Going back v4.01

paullypj

Inspired
No big deal some like it hot some like it cold...Im sure if i had a better grasp of the advanced settings i would not have to do this ... but as of yet there isnt any real step by step guide to learning how to use them since sm is no longer contributing his tutorials
 
Good luck. If we don't hear from you in 2 weeks, we'll warn the fire brigade.
 
I went back too. 4.01 just sounds a lot better to me for the sounds I'm going for. That's the beauty of this thing really, if the new FW doesn't work as well for you then just use the old one.......maybe the next FW will knock me out and I'll upgrade again. 4.01 works great for me though, so if I never changed again I would be perfectly happy.

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I am surprised to here someone going back to FW4+ I am not a huge advanced parameters guy but I have also never had a FW update (going from before 9.0 on the ultra) cause me the trouble 4.0+ caused me. It seemed like I can do nothing right. When 5.0 was released I loaded my pre 4.0 backups presets and began tweaking. Truth is a still have work to do because it almost seems like the Plexi is a brand new amp but I am getting much better results much faster than with 4.0+. Good luck to you if you feel 4.0 is working good for you rock on!
 
I went back too. 4.01 just sounds a lot better to me for the sounds I'm going for. That's the beauty of this thing really, if the new FW doesn't work as well for you then just use the old one.......maybe the next FW will knock me out and I'll upgrade again. 4.01 works great for me though, so if I never changed again I would be perfectly happy.

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I have to agree with Peter. I like the dynamics but don't like the sound at all of V5. Way too much low mids that I can't seem to get rid of. I played it last weekend at a rehearsal (we are a trio) & both the bass player & drummer said it sounded muddy & not as clear as before. I also had feedback issues that I have never had before with the Axe or my Triaxis rig. I tried all the suggestions I could find here but no luck. I hope V6 is the sound of 4 (or better) & the dynamics of V5!
 
I have to agree with Peter. I like the dynamics but don't like the sound at all of V5. Way too much low mids that I can't seem to get rid of. I played it last weekend at a rehearsal (we are a trio) & both the bass player & drummer said it sounded muddy & not as clear as before. I also had feedback issues that I have never had before with the Axe or my Triaxis rig. I tried all the suggestions I could find here but no luck. I hope V6 is the sound of 4 (or better) & the dynamics of V5!
I got my Axe FxII today with version 5.2 in to. It sounds amazing man. Very clean and nice. Just had to tweak the motor drive and get the dynamics to 50. Did wonders with the tone for me.
 
I raised quite a stink about 5.x when it came out. I considered rolling back to 4.x for a while. Now I'm glad I stuck with 5.x
 
The power amp modeling was overhauled and more advanced options were added. What's your setup like? I go FRFR and never have a problem with warmth. Sometimes it's almost TOO warm.
 
I got my Axe FxII today with version 5.2 in to. It sounds amazing man. Very clean and nice. Just had to tweak the motor drive and get the dynamics to 50. Did wonders with the tone for me.

All raising the dynamics does is add more compression. That's not going to solve my problem & I don't use the speaker sims as I play through a tube power amp & guitar cabs. It seems maybe the Fractal is going in a direction that makes the Axe not as useable this way. I hope not!
 
All raising the dynamics does is add more compression. That's not going to solve my problem & I don't use the speaker sims as I play through a tube power amp & guitar cabs. It seems maybe the Fractal is going in a direction that makes the Axe not as useable this way. I hope not!

I wouldn't worry about that. However, I could certainly see the Axe+Power Amp/Cab guys being more adversely affected by certain updates more than others since they have more moving parts involved in their signal chain. I'm too lazy for that, and just go direct to PA.
 
All raising the dynamics does is add more compression. That's not going to solve my problem & I don't use the speaker sims as I play through a tube power amp & guitar cabs. It seems maybe the Fractal is going in a direction that makes the Axe not as useable this way. I hope not!

Are your power amp sims on or off? If they're on you might want to try switching those off for tube power amps that already add colouring... .
 
I got my Axe FxII today with version 5.2 in to. It sounds amazing man. Very clean and nice. Just had to tweak the motor drive and get the dynamics to 50. Did wonders with the tone for me.

If I had started on V5 I probably would have found my sounds eventually. Coming from 4 (which was super easy for me to get my sounds with) the changes sounded really dramatic to me (with the sounds that I'm going for anyway) and I'm just not interested in putting the time into making the change right now. I would rather be writing a song or any number of other things to be honest. The sound of V5 wasn't working for me (again, I could probably get it there if I spent a bunch of time on it) and the "dynamics" thing apparently isn't my cup of tea either (just feels like a compressor working really hard to me, doesn't feel natural or amp like to my touch) so I don't feel like I'm missing anything to stay with V4.

I think it's great that we have these options. For some people V5 is really working, for some people V4 was great......that's why this product is so amazing. Even when I don't like the latest changes that Cliff makes I still appreciate the work that he's doing and it always results in something great eventually. I have no doubt that the things Cliff started with V5 will keep getting tweeked and improved and eventually morph into something that I'll love. It happened a few times with the Ultra, I'm sure it will happen with the II as well. I don't get discouraged at all if a new firmware isn't working for me, I just wait it out with the old FW and see where the evolution goes...........eventually it always gets somewhere good!
 
Are your power amp sims on or off? If they're on you might want to try switching those off for tube power amps that already add colouring... .

I've tried with them on & off. I found with them off, it is even darker & really flat feeling. No responsiveness at all so it sounds better with them on. A lot of the character of the amp models is in the power amp sims. This set up worked great from v1 thru v4. It's v5 that is not working for me.
 
I really appreciate seeing what type of rig people are commenting on. Now that I see your setup, I understand better what you're saying. Running that way is truly a lot to grapple with - things about the tube amp itself contributing unpredictable color - unfortunately just way over my head. It would take me weeks to program patches for that. Firmware 5 is pretty expressive with a lot of color possibilities, for me they extend beyond the prior firmware, but are not difficult to adjust with FRFR. But I could totally see that if you're running into a tube amp and cabs, and want your amp models on, it would be a complete re-work of patches.

Ultimately what I may do is run the FRFR row alongside of another row, splitting off just after the amp block (to bypass the cab), through maybe just a reverb or an FX here or there, to the FX send, to actual physical cabs. I think that might be the easiest way for one to have both the amp sims plus fx, AND to still play through cabs. But I don't think I can see going through a tube amp at this point, although I considered it before. Its too much fun following along with Cliff, watching the modeling improve in the FRFR world; I'm just curious how it will sound along with real cab output, but I think he's nailed the virtual tube amp thing pretty well indeed.

I'm glad you're able to stay with v4 and still work with your tube amp setup. That's pretty cool in itself - that v4 was particularly good for you in that regard.
 
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To the OP, Just don't use the advanced parameters until you understand them. I don't get you. It's like just sour grapes because your mentor left. Going back to 4 is your choice and right, as it should be-but unless I am just crazy there are just as many advanced parameters in 4? so, huh?

Also, this debate(of sorts ) has a terrible tone itself. One is not worse than another-the word is DIFFERENT. So for some different is cool, for others, not so much. So, uh big deal. You can load any firmware you want and I would hope before you upgrade to a new FW you have the common sense to backup your presets. So....................................very strange.
 
Are you just saying words that you think are facts simply because you think so, or do you have some kind of knowledgeable reason that you say that like it is a fact?

Well, I can use my ears & hear it as well as posts like this one on TGP by Yek:

I play through studio monitors at home, and through a Atomic 50/50 (tube) or Matrix (ss) with EVM-loaded cabs at rehearsals/live.

I keep Dynamics at default (25%) or less (more dyn. is more compression).
I'm mainly using real cabs so I'm not using Speaker Drive (formerly Cab Drive) or Motor Drive (Cab block parameters).
When playing throughy my studio monitors I keep Motor Drive pretty low.


There was this post I saw by Scott Peterson in response to someone saying they wanted more dynamics:
If you turn it up to 100% you are actually compressing the snot out of it.
http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii-wish-list/47399-axe-fx-ii-dynamics-need-more.html

I assume they know what they are talking about & I know my ears don't lie. YMMV
 
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To the OP, Just don't use the advanced parameters until you understand them. I don't get you. It's like just sour grapes because your mentor left. Going back to 4 is your choice and right, as it should be-but unless I am just crazy there are just as many advanced parameters in 4? so, huh?

Also, this debate(of sorts ) has a terrible tone itself. One is not worse than another-the word is DIFFERENT. So for some different is cool, for others, not so much. So, uh big deal. You can load any firmware you want and I would hope before you upgrade to a new FW you have the common sense to backup your presets. So....................................very strange.

English must be a second language for you because you seem to have a very diffucult time undertsanding my posts. There was no complaining nothing negative in my post may be you read someone elses post and thought it was mine . A lot of people dont have great reading comprehension so dont feel bad.

It seems that my post brought up a good discusion about the versions.. If i could id have an ax with ver 5. for my clean and crunch/ od and one with version 4 for smooth high gain setings i d be a real happy guy..
 
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