your speaker settings (in the AMP block) look strange. 0% cab resonance as an example.
Also many other advanced settings in the amp block are not like after an amp block reset. Maybe they collide with the changes in this firmware. I would do an amp block reset and start from scratch.
 
Leise said:
Here are my Patches

I Use a Strandberg OS7 with Abasi Set
Mesa 20/20 Poweramp
Old Engl 4x12 Cab with V30 from early 90´s

I didn´t use efects or some special eq or something...just this patches.
I get my 3 about 2 weeks but came from an 2xl what i used for some years and had some expirience to dail in that kind of tone what i want :)
I hop sombody can help me to use new beta5 and get that result i have in the 15.1 becase the beta sounds in some kind that i can´t describe bette but with the missing lowend...
Thanks to all
Click to expand...

@Leise
Why are you sending your signal through a Cab block to your real Engl cab?
 
FractalAudio said:
My guess is what you are hearing is grid bias excursion in the power amp. It's more prominent in the latest beta (and more accurate). These AC-30 derived amps exhibit significant grid bias excursion due to the phase inverter design and small grid stopper resistors. This causes the amp to shift into Class-B operation when overdriven which causes crossover distortion. Crossover distortion is fizzy and gritty. It's not nearly as noticeable when playing through a guitar cabinet but when close mic'ing an amp it can become quite apparent.

The previous beta and Ares exhibited less bias excursion. Ares due to inaccurate bias excursion modeling and the previous beta due to a mistake in the power amp grid drive calculations.

You can reduce the bias excursion by reducing the Pwr Tube Bias Excursion value in the Advanced menu of the Amp block.
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Updated to Beta 5 again last night, and this helped! There's still a little bit of that fizz but with the PI Bias Excursion (I don't see Pwr Tube Bias Excursion?) at 75% it definitely seems better. The other thing I didn't realize (and you said this multiple times, haha) is that the power amp is more aggressive now, but I didn't realize it was such a big difference on the MV amps like the Matchless - because the breakup and headroom was still very similar to Beta 4 at the same settings. However, it now basically maxes out on volume around 7/8 on the MV vs. all the way up (with the preamp in the 2-3 range)... which is definitely more like my real HC30.

The cool thing is, now you can get the break up from the preamp or the power amp, or both, without sacrificing headroom, and the break up is distinctively different depending on which way you go.

Initial impressions from about 20 mins at low volume, but my eyes have been opened. :cool:
 
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Can't get the Texas Star Lead to sound properly. Even after resetting the amp, it sound bassy and clean at default setting, not at all like before.
Thanks.
 
cptjaimway said:
I never really touch it from the default setting - is there ever a real reason to?
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When trying to emulate commercial kemper profiles with axe fx, as well as emulating my amps, all units at hand, getting the amp sim master right was one of the most important factors.

What I found out quickly (well, can't be 100 percent certain obviously) was how low the master vol was on the amps people were profiling, much of the time. Emulating a few VH4 profiles, for example, meant setting amp sim master vol down to darn 1.5/10 or so.

And having some similar amps right there I made detailed tests, trying to factor in some taper differences. Part of what made me (and makes) use fractal most of the time is the master section.

It's very powerful. Extremely so. Can't be understated imo. It's part of what allows me to save time when dialing in tones compared to many other units, but also ultimately behaves considerably closer to what I've learned to expect from my amps.
 
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boyce89976 said:
Updated to Beta 5 again last night, and this helped! There's still a little bit of that fizz but with the PI Bias Excursion (I don't see Pwr Tube Bias Excursion?) at 75% it definitely seems better. The other thing I didn't realize (and you said this multiple times, haha) is that the power amp is more aggressive now, but I didn't realize it was such a big difference on the MV amps like the Matchless - because the breakup and headroom was still very similar to Beta 4 at the same settings. However, it now basically maxes out on volume around 7/8 on the MV vs. all the way up (with the preamp in the 2-3 range)... which is definitely more like my real HC30.

The cool thing is, now you can get the break up from the preamp or the power amp, or both, without sacrificing headroom, and the break up is distinctively different depending on which way you go.

Initial impressions from about 20 mins at low volume, but my eyes have been opened. :cool:
Click to expand...

There's also the tube mismatch at -0.1 that seems to add some wicked inharmonic sawtooth sound. Maybe that's what seems aggressive? At 0.0 it gets boring though.
I was playing the boutique 2 a lot since the Ultra, and now it's not only renamed, it also sounds and behaves very different. So far I love it but there are so many outstanding amps now. Hard to choose.
 
FractalAudio said:
This means your MV is too high.
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In this non-scientific comparison, I have both master volume set around 4 on the dial, but I will try to dial it down on Axe III later and see.

Don't get me wrong, the distortion character of the beta sounds much closer to the Mark V now, e.g. it's chunkier, larger-grained, for lack of better words, and start to have some singing quality in it.

On the other hand, regarding dynamics, that is likely not the target/goal of this beta...? I do feel Mark V reacts more dynamically (again via cab clone), increasing Input Dynamic control on Axe from 0 to 2 helps but not quite the same, e.g. the resulting increased dynamic in Axe seems to reacts a bit slower....
 
Mark Al said:
In this non-scientific comparison, I have both master volume set around 4 on the dial, but I will try to dial it down on Axe III later and see.

Don't get me wrong, the distortion character of the beta sounds much closer to the Mark V now, e.g. it's chunkier, larger-grained, for lack of better words, and start to have some singing quality in it.

On the other hand, regarding dynamics, that is likely not the target/goal of this beta...? I do feel Mark V reacts more dynamically (again via cab clone), increasing Input Dynamic control on Axe from 0 to 2 helps but not quite the same, e.g. the resulting increased dynamic in Axe seems to reacts a bit slower....
Click to expand...

never played a MK V 35, but owned a MK V 25 and felt that was much closer in character both to my MK IV and the IIC+ than the 90W MK V. To me the MK V felt stiff and sterile. (might have been that particular specimen though, I don't know)

So I would definitely play with the MV but still expect differences. Aren't Mesa biasing their amps famously cool?

I agree that the distortion character developed from 120 grit to 80 grit and that this is part of what makes it feel more "real".
 
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