Day One w/ Fractal: Pedals vs Drive Block - Noise, etc.

I

imrecs

Inspired
Hey everyone,

It's my first day with a Fractal Axe FX II XL and I'm giving it a spin to see if it will be able to replace my analog rig in the studio and on the road.

I've been spending a lot of time a/bing with my fuzz and OD pedals, and I am getting pretty decent results with the drive block in terms of the general ballpark sound...my analogman sun face and the drive block fuzz face are sounding similar after some tweaking, except one thing I can't quite figure out.

The Axe FX version is much noisier...has anyone found their analog OD/Fuzz pedals to be quieter in front of the AXE and prefer using them to the built in effects? Is there certain settings I can adjust on the drive block to reduce this noise, etc. I would imagine the digital version to be less noisy, unless that noise is part of the modeling. Not looking for a noise gate as the pedal sounds great without a gate of sorts...also the digital version seems brighter even when i adjust the EQ. any suggestions to try and match these pedals more closely, and specifically to get the noise down on the digital version?
 
I don't know if this goes for all the parameters, but it's been mentioned that not all the knobs act the same way as the original pedal, say the drive knob(can't remember if the drive knob acted this way or not), apparently it's identical when set at noon or something(or if it was when set at either 0 or 10), but in between it's not exactly accurate, so if you're trying to replicate the sounds of your pedals on the axe-fx, don't set the knobs to the same values as the physical one.
Basically, adjust the parameters using your ears instead of your eyes :) (unless that's what you've done, then I have no clue)

My point by stating this is that if you've set the drive knob to the same value as you would have on the actual pedal, it might be more distorted(and therefore amplifying more noise) than the real thing.
 
i'm not setting the knobs to the same values as the original pedal, just adjusting based upon what I'm hearing....using ears...

do the drive pedal emulations function like real pedals where you can crank the output rather than the gain to push the power tubes into overdrive?

so far really enjoying the axe with my analogman fuzz and drive pedals in front...not sure if the axe will replace them or not, though the amps are sounding great.
 
Shouldn't be noisier. If anything should be quieter. Make sure you are plugged into the front input and that your Input Trim is set properly.
 
FractalAudio said:
Shouldn't be noisier. If anything should be quieter. Make sure you are plugged into the front input and that your Input Trim is set properly.
Click to expand...

I agree.

I've dialled in my preset to pretty much match my "real" rig and it is by far quieter than before.
 
imrecs said:
Hey everyone,

It's my first day with a Fractal Axe FX II XL and I'm giving it a spin to see if it will be able to replace my analog rig in the studio and on the road.

I've been spending a lot of time a/bing with my fuzz and OD pedals, and I am getting pretty decent results with the drive block in terms of the general ballpark sound...my analogman sun face and the drive block fuzz face are sounding similar after some tweaking, except one thing I can't quite figure out.

The Axe FX version is much noisier...has anyone found their analog OD/Fuzz pedals to be quieter in front of the AXE and prefer using them to the built in effects? Is there certain settings I can adjust on the drive block to reduce this noise, etc. I would imagine the digital version to be less noisy, unless that noise is part of the modeling. Not looking for a noise gate as the pedal sounds great without a gate of sorts...also the digital version seems brighter even when i adjust the EQ. any suggestions to try and match these pedals more closely, and specifically to get the noise down on the digital version?
Click to expand...

As for being to bright, on second page adjust high and low cut there instead of reducing tone control. If you experiment with Tone control at noon or less, and adj High Cut on second page to higher freq pedal sounds different than if you turn Tone control up and reduce High Cut on second page. Experiment with both. Then trim Low Cut so when effect is bypassed, the bass sounds similar to when block is active.
Yes, cranking the Level even with Drive very low will push the inputs to Amp block like a tube amp. Works great to tighten up bass on Amp. Use Use Ts808, FET Boost, Tape, SDD Preamp or FET Preamp with little to no gain, and push Level to taste. Works well on clean amps to fatten up a single coil too.

Good luck,


Sent from my iPhone
 
FractalAudio said:
Shouldn't be noisier. If anything should be quieter. Make sure you are plugged into the front input and that your Input Trim is set properly.
Click to expand...

How do I properly set the input trim?

Also, with instrument level, I have a couple of pedals that I run into my amp where the volume is up all the way to push the power amp into total saturation: analogman king of tone clean boost and analogman beano boost treble booster (set to low eq for more of a mid boost that retains lows)

When setting my instrument level on the axe, if I set it at the optimal level for my strat, then the clean boost/treble pushes the instrument level into the red too consistently. should I back off on the volumes on the pedals in front, and make up for the gain in the patches when I want to run those pedals or should I just lower the instrument level? without pedals, I put my strat on 70-80% level, with them, 30%.

The King of Tone is based on a Marshall Bluesbreaker and the "Blues OD" is coming pretty close to it's OD side...the "BB Pre" might work well too it seems...i think it's also based on a bluesbreaker...the clean boost side I am experimenting with the more transparent boosts like the "ACB" and "RCB".

The Beano Boost is based off the Rangemaster so the "Treb Boost" seems to be the choice...however the beano has a "voicing switch" which gives more of a full range boost (more bass and mids) which works great for a strat...not sure if I should just EQ the "Treb Boost" to match this, or if the "Mid Boost" drive block setting might be more approipraite, as it kind of sounds like a rangemaster with more mids.

Any suggestions? Would be so killer to have the Analogman pedals modeled!

Finally, what effect settings would I use to emulate a Sweetsound Mojovibe on the "Vibrato" setting. That's the setting which makes the guitar warble and almost sound like it's being played back on a broken tape machine/record player where the pitch slightly fluctuates based on the speed knob (or goes onto full on vibrato). It's not the chorusy univibe sound, as that's the other half of the pedal, it's the more pitch based vibrato sound.

Thanks!
 
imrecs said:
How do I properly set the input trim?

Also, with instrument level, I have a couple of pedals that I run into my amp where the volume is up all the way to push the power amp into total saturation: analogman king of tone clean boost and analogman beano boost treble booster (set to low eq for more of a mid boost that retains lows)

When setting my instrument level on the axe, if I set it at the optimal level for my strat, then the clean boost/treble pushes the instrument level into the red too consistently. should I back off on the volumes on the pedals in front, and make up for the gain in the patches when I want to run those pedals or should I just lower the instrument level? without pedals, I put my strat on 70-80% level, with them, 30%.

The King of Tone is based on a Marshall Bluesbreaker and the "Blues OD" is coming pretty close to it's OD side...the "BB Pre" might work well too it seems...i think it's also based on a bluesbreaker...the clean boost side I am experimenting with the more transparent boosts like the "ACB" and "RCB".

The Beano Boost is based off the Rangemaster so the "Treb Boost" seems to be the choice...however the beano has a "voicing switch" which gives more of a full range boost (more bass and mids) which works great for a strat...not sure if I should just EQ the "Treb Boost" to match this, or if the "Mid Boost" drive block setting might be more approipraite, as it kind of sounds like a rangemaster with more mids.

Any suggestions? Would be so killer to have the Analogman pedals modeled!

Finally, what effect settings would I use to emulate a Sweetsound Mojovibe on the "Vibrato" setting. That's the setting which makes the guitar warble and almost sound like it's being played back on a broken tape machine/record player where the pitch slightly fluctuates based on the speed knob (or goes onto full on vibrato). It's not the chorusy univibe sound, as that's the other half of the pedal, it's the more pitch based vibrato sound.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

- Just lower the instrument level, based on the the level with the pedal engaged.
- The BLUES OD is based on the Bluesbreaker.
- The BB PRE is based on the Xotic BB preamp, a totally different pedal (IMHO).
- For a fullrange boost, just use a VOL block. Or something like the FET Boost or RCBoost.
- Vibrato: http://forum.fractalaudio.com/fx8-d...-pha-cho-fla-rot-rng-pan-enh.html#post1102343
 
If I lower the instrument level based on the level with the pedal engaged, then won't I have more noise in my regular direct/clean tone? Or will it not be very significant. This is the only problem I see with running boost pedals in front, unless my "drect" tone will be just as good at 30% instrument level as it will at 100%...

On all the fuzzfaces (sunface, dunlop) I've ever used I always liked the drive on max. So on the fractal fuzzface, where on the drive knob is equivalent to max on the fuzz face? If I put it to max (10) I get a lot more noise than the pedal. If I put it to 5 (half) the noise is about the same, as a bit less than the analog pedal, but it sounds like slightly less fuzz. Any idea with the fuzzface, and other pedals how the fractal settings map to the real pedal specifically? Is there more drive available in the Fractal Fuzzface than on the real thing?
 
Instrument level: you probably won’t notice any more noise.

Fuzz: the range of the controls should be the same as on the real pedal. The taper is not the same, so you can’t match settings visually.
Note that there are a lot of Fuzzfaces. You can’t base settings on the noise level.
 
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