Bandmates complaining about tone....

cannibal

Member
So, I'm totally stressed out over this. I've waited for about 9 months to buy the FX8, and I finally did about 2 weeks ago. I've had nothing but trouble trying to emulate my tone prior to the fx8.
So, I go to my first rehearsal with it tonight and I got a lot of complaints about how thin and compressed it sounded. My singer suggested that I use my old tone stack (pedals) and only use the fx8 for effects, in other words, don't use the fx8 drive blocks....
I really didn't want to use the FX8 in conjunction with pedals, I wanted the FX8 to do it all....haha.....

I'm sure the tone is in there, I just gotta untap it.
The funny part is that my old setup only dad an SD-1 and noise gate in the input, everything else was done through the amp (Mark IV)....

I thought that if I hooked up the fx8 and did nothing but the super OD, it would sound the same. Not the case at all.
I'm pretty upset......
 
As mentioned in another thread, I was using the Global EQ to help with the tone at home, help get rid of the ice-pick frequencies.....When I got the tone complaints, I set the global EQ all back to zero and it was an improvement..... Different environment, I guess.
 
Spend some time A/B ing your real super od with the fractal and you should be able to get it really close. You might have to play around with the hi lo cuts in the drive block or maybe try a few other drive blocks too. Also remember the real knob positions might not correspond with the fractal knobs
 
I crank my amp up to rehearsal volume and set the blocks up.
Put your analog pedals in line with the fx8 and a/b them for reference.
Until your happy with the sound.
Just keep going back and forth until it sounds right.
I have drive blocks im happy with by doing that.
 
What Drive pedals are you using? What tones are you trying to get? How are you trying to get them (amp channel & Drive choice). What Guitar, Pickups, speakers ect....

There are so many things that could be going wrong here & not enough information to try to help you fix it

X
 
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As mentioned in another thread, I was using the Global EQ to help with the tone at home, help get rid of the ice-pick frequencies.....When I got the tone complaints, I set the global EQ all back to zero and it was an improvement..... Different environment, I guess.

I don’t get it. The FX8 can act as a normal pedalboard and doesn’t add ice-pick frequencies. No need to use the Global EQ at all. Must be a wrong setting or another component in your rig.
 
don't expect the exact same knob settings to work...use your ears not your eyes. also, don't be afraid to try other models to get the tone.

Since the G3-processing of the Drive blocks, the virtual controls should work the same as their real equivalents.
 
I had some great tones with very little effert when I was using the Mesa Mark Iv and fx8, I used the amps Distortion with a od in front (if needed) and it sounded great. The fx8 is a great unit and the mark Iv is awesome as well, for me though I am not a fan of how the mark series sounded on the clean channel with a Distortion in front of it and the amps Distortion is pretty killer on both channels.

You will get things dialed, new gear always requires a certain amount of tweaking
 
My first rehearsal with the FX8 was pretty dreadful. I'm really obsessive about levels... balancing levels across presets, lead boost being just right, etc. It was a disaster. My levels were all over the place. It really is important to do at least some of the programming at close to normal playing volumes. At least a sanity check.
 
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Since the G3-processing of the Drive blocks, the virtual controls should work the same as their real equivalents.
hasn't always been my experience, especially the levels on the drive blocks. wasn't an indictment on the unit, just encouraging to use ears not eyes.
 
/thanks for all the replies guys....

I'm out of town for the holiday, but I'll try some of the suggestions when i get home.

/i understand that the range of the knobs on the fx8 and the ones on the pedals may not translate the same. Someone told me that a while back and i dialed back a few of the settings.'
as for the levels, those were ok. when I played mt leads the boost in volume was ok. My issue was just the basic tone. It just sounded very thin and compressed. It lacked balls....
I think what I need to do is to use the mesa for tone, using only the head for gain, and the fx8 for effects. Which means I gotta get set up for channel switching on the head
 
Just to make you aware of another option......

You could use a (mildly) dirty channel on the Mesa. Then use level reduction methods like one of the many varieties of 'Filter/EQ' blocks with the 'Level' pulled down to achieve the lower gain/clean tones (as well as some tone sculpting). And mild boosts with 'Filter' or 'Drive' blocks to 'juice' the amp for higher gain tones (as well as some tone sculpting). All in the 'Pre' section of coarse.
 
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I'd start by dialing up a blank preset (use the Preset Manager > Clear feature). Toggle between that preset and true bypass. You shouldn't be able to tell ANY difference at all. If there is a difference, your FX8 might be bad.

Dial in your amp to sound good. It may be that you're so used to the SD-1, that you've compensated for it with your amp settings. I'd suggest that rather viewing the situation as "how can I keep my amp set exactly the same, and just substitute the FX8 for my analog drive pedal." View it more. as an opportunity to start fresh. If your amp doesn't sound good with all effects bypassed, it probably won't sound good with any effects added.

Then add one Drive block to the preset. Try various models to approximate your SD-1. Start with very low gain. Default settings almost always suck. You have to tweak the settings. Every time. Pay attention to levels. Low levels will make your tone sound thin and it will lack punch. Try to keep your levels around unity gain, unless you have a good intentional reason to boost or cut them.

If you can, take a pic of your amp front panel settings and your SD-1. That will give us some idea of the ballpark you're shooting for.
 
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@Moke , I actually did it the way you mentioned. The mesa was setup on the edge of breakup so that I could use the fx8 drive block as a sort of channel switching.....

@Atmospheric - Im going to try what you said next. My other guitar player uses a Helix and he uses his MArk V for all his basic tones, the helix is just for effects. What I didn't want to do was what my singer suggested, used the head and the sd-1 in the input and use the fx8 only for effects. I really wanted the fx8 so I could totally ditch ALL the pedals, not some of them....haha

I'm outta town for the holiday, but the next thing I'm going to have to try is channel switching. I haven't even messed with that yet. If I get that working right, then I could use the head for all my base tones and the fx8 for mod and time based stuff....

I can post a pic of the amp, but it'll have to be when I get back. but in a nutshell......SD-1 Gain at 8 oclock (just a tick above the min), tone at 12, level all the way.
The amp (the mark iv is a bit complicated, so I'll only mention the tone stack and the GEQ) These are 1-10, not clock positions...Treble 8, mids 4, low, 1-2. Graphic 80hz +2, 240hz -3, 750hz 0, 2200hz 0-1, 6600hz +3 or 4. Master gain 8, input gain 4 or 5 (with sd-1 on)
This is on the lead channel, class A (el34), switch set to harmonic, Pentode (i think), none of the knobs pulled. Presence at about 3-5
 
personally, i think you should set up the MKIV exactly the same as you've always used it. that's your core tone. you can't expect to change that and still get in the ballpark with drive pedals over a light crunch. then go for 4 cable method. use FX8 drives exactly like your old drive pedals. sort out the channel switching, get some nice delays, chorus and reverbs going and you'll be in tone heaven
 
Exactly what Simeon said. That's what i do woth my TC50 and it is awesome. My bandmates notice that the sound is big without being overbearing and when i kick in the lead boost it cuts through smoothly without the icepick in the forehead effect.

Enjoy the weekend away and let us know how things progress with dialing it in like this.
 
OK, I did it. AB testing. SD-1 pedal between guitar and FX8 and I switched the fx8 in an out by using the true bypass feature.

I was able to get them to sound within, say, 90% of each other. With further tweaking, I could get it even closer (I only spent 5 mins doing this)

Here's what I found out.... The EQing requirements are different because with the pedal, the head's gain is higher, which thickens the tone. So right off the bat, the pedal sounded really full and beefy, and had more gain. I can compensate with some EQing to fix that tomorrow.

I think I totally barked up the wrong tree with the global EQing I was doing before. I will tweak some more tomorrow and report back.

I'm also going to Guitar center to see about getting what I need to get the channel switching working. There's another post about that though..

Thanks again to all!
 
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