Default AMP/CAB settings muddy compared to Youtube Video?

I

indeloon85

Inspired
Hello,
I’ve been an Axe Fx user since the Ultra days, owned the II and now the III. Been loving the units since day one! I typically just use it in the studio and always just pleased with the unit.
I recently came across a YouTube video () where Paul creates a basic tone pretty quick. Sounds great! I’m always interested into watching videos like this whether basic or advanced just cause I always end up learning something new.
That being said, I really liked the tone Paul got in the video pretty quickly so I figured I’d build the patch alongside the video to save for future use. I gotta say though, the sound I was getting was quite muddy or tubby compared to his video where I felt he had a clear/tight tone.
It made me start to check a whole bunch of things to see where my chain was different from his and went down a bit of a rabbit hole of forum posts. People mentioning about their interface, monitors, guitars, etc for what could contribute to this. My chain - I was using my 52 RI Tele, then into the axe fx, monitoring through Adam S4X’s + Sennheiser HD6xx’s. I typically run the signal through my Apollo X8 with whatever plugins, but in this case I wanted to match him so I didn’t put anything. Even plugging headphones direct into the headphone Jack didn’t change anything. Tried different headphones, same issue.
I did notice that he was on a slightly earlier firmware (fw 20.01) and I’m on 20.03 (was there a big jump there?). I have the same IR as him, put the same settings. Granted, guitars are different but would that make that big of a difference with such a low end muddy-Ness? I don’t think I have a POS Tele compared to his but I definitely know it’s not exactly the greatest either. I even reached out asking if he’s running anything after the axe Fx (EQ, Filtering, etc) which he is not.
I ended up just slapping a UAD API channel strip, rolling up the bottom end til about 80 hz and giving a little top end boost around 8k. Matched much better but still very puzzled why there was that big a difference. Any thoughts?

(Btw, I probably make it sound like this is a game changer difference and that I'm not happy with my Axe Fx, which both are far from the truth but just wanted to share my thoughts and see if I'm missing something here)
 
Last edited:
There are too many variables to say for sure. It could be the way you attack the strings, it could be your pickups, or even the room in which you are listening. It sounds like you were able to get it sorted with some small tweaks, so that's what matters.
 
Agreed, lots of variables that may impact your tone (vs. his).

One thing I do if a preset I'm creating is tubby: In the Amp block, go to the 'Input Eq' page and put a 'Low Cut' of between 250-700htz. Just turn up that Low Cut until it removes all the mud you don't like. It's SUPER effective (and a brilliant feature by FAS).
 
BBN said:
Agreed, lots of variables that may impact your tone (vs. his).

One thing I do if a preset I'm creating is tubby: In the Amp block, go to the 'Input Eq' page and put a 'Low Cut' of between 250-700htz. Just turn up that Low Cut until it removes all the mud you don't like. It's SUPER effective (and a brilliant feature by FAS).
Click to expand...
400hz is a good place to start
 
The Axe-FX is not muddy by itself. Start by installing the same firmware as him, use the same components as him, play with the same technique, and you should get the same results. The only variable in this equation that doesn't change is the Axe-FX hardware.

On one occasion people commented that Leon Todd presets didn't sound the same as his YouTube videos, even using the same guitar. Leon shared the raw tracks of his guitar for reamping, and then they admitted that it was exactly the same tone. It was his playing that made the difference!
 
Last edited:
OrganicZed said:
There are too many variables to say for sure. It could be the way you attack the strings, it could be your pickups, or even the room in which you are listening. It sounds like you were able to get it sorted with some small tweaks, so that's what matters.
Click to expand...
You can pretty much rule out the pups if its the AVRI 52 reissue tele. That may be the brightest sounding guitar I own. Could definitely be the room or speaker placement too. You can get some really harsh proximity if the monitors are too close to a wall or are bouncing sound off the desk/not isolated etc. I went through this years ago. Iso stands are worth every cent.
 
BBN said:
Agreed, lots of variables that may impact your tone (vs. his).

One thing I do if a preset I'm creating is tubby: In the Amp block, go to the 'Input Eq' page and put a 'Low Cut' of between 250-700htz. Just turn up that Low Cut until it removes all the mud you don't like. It's SUPER effective (and a brilliant feature by FAS).
Click to expand...
Whats the Q on the cut? Is it a hard cut? I'd never cut so high unless its just a couple dBs and I'd probably look for a surgical Q to just affect the problem frequency. Granted thats where the mud lives, but all the balls in heavier tones and the warmth live there, too.
 
But, if everything is OK when he listens the YouTube video through his monitors, and he is using the same monitors for YouTube and for his Axe-FX, why should there be need to tweak the preset? Unless he has missed some step when creating the preset.

The first thing I would do is to upgrade the Axe-FX firmware to the same version as the YouTube preset.
 
Piing said:
But, if everything is OK when he listens the YouTube video through his monitors, and he is using the same monitors for YouTube and for his Axe-FX, why should there be need to tweak the preset? Unless he has missed some step when creating the preset.

The first thing I would do is to upgrade the Axe-FX firmware to the same version as the YouTube preset
Click to expand...
sure just to rule it out, but I didn't notice anything drastically woofy over the last few updates.
 
Important question to the OP: Since at the title you are questioning if the Axe-FX III is muddy, is this always happening to you with all the presets, including Factory presets? With all your guitars, cables, etc?

Otherwise I would suggest changing the title to something like "This preset is muddy" or "Need help with this preset". And then share the preset, so we can really help
 
Last edited:
Piing said:
Important question to the OP: Since at the title you are questioning if the Axe-FX III is muddy, is this always happening to you with all the presets, including Factory presets? With all your guitars, cables, etc?

Otherwise I would suggest changing the title to something like "This preset is muddy" or "Need help with this preset". And then share the preset, so we can really help
Click to expand...
So I’d say, if I’m tracking guitars, I’m typically rolling off some bottom end, and boosting some highs on the way in. That’s probably about 95% of the time so ya, i wouldn’t tag just the preset, though typically when I do make a preset, I’m not trying to match a sound directly (like against a YouTube video) so I would typically compensate any darkness while I’m tweaking the sound and ya, it typically do the above mentioned.
 
BBN said:
Agreed, lots of variables that may impact your tone (vs. his).

One thing I do if a preset I'm creating is tubby: In the Amp block, go to the 'Input Eq' page and put a 'Low Cut' of between 250-700htz. Just turn up that Low Cut until it removes all the mud you don't like. It's SUPER effective (and a brilliant feature by FAS).
Click to expand...
This is a parameter I constantly overlook because but definitely thank you for reminding me. Extremely powerful section there!
 
Bruce Sokolovic said:
You can pretty much rule out the pups if its the AVRI 52 reissue tele. That may be the brightest sounding guitar I own. Could definitely be the room or speaker placement too. You can get some really harsh proximity if the monitors are too close to a wall or are bouncing sound off the desk/not isolated etc. I went through this years ago. Iso stands are worth every cent.
Click to expand...
Ya I’d agree that guitar definitely has its bright quality to it (it is an AVRI 52 Tele). I guess to me I would be more surprised if it was just my guitar that was extending low end more than what I was hearing. I’m more than willing to accept that, as well as him having a much different feel. It was just something I would say was less an epiphany and just more of an observation like “ok, I typically low cut and boost top end for presets, and me just matching this guy dialing in a simple/great preset should get pretty close but we are not as close as I had hoped. So maybe there’s something I missing”
 
indeloon85 said:
So I’d say, if I’m tracking guitars, I’m typically rolling off some bottom end, and boosting some highs on the way in. That’s probably about 95% of the time so ya, i wouldn’t tag just the preset, though typically when I do make a preset, I’m not trying to match a sound directly (like against a YouTube video) so I would typically compensate any darkness while I’m tweaking the sound and ya, it typically do the above mentioned.
Click to expand...

So, the Axe-FX III sounds muddy with 95% of the presets, and you have to compensate? Are you referring to 95% of the the factory presets, or only to 95% of the presets that you create?

If that includes the Factory presets, I would look at external factors rather that tweaking the presets to compensate. Because that is not normal behaviour of the Axe-FX Factory Presets

It would be good if you share one of these muddy presets, to avoid more speculation on the causes.
 
Piing said:
So, the Axe-FX III sounds muddy with 95% of the presets, and you have to compensate? Are you referring to 95% of the the factory presets, or only to 95% of the presets that you create?

If that includes the Factory presets, I would look at external factors rather that tweaking the presets to compensate. Because that is not normal behaviour of the Axe-FX Factory Presets

It would be good if you share one of these muddy presets, to avoid more speculation on the causes.
Click to expand...
Eh, it depends on the genre and sonic qualities of the other instruments but ya typically it’s at least a starting point for me to roll up the low end and give a little boost in the mid-top end.
For any presets I do create though, I am tweaking them more with the tone controls (whereas the YouTube video, his tone controls are all noon) with the intention to do my typical adjustments mentioned above (or as needed). With his tone it just kinda sounds just “right” with the sound he has right off the bat. I can’t say I’ve had that experience. It doesn’t take much to get an excellent tone out of the unit, but it’s never taken me as little as calling up an amp with controls at noon and an IR I like to get a solid sound like he does.
I will also say, I’ve been playing the same guitars for years now and could be totally just used to how they sound which has prompted me to now want to head to a guitar shop tomorrow and strum around to maybe re-calibrate my ears haha!
 
Piing said:
On one occasion people commented that Leon Todd presets didn't sound the same as his YouTube videos, even using the same guitar. Leon shared the raw tracks of his guitar for reamping, and then they admitted that it was exactly the same tone. It was his playing that made the difference!
Click to expand...

Not much help to the OP, but I’ve found the opposite. Leon’s videos were a big reason I got the AF3. Like this video, I loved how he picked an amp and cab and it sounded great on default settings. No endless tweaking, high or low cuts, etc.

When I got mine, I couldn’t believe I was getting the same results just picking an amp and matching cab. I’ve also found that when I follow videos to build presets using a similar guitar they sound pretty much exactly like the video.
 
If you hook up the Axe-Fx 3 to your studio monitors, connect it via USB to your computer and use it as the output device to play the same YouTube video and it sounds good, then still get muddy tones with the same preset built by you, then you need to look for the problems outside the Axe-Fx.

Typical causes would be these:
  • Guitar itself. The pickups you use, the volume and tone controls. Sometimes turning down the volume can cause also the highs to roll off, a treble bleed circuit is a fix for that.
  • Technique. We all play a bit differently. If the video shows it, look at where the player is picking and pick similarly so you aren't picking for example closer to the neck pickup which makes things darker. Try a different pick.
  • High capacitance cable will roll off highs. Many cheap cables are high capacitance but that doesn't mean you should go out and buy something like Evidence Audio that doesn't even state its capacitance specs. The way I see it, if a manufacturer doesn't state their cable specs, don't buy. Most of it is just Neutrik/Switchcraft connectors and cables of varying specification.
  • Faulty cable will roll of highs. It might be the black dielectric sheat is making contact with the center wire. Try a different cable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom