Is it just me? or the presets sound like there's a blanket on top of the speaker QSC 12, or do i have to fix the EQ a little in every preset

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antonio Salas

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Is it just me? or the presets sound like there's a blanket on top of the speaker QSC 12, or do i have to fix the EQ a little in every preset, or the videos of people showing the presets are edited with some other plug ins, etc. Any advice?
 
Need more information to really suggest something. Like, if your speaker stands in the corner of the room with hard walls, it will be exactly like that, plus maybe piercing highs if it looks straight at you.
Try headphones. Do presets still sound bad? If yes, probably you should try resetting the unit, maybe some settings are fucked up, like global EQs or something. If presets sound good with headphones, here you go, need to figure out what's wrong with QSC12 setup.
 
Are you playing at the volume you plan to use it at? If not, turn it up. Volume makes all the difference in the world. If you dial the tones in at a lower level then turn it up, the top end will rip your ears apart.
 
I think the presets sound dull also. Many people praise them but i've had no luck personally. I'd make your own. I've been with Fractal since the Axe 2 and never used a factory preset ever without pretty serious changes. Play loud and in many different rooms with as many speaker types as you can. Use the factory presets and learn from the routing and ideas, they're great for that. Then i'd recommend starting from scratch.
 
My process when I got my FM9 in April:

Global requirement: use reference studio monitors or reference headphones (not FRFRs or Amps or physical Cabs).

Iteration A:

1. Start at Preset number 000.
2. Play, listen to preset and it's scenes.
3. If you like it enough to either tweak it or learn from it (Criteria: could this be a tone you will use after changes?), then save Preset to New Preset Number (equal to current preset number + 400)..
4. Go back to starting preset number (current preset number - 400.). Why? When you save a preset you stay on the newly saved preset. So going back after save (current preset number - 400) gets you back to where you started.
4. Next preset. Go to 2. (repeat until your time is exhausted or you have enough to work with for now).

After any Iteration A, Iteration B:

Global Requirement: go to a preset (greater than or equal to 400) that you want to work with. As needed during the process below, read wiki/manual to inform changes.

1. Examine preset/scene settings for blocks used and their settings.
2. Modify settings according to your perceived need for changes (through reference monitoring only!). Focus first on EQ and other aspects of tone like gain, cab block cuts and/or preamp cuts (Dry only! For now turn off modulation, verbs and delays).
3. Dial in tone until the dry signal sounds good.
4. Add sugar effects (turn on modulation, verbs, delays, etc.).
5. Tweak Settings/EQ/Cuts in sugar effects until satisfied.
6. Save preset/scene changes.
7. Next Preset (above number 400). Go to 1. (Repeat until your time is exhausted or you have enough to work with for now).

Final tweaks:

For any given preset (greater than or equal to 400):

Optimize presets/scenes by changing global EQ settings as needed for use with live volumes/outputs (to stage monitors/IEMs and FOH) until satisfied with tone (note Global EQ differences between reference monitoring and live).

For Ultimate Proficiency:

Use what you learned above to craft your own presets from scratch while referring to the excellent documentation/wiki. If you get stuck seek help on the forum.

Wash, rinse, and repeat the beat.
 
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antonio Salas said:
Is it just me? or the presets sound like there's a blanket on top of the speaker QSC 12, or do i have to fix the EQ a little in every preset, or the videos of people showing the presets are edited with some other plug ins, etc. Any advice?
Click to expand...
What genre or type of guitar music are you playing? Mainly!
 
Rex Rox said:
My process when I got my FM9 in April:

Global requirement: use reference studio monitors or reference headphones (not FRFRs or Amps or physical Cabs).

Iteration A:

1. Start at Preset number 000.
2. Play, listen to preset and it's scenes.
3. If you like it enough to either tweak it or learn from it (Criteria: could this be a tone you will use after changes?). Save Preset to New Preset Number (equal to current preset number + 400)..
4. Go back to starting preset number (current preset number - 400.). Why? When you save a preset you stay on the newly saved preset. So going back after save (current preset number - 400) gets you back to where you started.
4. Next preset. Go to 2. (repeat until your time is exhausted or you have enough to work with for now).

After any Iteration A, Iteration B:

Global Requirement: go to a preset (greater than or equal to 400) that you want to work with. As needed during the process below, read wiki/manual to inform changes.

1. Examine preset/scene settings for blocks used and their settings.
2. Modify settings according to your perceived need for changes (through refence monitoring only!). Focus first on EQ and other aspects of tone like gain, cab block cuts and/or preamp cuts (Dry only! For now turn off modulation, verbs and delays).
3. Dial in tone until the dry signal sounds good.
4. Add sugar effects (modulation, time based effects, etc.).
5. Tweak Settings/EQ/Cuts in sugar effects until satisfied.
6. Save preset/scene changes.
7. Next Preset (above number 400). Go to 1. (Repeat until your time is exhausted or you have enough to work with for now).

Final tweaks:

For any given preset (greater than or equal to 400):

Optimize presets/scenes by changing global EQ settings as needed for use with live volumes/outputs (to stage monitors/IEMs and FOH) until satisficed with tone (note Global EQ differences between reference monitoring and live).

For Ultimate Proficiency:

Use what you learned above to craft you own presets from scratch while referring to the excellent documentation/wiki. If you get stuck seek help on the forum.

Wash, rinse, and repeat the beat.
Click to expand...

Actually, fantastic advice, Rex...and not just because that happens to be almost the exact methodology I use, as well. :cool:👍
At least for me, this became sort of a natural development from back in the early days of digital effects rack gear and digital modeling amps...when I didn't want to inadvertently or accidentally save and overwrite an edited factory preset (often, the UI wouldn't allow that, anyway), but I found a core preset/tone that I thought sounded promising. Best practice was to save the preset as a duplicate in a separate (user) memory bank, and start editing and customizing from there. Why reinvent the wheel (start from scratch) if the foundational preset tone is something I can tweak to my personal preferences?

Very comprehensive write-up, which I think it will be useful and helpful to many, here. Cheers!
 
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