Axe FX presets - your first impressions??

flash6969

flash6969

Inspired
Hi guys

I've just purchased my new Axe FX XL & have obviously started with the presets to gauge the existing sounds in the unit. I also downloaded a number of presets from Axe Exchange (I wont name names) that stated they were faithful recreations of famous players/amps (eg: Van Halen and/or Marshalls/Bogners etc).

This isn't a complaint rant, but a question for everyone. I've got ask why the vast majority of sounds are average at best. There are some amazing sounds out there, and I have found a few really good recreations of Van Halen and/or Marshalls but overall, I feel that at least 90% of sounds in the unit and on Axe Exchange are average. In fact, some of them were just plain terrible & sounded like a razor blade dragged across a blackboard! :eek:

1. Has anyone else had this experience?
2. I expected the Axe FX to present a new level of consistency in guitar recording. Why are the vast majority of sounds average at best?
3. If i design an awesome preset in my studio, does that mean i will have to re-tweak it in another studio?

Thanks
 
Maybe you're just an average player at best ;)

Just teasing, but it has to be said the 'tone is in your fingers' isn't a cliche for no reason.

You've also said nothing about what guitars you are plugging in or what you are listening to the Axe on so pretty much no information here for someone to help you really.
 
1. Yes. I find most other people's presets to be of limited usefulness.

2. There are too many other variables. The Guitar used, the pickups used, Firmware version, the power amp or speakers used, etc. I almost always start with the bypass factory preset and build my tones from scratch so they sound like my gear and my sound. People also have VERY different ideas about what sounds good or bad. My idea of the perfect plexi tone is quite possibly very different than someone else's. Also, you have to keep context in mind. Was the preset dialed in for solo bedroom jamming or in the context of a full band mix? Is it tweaked for recording or for live use? I tend to think of other people's presets as more of a starting point, not a finished product. If you are expecting drag and drop perfect copies of all your favorite tones, you will be disappointed.

3. As long as you use the same guitar and are monitoring through the same amp and speakers, then no major re-tweaking will be needed. The listening environment will make a difference, so you may have to tweak the highs, lows, reverb level, etc. If you change guitars and power amps and cabs/monitors, all bets are off. The Axe is very responsive to guitar and pickup changes. Studio gear is usually a bit more flat response in a more controlled environment, so it tends to be more consistent than for live use. Live presets usually have to be tweaked more since the environments and house systems vary so much.
 
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Horganovski said:
Maybe you're just an average player at best ;)

Just teasing, but it has to be said the 'tone is in your fingers' isn't a cliche for no reason.

You've also said nothing about what guitars you are plugging in or what you are listening to the Axe on so pretty much no information here for someone to help you really.
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I deliberately didn't mention other gear because it shouldnt matter that much - a Van Halen sort of sound should be similar if Im using a humbucker equipped guitar, shouldnt it?

FYI - Im using Fender Custom Shop Strats with Bare Knuckle pickups & monitoring through Genelecs, so Im pretty sure its not my gear thats an issue :)
 
flash6969 said:
I deliberately didn't mention other gear because it shouldnt matter that much - a Van Halen sort of sound should be similar if Im using a humbucker equipped guitar, shouldnt it?
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that's a huge assumption there. much bigger than you may think. regardless of how much the gear you use costs.

should it sound close? maybe. depends on your definition of "close" "good" "average" etc.

user presets are exactly that - someone else made them and thinks they sound good. i don't think they sound goo many times. but i have a different idea of what sounds good.

case in point - people have been throwing around tone matches of metallica, meshuggah and other artists from their albums.

on their own they sound horrible. people say they'd never use them live or for recording. but sure enough, play along with the original recording and it's almost identical and suddenly sounds "good."

so it's hard to tell why those user presets were created and in what way they were used. but we can only hope that in some situation, they sounded "good" and above "average."
 
I'm a new owner as well and I disagree. I think the stock presets are pretty strong as far as presets go. But I have come from a HD500 where the presets are just plain unusable for anything .Have also downloaded a fair few from axe exhange and most have been worth a play with a solid few that I'm keeping so far

the thing I like about most I have tried is they are geared towards a mix. some I don't dig at first on their own but chuck on a ezdrummer 2 drum groove and play away and they sound great .
 
I would recommend taking a look at G66: 8 Great Axe-Fx II Factory Presets - YouTube
This video should give you a good idea of how some typical FAS factory presets sound.
If your rig sounds different than in the video, then the "average" sound lies somewhere other than the AFX.
I can honestly say my AFX with the same factory presets don't sound as good as then Cooper plays, but I know it's a problem between the fretboard and the pick.
I spend a fair amount of time using the "59 Bassman" preset but was not too happy when cranking it up. A few weeks ago someone else mentioned he thought
the bass was too heavy and the tone sounded muddy at larger volumes. Multiple people recommended turning down the Bass control for higher volume usage.
I tried that on a whim and I cannot believe what a whole new game it is. My favorite practice preset is now my main preset. It seems all presets need minor tweaking to match the guitar, power amp, speaker cabinet you will be using. You will be surprised how a minor tweak will make all the difference.
Check out the AFX recording area. Lots of killer tone's in there..
 
flash6969 said:
I deliberately didn't mention other gear because it shouldnt matter that much - a Van Halen sort of sound should be similar if Im using a humbucker equipped guitar, shouldnt it?

FYI - Im using Fender Custom Shop Strats with Bare Knuckle pickups & monitoring through Genelecs, so Im pretty sure its not my gear thats an issue :)
Click to expand...

Your gear is only half of the equation. The problem is that you have no idea what kind of gear the person that made the preset was using, or how deaf they are, how proficient a player they are, etc. Also, gear makes all the difference in the world. A gretsch country gentleman with filtertrons will sound quite different than a maple bodied super strat with EMG active pickups even though they are both humbucker equipped guitars.
 
very very rarely does a preset sound good to me; again too many variables. wayyyyyyyyyyy toooooooooooooo many variables. Hey if you hear a clip and it sounds amazing then it sounds amazing so you know it can be done, that DOESNT mean it will sound amazing on your setup. Mark Days sounds and Progressive Roccos are amazing on their videos, yet rarely do they translate for me , without some major tweeks.
 
mongey said:
I'm a new owner as well and I disagree. I think the stock presets are pretty strong as far as presets go. But I have come from a HD500 where the presets are just plain unusable for anything .Have also downloaded a fair few from axe exhange and most have been worth a play with a solid few that I'm keeping so far

the thing I like about most I have tried is they are geared towards a mix. some I don't dig at first on their own but chuck on a ezdrummer 2 drum groove and play away and they sound great .
Click to expand...

I would agree with this. It's astonishing just how bad factory presets from most other manufacturers are. Boss and Line 6 presets are usually laughable at best. Most of the Fractal factory presets are at least good starting points.
 
loopie said:
I would recommend taking a look at G66: 8 Great Axe-Fx II Factory Presets - YouTube
This video should give you a good idea of how some typical FAS factory presets sound.
If your rig sounds different than in the video, then the "average" sound lies somewhere other than the AFX.
I can honestly say my AFX with the same factory presets don't sound as good as then Cooper plays, but I know it's a problem between the fretboard and the pick.
I spend a fair amount of time using the "59 Bassman" preset but was not too happy when cranking it up. A few weeks ago someone else mentioned he thought
the bass was too heavy and the tone sounded muddy at larger volumes. Multiple people recommended turning down the Bass control for higher volume usage.
I tried that on a whim and I cannot believe what a whole new game it is. My favorite practice preset is now my main preset. It seems all presets need minor tweaking to match the guitar, power amp, speaker cabinet you will be using. You will be surprised how a minor tweak will make all the difference.
Check out the AFX recording area. Lots of killer tone's in there..
Click to expand...

Thats a great video - many thanks for that. It helps a great deal.

Thanks to everyone else for their thoughts.
 
2. Because half the presets on AC come from new users like me that make something on a set of cheap headphones and post it because it did in fact sound good on cheap headphones, not a pair of genelec wtf evers.
 
You can not use every guitar with every amp and expect the combination to sound good. Some work, some not. And you can not put a mic in front of a guitar cab and expect it to sound good without turning the right knobs on the mixing console.
It's just the same here. Some presets will work with your guitar, some not, and even the ones that work need the right eqing for your monitoring system.....except it's the same pro stuff Fractal uses (FRFR).
 
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mr_fender said:
Your gear is only half of the equation. The problem is that you have no idea what kind of gear the person that made the preset was using, or how deaf they are, how proficient a player they are, etc. Also, gear makes all the difference in the world. A gretsch country gentleman with filtertrons will sound quite different than a maple bodied super strat with EMG active pickups even though they are both humbucker equipped guitars.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Then add room, speakers, volume, etc., Presets are starting points. I use zero factory presets. But, I've learned a lot by studying the ones I liked.
 
I'm not sure how much time you have spent on tweaking the presets, the Axe FX is definitely a tool for tweaking and although some presets might not need much, the majority would (as everyone has pointed out - your gear will change the sounds). I think if you were looking for a more plug-and-play option, then a Kemper would be more up your alley; but this comes with limitations such as you are using a snapshot of the sound and not the amp. The Axe FX gives you the amp, not just a snapshot of the sound, which means you do need to spend more time tweaking.

Having said that, I found it took me a long time to dial a sound that I loved out of my actual Marshall amp - which is crazy, I though I would just plug into the Marshall and it would work. I use two main guitars, a Gibson LP CC2 and LP Studio, they both sound soo different through it but they are both Gibsons with humbuckers. The same logic applies to the Axe FX.

Hope this helps!
 
flash6969 said:
Hi guys

I've just purchased my new Axe FX XL & have obviously started with the presets to gauge the existing sounds in the unit. I also downloaded a number of presets from Axe Exchange (I wont name names) that stated they were faithful recreations of famous players/amps (eg: Van Halen and/or Marshalls/Bogners etc).

This isn't a complaint rant, but a question for everyone. I've got ask why the vast majority of sounds are average at best. There are some amazing sounds out there, and I have found a few really good recreations of Van Halen and/or Marshalls but overall, I feel that at least 90% of sounds in the unit and on Axe Exchange are average. In fact, some of them were just plain terrible & sounded like a razor blade dragged across a blackboard! :eek:

1. Has anyone else had this experience?
2. I expected the Axe FX to present a new level of consistency in guitar recording. Why are the vast majority of sounds average at best?
3. If i design an awesome preset in my studio, does that mean i will have to re-tweak it in another studio?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Dear flash6969

Maybe it's because of your monitoring loudness when listen to the presets. Most "real" amps act the same when playing real loud, the way the AxeFx II does by default - but you can choose the loudness of your monitors, your poweramp or even play it over headphones. You can't with a real amp, unless you put the amp in a isolated room, use a mic before the cabinet and listen to the results on your studio monitors. It will sound the same now.

That is exactly the point here! If you play a so called clean amp with the same settings as in the axefx, it will sound the same. But as your ears can't analyse tone when the loudness is too high, you might hear a difference than you will if your overall amp volume could be turned down without changes to tone.....

PS: the first bank has mostly starting point tones, which can be tweaked to your own taste!

Happy playing and happy tweaking!

all the best
Paco
 
I immediately turn the gain down on any presets I try ... I just do not use that much, and it helps me appreciate what the author was going for. I also do not use compression or EQ, I delete those out of the grids. Then I delete all the effects and start from scratch LOL. Sadly, that is what I really do. But it really helps to hear what others use a particular amp for. For instance, I never floored a Bassman before, one preset was based off that and sounded killer. I toned it down a bit, and it is my go-to Stones tone. In reality, VH used a ton of crap on his recordings that you do not notice when mixed in with the band etc.. But by itself, the VH tone is very bright and almost nasty.
 
From your description I wonder if the system needs a reset or the amp block parameters need to be updated.

The V15 factory presets sound righteous to me on my studio monitors or CLR's.
 
I don't love the presets. Most are too wet for me or dial in a sound that's not really my thing. Nice to have though.
 
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