HI all:
I've been working most every night on the Cygnus LiveGold update for Axe-Fx III and in a week (or two worse case) Bank 1 Marshall-styles will be all updated and I'll put that "Partial update" in yall's downloads area.
A few things:
Cygnus changes the power amp modeling. With some amp models that's a big change in sound, with others, not so much. The new Freidmans are killer IMHO.
But usually the Gain structure (possibly Input Gain/Drive, and more likely the Master volumes) have to be slightly adjusted if you update to Cygnus, then you have to fix the LEVEL to compensate. I am finding have to add 2 db or so to existing LEVEL, give or take, to some updated Cygnus amps, but some amps don't need any LEVEL tweak - varies by map model. So, if you preset sound "weak" after updating to Cygnus, try raising the LEVEL by 1 or 2 db and see if the preset "wake ups" again.
Cygnus is "thicker" on the bottom and lower mids, so in contrast if you A/B them side-by-side, yes firmware 15 is more "edgier" with more mids or higher kids (but that is also possible perception issue, due to less bass being present).
So far (Marshall amps focus), I think Cygnus sounds amazing and more like a real amp than even firmware 15, but that does not mean firmware 15 sounds "bad" - it works fine and sounds good to me, certainly gig-worthy.
So if you "reset" the amp block using the Axe-Fx III Editor, under Cygnus, a lot of the LiveGold's custom preset settings (some detailed below) go away...
Some of these changes I make when programming may include:
Depth - will tweak sometimes to control bass/bottom end, usually lowering it, I rarely add it.
Presence -- when you do a default, it resets back to 5 default (I think). Presence control in some amps under Cygnus seems to have a more powerful (like Friedmans) effect on overall tone than it did in firmware 15. Negative feedback, which I never touch, can too.
Saturation drive amount is set somewhere less than the default amp reset of 4 in most cases, I have to check these all over again, because some need different vales under Cygnus than firmware 15, else turning it on (via CS5) the preset becomes too loud,
Sometimes (rarely) I lower the default Brite cap value to get the bright and dirt amount where I want it,
The preamp boost amount in db (usually set it to less than 12 db default value)...
On about 30% of the presets I will change the default Speaker Impedance Curve type to a choice I favor that matches my selected CAB IR better, and this can have BIG impact on tone EQ especially bottom end or top, and sometimes (rarer) I will play with the Lo and Hi Freq Res to get it "right.". A lot of time was spent "auditioning" various speaker impedance curves preset by preset in making the original LiveGold presets ya'll use.
I set Speaker Compression to zero usually (and a reset will move it to 1.0). The new speaker compression algorithm is more to my liking than the old one, and now I may be adding a "smidgeon" of that (like I'm not kidding, 0.10 maybe and that's it) for some amps, just to take a slight edge off. I usually like it at zero because I FEEL the note more immediately (stiffly?) as I play, and the old speaker comp "felt like" it added some unneeded time lag to me, but some like it softer attack than stiff, so you can dial to taste (they higher you go, the more you have to up the LEVEL to compensate).
Input EQ (low cut) I will play with that value scene by scene sometimes, rather than default amp value, to stop any flubby bass as again goes; the more the gain in the scene/amp, the more likely I will raise it above 100Hz.
Output Compression - I will add 0.25 to cleans just so they shimmer longer, just a little
Input Dynamics - on the boutique amps I may add a little, less <1.
On EVH plexis I may set variac lower than 100%.
While I am not touching it in updates, changing the power tube bias in Cygnus from default to something higher (wow - you can intentionally red plate the tubes!) really affects the tone, pretty cool, check that out for the Marshall-style amps in bank 1 under Cygnus, as well as the Grid Bias and Master Grid - just little movements there can really open an amp up further.
I'll note those options in the partial update release notes and final release notes for LiveGold for Cygnus.
If you only have a handful of "must use" presets from Live Gold and you want to update to Cygnus, if you copy the above parameter's values before you reset and then re-input those same values, then after tweak the Gain/BMT/Pres slightly and LEVEL to average -12db on a sustained "A" chord, you should be fine.