Ghost Fizz revisited

BrickGlass

BrickGlass

Inspired
I've been needing to look into this for a long time now, but I've been putting it off because it wasn't an emergency. I plan on doing some recording though and it needs to get solved before I record if possible. I've noticed on several amps I'm getting what has been described as ghost fizz. I did a search on the forum and found a thread about it from a couple years back. I'm getting it on factory presets, presets I make, any of my six guitars, two different sets of speakers, etc. It is happening on settings that float right around the edge of break up between clean and distortion, or when you turn the volume knob down on a crunch type sound. There is an absolutely perfect example of it found on the original "ghost fizz" thread. It can be found on page three and it is post #57 from SockPuppet. Here is the original thread:

http://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/ghost-fizz.77539/

Mine is not as pronounced and fizzy as SockPuppet's example, but it is that exact type of sound I'm experiencing. I have tried turning up the power tube bias as mentioned by javajunkie and it does seem to help a bit, but it doesn't completely solve the issue. Cliff has a fascinating post on page 7 of the thread, but I've just not been able to get rid of it with anything I've tried. Hoping that maybe a better/new way to address the issue has been discovered in the last couple of years since the original thread. Any suggestions? The thing I've found that seems to have the biggest impact is simply turning the input drive down, but you of course lose that edge of breakup sound and go more into clean land, at least on some amps.
 
I think the topic doesn't come up as much as it used to, as people have learned to accept it as being an authentic part of the guitar sound.
I hear it all the time on songs and it doesn't bother me, on the contrary.

Fizz may appear more prominent in the Axe-Fx II because of its full-range sound reproduction. The frequency range of a traditional guitar cabinet, and of recorded guitars, is often narrower than what you hear from the Axe-Fx, suppressing that high-frequency fizz.

We used to have some AMP block parameters to suppress fizz, but those have been removed along the way.
 
Double check that you don't have any path after an amp block that bypasses a cab block.

I've had that now and then and it always turns out to be direct output of the amp block not passing through a cab.

(Not talking about normal amp cut and grind but exaggerated fizz on notes played hard.)
 
In using the XL as an audio interface it is apparent how quiet this black box is so it’s software related even more so preset related. I found some combos noisier than others. Bothered me at first until I realized I wanted analog performance, from a digital box…. got it…. then got disturbed by it?

Had to change the way I look at it. First there are a gazillion different amps and combos to choose from that will render a similar sound. Then when I found a tone I liked that had a bit much fizz, hum, swoosh, etc., I bumped up a noise gate on it.

When you render your track on your DAW I would hope you would silence the guitar track in inactive areas and, like mentioned, it is unlikely you will hear it in the mix. Look at dithering…. intentional noise injection.
 
It is really only noticeable when you hit a note or chord and then let it ring out. During the decay is when you hear it, just like in the SockPuppet example. If you are strumming away or riffing away, you can't really notice it.
 
Hello,

You've linked to one of the best threads on the subject and referenced Cliff's responses explaining that real amps do this and it is an accurate part of recorded guitar tone, but from your post it sounds like you still consider this an issue. Are you acknowledging that real amps do this, and just looking for a way to use the Axe-Fx's advanced parameters to reduce it? If so, I don't think much has changed since the thread you referenced, other than some amp parameters being renamed or removed, as yek mentioned. That thread had a lot of suggestions, but maybe you've tried all of those already.

If you're unconvinced about whether real amps do this, below are some of the best examples I've seen posted here when this topic has come up.

The intro of "Drop Dead Legs":



This guitar demo video after 3 min.:
 
Hey thanks Alex. Yes, I certainly understand that real amps do this and it is just not as noticeable to us often because we are not typically directly in front of the speakers. I was more hoping for something in the advanced parameters to reduce it, like power tube bias. Alex mentioned some of the parameters had been renamed. Anyone know what the new names are and I'll give those a whirl?

Just to be clear, I fully understand that real amps do this and was just trying to find out if anything had changed on the subject in the last couple of years. Looks like some parameter names have changed so if anyone could point me towards the new names that would rock. Thanks guys.
 
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