How do you guys set your levels?

K

KG MD

Inspired
I recently had an experience where, at a gig (of course), a patch I had used often in the past registered "CPU Overload" and cut out in the middle of a song. When I got home, I saw that my CPU usage was about 84%. I emailed Fractal the patch and they determined that the patch (which had the master volume turned up fairly high) was slamming the cab block with a very high level signal that was causing internal clipping and transiently causing the CPU to become unstable. They suggested to turn down the amp block level and increase the cab drive to compensate.

The way I have set levels in the past when creating a patch was to set the level of a clean tone at just below clipping, as determined by the indicator light on the front panel. Clean tone, with it's less compressed signal, for me, has been the limiting level. I set my highest gain lead next, comparing to the clean tone, then higher gain crunch, then lower gain crunch. I have set the level using the master level in the "mix" page of the main menu.

Now, I've had the Axe over a year and had never even TOUCHED the amp level control. I never really liked the sound of any of the factory presets, so have built most all of mine from scratch, and I find that the patches I created are much louder than the factory presets. In the patch above in question turning the level down as suggested fixed the problem, so I'm hoping to get some opinions on setting levels. Do you bypass the block and compare levels (like setting an effect level)? Certainly the internal clipping described is going to be detrimental. Any opinions on using a hotter signal than that of the factory presets?


Kevin
 
I believe factory presets are well balanced regarding volume
so maybe you should use one or few of them as a reference when building your own ones,
not tone wise ofc but just level wise.
Here's funny thing, I use like 10 presets for gigs and they are all based on factory presets,
I just did some tiny tweaking in amp and can blocks to match my guitars better.
But even then I managed to get 10 sounds that are VERY louder compared to original factory presets
that I used as a staring points.
It happens without noticing probably, we tweak amp level there and there
to match volume for presets that we're going to use live and voila, suddenly it all goes loud. :)
 
I don't know if I can help you:

First of all the front input is set to around 12 o'clock and it rarely lights reds. The output (set on the front) is set between 2-3 o'clock. Both depends on the used guitar.

I am using the levels of the amp block (Level + Master) only to form a sound - not for leveling the general output.

The generel output and the levels of different patches I adhust via the Output block/page with mainlevel.

Very seldom some clipping occured and I regulated the level parameter of the amp.

I set cleans + crunchies to around minus 5 db. HiGain to minus 3 db and leads to minus 3 or 2db. (Measured at the output from the Axe-FX with an external Interface.)

This is how it works well for me.
 
Personally, after I get the input light bouncing into the red ( different for each guitar I use) with the input knob,
I set all the block levels to 0 to start and then adjust the overall level at the output mixer.

I then set the output knob so that it doesn't overload the next audio device which for me is a MOTU Traveler.

If something in the chain needs to be louder or softer in the mix then I adjust that to taste...

The toughest thing for me has been normalizing the levels between different patches by ear.

There's apparently no simple way to accomplish that.

YMMV
 
I used to adjust the main mix level when a preset was clipping.
I start with all mu blocks at 0dB. For fx I adjust the level to compensat for voluem drops when activating a block.
I noticed that most clipping starts when raising the master volume of an amp.
I then lower the level of that amp. Now most amps with a high master volume are at -7dB.
For balancing I use the pedalboard. I switch between presets and adjust to the one that has the lowest volume since all had the amp level adjusted to prevent clipping. Raising the volume would again cause clipping.
 
I prefer to reduce clipping by using the AMP Level control. Here’s how I do it:

I select one of clean Fender patches.
I disable all effect blocks except AMP and CAB.
I make sure that CAB level, Layout Mixer and Global EQ's are at 0 dB.
If the patch contains DRIVE or Null FILTER blocks (to add volume or gain), I enable them.
I select my loudest pickup and hit the strings hard.
I turn down the AMP’s level until the output signal doesn’t clip anymore (I lower the level for another 2 dB to be safe).
This will be the “reference level” for all other patches. Meaning that no other patches may be louder than this.

Of course, after adjusting the AMP's Drive or Master volume or changing cabs, I have to repeat this.
 
Thanks for the replies, guys. It seems common, then, to have a patch at a level just below clipping. This would mean to me a lot of people are running presets that are much hotter than the factory presets.


Kevin
 
Kevin, I am reading your OP and do not see you mentioning that during this event that you describe, your Clip indicator came on. Do you know if it did? If the issue you experienced occured without this, this whole discussion suddenly becomes mush more interesting to me.

I level set pretty much like the rest of the guys above and yes my custom patches are significantly louder than stock presets. Perhaps more stock should be taken by the values of the presets or more attention as to what tonal effect is incurred as a result of running hotter patches (note to self actually).

I only record so I judge my level stricktly by how hot it is coming into to my sound card. Output volume knob seems to be around 2 or 3 o'clock as some others above have mentioned.
 
Just curious,

has anyone noticed a difference in tone between having the amp mixer level up high and the output mixer level lower compared to setting these the other way around?

cheers
 
Dinkledorf said:
Kevin, I am reading your OP and do not see you mentioning that during this event that you describe, your Clip indicator came on. Do you know if it did? If the issue you experienced occured without this, this whole discussion suddenly becomes mush more interesting to me.

I level set pretty much like the rest of the guys above and yes my custom patches are significantly louder than stock presets. Perhaps more stock should be taken by the values of the presets or more attention as to what tonal effect is incurred as a result of running hotter patches (note to self actually).

I only record so I judge my level stricktly by how hot it is coming into to my sound card. Output volume knob seems to be around 2 or 3 o'clock as some others above have mentioned.
Click to expand...

THAT was the interesting thing! The clip indicator on the front panel did not come on when this happened. Also, when the preset was switched on, there was no indication anything was the matter. As I struck a chord, the "CPU overload" message popped up and the output shut down.



Kevin
 
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