@bjjp2, what are you using as a controller? I struggled using the Fractal EV-1, which I love for pretty much anything else needing a rocker pedal. Tones were all in there, I was just inept at using them with that pedal. I've got a Cry-Baby shaped Mission pedal now (made to suit Line 6, so I had to rewire it the day I got it. Doh!! [saved less than $10, cost myself 30 minutes and some wire and solder!]). It gets me straight back to usable wah that I can pretty much work OK.
You will not be alone in struggling to find great sounding wah pedals for a tube amp rig. I've been through loads of them over the last 40 years, some of which sounded amazing, and I foolishly converted to volume pedals, or expression pedals, or they just broke and I ditched them instead of keeping to repair. Many have been slightly disappointing from the off. My best ever was a 1970's Jen Cry-Baby, but I somehow destroyed it in the mid-80s. At the last home shootout I did back-to-back, a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe came 3rd, a Dunlop Cry-Baby of indeterminate age came 2nd (80s, 90s?).
The winner was an incredibly cheap, but full size, plastic bodied one that I probably bought mid-90s, branded JHS (not the JHS pedals we know now, but then cheapo UK importer John Hornby Skewes). Great combination of sweep, "vowel sound", messed up treble when toe down, but huge overall controllability. I really must see if I can get the Axe FX III to match it one of these days.
Which models do you use in the Axe FX? I'm generally on Cry Babe or Clyde at the moment, and pretty happy with the results without changing anything. I'll probably feel the need to dive deeper one of these days...
Liam