Less headroom on clean fenders?

T

toasterdude

Experienced
Inally updated Axe II. Didn'tleave much time for tweaking but itseems like any drive setti g over 2 will start getting some breakup?
 
The gain is the same (and therefore the same "headroom" (hate that term)). The taper of the Drive knob changed so 2 is about equal to what 4-5 was.
 
What is unity gain for the AFII tone controls that are missing from the original amps, "5?"
Also, am I correct in assuming that bright, fat, boost etc., are left turned off in the authentic models that don't sport those features?
 
I'm not sure what happened to the Fenders but I have never worked so hard to get a decent clean sound out of a Fender in my life as I did with V6! It's easier now to get a clean sound out of the AC30 & even the AC15 which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It seems the new Fender power amps are way too fragile & break up way too early especially the 65 Bassguy & Double Verb. The only exception is the Princetone, which, again, makes no sense. It was suggested to take the drive to 1.5 & MV to 7.0 but that took away all the body & made notes on the B & E string very thin & plinky. What I found the helps (not cures the problem) is to take the sag down below 1.0. I ended up around .67 which let me bring the drive & MV up some so it got back some of the fullness that was missing. The Double Verb acts more like a plexi when the bright switch is on with that raspy hi end distortion at very low gain settings. Nothing like any Twin I have ever owned or played through. I REALLY hope this gets fixed.
 
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notalemming said:
I'm not sure what happened to the Fenders but I have never worked so hard to get a decent clean sound out of a Fender in my life as I did with V6! It's easier now to get a clean sound out of the AC30 & even the AC15 which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It seems the new Fender power amps are way to fragile & break up way too early especially the 65 Bassguy & Double Verb. The only exception is the Princetone, which, again, makes no sense. It was suggested to take the drive to 1.5 & MV to 7.0 but that took away all the body & made notes on the B & E string very thin & plinky. What I found the helps (not cures the problem) is to take the sag down below 1.0. I ended up around .67 which let me bring the drive & MV up some so it got back some of the fullness that was missing. The Double Verb acts more like a plexi when the bright switch is on with that raspy hi end distortion at very low gain settings. Nothing like any Twin I have ever owned or played through. I REALLY hope this gets fixed.
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The amps sound exactly like the reference amps I have here so don't hold your breath for anything to get 'fixed'.
 
That's a shame because I have owned a 65 Bassman & numerous Twins & none of them ever distorted anywhere near as easily as the V6 Fenders. Even the half fried Twin I used for a while I could run all the way up to 7(had to to get it loud enough lol) & still get a fairly clean rhythm sound. I was playing with a 10 piece funk- R & B band & clean was in, even the solos! I guess it's find a new clean amp or go back to 5.07 which won't be that big of a loss as tone matching doesn't interest me all that much (don't want to sound exactly like someone one else!) & wouldn't help at all with the distortion issues with the Fender sims anyway.
 
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Why? The only difference would be, that there is a different number under the drive control when tweaking "the" sound. :ugeek
 
I've never got much above three on a Fender without a bit of breakup. I think the models are very close in this respect.
 
FractalAudio said:
The first half of this clip is the Axe-Fx, the second half is the actual amp. 1-to-1 on the controls except MV a 9 (as recommended). I don't know what else to say:

www.fractalaudio.com/tmp/fender_cmp.mp3
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Hey Cliff,
I am at work & can't listen to this now but what are the volume & tone settings on each? Which Fender amp is it? Not trying to bash or anything. Just trying to figure out what is going on with my system. I went from V5.04 to V6 so maybe there are some corruption issues or something since I never updated to V5.07? Also, I don't use the cab sims as I play though the FX loop return of an H & K Zenterra combo at home & a Mesa 2:90 & 4 single 12 cabs at rehearsals & live. I've had the Axe since V1 & have been very happy with it over all & have never had such a hard time getting clean (& I mean pristine clean) Fender sounds until now.
 
HJM said:
I've never got much above three on a Fender without a bit of breakup. I think the models are very close in this respect.
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Which Fenders? On a Deluxe or Princeton, yes but on a Twin or even a Bassman or a Super Reverb???
 
Fenders are a 'dirty' clean amp.
They are designed to be used with singlecoils and to have some tube breakup within the clean tone.
That gain what gives them such a great sound and vibe and it's also exactly the reason why many jazz players who want a pristine clean tone DON'T use them.
If you want a super pristine, high-headroom, clean sound with a real Fender amp you need to reduce the gain way down and control your input level like crazy.
The Axe Fx is now behaving much more like an actual Fender amp, IMO.
 
There are three different Bassman circuits. The one in the Axe is the famous AB165 which has way more gain than the other two. It sounds more like a Marshall than a Fender. There's nothing clean or polite about it, and that's a good thing.
 
FractalAudio said:
There are three different Bassman circuits. The one in the Axe is the famous AB165 which has way more gain than the other two. It sounds more like a Marshall than a Fender. There's nothing clean or polite about it, and that's a good thing.
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Not if you want a clean Bassman sound & not another Marshall. Could we have both the typical Bassman & this more unique one?
 
If you want a clean bassman sound, try the JTM45 (pretty darn similar circuit, I believe). master 9, drive 4 sounds good.

To clean up the bassmans turn master down to ~7 and level up to compensate.
 
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The bassman sounded fine before, it seemed to have the right amount of gain, and now it has alot after v6.
 
FractalAudio said:
There are three different Bassman circuits. The one in the Axe is the famous AB165 which has way more gain than the other two. It sounds more like a Marshall than a Fender. There's nothing clean or polite about it, and that's a good thing.
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I think its an interesting amp for sure!

I will admit my expectation was a 6G6'ish sound. I own one of these and associate the "Bassman" moniker with the 6G6.

Still have love for the AxeFx II model though... raunchy in all the good ways.

Richard
 
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