Can I clone an Overdrive/Distortion effect?

6828

Member
G'day everyone.

Is there a way to clone an effect pedal like an overdrive or distortion in the III?

I have some custom pedals I've made and I'd like to create a model of them to run in the signal chain without the hassle of having to run them in an effects loop.

I'm starting to see cloning possibilities on other products starting to appear so it'd be great to be able to do it on the III

Cheers.

Tony
 
You can't clone a drive pedal like you are suggesting. What you can do however, is find a drive model that is closest to your custom pedal, tweak this model to get as close as you can, and then do a tone match to get you even closer. Should give you pretty good results.

Out of curiosity, what sort of custom pedal are you trying to model?
 
Thanks for the reply Andy.

I’ve made a couple of Treble Boosters and some modified Boss and Ibanez/Maxon pedals.
 
Thanks for the reply Andy.

I’ve made a couple of Treble Boosters and some modified Boss and Ibanez/Maxon pedals.
Nice!

There should be plenty of drive models that cover both the treble booster and tube screamer (presuming that's what the Ibanez/Maxon pedals are), at least as a really good starting point. You could set up a preset with a looper and switch between your custom pedals and the Axe Fx III drive model and use this to tweak.
 
I guess the extension of my thought was that if the fine people at Fractal can create custom effects and amps, then why can’t we?

Overdrives and distortions would be the easiest slot to allow a custom effect for.

If the cloned effect had controls locked out I wouldn’t mind as I usually have set and forgot the controls on pedals and amps when I found the sweet spot.
 
I guess the extension of my thought was that if the fine people at Fractal can create custom effects and amps, then why can’t we?

Overdrives and distortions would be the easiest slot to allow a custom effect for.

If the cloned effect had controls locked out I wouldn’t mind as I usually have set and forgot the controls on pedals and amps when I found the sweet spot.

You can… Just not with the same amount of power and depth. Think about your question for a moment and it’ll come to you why you don’t have the power that FAS does. (They don’t expose proprietary code on how they manage to model clipping so well.)

Do as the other suggestion replied; pull up a similar topology drive, and then it’s mostly clip shape, clip hardness, Symmetry, tube versus chip type, And most importantly EQ.

Lots more to fiddle with (a la Hippietim pitch envelope follower modifying drive amount etc.), but start there. Enjoy.
 
There is a lot of tonal variation available between diode selection and the graphic EQ in the drive block. For me, it was one of the most significant changes and worthy of a lot of invested time, though I've unfortunately since been distracted by other things...
 
You can capture the impulse response of your pedal and run it through the IR player in front of your amp. Another user here has captured a precision drive and it seems to work out well. One of the downsides are that you'll only be capturing a snapshot of your current drive settings.
 
Hasn't cliff gone on the record as saying that 90% of the drives available in the real world are basically ripoffs of what it already in the axe?
 
You can capture the impulse response of your pedal and run it through the IR player in front of your amp. Another user here has captured a precision drive and it seems to work out well. One of the downsides are that you'll only be capturing a snapshot of your current drive settings.
An impulse response does not include clipping behavior, it only copies the EQ curve.
 
The tone match also 'just' generate an IR - it will only match the EQ characteristics. It might get a bit closer, but not 100%. Fiddling with the advanced parameters in the drive block will take longer, but has the potential to get you closer.
 
Back
Top Bottom