How to increase "amp softness"?

MrPond

Experienced
Hello!

I'm currently playing the Atomica High and i would love to "soften" the tone.
It sounds brutal and awesome, but the attack is really hard and ... "piercing".
If i search "softness" i don't find anything related ... does anyone know how to achieve this?

So long and thanks in advance!
Niklas
 
Not at my Axe, so I might not have the names right, but more Supply Sag and less Negative Feedback are what I think of for more "softness".

That said, if you want softness, you're kind of pounding nails with a screwdriver using that amp model...
 
+1 on what Dave said, keep in mind that this also increases the gain (or has that affect on your tone anyway, there is probably a better technical explanation that what I said).

The way I normally handle this is either by those suggestions above, or I also like to set the Output Comp Type to Output, and increase the Out Compression to around 4 (or some close to midway). You would probably get a very similar result using a compressor block too though.

Also one of my fav go to's, in the cab block, select at least 2 cabs. Then offset their distance by at least 10mm - experiment with values here as results vary pending on the IR capture. This cancels out harshness really well!
 
My main output is through a real guitar cab :) So i need to solve this not by editing the cab block.
But - thanks for your ideas! I'll give it a try :)
I'm not talking about sooooo much tweaking, just a bit :)
 
Turning down the Tube Hardness in the Power Amp menu to 3.5 works for me. If fact, I turn it down on all presets.
 
Awesome, so much stuff to try out! :) A summed up list:

  • increase supply sag
  • decrease negative feedback
  • output comp type tp output
  • increase out compression to around 4
  • edit transformer match and bias
  • decrease tube hardness (power amp)
 
Another thought, as if you need one...

Experiment with Gain Enhancer mode of the output compressor, varying the amount of compression. You may want to trade that off for gain in other places, especially in the power amp. It's like gain, but less distorted.
 
Awesome, so much stuff to try out! :) A summed up list:

  • increase supply sag
  • decrease negative feedback
  • output comp type tp output
  • increase out compression to around 4
  • edit transformer match and bias
  • decrease tube hardness (power amp)
I love atomica amp model and I hear the same thing.

The solution FOR ME is to lower the preamp and poweramp hardness and INCREASE the Negative feedback from stock value 3.2 to around 5 and it´s softer.. maybe just a bit more of supply sag but not much. try increase dynamics from 0 to 1 and you should be there :)

But if you like atomica, try Cameron CCV 2C, lower the imput trim 0.8 and lower the gain from 5 (on a dial) to 3 and I bet you will have exactly what you are looking for ( I spent 90% of my time with AX8 on Cameron CCV, it´s that amazing IMO) :)
 
Last edited:
Hello!

I'm currently playing the Atomica High and i would love to "soften" the tone.
It sounds brutal and awesome, but the attack is really hard and ... "piercing".
If i search "softness" i don't find anything related ... does anyone know how to achieve this?

So long and thanks in advance!
Niklas
Reduce Neg feedback. Best for this...IMO
 
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