Many Amps Sound Muffled.......Blanket Over Amp???

J

J.Luke

Inspired
Hey Guys, I know I've started a few threads but I thought this was a unique enough question to have its own thread.

Why do many of the amps sound very muffled or have the "blanket over the amp" sound? Some sound nice and open.

I've tried lowering bass and upping treble, brightness and prescence, and changing cabs with little improvement.

Is there something I can do to remedy this?
 
I've also tried diming the Master Volume and upping the level. These help a little but no matter what many sound muffled.
 
Ok, raising the level in the amp mixer block does seem to help. However, if I need that high to sound clear won't that make it hard to balance patch levels?
Also, the unit show the red light(clipping) for "main out clip" blinking on the unit when I have the level very high.
Sorry, I'm a stupid noob when it comes to this right now.

Just tell me to go sit in the corner if I'm just not making sense.
 
What is your chain? How are you monitoring the sound? Which IRs do you use? The amp level does not change the sound at all, it is just a digital level increase.
 
I had a similar experience back in the day with the Ultra. I was using a tube power amp and guitar cabinet, and I had the power amp sim and cab sim engaged. Any of this apply here, perhaps?
 
Smittefar said:
What is your chain? How are you monitoring the sound? Which IRs do you use? The amp level does not change the sound at all, it is just a digital level increase.
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I'm just messing with factory presets........raising the level really brings some clarity it seems. I'm using a set of Maudio BX8a's
 
Maybe your ears get cheated by the lower level? The level parameter adds nothing. The factory presets are not level matched, so maybe you just need to adjust the amp level of each preset to match?
 
Try turning up your speakers, the BX8a's.
I've not had much luck at really low volume. When I turned up, the AX8 really came alive.
 
Could you give an example of a factory presets that's muffled, and one that's not.

Maybe you are playing a Les Paul Neck Humbucker on a preset for a tele bridge pickup
 
Smittefar said:
Maybe your ears get cheated by the lower level? The level parameter adds nothing. The factory presets are not level matched, so maybe you just need to adjust the amp level of each preset to match?
Click to expand...
Some amps sound nice and clear at lower levels and some
Smittefar said:
Could you give an example of a factory presets that's muffled, and one that's not.

Maybe you are playing a Les Paul Neck Humbucker on a preset for a tele bridge pickup
Click to expand...
Ok, factory preset 6-1(plexi normal). I"m playing a bridge hum bucker and it sounds like there it's far away or muffled or something.
 
I have my monitors set at about 3/4 volume on the back of them. I run them into a small mixer which is what I plug the AX8 into. I have everything flat.

Should I have the volume on the monitors themselves all the way up and have the mixer gain and level lower?
 
Smittefar said:
Could you give an example of a factory presets that's muffled, and one that's not.

Maybe you are playing a Les Paul Neck Humbucker on a preset for a tele bridge pickup
Click to expand...

How would one know what preset was made for a Tele and one that was made for a Les Paul? I'd think that any amp could be made to sound good with either so I'm not sure how you'd figure out which is which. Is there a document that Fractal put out that states what style guitar and what pickups were used to make each preset?
 
J.Luke said:
I have my monitors set at about 3/4 volume on the back of them. I run them into a small mixer which is what I plug the AX8 into. I have everything flat.

Should I have the volume on the monitors themselves all the way up and have the mixer gain and level lower?
Click to expand...

I have a set of those same speakers and it's not the speakers as it would have that issue across all of the presets. Run the masters where you need them to be run it doesn't make any difference other than dealing with F.M. at different volume levels. Each amp sim is going to have it's unique sound so some will sound darker or muffled than others.

When Im using my M-Audio's I plug in directly to them, the less in the signal chain the better. I also run tracks into the 1/4" inputs and mix accordingly and it works fine.
 
Lower the XFormer Match to open up the amps. Try .800 & lower.

It's in the speaker tab of the amp block....
 
willowdale said:
Lower the XFormer Match to open up the amps. Try .800 & lower.

It's in the speaker tab of the amp block....
Click to expand...
while this will help in some cases, i'd recommend against deep editing until the basic issue is solved.

perhaps the OP could post some clips of what he's hearing....could just be amps he isn't familiar with and doesn't know how they actually sound.
 
J.Luke said:
Some amps sound nice and clear at lower levels and some

Ok, factory preset 6-1(plexi normal). I"m playing a bridge hum bucker and it sounds like there it's far away or muffled or something.
Click to expand...

That would be true to the nature of the normal channel of a Plexi. Try preset 3-5 Jumped Plexi, or preset 1-5 1959 SLP. You can set the volume level of the normal and treble channel with those amp models. There's a reason no-one uses the normal channel by itself.
 
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