How do YOU dial in a preset? Share your tips and tricks.

hughj

Inspired
Thought it would be cool if we could help each other learn how to use some of the many knobs on this beautiful black box.
I'm pretty noob at it, but here is my system:

- Pick an amp
- Set a looper at the start of chain
- Play a quick loop with different guitar setting and dynamics
- Cycle through cabs
- Once I find a cab, I fiddle with proximity
- Adjust input drive and trim
- Dial in basic tone controls
- Try adjusting Damping in Power menu
- and I guess I would play with the new Bright dial now as well
- Throw on a post parallel reverb (that i stole from Scott)
- Drive block to add dirt or boost the signal

Again, I'm pretty noob at this and am looking forward to any advice on improving my tones.
 
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Like this...
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JK It depends what i'm trying to do. Usually I think about where the signal is going after my Axe FX. For instance will it be going through a PA, running through a power amp and real cabs, into a DAW etc... Then I think of what kind of a sound i'm looking for. Imagine what possible effects I might want, do I want something unique like a synth or is this going to be a high gain tone.

Once I figure out what I'm looking to get and where the signal will e going after axe fx I try to imagine signal flows in the axe fx grid I think will get me there, think about any parallel routing I might want to do etc. Then I try to look for an amp and cab(unless i'm running into a real cab sometimes I will omit cab block or ad it later for a unique sound). Then I think of any blocks I will be running pre amp like compression etc... Then I get settings on amp and cab reasonably close to the gain staging I think I will be using when I'm finished. This is so I can dial in the input noise gate. I am more aggressive with Input gate if I am making a High gain patch.

Then I add drives, compressors, or anything else I want before the amp. From there it all really depends on what I'm looking for. I consider the character of the reverb I might want to decide if I want parralel reverb from the input signal, from after an amp or cab or serial pre/post amp/cab. It all really depends.

If I was on the spot desperate to dial in a tone really quick I would say your system would work pretty well for getting a good usable tone I would be satisfied with immediately and down the road.

For me there are so many possibilities I can spend hours experimenting with different signal flows and settings to get very unique tones not really attainable with anything other than axe fx.


My best advice is once you are familiar with the amps, cab and effects blocks, unless you just want to fool around for a long time and make really cool tones, would be to start with an Idea of what you want to sound like. After enough experience you will get a feel for what different amp models, signal flows etc... will get you in that vicinity. From there take into account the tonal characteristics of your guitar, poweramp(if you are running through one), etc. Think do you want a straight up mono signal chain that might sound like a standard guitar amp with pedals running serial into it or huge sounding guitar that running two amps and cabs stereo will get you? Do you want your reverb to be clean(straight from guitar input running parralel) or distorted(running serial before or after amp).

There is really no right or wrong way to do things. That's the best and worst part about axe fx. The possibilities are limitless but sometimes if you don't add certain constraints to shaping your tone you may look up at the clock and see hours have gone by while you have been dialing in the perfect tone you want. There is so much you can do it can feel overwhelming at first. If you have the time I would advise playing around with alot of different signal paths and ideas and parameters(isolated as much as you can) and try to get a feel for how different settings work and interact with each other.

Good luck on your quest for the ultimate tone :) It certainly is weird getting used to the creative power of axe fx. Before that for me it was as simple as running through a gate, overdrive pedal, maybe a few others turning a few knobs on a tube and and that was that.... With axe fx it can be that simple and sound amazing but you can get so deep into tone shaping it is mind boggling.
 
You have given me something to chew on. I have been approaching tones with no clear idea of what tone I am looking for. I think that I might learn a lot more if I was striving to get a specific sound. Thanks for the insights Grindcorps.
 
You have given me something to chew on. I have been approaching tones with no clear idea of what tone I am looking for. I think that I might learn a lot more if I was striving to get a specific sound. Thanks for the insights Grindcorps.

Yeah that definately makes things quicker at least. Don't get me wrong, I've spent alot of time over the years messing around with setting on different pieces of gear/software and it has definitely been beneficial. That's surely made it easier for me to know how to get from an idea in my head to having it play out of speakers. However if I don't start with at least a rough idea in my mind I can end up spending a long time dialing in sound and not get very far. The problem is there are alot of really good tones you can get out of something like axe fx. The hardest part is figuring out which one you ultimately want to use.

I would maybe start by arranging your grid in a way similar to how your past rig was set up. Maybe just run mono serial at first and get a feel for the character of different amps, cabs and effects. Get a feel for exactly what the parameters on them do. That way when you do more complex routings you know where to go to change various aspects of your tone.

so if you were running a tube head with a few pedals before it, start playing with setups like that to get your feet wet. At least then you will make presets that you can use immediately and that sound good. Once you are really familiar with how everything works it will be alot quicker and easier to do more advanced things and won't seem so intimidating. When I got my MK II in August i'll admit the amount of parameters each block contained was definitely overwhelming for a while.

The other thing I might advise is to read the manual. You don't have to memorize it or anything but even skimming through parts relevant to you really helps. Like when you are dialing in an amp maybe have the section on amp parameters handy just to give you a general idea behind how things work.

The other thing I think is most valuable to do is try to find the updated list of all of the amps and cabs available in firmware 13. Try to familiarize yourself with the real amp different models are based on. Otherwise with like 80+ amps now just cycling through them to find what you might be looking for is a daunting task.

Good luck.
 
Yeah that definately makes things quicker at least. Don't get me wrong, I've spent alot of time over the years messing around with setting on different pieces of gear/software and it has definitely been beneficial. That's surely made it easier for me to know how to get from an idea in my head to having it play out of speakers. However if I don't start with at least a rough idea in my mind I can end up spending a long time dialing in sound and not get very far. The problem is there are alot of really good tones you can get out of something like axe fx. The hardest part is figuring out which one you ultimately want to use.

I would maybe start by arranging your grid in a way similar to how your past rig was set up. Maybe just run mono serial at first and get a feel for the character of different amps, cabs and effects. Get a feel for exactly what the parameters on them do. That way when you do more complex routings you know where to go to change various aspects of your tone.

so if you were running a tube head with a few pedals before it, start playing with setups like that to get your feet wet. At least then you will make presets that you can use immediately and that sound good. Once you are really familiar with how everything works it will be alot quicker and easier to do more advanced things and won't seem so intimidating. When I got my MK II in August i'll admit the amount of parameters each block contained was definitely overwhelming for a while.

The other thing I might advise is to read the manual. You don't have to memorize it or anything but even skimming through parts relevant to you really helps. Like when you are dialing in an amp maybe have the section on amp parameters handy just to give you a general idea behind how things work.

The other thing I think is most valuable to do is try to find the updated list of all of the amps and cabs available in firmware 13. Try to familiarize yourself with the real amp different models are based on. Otherwise with like 80+ amps now just cycling through them to find what you might be looking for is a daunting task.

Good luck.

Sounds pretty complicated. Should it be? Answer...no. The Axe nails low to mid gain tones! High gain... good luck.
 
I'm not trying anymore to build a preset from scratch, although I am more than 25 years experienced, I found out that the basic tone creating is my week point.
What I do 90% of the time is fined a patch I like more or less, tweak it to my taste and hit the road.
There are so many talented guys here that can build amazing patches, saves a lot of time and work and above all…..frustration :)
Than when I have a few new patches ready, say around 5-10 I will use them in the band rehearsal and fined out what sits nice in the mix and what is not and do some fine tuning on the fly.
 
I'm not trying anymore to build a preset from scratch, although I am more than 25 years experienced, I found out that the basic tone creating is my week point.
What I do 90% of the time is fined a patch I like more or less, tweak it to my taste and hit the road.
There are so many talented guys here that can build amazing patches, saves a lot of time and work and above all…..frustration :)
Than when I have a few new patches ready, say around 5-10 I will use them in the band rehearsal and fined out what sits nice in the mix and what is not and do some fine tuning on the fly.

Interesting perspective. As they say if i ain't broke don't fix it I guess. Whatever works for you is best for you.
I'm kind of a control freak plus with almost 400 presets I prefer to just clear out a patch and start from scratch. I can't explain why. But you make a very very god point. One way to get good at dialing in tones is to find presets you really like and see how they work and tweak them to suit your tastes. that is certainly alot easier for someone starting out than starting with a blank slate I imagine. Personally I'm too lazy to flip through the almost 400 presets to find the preset I want to tweak. That and alot of presets I do are for odd extended range instruments like 7 string bass or 8 string guitars(that do more than djent...) and i've found with various guitar modeling software/hardware from guitar rig to pod, the stock presets are very poorly suited for these types of instruments so I have taken to starting from scratch :/

Recently I had the Idea of combining a high gain tight amp model like an engl with a bass amp for our 8 string to see if I could get tight articulate lows without the guitar sounding like a trebly icebpick. It sorta works but I need to revise it much more. Perhaps rather than a bass amp as a secondary amp just run a low gain guitar amp into a 1x15 bass cab and blend mostly the engl with the bass amp serving to give just a little balls back without muddying up which is a frequent problem we deal with.
 
I dial tones like the eye doctor dials in your new prescription and build everything from scratch.

- Start with a reference tone (20/20 vision of a tone I want for myself) and learn gear used in that tone
- Load that amp family into a block with a generic cab used by that amp family (this is the blurry "old" prescription)
- Flip back and forth through amps in the amp family used in the reference tone until you get one that sounds closest to the reference tone (doc flips through lenses asks you which is clearest, closest, most comfortable)
- Do the same for cabs
- If non-ultra rez, I flip through mics to get closest to tone
- If ultra rez, I set mic to "null" and work with mic "proximity" parameter to dial in the low end
- compare result of all work to this point to the reference tone
- Set distortion amount and response using gain and master
- compare to reference tone
- move on to basic tone knobs and new brightness knob
- compare to reference tone
- save a duplicate of the preset you've created
- hold down bypass on amp/cab to set all parameters to default and repeat first steps with different amps/cabs to see if you can get closer.
- Save and compare to the duplicate you created

After that I choose which one of two new patches sounds closest to the reference tone and I'm done. If I'm still not quite there I dive into "advanced" parameters to get even closer to the 20/20 vision of the reference tone, starting with GEQ and moving onto damp, comp, dynamics, pick attack, etc.

The key is to have a process you can replicate that helps you remember where you're at in the dialing process, where you want to go next, and a clear target to shoot at so you don't end up down the rabbit hole.
 
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I like the idea of multiple saves. I have screwed up many a patch, by tweaking it to death and losing my way.
 
Good thread, thanks for the info so far. looking forward to see what everyone else does to create a good patch.
 
Owning the Axe for just shy of a year now, I have 197 presets for the cover songs in my library, so now I basically just modify one of them that sound the closest to what I'm looking for as I've reached the point that unless there is something specific to the song that is completely original, I pretty much got it covered.

As for your 8 string thing Thegrindcorps, You could try using the Crossover block (Axe FX II manual) to send only the low frequencies to the bass amp. If you haven't already I recommend heading over to the User IR section and grabbing these bass UltraRes Bass cabs and tone matches gallian-kruger-amp-ultrares-bass-cabs-tm-darkglass-bk7. These are awesome.
 
Guys, I'm usually full of awesome common sense questions but here it goes. Why are some of the cables in axe edits sometimes straight and sometimes "wiggly"?

Is it only when bypassing?

Another one, was the dragging the cable across blocks removed?

Yup, noob here.

Thanks
 
It's as simple or complicated as you want it to be ;)

So true.

So many people want 'classic' sounds. And they are THERE almost a defaults. Presets can get you close to many others.

If you want YOUR sound, then start at scratch, and frankly beat your head against it until you find what you hear. It may take awhile. IR's and tweaking can be a rabbit hole; always something that sounds better one night, and not so much the next night.
 
Why are some of the cables in axe edits sometimes straight and sometimes "wiggly"?

Is it only when bypassing?
If you mean the connectors between blocks, the only time they're not straight is when they have to go between rows. Then they bend a bit.


...was the dragging the cable across blocks removed?
Not removed, but changed. Now you click on a connector on the block, a green "+" shows up at every valid connection. Click on the "+" and the connection is made.
 
Thanks Rex, I appreciate your help. I never got to use drag option. It honestly sounds more appealing to me. Oh well, thank you again.
 
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