I Reset My Axe FX III and It Sounds Better

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RayK

New Member
I Reset My Axe FX III and It Sounds Better

I just passed the first year with my Axe FX III. A lot other gear has left my collection in that time but I feel like the Axe III is one of the best tools for getting tones.

I’ve been frustrated with the Mesa Mark IIc+ high-gain tone. I’ve gotten better at it but it didn’t compare to a real Mark amp to me. Real amps are impractical and I sold my last one to focus on learning how to get the Axe FX III and other digital gear to meet my tonal goals.

I was working on a preset today using the USA Mark IIc model and just out of curiosity, I chose to unlink my preset blocks from the global blocks. I admit to not totally understanding them but I noticed that after I did that, the tone from the model was different and better.

I decided to reset my Axe FX III to default. I have done that before but perhaps not since firmware 22. The result, and point of this post, is that after that reset, the IIc+ model sounded way better with more saturation and gain than it ever has. I found that to be true on other models as well.

I am far from an expert on the technical nuances of the Axe FX III. Mr. Carter’s master class, playing with it, getting frustrated with it all help. I just wanted to make this post in case it helps anybody else.

A post in the Wiki from 2015 says “Doing a system reset and having that "fix" things does not surprise me at all. There are a variety of parameters that affect the overall sound that could be set incorrectly either by accident or by a bug in previous firmware. A system reset gives you a clean slate and ensures that the unit sounds as intended. The only drawback is that any changes you've made to I/O and MIDI control assignments will be lost.” That is quoted elsewhere in the wiki as well.

I hope this helps somebody,
 
Besides keeping backups, I keep a note of all the system parameters that I need to modify so I can reset and restore them at any time. For me, the number of changes is surprisingly few.
 
If you have before and after reset backups, you could go back to your before-reset state, and redo the process, see what you learn.

There might also be a way to compare those files directly. I don't know if FracTool can do that. A binary file compare tool could, but not in a human readable way.
 
RayK said:
I Reset My Axe FX III and It Sounds Better

I just passed the first year with my Axe FX III. A lot other gear has left my collection in that time but I feel like the Axe III is one of the best tools for getting tones.

I’ve been frustrated with the Mesa Mark IIc+ high-gain tone. I’ve gotten better at it but it didn’t compare to a real Mark amp to me. Real amps are impractical and I sold my last one to focus on learning how to get the Axe FX III and other digital gear to meet my tonal goals.

I was working on a preset today using the USA Mark IIc model and just out of curiosity, I chose to unlink my preset blocks from the global blocks. I admit to not totally understanding them but I noticed that after I did that, the tone from the model was different and better.

I decided to reset my Axe FX III to default. I have done that before but perhaps not since firmware 22. The result, and point of this post, is that after that reset, the IIc+ model sounded way better with more saturation and gain than it ever has. I found that to be true on other models as well.

I am far from an expert on the technical nuances of the Axe FX III. Mr. Carter’s master class, playing with it, getting frustrated with it all help. I just wanted to make this post in case it helps anybody else.

A post in the Wiki from 2015 says “Doing a system reset and having that "fix" things does not surprise me at all. There are a variety of parameters that affect the overall sound that could be set incorrectly either by accident or by a bug in previous firmware. A system reset gives you a clean slate and ensures that the unit sounds as intended. The only drawback is that any changes you've made to I/O and MIDI control assignments will be lost.” That is quoted elsewhere in the wiki as well.

I hope this helps somebody,
Click to expand...

Interesting 🤔
 
I tried this on my FM3, and...had the same result. Everything has balls now and sounds much less dark. At first I thought this was placebo, so I started going through the factory presets, and, wow! The AC20 finally chimed for me, and the Uber had a much better chug. Plexis were much more satisfying, and I started being able to hear differences between the various SLOs.

At this point I started wondering if our old friend Fletcher-Munson was responsible. I'd played with EQ curves for my headphones (HD600) in the global settings awhile back. One of the adjustments is something like -7dB on the total output. I honestly can't remember if I left them be because they were "correct," or not. Regardless, much prefer this sound even if they are slightly less accurate, since 90% of my playing is at home.

In a sense, this is like a new firmware update for me. :)
 
It's important to mention you will lose your FC layouts... I was looking dumb at my FC-12 after the reset then quickly realized what's going on. Luckily I was using OMG12 in a factory state so easy fix, but still, be careful with this!
 
km 202257 said:
If this is the case, shouldn’t it rather be reported as a bug to fix?
Click to expand...

People sometimes forget they have adjusted the global EQ or something else in the setup menus. A reset will change it back to default and that will change the sound. That's not a bug.

I routinely reset the device, as part of testing betas. Back in the day (that quote in the wiki is 8 years old and regards old hardware), a reset would sometimes fix things 'under the hood'. I haven't noticed that for years now and wouldn't worry about it.
 
I read this thread a few days back and it was niggling at the back of my mind. So, last night I read and re-read the relevant parts in the AX2 and AX8 manuals (I am an AX8 user) and checked and double-checked the info, had several cups of tea (I am British), and re-read the manuals again.
In the AX2 it says something along the lines of it will not delete presets/IRs etc... but I don't think the wording is the same in the AX8 manual so with a deep breath, clenched teeth, and clenched buttocks I pressed the reset button and held my breath.
This was at about 11.45 pm. Bedtime.
I wished that I had done this a 8.00 pm. When I could have plugged in and played for a bit longer.
My AX8 sounds fantastic again.
On Sunday I tried a few different guitars out, an LP Custom, an LP junior, an LP Studio, and a couple of Sterling Music Man AX40's. I seemed to be suffering from a "muddy" type of sound. This is into ADAM studio monitors. I even then watched a YT video where somebody was swopping out the (awful) printed circuit board from their LP to a traditional set of pots to take away the muddiness from their LP Studio/Tribute or whatever it was guitar. I was thinking could it be a guitar issue?
The reset system seems to have worked for me. Could it be the Emperors new clothes? Is it a physiological mind trick? Or could it just be Fractal Audio knows how to set things a million times better than me with my sausage fingers?
Answers on a postcard, please.
A big thank you to @RayK for getting the idea of a reset into my head. I would not have considered it otherwise.
 
yek said:
People sometimes forget they have adjusted the global EQ or something else in the setup menus. A reset will change it back to default and that will change the sound. That's not a bug.

I routinely reset the device, as part of testing betas. Back in the day (that quote in the wiki is 8 years old and regards old hardware), a reset would sometimes fix things 'under the hood'. I haven't noticed that for years now and wouldn't worry about it.
Click to expand...
I was going to say it seems like a forgotten setting was left on like when I left power modeling off on accident.
 
So, I just did a reset this weekend. I didnt even bother backing up since the presets I made were from 4 years ago and because of issues, I have not played in a while. I did a little bit of an a/b, and it seems like things are pretty awesome now but I am not 100% certain. Thinking back, I should have recorded a before and after reset and reload of all presets. This might just be a placebo.
 
I reset my FM9 while installing the latest firmware and refreshing the editor. It sounds much the same. It just wiped out some footswitch layout business and global eq. And I had to set the input level again. It's a good practice though I think.
 
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