Axe-Fx Std. and Ultra Version 9.02 Firmware Available

[rickgk]

I'm mainly a high gain metal guy and i don't like what this update has done to my high gain patches or the high gain presets for that matter, not as tight or as touch responsive as 9.0.
The cleans are absolutely stellar and i found myself messing with them for hours but for my style of music i would use these clean tones only 15% of the time so I am really concerned about what's happened to the high gain tones.

I am wondering if there is only one poweramp model in the axefx? If this is so then i suspect perfecting the poweramp for clean tones is going to ruin the gain tones and vice versa, it would be very hard to get them both perfect as it is in real life when you have a multi channel amp sharing the same poweramp circuitry....you can get great tones but not perfect for both!

Yeah it kinda of feels like there may be just one global power amp model that you can vary the bias on to go between class a and a/b.

Im in the same boat as you. The new power model rocks my socks off for clean, and i just don't like it for high gain.

Some folks do, so i wont say its better or worse, but it doesn't work for me. Guess ill have to get one axe-fx for gain and one for clean lol.


but yeah i agree, if we could select which power amp model we want, that would be PERFECT.
~mx~

I'm glad it's not just me, I would like to hear the thoughts of the other high gain players on this.

 

[marvinx]

marvinx - check your PM box. I wasn't trying to match your old tone, I had no reference of your old tone. I was trying to make your preset sound better. Which IMHO, I did.

/sorry for the hijack folks.

replied. I think we mis-communicated. I wasn't trying to get you to "improve" it. It was perfect the way it was to my ears, i was just having trouble recreating that same tone in 9.2. Sorry i failed to communicate that though.
And sorry for the thread hi-jack also.

That is all.
~mx~

 

[soularflair]

I'm mainly a high gain metal guy and i don't like what this update has done to my high gain patches or the high gain presets for that matter, not as tight or as touch responsive as 9.0.
~mx~

I'm glad it's not just me, I would like to hear the thoughts of the other high gain players on this.

Hmm, well I'm mostly a high gain player and I think I'll hold off updating for the time being.
Heard a few reports of of high gain tones suffering somewhat.
And I needs my tonez tight

 

[shredi knight]

I'm glad it's not just me, I would like to hear the thoughts of the other high gain players on this.

I'm actually kind of liking it, but am having to give my presets a major overhaul. My main tone with the USA Lead 1 sim (i.e. Petrucci like Mark IV tone) was considerably brighter and smoother with 9.02, but also clearer sounding. I am still tweaking it, but I've lowered the amp sim's treble control a lot (for me anyways -I think around 1.00) and added a lot more low mids/mids with the parametric eq block I have after it (technically, I'm doing less of a "scoop" with it as my imitation Mesa classic V eq curve, but same difference).

I've always struggled with my guitar being very dark sounding and it's kind of a nice change to actually turn the treble down instead of up, and add more mids without it getting muddy. My tone right now is noticeably thicker and chunkier sounding than before, but it still has the clarity I always strive for.

 

[rickgk]

I'm glad it's not just me, I would like to hear the thoughts of the other high gain players on this.

I'm actually kind of liking it, but am having to give my presets a major overhaul. My main tone with the USA Lead 1 sim (i.e. Petrucci like Mark IV tone) was considerably brighter and smoother with 9.02, but also clearer sounding. I am still tweaking it, but I've lowered the amp sim's treble control a lot (for me anyways -I think around 1.00) and added a lot more low mids/mids with the parametric eq block I have after it (technically, I doing less of a "scoop" with it as my imitation Mesa classic V eq curve, but same difference).

I've always struggled with my guitar being very dark sounding and it's kind of a nice change to actually turn the treble down instead of up, and add more mids without it getting muddy. My tone right now is noticeably thicker and chunkier sounding than before, but it still has the clarity I always strive for.

Hmm i'm finding the opposite with mine, i found firmware 9.0 allowed me to get rid of all my graphic & parametric eq's and was able to get a nice tight metal rhythm tone with just the amp and cab controls, since updating to 9.02 the bottom end is sounding flubby and overpowering but with more tops as well, like the tone has been scooped! Now i need the parametrics back in to tame the flubs!

 

[shredi knight]

Hmm i'm finding the opposite with mine, i found firmware 9.0 allowed me to get rid of all my graphic & parametric eq's and was able to get a nice tight metal rhythm tone with just the amp and cab controls, since updating to 9.02 the bottom end is sounding flubby and overpowering but with more tops as well, like the tone has been scooped! Now i need the parametrics back in to tame the flubs!

Not having any issues with flub, but I always have a drive block before the amp sim as a clean boost to tighten up the low end. Still, the tone is just as tight as it was before.

I know what you mean about scooped though. My tone was definitely less midy after I updated. Also very bright, like there was a sonic "gloss' over the tone. Kind of sounded like the same amp sim, but with a less mid-heavy, brighter tonestack selected. After some tweaking though, it's better than it ever was before. I just got done playing with it and I had a smile on my face the whole time from how thick and beefy it was (ok, that last sentence was actually a quote from my wife that has nothing to do with what we are talking about :mrgreen: ).

 

[rickgk]

Well after a good hour of messing with my patches tonight i have to take back everything i said, this update is AMAZING, swapping the cabs around seemed to clean everything right up in the bottom end.
I have to say everything sounds much more organic......I love it.
Messed around with the carolann with bb up front and i think i have a fav new fat lead tone.
This is so good....sorry for the initial panic guys.

 

[SparkyG]

I'm also finding that Iv'e been changing the cabs around as well as changing the Amp settings.

I was using the Redwires AC30 IR for my classic Rock type sounds with the JCM 800 and Plexi 2 models. But with the new update I'm finding the redwires 1960 - G12M Royer 121, capedge 4 inch to be a better sound.

Have also found I needed to lower the treble somewhat on a lot of patches whilst increasing the mids and Bass some..

So I guess I see this update as making things a lot brighter, hence the better suiting cab choice (2*12 rather than 2*12) and decrease treble.


Not tried the BB drive, but like the Carole Ann - seems rather suitable for my Heavy Rock sound (replacing the Cornford model).

Not gigged it yet - have till Fridays gig to tweak some more.

cheers

 

[craiguitar]

One note: Is it just me, or do the amp models not clean up as well on Volume knob drop? I'll check later, but seems...different.

Ok good im glad you noticed this stuff because i thought i was going crazy!

I noticed exactly what you said about the gain models. Its not just you, they DONT clean up as well on volume drop. I thought i was losing my mind.

I noticed this too, and ALSO thought it was me doing something different. But you are right, there is a BIG difference there. A reduction in dynamics when using the guitar volume to clean things up
I am otherwise pleased with the update though, so will stay on it. Hopefully this issue might get resolved on future updates :?:

 

[Jay Mitchell]

I got back from a road gig yesterday, downloaded 9.02, and sent it to my Axe-Fx. I did so with some trepidation, given the mixed reviews it has been getting here. I've played and revised three of my go-to presets so far.

At this point, I see no degradation in response to guitar volume and playing dynamics in the amp sims I use in these presets (Brownface, Plexi 2, and Tweed). The parameters I had to change to recover my sounds were Gain (less), tone controls (generally less treble, more mids/bass), and PEQ (replace with shunt). I also played around a bit with Lo Cut frequency in one preset. The Bassman (Blues/59 Bass Guy) sim has changed so much that I'm not sure I'll keep it in the one preset that uses it. I believe it is now more faithful to the original, but that's not what led me to use that particular sim. I'll have to completely rework that preset, but that's not going to be too big a problem.

I can certainly see why those who have carefully tweaked their sounds would not be unanimously positive about 9.02 (the same observation would apply to 9.0, which took me a few weeks to adapt to), but I see no barrier to complete recovery of prior tones other than tweaking time. As to whether the Fender sims are "better," I will say that they are different than they were before. In the case of the Brownface and Tweed, the differences are not so great that I could not tweak them to recover my prior tones. In the case of the Blues/59 Bass Guy, I probably will use another sim. I haven't yet evaluated the changes to the Twin, so I can't yet say about that one. I use that sim in one of my presets, so I'll need to deal with it in the next two days, before my next gig.

 

[zentman]

I don't get all the hub bub. I love the Fenders, I twisted some knobs on some other patches that had changed and all is well.

I personally, love innovation and change. Getting new updates is like buying something new every now and then. Way cool.

BTW, I did three sets yesterday and used the Blues Jr with the BB pedal for 50% of the songs. Some guy had a Digitech RP350 or some such thing set to high gain and delay. He was thin and couldn't cut past two feet, the Axe with the Blues Jr was fat and huge. I couldn't be happier.

 

[Scott Peterson]

I did a 2 setter live and 9.02 for me is the bee's knees.

I'll again say that you need to throw convention out the window, re-initialize the amp block, rethink your cab choices and you'll dial up better tones from the shimmering clean stuff to the darkest raunchiest gain stuff. And this 'can't clean up with the volume knob' stuff is a red herring. I'll post some clips in the recording section to show that. Rethink it. Trust me.

Peace.

I ran the JCM 800 with a 50/50 mix of Redwire G12M and G12L for cabs; Fender Bassman with Redwire 50/50 mix of D120 and P12R; and Cornford with the same mix of cab as the Marshall with just thrilling results.

Out.

 

[markus]

I did a 2 setter live and 9.02 for me is the bee's knees.

I'll again say that you need to throw convention out the window, re-initialize the amp block, rethink your cab choices and you'll dial up better tones from the shimmering clean stuff to the darkest raunchiest gain stuff. And this 'can't clean up with the volume knob' stuff is a red herring. I'll post some clips in the recording section to show that. Rethink it. Trust me.

Peace.

I ran the JCM 800 with a 50/50 mix of Redwire G12M and G12L for cabs; Fender Bassman with Redwire 50/50 mix of D120 and P12R; and Cornford with the same mix of cab as the Marshall with just thrilling results.

Out.

I agree, especially with the cab choices. I've found that the amps tend to be a bit easier to tweak, however, I think I need to choose some different cabs. Scott, have you chosen a different G12M for this update?

Mark

 

[Scott Peterson]

I did a 2 setter live and 9.02 for me is the bee's knees.

I'll again say that you need to throw convention out the window, re-initialize the amp block, rethink your cab choices and you'll dial up better tones from the shimmering clean stuff to the darkest raunchiest gain stuff. And this 'can't clean up with the volume knob' stuff is a red herring. I'll post some clips in the recording section to show that. Rethink it. Trust me.

Peace.

I ran the JCM 800 with a 50/50 mix of Redwire G12M and G12L for cabs; Fender Bassman with Redwire 50/50 mix of D120 and P12R; and Cornford with the same mix of cab as the Marshall with just thrilling results.

Out.

I agree, especially with the cab choices. I've found that the amps tend to be a bit easier to tweak, however, I think I need to choose some different cabs. Scott, have you chosen a different G12M for this update?

Mark

I've thread drifted on this thread too much. I'll have details in the thread I'll get up later in the patches/recording section. Peace.

 

[Brian G]

Go back and re-acquaint with the stock cabs. Seriously.

With 9.0, and now more than ever with 9.02, I'm finding that some of the stock cabs are coming across better than ever.

In saying that, I do still like the Red Wire cabs I was using, but I find that I don't have to rely solely on those. I keep going back to Speakerbox Celestion Blue's and the TweedDeluxe P12R. Not much into high-gain.

I'm also using certain of Jay's IR's, notably such things as Gold-NF-Center Grill (much like for that IR), G12's, etc., and those are also great.

 

[kev]

Go back and re-acquaint with the stock cabs. Seriously.

With 9.0, and now more than ever with 9.02, I'm finding that some of the stock cabs are coming across better than ever.

In saying that, I do still like the Red Wire cabs I was using, but I find that I don't have to rely solely on those. I keep going back to Speakerbox Celestion Blue's and the TweedDeluxe P12R. Not much into high-gain.

I'm also using certain of Jay's IR's, notably such things as Gold-NF-Center Grill (much like for that IR), G12's, etc., and those are also great.

The stock cabs seem to be a little on the dark/bassy side to me. Maybe that's why they sound better with the new firmware, which seems to be on the bright side. I've changed my Red Wire cab mic positioning to cap-edge with 9.02 where I used almost all cap with 9.0. This is for one impulse mono cab.

 

[Brian G]

Go back and re-acquaint with the stock cabs. Seriously.

With 9.0, and now more than ever with 9.02, I'm finding that some of the stock cabs are coming across better than ever.

In saying that, I do still like the Red Wire cabs I was using, but I find that I don't have to rely solely on those. I keep going back to Speakerbox Celestion Blue's and the TweedDeluxe P12R. Not much into high-gain.

I'm also using certain of Jay's IR's, notably such things as Gold-NF-Center Grill (much like for that IR), G12's, etc., and those are also great.

The stock cabs seem to be a little on the dark/bassy side to me. Maybe that's why they sound better with the new firmware, which seems to be on the bright side. I've changed my Red Wire cab mic positioning to cap-edge with 9.02 where I used almost all cap with 9.0. This is for one impulse mono cab.

I hear you on the Red Wire cabs - I had switched over to the Earthworks TC30-captured IR's, which sound more neutral to me, even at 0". I also liked some of the IR's taken with the Neumann KM84.

Re: the stock cabs, yes, some of them seem a bit bottom-heavy, especially the 4 x 12's. That may be due in part to comb-filtering effects from adjacent drivers which can selectively reduce energy in the mids / highs, causing the lows to stand loud & proud. Bass emphasis would typically be due to proximity effect of the mic, with cardioids being the worst. A reference mic such as the Earthworks should have noticeably less proximity effect, though.

Seems to me that not all the stock cabs suffer from the "fat bottom", at least as much. The 1x12 Black, the Brit models, and certain others are better in this sense.

 

[marvinx]

is it just me or does the bias setting make a much bigger difference in 9.02?
~mx~

 

[Thomas Larsson]

9,02 is more realistic

The new firmware seems to be brighter , or more scooped, probably there is a basshump-around 55-95 Hz to ( speaker impedance has a scooped curve) . That´s how a tube amp should work. The negative feedback is for straightning out the frequenzy-spectrum (at least from the beginning). That would mean that if you increase the damping parameter ,the amp should be flat-er. Anyway I must say ,that if you crank an old fender or marshall it usually almost kills you ears. Also I can´t hardly use the treble knob on my real JCM800 (becomes to bright). There should be a quite a bite there , and now the AXE behaves in a very similar way . If the Axe-fx can do that it is probably a good thing. The clean sounds are now more alive and not as half-boring to play. (I don´t think we should let this brightening thing scare us . If we learn to get a balanced sound with the 9,02 we are probably closer to the real thing. A little rework on the presets is a small job compared to be part of a great development.

Thomas

 

[Thomas Larsson]

Some notes:

Check the setting of the warmth parameter . I think it defults at 0 in the new firmware . If set at 3(like before) it will loose treble when you´re playing loud and win it back at lower levels. Maybe you allready know this but I wa´sn´t sure.

Thomas


I had every intention of going to bed early. Wife out of town for 5 more days, I'm Mr. Mom with twin girls. Rest, and a boys night tomorrow where I''ll clearly burn it late.

But new firmware comes up. Okay, I'll load it up, Dink for a few, get to bed....RIGHT. It's now 3 hours later. All my AMP settings have to be thrown out. They don't sound right with the new mods. I have to go default on everything now and tweak.

Crunchy amps:
Took me MUCH longer than I thought to dial in. Kind of had to throw out much of what I've gotten used to on each amp. At first a little irritated. So I quit reinventing the wheel, take defaults, add some more mids, a 'touch' more Master Volume, and suddenly it's an hour later. But....I don't get the Master volume thing. Most of the MV defaults sound AWESOME, and they're all at noon. I know, I know, tweak with your ears, not your eyes. But here's my deal: The MV on most amps seems to just muddy things (try to tighten it up with some presence)...does that mean I'm just a preamp distortion junkie? Don't care. Dialed in a Wreck and played some Styx (I know, I know...Castle Walls, Blue Collar Man...sue me) note definition, sassyness, fookin' R&R love.

One note: Is it just me, or do the amp models not clean up as well on Volume knob drop? I'll check later, but seems...different.

Clean:
Loved them before, and they just got better. 'Nuff said. Still playing with them, but the AC30 sims seem to be much more of what I expect from one, and the Fenders bounce and shimmer so much it's silly. So much I bailed on the light chorus FX that I had on my Twin patch. VERY happy there, but they'll take some work too.

BB Preamp:
Took all of about 12 seconds to decide this is my favorite drive by far. Just the right amount of dirt, mids, retains the amp personality with a bit of it's own mojo, and POW. Granted I've only tried it with a few of the amps, but so far, WOW.

Enough. Not going to get enough sleep tonight, headed back to it.

Ron

Ok good im glad you noticed this stuff because i thought i was going crazy!

I noticed exactly what you said about the gain models. Its not just you, they DONT clean up as well on volume drop. I thought i was losing my mind. I actually bothered to record a clip for myself with 9.0 and with 9.2 and i played this recto lead line with full volume and then lowered the volume and played this delicate clean line.
I tried the same thing with 9.2 both with the patch defaults AND after initializing and completely re tweaking the amp model for 30 min.
It just did not work =(. In 9.0 the tone got much much cleaner, in 9.2 i just got less hair, but it was much harder to get a dynamic clean from the same settings. I made sure the gain was approximately the same, but it wasnt really a gain difference. I just got the feeling that 9.0 high gain amps had much better touch sensitivity.

And i also agree about the master. All of sudden the deizel amp i rely on is much more muddy. It lost alot of tightness and expressiveness. Once again i spendt like an hour trying to re tweak this model.

and i also noticed what you did on the cleans!

The cleans are the exact OPPOSITE story! I mean, the cleans are more expressive than ever! All of them, (except the semi clean tones that i had previously dialed up). The fender cleans are just leaps and bounds ahead in dynamics. They went from almost sterile sounding to like, just plain inspiring. Poppy, chimey, thumpy,. Possibly the best modeled fender tones i have ever heard (only one up there is this ONE patch on an old j-station i had,).Honestly if you stuck the clean fender models in a box and stuck a logo on it, alot of people wouldn't be able to tell any difference.


Ok good im glad you noticed this stuff because i thought i was going crazy!

My feelings in the end...
1) Cleans are a mile of improvement!
2) The gains have been rendered muddier and less dynamic

I REALLY REALLY feel that maybe cliff should CONSIDER making the new and old power amp modeling user selectable for each patch or even blend-able. In my limited experience it seems like the new modeling works miracles for clean, and on the gain side kind of detracts, where as the old model was almost perfectly suited to gain. The best of both would be great.

For now im going to play the fender models for a little, and then say goodbye. I have to go back to 9.0, the high gain sounds there have songs in them that must be written ! =)
~mx~