Man, I guess I would not have attributed this difference to just guitar/tweaking. I will try a couple of different guitars/pickup combinations and see what I get. Will report back findings...
I might have missed it, but I didn't see anywhere in this thread where you (OP) mentioned what you are monitoring through? Headphones? FRFR? Amp+real Cab? What is your setup? That matters.
I don't suspect there is any post processing on this. I could be wrong, but having seen a bunch of Cooper's stuff, including his webcasts, that would be surprising. I suspect he would be against coloring the sound and not representing a DEMO in a straightforward manner.
Cooper is a great player, and he playes a style matched to each preset, so it's a great way to show those sounds. But he is just showing factory presets here and the answer is YES, mine sounds like that.
I have done more test fiddling with pickups, 5 different guitars, I/O gain and mine still sound dull. If I add a 4db high shelf I start to get closer. The quest continues...
BTW - I am monitoring with Neumann KH120 monitors in a fairly well treated/bass trapped room and Sony 7520 HF....
My setup is PRS custom 24 bridge PU tone on brightest --> AxeFX --> USB --> Logic Pro X (48K sample rate). No processing/plugins.
Mine sounds like it has a wet blanket over it.
I'll post on this one once again. All my tones had a "dark" sound to them if anybody understands that one? I don't care who played through it. I think it was my guitars even though they are all "high end guitars? With that said, I am able to get some killer tones/sounds out of the unit now so I am happy camper.
This is why amps have tone controls, in additional to the nearly unlimited tone shaping options provided by the graphic Eq's, parametric EQ blocks, etc.
These tools are meant to be used. If it sounds dark, adjust. If it sounds too bassy, adjust, so on and so forth. Turn down the bass, use a different EQ etc.
I see thread after thread with people complaining that a given model sounds muddy, or has too much lows, or doesn't cut well etc but they never adjust the controls for the default location.... ????
I make different variations of my presets based on which guitars I'm playing with; for example I have 3 50 watt Plexi Treble patches in a row, with totally different EQ for my strats vs my LP's. Its the cool thing about the Axe, with a press of a button I can radically change my rig around to suit a guitar, and as such, all my guitars sound great.
Just can't expect that a preset I dialed in using low output vintage strat pup's is going to still sound good with a LP with a Super Distortion it in, but both can sound amazing with some adjustments
The bass player who runs the sound said Im at max on his setting, and when I go over the limit his compressor limiter software he uses kicks in. I presume this is the problem. What do I do ,
I think mine sounds just as good as any other recording or video I've ever heard...