Issues making P90s work with Axe-Fx

Seanhanlonguitar

Seanhanlonguitar

Member
So I've been on the Fractal bandwagon for about a year an a half now, and I've been using the Axe Fx 3 for every gig I've had during that time period. Im a little old fashioned in the way I like to play, so I treat my setup like its a single channel amp with a pedalboard with the FC12. I use a Dumble style amp in real life, and I have the Axe dialed in pretty close to what my preferred amp sounds like in real life.

Now the weird part.

In my real rig, P90s are my preferred style of pickup. I feel like I truly get the best of both worlds with them, top end chime and clarity, and the body and aggressiveness of a humbucker. With the AxeFx I can't seem to make them work for the life of me. I don't understand it, but I also had the same issue when I had an Hx Stomp on my board. Theres a real unpleasant muddy sound in the lower strings that doesn't clean up or respond the way it does with my real amp, and I have this problem with nearly every distorted amp model. Humbuckers and single coils don't have this issue at all from what I've noticed. Has anyone else experienced this or know what could cause it/fix it?

Thank you
 
You could try a preamp pedal or something to remove the fractal preamp from the equation.
I only have one p90 in the neck of my anderson tele and it's also muddy but I figured it was the pickup, being a stacked humbucker type.
 
Interesting. I used a couple different P90's a lot with my Axe III and never had an issue. How are you monitoring the Axe III? I've found that it can sound a little dull through studio monitors at home, but brightens up live.
 
In the amp block you can trim the amount of bass input, try cutting to 90 to 150 and see if that cleans it up.

go to 13:50

 
I love my P90-equipped Les Paul into my III.

Post a preset? It’s hard to give you any specific advice without understanding what you’re chasing.

Some tones from me:

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/lanois-ish.162172/

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/the-fm3-does-zeppelin.162618/

I was working on an updated "Tiny Buy Mighty" preset this weekend that's all low power amps paired with speakers that are no bigger than 10" and tuning it with my P90 LP and it was sounding great. I'll try to get it posted with clips tomorrow morning.
 
iaresee said:
I love my P90-equipped Les Paul into my III.

Post a preset? It’s hard to give you any specific advice without understanding what you’re chasing.

Some tones from me:

I was working on an updated "Tiny Buy Mighty" preset this weekend that's all low power amps paired with speakers that are no bigger than 10" and tuning it with my P90 LP and it was sounding great. I'll try to get it posted with clips tomorrow morning.
Click to expand...
How do I post a preset? Do I attach a file? I’m still a “new member” so I still can’t post links
 
Agreed.My P90 Carvin CT3 sounds extraordinary .iaresee,it really sounds great on your Dad & Co preset.So,thanks for posting an update to that one.It has been a favorite of mine for a while.
 
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In my experience I haven't had to tweak anything for different pickups... Tele, Gretsch, Charvel SoCal, Jazzmaster, Strat... all sound great on the same presets.
 
P90s have a lot of kick in the bass (and noise). Kinman makes noiseless p90s that are also pretty nice and clear, try those!
 
Do you have the input level of the Axe-FX itself set to the proper level? You need to change this setting when swapping guitars.
 
GrindcoreHank said:
You need to change this setting when swapping guitars.
Click to expand...
No you don't. Set it to work with your highest output guitar and you're fine. The input levels only optimize the analog to digital signal analysis. It has no impact on the gain of the signal entering the grid (i.e. setting it lower doesn't make a hot pickup appear less hot at the input of the grid, it just has more noise to signal in the digitized version of the input signal).
 
iaresee said:
No you don't. Set it to work with your highest output guitar and you're fine. The input levels only optimize the analog to digital signal analysis. It has no impact on the gain of the signal entering the grid (i.e. setting it lower doesn't make a hot pickup appear less hot at the input of the grid, it just has more noise to signal in the digitized version of the input signal).
Click to expand...
I do have the input level set correctly. And it’s not my highest output guitar by any means. I’ll post the preset when I get home from work.
 
iaresee said:
No you don't. Set it to work with your highest output guitar and you're fine. The input levels only optimize the analog to digital signal analysis. It has no impact on the gain of the signal entering the grid (i.e. setting it lower doesn't make a hot pickup appear less hot at the input of the grid, it just has more noise to signal in the digitized version of the input signal).
Click to expand...
I use instruments w/ pretty big differences in signal level. If I set the input level very low when using an instrument that needs a boost, I hear a pretty big difference in tone. If it's supposed to sound the same, why is there such a big difference? I'm talking about the difference between sounding weak and flat vs. sounding Jerry Cantrell thicc. Dynamic response feels off too. There's definitely more going on than signal-to-noise ratio.
 
iaresee said:
I love my P90-equipped Les Paul into my III.

Post a preset? It’s hard to give you any specific advice without understanding what you’re chasing.

Some tones from me:

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/lanois-ish.162172/

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/the-fm3-does-zeppelin.162618/

I was working on an updated "Tiny Buy Mighty" preset this weekend that's all low power amps paired with speakers that are no bigger than 10" and tuning it with my P90 LP and it was sounding great. I'll try to get it posted with clips tomorrow morning.
Click to expand...
+1 to this. LOVE the sound of my P90 Goldtop with the III.
 
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