Axe-Fx III Firmware Release Version 19.00

After just one day of noodling I am blown away....the advancements in FW 19.00 remind me a lot of "Cygnus" in the fact that it was an audible breakthrough in modeling. I cannot get over how freaking insane my presets sound with FW 19.00. I am by far no expert novice at best and when I A/B to my "Mesa Boogie Rack Rig of Doom" there is just no comparison the punch, feel, sound of my Fractal rig. I work in technology and am blown away by the innovation of the Fractal team. They write history every day with every release.....
 
thud_peterson said:
NOS. Do they really sound better than new ones? My ego says yes.
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Experience says yes if they were NOS and bought 20 or more years ago. Stores that sold them were still closing and selling old stock that was stored well and in good shape then, so places like Antique Electronics could scoop them up wholesale, test/sort them, and sell them. Supplies are a bit sketchier these days, as the leftovers have been pretty well picked over.

Certain US made brands were better than others, too. RCA, GE, Sylvania, Tung Sol were generally good. My little Bassman 20 had a great set of Sylvania 6V6GTs in it. Anything JAN is going to be a safe bet for good performance and lifespan. Got a lot of JAN preamp tubes around still from the mid '90s.

I have a pair of pinch base '50s or '60s Tung Sol 6V6GTs that sound wonderfully sweet and smoky but don't like high voltages, so I am saving them for a someday 5E3 build. I also like the wafer base Sovtek "5881" in the right circuit. 6.6k plate to plate load sounds good with them, and they are TOUGH, being a Russian military type that was deemed "close enough for rock & roll" when Mike Matthews started importing them....
 
I've always had big constraints on what I could buy for gear. Any time I've spent a lot, it's been all I could, same with the Axe-FX III. But it is absolutely the very best purchase I've ever made. Last night I created absolutely the greatest tone I've ever played through using 19.00. I didn't compare anything to earlier versions as I went along, so I can't give a descriptor of any differences with 18.03. Every new firmware with amp changes, I'll just very quickly dial in something new. It's goddamn easy with the Axe-FX III, it's my way exploring the amps in their new form, and it's kind of exhilarating. The fact that Cliff is relentless in his pursuit of excellence here really blows me away, that the company is built on constant improvement makes it a true outlier in this world of built in obsolescence. I'm grateful my wife pushed me to get the Axe. It's paid for itself again and again not only with joy, but with the knowledge I've gained from the priveledge of working with such accurate reproductions. Most of us will never play through an actual Dumble (RIP), and I know I'll likely never get to play a Hook, Bludotone, Carol-Ann, or even a pristine vintage Fender or Marshall. But that's the whole thing, I play those amps whenever I want, and because this is Fractal and I've read numerous owners of real amps talk about the accuracy, I don't even question the accuracy of what I'm playing through.

It's doing the thing for me that I think is the implicit wish for many guitarists, for a piece of gear to allow you to move past the gear and get to working with music itself. What a gift. My thanks as always to Cliff and all the Fractal engineers who dedicate themselves to making this the greatest time to be a guitarist.
 
Jambi said:
Getting a lot of noise here using P90s right next to my computer and Axe-FX.
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If the computer has a glass or plastic panel allowing you to see inside, then there’s a very likely cause for the problem because it’s not shielded and it’s leaking EMI.

Cheap guitar cables can cause similar problems because they lack the necessary shielding.

P90s are single coils so they have no humbucking ability, and as a result are very prone to picking up EMI/noise.

Switch to a clean preset and listen. If the noise increases with gain then the problem is very likely the cable, pickups, computer or a combination. Try a better cable, try a guitar with humbuckers, or reduce the gain, stand farther away from the computer, turn yourself to find an angle that reduces the noise, there are many possible fixes and combinations.

I doubt the modeler is the problem any more than a regular amp would be. Fractal over-engineers their products including their shielding.
 
Initial observations:
Biggest change is the low end is cleaned up a lot, in a good way. I went from messing around with low cuts in the cab to now raising the bass a smidge on the amp controls and using no low cuts. The lows were a bit much in 18.03, but they seem well balanced now in 19.

In terms of the mids/highs, I hear an improvement. The highs seem sweeter and less harsh/strident.

Amps also feel a bit more percussive and pop more in a good way.


Put me down as a happy camper. Thanks, @FractalAudio !
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
Experience says yes if they were NOS and bought 20 or more years ago. Stores that sold them were still closing and selling old stock that was stored well and in good shape then, so places like Antique Electronics could scoop them up wholesale, test/sort them, and sell them. Supplies are a bit sketchier these days, as the leftovers have been pretty well picked over.

Certain US made brands were better than others, too. RCA, GE, Sylvania, Tung Sol were generally good. My little Bassman 20 had a great set of Sylvania 6V6GTs in it. Anything JAN is going to be a safe bet for good performance and lifespan. Got a lot of JAN preamp tubes around still from the mid '90s.

I have a pair of pinch base '50s or '60s Tung Sol 6V6GTs that sound wonderfully sweet and smoky but don't like high voltages, so I am saving them for a someday 5E3 build. I also like the wafer base Sovtek "5881" in the right circuit. 6.6k plate to plate load sounds good with them, and they are TOUGH, being a Russian military type that was deemed "close enough for rock & roll" when Mike Matthews started importing them....
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I have some bendix 6v6s that are really great. I want to get a brown deluxe to match.
 
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I found a couple of these. The best ever. How can I approach the tone of these beasts?

Joking aside, I'm really impressed with the level of detail on the AF3, and the new firmware that has made me rediscover presets I didn't use because they were too loaded with high end for my taste.

Thanks for the constant R&D efforts that make us so happy and creative.
 
FractalAudio said:
If they are what I think they are they are the coveted "Big Bottle" 6CA7s. If they are NOS they're worth at least a couple hundred bucks for the pair.
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Exactly. Therefore my plan to be under the bridge. Besides the amps, I have a B3 to keep running, along with radios and hi-fi’s. I still have a closet full of tubes, three mint lab-grade testers, and my trusty VTVM. And since we’re talking glass, about seven coricidin bottles left.
 
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