My Axe-Fx experiences so far.

Im struggling with a good sounds on my Axe Fx... The cleans are good but the distortion it’s not good... Any tip? Ive got an Axe Fx 2 xl plus and a matrix gt1000fx 1u... and a real cab Orange PPC410. Anyone have opinion?
Cheers.
When I had my XL+ I was using a solo 100 amp block with a modified tube screamer in front of it, and a 4 x 12 cab block. I setup my amp first with some gain, and got a tone I was happy with. Next I picked a 4 x 12 and solo'd through the speakers until I found a tone I liked. Then I played with the tube screamer block and tweaked the tone knob to about 3, (higher the number, brighter the tone) and played with the gain (used very little). I had a clear high gain tone with tons of sustain. I was going for a middle of the road classic/modern tone. Are you using cab sims? If not, try turning them on. You may have to turn down your amp block bass.
 
I run my XL+ from the outs to the effects loop RETURN only of two tube amps (use Radial Engineering ABY box with the isolation transformer to stop hum). Both tube amps have built-in attenuators (Lee Jackson Ampeg VL-series). I turn off the global power amp sim and global cab sims; then I start with a noise gate, add a drive pedal, an amp and either reverb or delay. Last, I go into the amp block and page over to the graphic EQ and turn up the first two sliders (bass end). With a closed-back cab, it is instantly satisfying. Love the Friedman Dirty Shirley (or HBE) with the Timmy overdrive (or FAS Boost!) giving it an extra push. Done. Magical.
 
Ah, other things i don't like about the axe FX 2, after years of using it:
1) While it does sound ok, It doesn't completely sound authentic through a real cab. The feel isn't quite right. It doesn't have the "Amp+cab mode" that AxeFX 3 has. Also, there is no easy way to set the speaker page resonance curve, or the transformer settings correctly. Real amps, on the other hand, are plug and play. Can't really blame the axe for that, but it feels incomplete without this working.
2) Some poor design choices for routing, that were solved in Axe FX 3. Since the FX loop isn't split into input/output blocks, to connect two guitars, I have to use send/receive blocks, and send the output of the FX loop block right back into itself... overcomplicated unnecessary gymnastics.
 
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