Axe-Fx III Firmware 26.00 Public Beta

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York Audio said:
The models seem to have more compression (more noticeable in the Matchless). The second part is meant to show the compression difference I was hearing/feeling.


Great job, Cliff! Thank you for all of your hard work. The Axe-Fx III continues to be the best piece of musical equipment I've ever purchased
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100% agreed

As a touring musician, whose home base has been Class A el84 amps for the last 20 years.

I have no doubt the ac30 and matchless dc30 is modeled to complete accuracy with the reference amps.
I just haven’t ever been able to get the same punch and less compression (looking for a more open but musical compression, even though verbally that is an oxymoron) as I can get out of my couple of AC30’s (normal or topboost) and Matchless dc30.
Would love to know how to bring more of that out.
It is definitely addicting to your right hand, when that is what you’re used to.

No offense intended at all. Just my experience and I still find the current models usable, just different on that right hand.
 
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York Audio said:
Man, that '93 D30 head is one of the best sounding amps I've ever owned and sounds incredible clean, broken up, driven to mid gain, and diming the volume while using a tele is one of the coolest distorted tones I've ever heard! That's an amp I really want to accurately match with the Fractal.


This is great! I definitely want it punchy since that's such a great quality of Class-A amps... when notes "explode" off the guitar as soon as you pluck a string. It's very dynamic and touch sensitive.

Looks like I need to play around with Negative Feedback and Supply Sag as well as the PI Bias Excursion ( thanks @yyz67 ) to get that model feeling snappy.

The Input Dynamics parameter is fun and something I'll probably use with other amps because it does give you more attack in a cool way, but I'd love to find a solution for the D30 that feels similar without adding gain.
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We must have the same model and year Matchless. Had it sent down to Oz when I was working there. A friend of mine was a sales guy for them at the time. We play different stuff, but you nailed the sound. The Matchless, the 1981 Marshall 2203, the 1959 5F8 Twin, and the 1966 AB763 Super Reverb are my desert island amps. Thanks to Fractal Audio, these and others are always on the same stage. Plus, never have to rewire a goddam pedalboard!

This new firmware is another in a recent string of genius, circuit-characteristic improvements. Cliff Chase and team are on a historic tear.
 
Black_Bird said:
yep, changing the power tube type killed the noise. the cable is OK already tested with 3 guitars.
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I found the same issues yesterday with Petrucci amp, propably if you go to ideal tab, the headroom meter will be somewhere at max, while not playing guitar - right?

Edit : how to replicate
Just load preset 83 Petrucci Rig, scene 1 , go to amp Tone tab, dont play guitar, decrease presence to zero and watch headroom meter.
And if you don't hear huge noise yet , adjust Grid Bias knob on Pwr Tubes tab
 
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I find the c-30 to be indistinguishable from my Samson-era Bad Cat C-30 so it’s heaven for me. I still find the IR makes the biggest difference. Making the IR 256-512 and smoothing does wonders.
 
Blakemore Music said:
100% agreed

As a touring musician, whose home base has been Class A el84 amps for the last 20 years.

I have no doubt the ac30 and matchless dc30 is modeled to complete accuracy with the reference amps.
I just haven’t ever been able to get the same punch and less compression (looking for a more open but musical compression, even though verbally that is an oxymoron) as I can get out of my couple of AC30’s (normal or topboost) and Matchless dc30.
Would love to know how to bring more of that out.
It is definitely addicting to your right hand, when that is what you’re used to.

No offense intended at all. Just my experience and I still find the current models usable, just different on that right hand.
Click to expand...
The same happens to me!!
The Matchless is my favorite (real world) amp, however I can't get that same response in the right hand since the AX FX III.
Hopefully the next updates will continue to bring us closer and closer! :)
 
As noted by @FractalAudio, with the new DynaCab update, existing presets are automatically updated so they stay the same after the update.

I'm posting to officially recognize a bug in this beta which causes a previous selection of 4x12 CITRUS to be changed to the new 4x12 5153 STEALTH after the update. I'm sure this will be fixed in 2 seconds for the release version of 26.00.
 
York Audio said:
I'm really liking this Firmware so far! It's fun to A/B real amps vs the models, so I made a couple short clips comparing my '93 Sampson era Matchless D-30 to the Matchbox D-30 and my '96 Marshall JCM Slash to the Brit Silver. The amps went into a Fractal LB-2 load box and the models used the LB-2 UK impedance curve with Speaker Drive, Speaker Compression, and Speaker Thump all at zero. Both the amps and the Axe-Fx III used the same IR and IR loading plugin in my DAW (no cab block was used in the Fractal). I used a looper pedal and started with the amp and model knobs in the same settings and fine-tuned them in by ear. I'm sure I could get closer, but it's already pretty dang close without making any drastic knob adjustments.

To me, they sound virtually identical when playing chords. It's truly remarkable, and I don't think anyone could tell the difference in a mix. Each amp's character really shines... even though both the Jubilee and the D-30 are all going through the same IR. The main difference I notice is in the transients. The models seem to have more compression (more noticeable in the Matchless). To show this, the clips start with the amp/model playing chords to show how similar they sound (no low/high cuts). The second part is meant to show the compression difference I was hearing/feeling.

If anyone knows how to lessen that compression to bring out more attack in the transients, I'd love to try your methods.

Anyway, here they are:

Marshall JCM Slash vs Brit Silver




Matchless D-30 vs Matchbox D-30




Great job, Cliff! Thank you for all of your hard work. The Axe-Fx III continues to be the best piece of musical equipment I've ever purchased.
Click to expand...

Nice clips! Sounds closer than ever but I def hear what you’re referring to
 
lastcaress83 said:
Nice clips! Sounds closer than ever but I def hear what you’re referring to
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I'm not sure you will ever get a 1:1 like for like image. After all, there is an extra A/D and D/A conversion when using a modeler.
a. guitar into amp, amp out to loadbox loaded with IR
b: guitar into modeler, out of modeler into loadbox loaded with IR
whatever is being done at A/D/A level will be a factor and each modeler use their own methodologies. It's already close enough for me.
 
York Audio said:
Man, that '93 D30 head is one of the best sounding amps I've ever owned and sounds incredible clean, broken up, driven to mid gain, and diming the volume while using a tele is one of the coolest distorted tones I've ever heard! That's an amp I really want to accurately match with the Fractal.


This is great! I definitely want it punchy since that's such a great quality of Class-A amps... when notes "explode" off the guitar as soon as you pluck a string. It's very dynamic and touch sensitive.

Looks like I need to play around with Negative Feedback and Supply Sag as well as the PI Bias Excursion ( thanks @yyz67 ) to get that model feeling snappy.

The Input Dynamics parameter is fun and something I'll probably use with other amps because it does give you more attack in a cool way, but I'd love to find a solution for the D30 that feels similar without adding gain.
Click to expand...
Matchless + tele sounds like a great combo. I guess I need a tele...... 👀

Also, obviously my Matchless presets sound so good because of your IR pack.

As far as the beta, the 2x12 5153 is killer, really enjoying using it on a wide variety of tones!
 
rzjd said:
I'm not sure you will ever get a 1:1 like for like image. After all, there is an extra A/D and D/A conversion when using a modeler.
a. guitar into amp, amp out to loadbox loaded with IR
b: guitar into modeler, out of modeler into loadbox loaded with IR
whatever is being done at A/D/A level will be a factor and each modeler use their own methodologies. It's already close enough for me.
Click to expand...
I think you’re confused, the modeler was not taken into a loadbox then to the IR. Both the modeler and the LB were processed through the same DAW and IR directly out of each. Within the software, the impedance curve which matches that of the LB (what the real amps were seeing) was utilized.
 
Blakemore Music said:
100% agreed

As a touring musician, whose home base has been Class A el84 amps for the last 20 years.

I have no doubt the ac30 and matchless dc30 is modeled to complete accuracy with the reference amps.
I just haven’t ever been able to get the same punch and less compression (looking for a more open but musical compression, even though verbally that is an oxymoron) as I can get out of my couple of AC30’s (normal or topboost) and Matchless dc30.
Would love to know how to bring more of that out.
It is definitely addicting to your right hand, when that is what you’re used to.

No offense intended at all. Just my experience and I still find the current models usable, just different on that right hand.
Click to expand...

I still find this to be the case, in general, for all amps in the FM9. I tweak advanced parameters, the various compression options in the amp/speaker blocks, speaker parameters, SIC's, IR's, try different output devices, etc. but I still don't get the same right hand feel and attack/punch I get from "conventional" amps.

I still play a wide variety of tube amps, vintage, new, etc. and even more recent solid state amps (ie: Quilters) and there is an attack/punch/open dynamic feel that instantly couples with my right hand...that all is just "there". I still feel there is an overall compression happening somewhere in the FM9.

Having said that, my tones are awesome in the FM9 and I have managed to dial things in to get a great feel for sure...it's still far and away the best amp/rig I've ever owned.

And great work FAS/Cliff on the latest and greatest firmware...it always, always raises the bar.
 
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