Axe-Fx III Firmware 31.02 Release

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mr_fender said:
This is not true at all. Lowering the master volume reduces the amount of preamp signal being fed into the power amp section. It increases power amp headroom in the same way that rolling down your guitar volume hits the preamp section less hard.
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Idk then, maybe Fractal can chime in then. But a twin doesn't have a master volume and leaving it on 10 in the editor is what's supposed to be authentic.

Master on 10 and volume on 2 should be clean. If you have a really hot pickups, it might distort. You can set input trim to .5 for the low input
 
BTW, it's not just on the Twin Reverb models. It's been present in several models that I've tried so far like the Plexi's, IIC+, Super Reverb, etc. It's just easier to hear on the very clean models and when rolling off the tone knob. With the tone knob up it just sounds brighter and more cutting. I'm not going to argue with Cliff. He's probably forgotten more about amps than I've ever learned. I just found it surprising once I noticed it. Our senses can do weird things sometimes.
 
Seven2Eleven said:
Idk then, maybe Fractal can chime in then. But a twin doesn't have a master volume and leaving it on 10 in the editor is what's supposed to be authentic.

Master on 10 and volume on 2 should be clean. If you have a really hot pickups, it might distort. You can set input trim to .5 for the low input
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Yes Master on 10 for any non-master volume amp is correct. It's the turning it down part that you were incorrect on. That increases power amp headroom and does not make it distort sooner. A master volume is a voltage divider, not a clipping stage. It can't increase distortion, only reduce the signal level. I was just surprised to hear it on a Twin model at 2 with my Strat single coils.
 
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Budda said:
@Seven2Eleven good catch, thanks.

And yes, we ran them on 4 and it was something. My idea to run both 2203 and twin clean and still use a drive pedal was shot down, but it was very fun when I tried it.

That bandmate now runs a 612 and one amp haha.
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I wonder what Tremonti runs his on to blend w Rectos
I am thinking one of two
 
I wonder if the vintage Twin amps are dirtier than the modern era Twin amps? I suspect most experience people have with Twin amps are the later.
 
giantslayer said:
I wonder if the vintage Twin amps are dirtier than the modern era Twin amps? I suspect most experience people have with Twin amps are the later.
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Not to distract from the real questions here, but I remember silver face fenders seeming more brittle and less cool sounding pushed than black face ones back in the day. They were disrespected in my neck of the woods as CBS's devolution of iconic amps.
 
Dave Merrill said:
Not to distract from the real questions here, but I remember silver face fenders seeming more brittle and less cool sounding pushed than black face ones back in the day. They were disrespected in my neck of the woods as CBS's devolution of iconic amps.
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Silverfaces were designed to be cleaner and have more headroom. As you stated, a lot of people did not like the results.
 
Depends on the specific circuit. Some were very similar to blackface while others varied more. Corporate cost savings and profit margin were likely the primary objective in the changes. But, yeah in my experience, the silverfaces generally tend to break up a bit later, but more suddenly and harshly. The changes weren't all bad though. Moving to a 3 wire grounded power cord and removing the ground switch and "death cap" were definitely good safety changes.

Just to make you all feel old, the Line 6 Pod XT is now vintage gear (23 years old). Next year the original Axe FX will be considered vintage (released in 2006). Time flies when you're having fun.
 
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mr_fender said:
This is not true at all. Lowering the master volume reduces the amount of preamp signal being fed into the power amp section. It increases power amp headroom in the same way that rolling down your guitar volume hits the preamp section less hard.
Click to expand...
Yes, but lowering the master volume requires turning up the volume (gain) to get the same loudness and that could be causing distortion in the preamp section, the 2nd gain stage after the tone controls. This is assuming the master volume is before the phase inverter.
 
Allow me to swim against the stream for a few more posts, I'm losing social credit but the sound is far more important.


Double Verb Normal with Gain = 1.
Power Amp (including phase inverter?) = OFF




I must assume this horrid distortion is coming from the preamp.
Cliff, please continue investigating this lest this firmware reaches the ears of Steve Vai then we're all cooked. 😆
 
mr_fender said:
Depends on the specific circuit. Some were very similar to blackface while others varied more. Corporate cost savings and profit margin were likely the primary objective in the changes. But, yeah in my experience, the silverfaces generally tend to break up a bit later, but more suddenly and harshly. The changes weren't all bad though. Moving to a 3 wire grounded power cord and removing the ground switch and "death cap" were definitely good safety changes.
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I meant when the silverfaces circuits were actually changed, not the drip edge ones. Yes, the grounded power chord was a good thing :). As far as Fenders, I have a 66 Deluxe Reverb, a 66 Super Reverb, and a 66 Princeton Reverb (this amp sound fantastic), but never got around to a 60 Twin. That said, I found this Youtube video - - (first amp demonstrating a 60 Blackface. It looks like he is at ~2.5 on the amp and not digging into hard and on the neck PU of a strat. I can hear this breaking up some there. It would be breaking up even more on the neck or with humbuckers. You can hear it break up more when he switches to position 4 on the strat. Also, the distortion would probably be more pronounced with a pick on the high string rather than what is heard with his fingers. I will say that it sounds really good.
 
Jim Amsden said:
Yes, but lowering the master volume requires turning up the volume (gain) to get the same loudness and that could be causing distortion in the preamp section, the 2nd gain stage after the tone controls. This is assuming the master volume is before the phase inverter.
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That's not the case. Gain is on 2 and listening volume is compensated using the Amp block level control.
 
Heavyelement said:
Why did the update erase and make my foot control screens all blank and no colors that I had programed?
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That happens sometimes...

That's why you should always backup before a firmware update.

If you have customized the layouts then just restore the system+global backup (unless you exported your layouts separately).

If not, just re-initializing the factory layouts is all you need to do.
 
James Freeman said:
Allow me to swim against the stream for a few more posts, I'm losing social credit but the sound is far more important.


Double Verb Normal with Gain = 1.
Power Amp (including phase inverter?) = OFF




I must assume this horrid distortion is coming from the preamp.
Cliff, please continue investigating this lest this firmware reaches the ears of Steve Vai then we're all cooked. 😆
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Well don't do that :). Kidding.... yuck.
 
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James Freeman said:
Allow me to swim against the stream for a few more posts, I'm losing social credit but the sound is far more important.


Double Verb Normal with Gain = 1.
Power Amp (including phase inverter?) = OFF




I must assume this horrid distortion is coming from the preamp.
Cliff, please continue investigating this lest this firmware reaches the ears of Steve Vai then we're all cooked. 😆
Click to expand...

Are you sure your speakers and audio interface are okay? I'm not hearing an "horrid distortion".
 
FractalAudio said:
Are you sure your speakers and audio interface are okay? I'm not hearing an "horrid distortion".
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Of course.
When the amp block is bypassed the sound is as clean as ever so it's not my instrument or the acoustics, it's the first thing I checked.
Use your best pair of headphones please.
 
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