Axe-Fx III Firmware 23.03 Beta #1

James Freeman said:
Both.
There is a bright cap on the Blue channel Gain pot, this bright cap goes to ground in parallel with the Red Gain pot, and vice versa.

I think the best solution would be to turn the OTHER gain pot to max, and put its value in parallel with the working gain pot, excluding the other bright cap.
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There are other amp models that do this and it's accounted for. At least the Tweed Deluxe, if my memory serves...
 
James Freeman said:
I beg to differ.
I have a NFB control on my amp (as do many other people) and expect the NFB control in the Axe to work just like the real thing.
I don't understand the chase for accuracy+authenticity only to destroy it with side-wheels so people who never touched a tube amp don't get confused.

Do we want accuracy or a helping-hand? The obvious answer is both.
Now we got both.... but people still complain. WTF? :)

If this never makes it to Axe-Edit, at least keep it as a hidden option.
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It has nothing to do whether people have tube amp experience or not, that mod is simply not needed as it does nothing to the tone that you couldn't have done without the mod. In fact it actually requires the user to perform an extra step or two, to obtain the same results as without the mod (adjust amp block output level manually and turn it on/off). Sorry, I just see the mod as a waste of Fractal's engineering time as Cliff had it right the first time, because he improved on the real amp's feature (seeing there's no need to use it as a pseudo power section volume/gain control which one might do with a real amp that has this mod?).

Again, think of the Axe's Amp Block as a guitar/bass amp loaded into a slave amp/cab(s) setup, where you have independent control of the setup's final level regardless of the loaded amp's settings.

I guess this is just the familiar bug or feature argument LOL!

Of course we want accuracy, in the sound and feel, and we should also want improvements to work flow and features as software allows vs tube hardware. Do we want our virtual power tubes to degrade quickly when run hard in Class A, do we want to wait for our virtual tube heaters to warm up (I guess we do now unpacking Dyna-Cabs LOL!), do we want our virtual amps to oscillate and motor-boat when gain/filtering/attenuation changes are made, or do we want our virtual amps to pick up radio stations when grounding is suspect? I think for most the answer would be no.

Accuracy in sound and feel, along with improvements in everything else as software allows vs tube hardware, that's what software brings to the table vs hardware.

Anyway, enjoy your new Axe III!
 
skydog said:
You got that right. Nobels ODR-1 with Fenders: Twin, Pro, Vibrolux… and now in the Axe FX. One upgrade that has the ODR-1 and the Marshall 2203 can only be described as completely magic. And both are behaving completely right.
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I'd like to say thanks.
When I finished playing with the Nobelium last night, today I thought 'Clean amps good. What would happen with semi-dirty Marshall?'
From what you're saying this might work. I was thinking more Plexi.
With the clean amps, pedal Drive at 7, was a good tone. It becomes more liquidy and I liked the way the it sounds straight after the initial string hit.
The Nobelium is not quite a FET/SDD,, Tubescreamer or Klon, it has its own little happy niche.

If you want to, also try the new Drive based on the JHS Morning Glory, it's good as well.
Again, clean amps. It's brighter than the Nobelium though. It's like a sorta light overdrive pedal where you can still hear the individual strings in a chord, even when it's turned up quite a bit.
 
I'm so pumped for the new EVH 100w model. Here's a clip I did of my own "Stealth 100w Blue channel -> Suhr IR -> Fractal Cab blocks" a while ago to try and show how surprisingly dynamic it really is, because so often all you hear from 5150's are chugging rhythms or blazing leads type playing, which are great, but these amps don't get their due credit for how versatile they can be.

This clip happens to be the 100w Stealth EL34, but I also own a 100w Stealth 6L6 and can tell you these amps are EXACTLY the same except for the power tubes. In practice the EL34 has maybe a db or two more "forward" mids if that's the right way to say it, but it's subtle enough that this could honestly be caused by manufacturing tolerance in the taper of the EQ pots. The Blue and Red channels in both amps sound identical.

FYI I think this clip also has some very broad mid cut via Parametric EQ after the amp, and a Pitch Block after the amp setup to do a really subtle EVH "Balance" style effect where the pitch shifter pitches up the right side by like 6 ct and pitches down the left side by -6 ct or something close to that. I remember the Mix being very low so the effect is audible but very subtle, like maybe Mix at 15-20% or so. That's where the extra bit of "space" in the highs comes from.

As for the clip, the ONLY settings that change from beginning to end are my guitar's volume knob, pickup selection, and how hard I hit the strings. The amp knobs were not moved, nor were any pedals toggled. The Blue channel's Gain knob was set hilariously low for this clip, like below 8:00, but it sounded great so that's how I left it. At the start it's almost pristine clean and by the end it moves into modded JCM 800 territory.



We're getting a seriously cool amp here.
 
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Maybe a little out of context, but since @Cliff also maintains the Drive models (DS1 potentiometer characteristic, new drives) it would be great to fix the mixer functionality in the Drive Blocks for certain types. It affects the:
B7K,
all fuzz pedals,
FET Pre,
mid-boost,
SSD Pre,
Shimmer Drive,
tape dist,
treble booster,
3+4 Knob Tube Driver.
In this modells the further the Mix Pot is turned counterclockwise, the quieter the signal becomes until it is barely audible.
It works wonderfully with all the other drive models. I also use the drives with an electric bass where i like to dial also the dry signal in and it would be nice not to always have to connect a single volume block in parallel to the drive block.
Thank you
Tom
 
GreatGreen said:
I'm so pumped for the new EVH 100w model. Here's a clip I did of my own "Stealth 100w head's Blue channel -> Suhr IR -> Fractal Cab blocks" a while ago to try and show how surprisingly dynamic it really is, because so often all you hear from 5150's are chugging rhythms or blazing leads type playing, which are great, but these amps don't get their due credit for how versatile they can be.

This clip happens to be the 100w Stealth EL34, but I also own a 100w Stealth 6L6 and can tell you these amps are EXACTLY the same except for the power tubes. In practice the EL34 has maybe a db or two more "forward" mids if that's the right way to say it, but it's subtle enough that this could honestly be caused by manufacturing tolerance in the taper of the EQ knobs. The Blue and Red channels in both amps sound identical.

As for the clip, the ONLY settings that change from beginning to end are my guitar's volume knob, pickup selection, and how hard I hit the strings. The amp knobs were not moved, nor were any pedals toggled. At the start it's almost pristine clean and by the end it moves into modded JCM 800 territory.



We're getting a seriously cool amp here.
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That is stunning. Lovely playing.
 
GreatGreen said:
I'm so pumped for the new EVH 100w model. Here's a clip I did of my own "Stealth 100w head's Blue channel -> Suhr IR -> Fractal Cab blocks" a while ago to try and show how surprisingly dynamic it really is, because so often all you hear from 5150's are chugging rhythms or blazing leads type playing, which are great, but these amps don't get their due credit for how versatile they can be.

This clip happens to be the 100w Stealth EL34, but I also own a 100w Stealth 6L6 and can tell you these amps are EXACTLY the same except for the power tubes. In practice the EL34 has maybe a db or two more "forward" mids if that's the right way to say it, but it's subtle enough that this could honestly be caused by manufacturing tolerance in the taper of the EQ pots. The Blue and Red channels in both amps sound identical.

FYI I think this clip also has a Pitch Block after the amp setup to do a really subtle EVH "Balance" style effect where the pitch shifter pitches up the right side by like 6 ct and pitches down the left side by -6 ct or something close to that. I remember the Mix being very low so the effect is barely there, like maybe Mix at 12-15% or so. That's where the extra bit of "space" in the highs comes from.

As for the clip, the ONLY settings that change from beginning to end are my guitar's volume knob, pickup selection, and how hard I hit the strings. The amp knobs were not moved, nor were any pedals toggled. The Blue channels Gain knob was set hilariously low for this clip, like below 8:00, but it sounded great so that's how I left it. At the start it's almost pristine clean and by the end it moves into modded JCM 800 territory.



We're getting a seriously cool amp here.
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Great tones, great playing, kudos!

Have to tried re-amping that through the new Stealth?
 
Dave Merrill said:
Great tones, great playing, kudos!

Have to tried re-amping that through the new Stealth?
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You mean have I re-amped the dry guitar from the clip into the model to compare them? Unfortunately I did not record a direct guitar stem when I made that clip, I just went direct from Axe-Fx Output 1 straight into my interface, so I can't reamp it. I also haven't tried the new firmware yet as I usually just stick to release candidate versions.

But I'm looking forward to checking it out as soon as it comes out though. :)
 
GreatGreen said:
I'm so pumped for the new EVH 100w model. Here's a clip I did of my own "Stealth 100w Blue channel -> Suhr IR -> Fractal Cab blocks" a while ago to try and show how surprisingly dynamic it really is, because so often all you hear from 5150's are chugging rhythms or blazing leads type playing, which are great, but these amps don't get their due credit for how versatile they can be.

This clip happens to be the 100w Stealth EL34, but I also own a 100w Stealth 6L6 and can tell you these amps are EXACTLY the same except for the power tubes. In practice the EL34 has maybe a db or two more "forward" mids if that's the right way to say it, but it's subtle enough that this could honestly be caused by manufacturing tolerance in the taper of the EQ pots. The Blue and Red channels in both amps sound identical.

FYI I think this clip also has some very broad mid cut via Parametric EQ after the amp, and a Pitch Block after the amp setup to do a really subtle EVH "Balance" style effect where the pitch shifter pitches up the right side by like 6 ct and pitches down the left side by -6 ct or something close to that. I remember the Mix being very low so the effect is audible but very subtle, like maybe Mix at 15-20% or so. That's where the extra bit of "space" in the highs comes from.

As for the clip, the ONLY settings that change from beginning to end are my guitar's volume knob, pickup selection, and how hard I hit the strings. The amp knobs were not moved, nor were any pedals toggled. The Blue channels Gain knob was set hilariously low for this clip, like below 8:00, but it sounded great so that's how I left it. At the start it's almost pristine clean and by the end it moves into modded JCM 800 territory.



We're getting a seriously cool amp here.
Click to expand...

If you ever repeat that tone in the AF3, please share the preset. Beautiful man.
 
GreatGreen said:
I'm so pumped for the new EVH 100w model. Here's a clip I did of my own "Stealth 100w Blue channel -> Suhr IR -> Fractal Cab blocks" a while ago to try and show how surprisingly dynamic it really is, because so often all you hear from 5150's are chugging rhythms or blazing leads type playing, which are great, but these amps don't get their due credit for how versatile they can be.

This clip happens to be the 100w Stealth EL34, but I also own a 100w Stealth 6L6 and can tell you these amps are EXACTLY the same except for the power tubes. In practice the EL34 has maybe a db or two more "forward" mids if that's the right way to say it, but it's subtle enough that this could honestly be caused by manufacturing tolerance in the taper of the EQ pots. The Blue and Red channels in both amps sound identical.

FYI I think this clip also has some very broad mid cut via Parametric EQ after the amp, and a Pitch Block after the amp setup to do a really subtle EVH "Balance" style effect where the pitch shifter pitches up the right side by like 6 ct and pitches down the left side by -6 ct or something close to that. I remember the Mix being very low so the effect is audible but very subtle, like maybe Mix at 15-20% or so. That's where the extra bit of "space" in the highs comes from.

As for the clip, the ONLY settings that change from beginning to end are my guitar's volume knob, pickup selection, and how hard I hit the strings. The amp knobs were not moved, nor were any pedals toggled. The Blue channels Gain knob was set hilariously low for this clip, like below 8:00, but it sounded great so that's how I left it. At the start it's almost pristine clean and by the end it moves into modded JCM 800 territory.



We're getting a seriously cool amp here.
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Gorgeous
 
FractalAudio said:
The new Stealth model is actually the 100W. I accidentally named it 50W because of a copy-and-paste error.
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Will it include the interrelationship between blue and red gain knobs? I have a 50w where it doesn't happen, but people with the 100w seemed to like using that truck to tame the Red channel for recording.

James Freeman said:
I beg to differ.
I have a NFB control on my amp (as do many other people) and expect the NFB control in the Axe to work just like the real thing.
I don't understand the chase for accuracy+authenticity only to destroy it with side-wheels so people who never touched a tube amp don't get confused.

Do we want accuracy or a helping-hand? The obvious answer is both.
Now we got both.... but people still complain. WTF? :)

If this never makes it to Axe-Edit, at least keep it as a hidden option.
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I'd argue not many people have amps with NFB in the grand scheme. It's a powerful, but uncommon mod.

And I would argue for 99% of people, compensation ON would be the better choice. When you'd adjusting a tone you want the volume consistent so you can judge the sound without falling prey to the louder sound always sounding better. With Compensation you turn one knob and listen to the tone change and find the sweep spot. With compensation off you change the NFB, then have to match the volume, then try and A/B with the previous volume and it's just more work. I'm glad you got the setting so you can be happy with it, but for most people I think they'll leave it on the default value and everyone is happy.

Dave Merrill said:
Ok I'm confused, not an expert on these amps.

Is stealth/non-stealth the same thing as tube choice?
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The 5150 III series is unfortunately a choatic mix of minor changes. Whether it was because fender wanted us to pokemon our way to buying multiple amps from them, or because EVH himself was constntly tweaking and each amp just got released at his current specs, but the 6L6 50w, 6L6 100w, EL34 50w, EL34 100W, Sealth 50w and Sealth 100w each have minor changes from each other. Not sure if the Stealth EL34 is also different. They're all in the same ballpark, but I'm not sure any two are exactly the same. Although one of the EL34 models has a much milder Blue channel that some love or hate, which is one of the more obvious differences.
 
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