Factory Presets

With my ESP LTD w/ JB those presets sound a bit dark and congested on my setup. Some tweaks for added clarity (besides normal tone control tweaks) that helped the Recto and Euro for me.

AMP:
  • turn down speaker compression
  • turn down speaker compliance
  • try low cut switch
  • play with reduced sag
  • play with reducing the Speaker Imp LF freq and/or reducing the resonance

CAB:
  • some of the recto IRs seem dark so sweep Low Cut up from 20Hz to 100 or higher
  • try other IRs
 
Dolphinado said:
Not sure if you’ve tried other FRFR speakers yet, but I’ve found the Friedman FRFRs to be quite dark and colored in general, no matter the source. My suspicion is that muddiness you’re hearing is the Friedman’s doing, not the presets. Do you have a pair of studio monitors you can compare?
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I don't have studio monitors but I do have a Bose PA that I ran it through, same mud there too. I realize a Bose ain't really ideal either but it's something.
 
I had a Friedman ASM-12 ... apart from the fact that it was just plain ridiculous to lug around, I too thought that it sounded muddy with the presets. After switching to a Yamaha DXR10 my back doesn't hurt anymore and the presets sound way better, especially at gig volume. I never noticed any loss of "power" and bass by switching to a 10" monitor.

I had done a side by side comparison with both - that's where I found the Friedman sounded like it had a blanket over it. Just my personal opinion.

Try a "real" PA speaker, not one that is tuned for guitar, you might be surprized ! And remember - the presets are made for being played at gig volume.

I'll be playing my next gig with the tonally unmodified "So Many Roads" preset, that I believe should resemble Mr. Bonamassa's tone/rig when he was still on Marshalls and Dumbles mixed together. It needs the gig volume to bloom, but then it sounds just sweet right out of the box ! :)

Cheers, Todde
 
Same here. I don’t play super high gain, but I had an ASM-12 and thought it sounded muddy. I go OUT1 to FOH, and bypass CAB Block with OUT2 to a great SS power amp to a small 12” guitar speaker cab.
 
Kyloc_Armis said:
My preset numbers are off as I moved them in the higher banks. But the names are Recto 1, Recto 2, Euro Uber (probably the worst of them all for mud) and Dizzy VH4. None of these amps should sound like a blanket is overtop of them.
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Give us something to work with. Please record a few bars and post the sample.
 
Kyloc_Armis said:
I updated the presets today and they still sound god awful to me. Very muddy. I can make my own presets that sound better with the same amps...
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Then that's what you should do. Dial in what you like. That's what I did.

I haven't tried them yet, but many people here bought Austin Buddy's 1400 Naked Amps presets and rave about them.
 
Kyloc_Armis said:
Ya I'm finding the same thing. Everything sounds a lot better when cranked. Which is disappointing as that defeats one of the reasons I bought the Fractal in the first place.
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This could be a big part of the issue. Google "fletcher munson". I don't use the factory presets, but my guess is that most or all of them were dialed in at band levels. You will need to make some adjustments to get a similar tone out of a lower volume level.

Kyloc_Armis said:
I don't have studio monitors but I do have a Bose PA that I ran it through, same mud there too. I realize a Bose ain't really ideal either but it's something.
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Which model Bose speaker are you using?
 
Hey there,

I have just had my Axe FX III for about a month and I thought the same thing in the beginning.
There are a couple of things, that I found out for myself:

  • When coming from a real amp in the room, there is a significant change in tone. Close miking does create a distinctively different sound.
  • Use the high pass in the Cab Block. Especially when you might have speakers, that tend to overemphasize the low end (Bose Speakers are relatively prone to that).
  • Finally Fletcher-Munson: the sounds might sound significantly better, when played louder. ;) Give it a try!
 
3 things I've encountered.
1. A lot of PRS pots have low readings (400- 450) resulting in darker tone.
2. The Friedman FRFR is bass heavy and darker than many. (I sold mine because of this) I liked playing through it alone, but always got lost in the background on stage.
3. Factory Presets are created at gig level, as well as Austinbuddy's and others (90+db). low volumes lose punch and clarity because of fletcher munsen effect. I'd start with brighter Ir's such as 57's.
 
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Kyloc_Armis said:
I updated the presets today and they still sound god awful to me. Very muddy. I can make my own presets that sound better with the same amps...just very perplexing as to how the factory presets can be so bad.
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I know exactly what your problem is with the tone, because I was there when I first got my AXE FX II XL+. And as it was stated the presets are a starting point.
To give you an example, I don't have a normal rig and prefer it that way. I'm not using a solid state amp and FRFR cab. That combined with me using a PRS Artist with Dragon II pickups, I have to immediately turn down the bass, tweak the mids, keep my presence at around 5, bright switch on and put a PEQ block at the end of the chain, right before the out block. My settings, on the PEQ, are to usually cut everything below 75 to 90hz and everything above 6k to 8k, depending on the amp and speaker block used. This really cleans up the unwanted boomy and harsh tones. I also use a PEQ on the FOH out 2 side as well for those bad pumping and nasty brittle tones that can be reproduced by subwoofers and HF drivers in PA systems.
At any rate, you will probably have to adjust your amp's gain, tone, presence, master and more, as well as properly choose an IR cab that fits well with your rig. I would experiment and start from scratch, sampling the many great amps (start with ones you use or know), then pair with a familiar cab block.
 
I got rid of the Friedman Asm I had partly due to the muddy tones

Might be worth giving another FRFR cab a try. The factory presets sound a mixture of hmmm or amazing through my CLR
 
CLR sounds the best IMHO, but that Friedman sounds pretty F'in great. L6 Powercab is also great due to modeling specific speakers, but in flat mode, I get great results too.

I wonder which type of guitar FAS uses when creating the presets, single-coil or humbuckers. Obviously, if using a Strat or Tele to make the preset, a Gib or PRS will sound darker or muddier. Maybe find a patch you know was made with a Strat ( Austin Buddy has a few made specifically for a Strat and compare it to the factory one to see the EQ and Cab differences or a good third party AB or Axechange Humbucker Patch. That might give you the roadmap to tweak the presets.
 
My first two days with the III I actually thought a couple times “Is there something wrong with this?!” because I experienced the same thing with the higher-gain amps. My main guitar is an Ibanez JEM with Evolutions, a pretty mid-focused, biting pickup, so I wasn’t understanding why the presets had that “blanket over the cab”, muffled sound. However, most of the clean/break up amps sounded AWESOME. Then I started trying different IR’s with the presets I perceived as muddy and realized I just wasn’t digging the cab choices.

I’ve never got on with stock presets in any multi-fx unit, even on my G-Force, I can’t think of a single stock preset I ever used, so it’s of no surprise to me that I wasn’t digging all the stock presets in the III. Just try a few different cabs with the muddiest of presets, I’m sure you’ll see a big change pretty quickly.
 
What kind of high gain?
If you’re looking for Djent choked sounds, or death metal, deathcore you’re going to have to add slam gates, and adjust EQ. Also might want to change cab it’s. If you post exactly what genre, and all the details many have mentioned above, you’ll get all the help you need, and won’t be disappointed
 
Kyloc_Armis said:
My preset numbers are off as I moved them in the higher banks. But the names are Recto 1, Recto 2, Euro Uber (probably the worst of them all for mud) and Dizzy VH4. None of these amps should sound like a blanket is overtop of them.
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Those are dark, no doubt. Didn't take much to take the blanket off tho; usually going to the amp block and increasing the Level fixed a lot of the darkness, dropping the Bass a little as well. Also hit the Bright switch for some.

I'm playing a Les Paul goldtop '57 reissue into the AF3, feeding a pair of Behringer 212A powered monitors.
 
unix-guy said:
Aside from possible Fletcher Munson effect, that should have NO effect on the overall brightness or lack thereof.
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Look at some of those presets. A couple have level at -22. Bring it up to -12 (which a lot of presets use) and the blanket appears to be lifted. YMMV.
 
DougB415 said:
Look at some of those presets. A couple have level at -22. Bring it up to -12 (which a lot of presets use) and the blanket appears to be lifted. YMMV.
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Level does not affect EQ by itself. A level of -22 doesn’t have a blanket on it because it’s -22. This could show that your gear needs to be turned up loud for the clarity to come through. The same result should happen if you simply turn up the output any other way.
 
DougB415 said:
Look at some of those presets. A couple have level at -22. Bring it up to -12 (which a lot of presets use) and the blanket appears to be lifted. YMMV.
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Aside from what Chris said (which is exactly what I meant), the Level control of the Amp block can vary a lot for numerous reasons: perhaps Input Drive is higher or lower, or Master Volume is higher or lower, or a particular amp model is louder or quieter than another one.

The function of the Level control is to raise or lower the volume of the block without affecting the tone.
 
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