Do you ever get those days where it just sounds like _ _ _ _ ?! What do you do?!

Aloha,

First, thanks for the responses.

Second, feeling hurt. No worries my friend. I have no feelings. I've played behind chicken wire to the Cow Palace. This business is a lot like baseball., There's no crying in baseball. or music. I appreciate you thinking about them and the advice. I have used a Boss GT100 and have a GT1 that I use in the loop of my Friedman. I have not done Line 6, though I have the opportunity to trade the AX8 for a HELIX LT. I consider all of these much lesser devices to the AX8, though have no first hand experience so, I have some bias.

I will re-load with updated firmware and get back to you.

I appreciate the thought about atmospheric conditions and the role physics may play. The reason I'm not following that thread is because I can plug my FX8 and all amps it's set up for and I'm back to good tone.

I'm confident it's me or I would no have bought two AX8's.

Thanks all. Keep-em coming as you think of them.

John

Hi John, I wouldn't mind having a chance to help you dial in your AX8. I have both an AX8, an XL+ and an AXEFXII. My patches all sound the same and I'm 100% happy. I've never gotten so many compliments, and I've sold all my amps but 2 or 3. The one thing that is a little different is my AX8. It has a little bit more high end than my rack units, and I can't really explain why. It's not a high end that you just turn down via EQ. It's something else. The only thing I can think of is my rack units have impedance selection and THAT could be what's making my rack units a little warmer than my AX8. That said, adjusting the "definition" to -6 on my patches have made them closer sounding to my rack units, as well as some tweaking to the "harmonics" knob.

The key (at least for me) with any of the Fractal modelers, is to find a cab IR that is right for you. I sincerely feel this is what makes the unit come to life in all aspects. I can play certain amps with certain cab IR's and feel we're almost in a digital, synthetic world where nothing I try makes a difference for the better. So if you've experienced that, you're not alone. This whole modeling thing is a little strange at times, and can take some getting used to. I do everything wrong on my end, so it's kinda amazing that I've been so successful with this stuff.

For example, I use cab IR's while using a real cab. I use power amp emulation while using a real power amp. I sincerely feel using a real cab makes the modeling more acceptable and have failed miserably with wedges and FRFR monitors etc. To me, anything that cuts corners brings in a synthetic factor that brings my tone further away from the tube sound I personally need. That isn't a shot at guys who use different stuff than me. I'm just saying, for my personal needs, nothing will ever beat the sound of a real cab and with the right modeled amp chosen along with the right IR, there is a realism that is pretty amazing.

The other difference for me is, I have tone matched ALL of my favorite rigs and turned them into cab IR's. This is not possible with an AX8, but I've created all my IR's using my XL+ or AXEII, saved as IR's and brought them into my AX8. Matched up my amp, and the sound is nearly identical and in most cases, so close the small % that it may be off doesn't even matter. Are there some really good IR's? Absolutely! But for me, nothing has given me what I need other than my own. I've tone matched everything from my old Marshall tones, Peavey Ultra, Lee Jackson modded heads, old Ampeg SS 150's, tube pre-amps like Chandler, Digitech 2101, Mesa Tri Axis....so I have all my old sounds tone matched as close as they could be. Those are the sounds I use for myself, as well as in my Van Halen tribute band. I do mess around with some of the stock IR's as well as some from a few packs I've purchased, but nothing remotely comes close to my own tone matches I've done. All the sounds are good, but they don't sound like mine.

So my point in telling you this, you may need something specific to help get you what you need. Maybe a real cab instead of a monitor, maybe a real power amp pushing the AX8, (I use a Rocktron Velocity 300 single space amp that I couldn't be happier with. It's been all over the world with me) or something that makes your AX8 a little more personal. One thing I recommend for all Fractal users, is to either have someone tone match one of your own personal tones from an old amp/cab recording if you don't have TM ability, or if you have TM ability, try doing it yourself and saving it to a cab IR once you've accomplished the tone you need. If you took my 15 cab IR's that I created away, though the AXE always has cool stuff and I can dial in an acceptable tone using any stock amp or cab, I wouldn't be nearly as happy as I am now. Tone is personal...it always will be no matter what modeler we choose. You may just have to make yours a little more personal in some way like I have. Good luck!
 
Aloha,

I'm back. Here's a generalization of what I'm experiencing. Using the AX8 through my Atomic CLRs (an all FRFR), it sounds like there s a low frequency blanket on every tone I try. I'm adjusting frequency on the cab IRs, I'm pumping the high end and brightness on the amps and still, wet blanket over everything.

Not an issue with AxeFX II. Hmmmm!
 
yeah that happen too many many times,last night i was playing with a cool preset,but tonight i played with the same preset and i was like what the heck:eek:but i think is was me that i wasnt in the mood to play guitar tonight.
 
Aloha,

I'm back. Here's a generalization of what I'm experiencing. Using the AX8 through my Atomic CLRs (an all FRFR), it sounds like there s a low frequency blanket on every tone I try. I'm adjusting frequency on the cab IRs, I'm pumping the high end and brightness on the amps and still, wet blanket over everything.

Not an issue with AxeFX II. Hmmmm!
Still waiting for clips, so we can hear what you're hearing. It's hard to diagnose without seeing the patient.

If it sounds that different from the Axe II, something is set up differently.
 
Aloha,

I'm back. Here's a generalization of what I'm experiencing. Using the AX8 through my Atomic CLRs (an all FRFR), it sounds like there s a low frequency blanket on every tone I try. I'm adjusting frequency on the cab IRs, I'm pumping the high end and brightness on the amps and still, wet blanket over everything.

Not an issue with AxeFX II. Hmmmm!

I've never experienced anything that different between the two. If you don't have Fractool, go and download it so you can convert your axII patch to an ax8 patch. This will at least allow you to have a just about identical patch. If you manually created the patch, there's a chance you may have missed something.

Make sure amp and cab sim is on or off in both units. You definitely have something different going on between the patches. If anything, your ax8 might be a little brighter. It shouldn't have a blanket of lows on anything if the same patches sound great on your axII.

Using the same identical patches in my ax8 that came from my axII, I take the definition control down to -6 and it sounds nearly the same as my axII. If I don't touch that control, the ax8 is considerably brighter but the tone is the same. I've never experienced any low.end blanketing other than using stock presets or someone else's presets. They always have too much lows for my personal taste.
 
Aloha,

Sorry Rex, just haven't taken the time to get the clips. I get the same tones with factory presets and axe-change presets.

Danny, thanks for reminding me to check. Yes, everything is set up correctly on amp and cap models.

Okay, thanks everyone. I really appreciate the work you've all put into this so, it's time for me to do the same and tweak my butt off so, I'll report back after moving some knobs, drinking some beer, and shake'n some walls.

I'll get back to ya,

Mahalo
 
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