Just what I was afraid of

P

plexi59

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Never mind, I have arrived a the reasonable settings for CAE 3+ LD. Still doesn't sound as good as the old model, but hopefully I'll get there through EQ and advanced parameters.
 
I think it sounds much better.

Did you take the entire amp block back to default values? If you have not, then please do and start from there. I am finding that it is important (and faster) to just start over and I've found almost universally that I end up with a similar in tone, yet more reactive and 'juicer' tone than what I was using before.
 
So after tweaking the preset, the highs resemble what I had before (the new model is darker), but the lows apparently have much less crunch and gain and in general sound "flabbier". I'll tweak it some more, but it looks like 8.09 it is for me. I had my perfect tone dialed in with that firmware. The new model by no means sounds bad, it's just worse than the old one (IMO). :lol:
 
I've just turned the damp control up on my CAE Rhythm patch - this has done the trick. Restored the crunch and opened up the bottom end a little.

Chris
 
plexi59 said:
Never mind, I have arrived a the reasonable settings for CAE 3+ LD. Still doesn't sound as good as the old model, but hopefully I'll get there through EQ and advanced parameters.
Click to expand...

Is there a question in here someplace?
 
I think there are a number of things going on here. First, tone is so subjective and what may sound great to one person could sound like garbage to the next. Another thing is the number of variables that you are dealing with in the AXE FX. Prior to the AXE FX I had a amp/pedalboard rig and had a set it and forget it approach to it. The rig was fairly complicated but once I got it dialed in I was good to go. Whenever I introduced something new to the rig, which wasn't that often, I would start with the amp and the new effect get the new effect dialed in and then add it into the rig and make minor tweaks then I was good to go.

The AXE FX was a huge paradigm shift for me and very overwhelming at first. I've said this many times and it is still true today, I still haven't scratched the surface of what it can do. I basically have 2-4 preset that are variations of my old rig. When there are major changes in the firmware sometimes it is very hard for me to adjust to some of the new features and improvements.

A recent example was when there was a major changes made to the drive models. I really struggled with that change and when I posted about it I got: read the release notes and use your ears. A normal tube screamer has three knobs and I was dealing with something like 13 different parameters to try to get the sound I wanted. It really shouldn't be that hard.

I had my Ultra totally dialed in around 7.18 and it was my ideal tone but I haven't really got it back since the upgrade to 8.0. Do I believe the tone is in there? Absolutely, but with a job, kids, band practice, etc, I just don't have the time to tweak 100s of parameters to find it right now. As a result, I haven't been using my Ultra as much as I would like lately. For example, I finally found the drive setting that I liked at home; however when I played in practice/live the overdriven signal would not cut through the mix enough. I added a filter block and boosted the overdrive signal but that pushed my CPU usage too high and the Ultra got glitchy. I really need to restructure my presets a bit and probably rebuild them from the ground up but time is at a premium right now.

That being said I would never want Cliff to stop making improvements to the AXE FX; however, it is evolving faster than I am. :D

Just my $.02
 
Scott Peterson said:
I think it sounds much better.

Did you take the entire amp block back to default values? If you have not, then please do and start from there. I am finding that it is important (and faster) to just start over and I've found almost universally that I end up with a similar in tone, yet more reactive and 'juicer' tone than what I was using before.
Click to expand...


Words of a smart man. I've been doing this with all the major revisions, i get to where i need to go much quicker.
 
ipressthebutton said:
I think there are a number of things going on here. First, tone is so subjective and what may sound great to one person could sound like garbage to the next. Another thing is the number of variables that you are dealing with in the AXE FX. Prior to the AXE FX I had a amp/pedalboard rig and had a set it and forget it approach to it. The rig was fairly complicated but once I got it dialed in I was good to go. Whenever I introduced something new to the rig, which wasn't that often, I would start with the amp and the new effect get the new effect dialed in and then add it into the rig and make minor tweaks then I was good to go.

The AXE FX was a huge paradigm shift for me and very overwhelming at first. I've said this many times and it is still true today, I still haven't scratched the surface of what it can do. I basically have 2-4 preset that are variations of my old rig. When there are major changes in the firmware sometimes it is very hard for me to adjust to some of the new features and improvements.

A recent example was when there was a major changes made to the drive models. I really struggled with that change and when I posted about it I got: read the release notes and use your ears. A normal tube screamer has three knobs and I was dealing with something like 13 different parameters to try to get the sound I wanted. It really shouldn't be that hard.

I had my Ultra totally dialed in around 7.18 and it was my ideal tone but I haven't really got it back since the upgrade to 8.0. Do I believe the tone is in there? Absolutely, but with a job, kids, band practice, etc, I just don't have the time to tweak 100s of parameters to find it right now. As a result, I haven't been using my Ultra as much as I would like lately. For example, I finally found the drive setting that I liked at home; however when I played in practice/live the overdriven signal would not cut through the mix enough. I added a filter block and boosted the overdrive signal but that pushed my CPU usage too high and the Ultra got glitchy. I really need to restructure my presets a bit and probably rebuild them from the ground up but time is at a premium right now.

That being said I would never want Cliff to stop making improvements to the AXE FX; however, it is evolving faster than I am. :D

Just my $.02
Click to expand...

9.0 scatters all that to the wind. No sarcasm or joke either. Everything just seems so much easier to dial. I'm not crazy either. Try it, you'll be on the same path inside of a few minutes. No kidding. You'll be able to simplify, no wierd EQ tricks or multi-band compression needed at all here. No fancy tricks. Better tone. Faster. Smarter.
 
Scott Peterson said:
9.0 scatters all that to the wind. No sarcasm or joke either. Everything just seems so much easier to dial. I'm not crazy either. Try it, you'll be on the same path inside of a few minutes. No kidding. You'll be able to simplify, no wierd EQ tricks or multi-band compression needed at all here. No fancy tricks. Better tone. Faster. Smarter.
Click to expand...

I'll let you know after tomorrow night, I just upgraded to 9.0 and have about 30-45 minutes before practice to get everything adjusted. We have a big gig on Sunday night at a new venue with a killer sound system so I am really hoping to use my Ultra/Atomic FR rig. I am going to create a basic amp/cab patch using the blank preset and start from there. I'm really interested in hearing the new vibe and rotary blocks.
 
ipressthebutton said:
I had my Ultra totally dialed in around 7.18 and it was my ideal tone but I haven't really got it back since the upgrade to 8.0.
Click to expand...

Question for you... if 7.18 was your ideal tone what was your motivation to move to 8.0?
 
Well, how do you find out if the new update sounds better without upgrading? Everyone is saying 9.0 is universally better, but at least in my case it's not.
 
mworkman said:
Question for you... if 7.18 was your ideal tone what was your motivation to move to 8.0?
Click to expand...

“The only thing constant in life is change”
-Francois de la Rochefoucauld

Seriously, I guess it is the same motivation that keeps me from going back to my old rig. I've owned an AXE FX for over two and a half years now haven't really had the desire to buy a new amp since I got it. I've always upgraded to the latest firmware. When I got my original AXE FX I think it came with 3.05 or 3.09. I really didn't have any trouble until the upgrade to 8.0. I guess I have a lot of faith in Cliff that every upgrade is an improvement on the next. Don't get me wrong, I still think the Ultra sounds great, there was just a couple weeks around 7.18 where the tone I was getting was exceptional. Its in there somewhere, I just have to take the time to find it again.

Why stop the journey? Sure, I'm struggling a little now but I know the limitations of getting back to that tone are in me not the Ultra.
 
I must have bad ears - I can hear very little difference on my patches.
Recorded my JCM800 patch before and after and there is very little noticeable difference to me between 8.06 and 9.00.


likely my ears :(
 
SparkyG said:
I must have bad ears - I can hear very little difference on my patches.
Recorded my JCM800 patch before and after and there is very little noticeable difference to me between 8.06 and 9.00.


likely my ears :(
Click to expand...

Could be that's one of the amps that had very little changes done to it.
 
SparkyG said:
I must have bad ears - I can hear very little difference on my patches.
Recorded my JCM800 patch before and after and there is very little noticeable difference to me between 8.06 and 9.00.


likely my ears :(
Click to expand...

You need to explore it again is all. The master/drive interplay is MUCH more 'real' and 'open' than before. You have to turn knobs to hear it react differently.
 
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