Can I do stereo effects before the amp

[mattman1985]

I am trying to get my patch within the axe fx to have stereo effects in front and in the effects loop and I can’t seem to do it.

I am using 2 amps, EQ’s, and IR loaders with one amp being set for the left input and the other being set for the right input and still it doesn’t work. When I place things like delays, reverbs, and choruses before the amps it’s in mono. When I place them after the cabs it’s in stereo. Why? Do I need to use the enhancer block at the start of the signal chain so it’s stereo or am I just missing something really simple?

 

[Piing]

Setting the input of the two AMP blocks to the R and L channels respectively, and fully panning their outputs R and L, should work.



The output of the Stereo FX before the AMP feeding both AMP blocks, and each AMP on a different row.

 

[Sixstring]

Are you using tube amps? you mentioned I/R loaders and effects loop.

 

[mattman1985]

Setting the input of the two AMP blocks to the R and L channels respectively, and fully panning their outputs R and L, should work.

View attachment 142719

The output of the Stereo FX before the AMP feeding both AMP blocks, and each AMP on a different row.

Does it matter if I pan the amps hard left or right? Can I put it at something like 80% or 60% or does it NEED to be hard left or right?

Also, I’m noticing that the amp sounds I’m using are very different from each other and it’s very noticeable. If I do this and send it into one IR block will that mess with the stereo field or should I be fine?

I’m sorry if these are obvious questions, I’m new to the axe fx stuff and don’t totally understand everything yet

 

[Piing]

Does it matter if I pan the amps hard left or right? Can I put it at something like 80% or 60% or does it NEED to be hard left or right?

Also, I’m noticing that the amp sounds I’m using are very different from each other and it’s very noticeable. If I do this and send it into one IR block will that mess with the stereo field or should I be fine?

I’m sorry if these are obvious questions, I’m new to the axe fx stuff and don’t totally understand everything yet

You can pan the AMP outputs to taste. There doesn't necessarily have to be full stereo separation.

If the two AMPS sound different and you want them to have the same sound, you can simply copy/paste one to the other.

All blocks after the AMP blocks must be in stereo mode (or duplicated and R/L panned). Including CAB and IR blocks

 

[Sixstring]

Try this preset, use it as a template!

 

[NeverTooManyGuitars]

amps have to be panned but only as much as you like...
make sure your cab block is set to stereo in and that you have two slots panned hard left/right (at least to hear it).
finally make sure your output settings (Setup in AxeEdit) are set to stereo. I had mine set to mono for gigging

 

[mattman1985]

You can pan the AMP outputs to taste. There doesn't necessarily have to be full stereo separation.

If the two AMPS sound different and you want them to have the same sound, you can simply copy/paste one to the other.

All blocks after the AMP blocks must be in stereo mode (or duplicated and R/L panned). Including CAB and IR blocks

My problem is I am really enjoying the amp blend of the two amps, right. I just wish I could find a way to get stereo in front effects with the blend and have it be one big amp sound. Like have the amps be panned left AND right. Is that possible?

 

[strabes]

Like have the amps be panned left AND right. Is that possible?

Do you mean one amp hard panned left and the other hard panned right? Yes that is possible, it is how I run all my sounds except for higher gain amps which I place wet effects after the amps.

When done right you can achieve that "wet effects into amp" sound that is impossible when running them after the amp (see the 2nd half of this clip): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/t9ok...sman.m4a?rlkey=v0dq8eu64e7nz4d9i20du74ty&dl=0. Adding the enhancer block on classic mode at the end of the chain is also helpful for additional width live, but when recording for an actual project I disable it and double track.

I would highly recommend keeping the amps hard panned as some wet effects have modulation and if you don't keep them at 100% hard panned you can begin introducing phasing/chorusing of the wet signal. If using the enhancer on classic you will begin introducing phasing of the dry as well as you pan the amps to the center.

The grid can look like this if you want to pan the IRs within one cab block left/right:


Or this if you want to use a separate cab block for each amp:


The key is how you set up the amps and cabs. The left and right amps should be set like this. Setting the bypass mode to mute allows me to easily hear the opposite amp in just one speaker to dial it in or make sure my routing is set up properly.



Then if using one cab block set the input mode to stereo and pan the individual IRs:


If using two cab blocks (one for each amp), you can leave the IRs "centered" in the block and just hard pan the entire block:




A good way to check your stereo separation is to add a ping pong delay before the amps and cabs. If it bounces back and forth between the left/right you know you set it up right.

 

[GlennO]

My problem is I am really enjoying the amp blend of the two amps, right. I just wish I could find a way to get stereo in front effects with the blend and have it be one big amp sound. Like have the amps be panned left AND right. Is that possible?

The Axe-FX only has two amp blocks and they are always mono. You'll need four amp blocks to blend two amps and process in stereo. You could use two Axe-FX's.

 

[Admin M@]

Post your preset and I'll be able to provide more ideas.

 

[mr_fender]

Yep. The output of the amp block channels will always be identical since it processes in mono. Balance will only change their relative level (L vs R). You can have each amp process only one side of the stereo input by setting it up like strabes showed above.

 

[mattman1985]

Post your preset and I'll be able to provide more ideas.

So this is my preset. I am currently blending a JVM and a Diezel Herbert together and what I would like is for the ability to get the amp blend to sound like one big amp tone rather than what it is RN. I am also trying to get stereo in front effects with the tone, 99% of the time it's going to be a stereo chorus but the ping pong delay is easier hear so thats whats in the preset.

RN I have the preset set up like how Piing suggested but it's not working. it is still in mono. everything seems to be set up correctly. I just don't understand. Also, for this preset I was using the ML Soundlab Reflex IRs. Each IR loader had the same IR's in it. the Mick-77 Bite and Djent-30 Bite. and neither had any panning settings, could that have been the problem?

 

[Moke]

You can leave the Amp 'Balance' parameters at '0.0', as they are in their own path. But your 'IR Player' blocks will need to be panned hard left and right.

 

[strabes]

So this is my preset. I am currently blending a JVM and a Diezel Herbert together and what I would like is for the ability to get the amp blend to sound like one big amp tone rather than what it is RN. I am also trying to get stereo in front effects with the tone, 99% of the time it's going to be a stereo chorus but the ping pong delay is easier hear so thats whats in the preset.

RN I have the preset set up like how Piing suggested but it's not working. it is still in mono. everything seems to be set up correctly. I just don't understand. Also, for this preset I was using the ML Soundlab Reflex IRs. Each IR loader had the same IR's in it. the Mick-77 Bite and Djent-30 Bite. and neither had any panning settings, could that have been the problem?

Bypassed everything except the I/O blocks, amp blocks, and the delay. It is stereo and working as intended. The ping pong delay bounces back and forth between the left and right channels. How are you monitoring the axefx?

 

[Piing]

So this is my preset. I am currently blending a JVM and a Diezel Herbert together and what I would like is for the ability to get the amp blend to sound like one big amp tone rather than what it is RN. I am also trying to get stereo in front effects with the tone, 99% of the time it's going to be a stereo chorus but the ping pong delay is easier hear so thats whats in the preset.

RN I have the preset set up like how Piing suggested but it's not working. it is still in mono. everything seems to be set up correctly. I just don't understand. Also, for this preset I was using the ML Soundlab Reflex IRs. Each IR loader had the same IR's in it. the Mick-77 Bite and Djent-30 Bite. and neither had any panning settings, could that have been the problem?

Here it is. You forgot to pan the GEQ and the IR blocks after the AMP

BTW, Why do you use the IR Play instead of a CAB block? The CAB has several advantages, like Hi-Lo cuts, Proximity, Smoothing, Preamp Type or Tone, Room/Air settings.

It is 6AM here and I have to go to work now, but I will try to do some further improvements to that preset when I return in the evening.

 

[Moke]

Technically, the only blocks that needs their outputs to be panned, in this configuration, is the last block in each of the parallel paths, the 'IR Player' blocks. As long as the first blocks (Amps) have their 'Input Select' parameters set to 'Left', and 'Right', respectively to isolate any 'Stereo' signal occurring before them.

Panning them all for each path will work, but just not necessary.

 

[sprint]

Technically, the only blocks that needs their outputs to be panned, in this configuration, is the last block in each of the parallel paths, the 'IR Player' blocks. As long as the first blocks (Amps) have their 'Input Select' parameters set to 'Left', and 'Right', respectively to isolate the 'Stereo' signal before them.

Panning them all for each path will work, but just not necessary.

This is something I'd never really clued into before - been panning all the in-between blocks for years and years in this type of preset. Skeptic that I am I had to test it for myself - sure enough only the last block needs to be panned - made sense to me after a few minutes of pondering. Always something new to learn around here.

 

[mattman1985]

Bypassed everything except the I/O blocks, amp blocks, and the delay. It is stereo and working as intended. The ping pong delay bounces back and forth between the left and right channels. How are you monitoring the axefx?

I’m using two headrush FRFR 112 cabs and headphones at night. I was getting the same result no matter what but I didn’t bypass everything in the chain. I had the overdrive on but that was before the ping pong delay up front. Could that be apart of what’s causing me issues? Is the overdrive causing some sort of weird issue or am I just not doing something right

 

[Moke]

I’m using two headrush FRFR 112 cabs and headphones at night. I was getting the same result no matter what but I didn’t bypass everything in the chain. I had the overdrive on but that was before the ping pong delay up front. Could that be apart of what’s causing me issues? Is the overdrive causing some sort of weird issue or am I just not doing something right

How is your Output 1 configured? 'Stereo', 'Sum L+R', 'Copy L->R' ??