My mandatory advanced parameter tweaks

Tahoebrian5

Tahoebrian5

Fractal Fanatic
Hey guys, just wanted to share some things that I have painstakingly learned over the course of the last couple years with the Axe. For the most part I try to just stick to the basic amp controls that you would find on the front panel of your amp model. But I have learned that there are a few advanced parameters that you should not ignore. The axe is not exactly the same as the real model so there are a couple things that must be dialed in imo.

1) Speaker comp. you can’t just ignore this. It’s a preference thing but if you don’t play with it you are missing out.

2) Low Resonance in the spkr tab of the amp block. I completely ignored this for the longest time and this was a huge mistake. For my setup many of the amp models sounded boomy and adding a bunch of cab block low cut was not ideal. What I do now is crank up the volume. Chug some low E and A chords and sweep the frequency until I find the sweet spot. It is usually around 75-80 hz instead of the default around 110 hz. This makes a huge improvement imo. I mostly use Marshall type amps so the sweet spot is likely different for others.

3) the bright cap value in the amp block. This is a bit more subtle but with headphones on you can really optimize this for the guitar you are using. This is not absolutely needed but I find this can really fine tune the high end and has a different flavor to just using the tone stack or post eq. I do this to every new preset now.

Anyway that’s about it. I find myself backing off the hi and lo cuts in the cab block after dialing in the above and overall tone is much better. I go back and forth from headphones to loud in the room and I hear different things with each.

That’s all.
 
The low resonance on the speaker tab is a game changer, IMHO. The default of 110hz just doesn't work for me for most amp models.

I also usually crank up the sag, and often audition different preamp tubes.
 
  • I'm not using Speaker Comp because it doesn't match with my real cabinet, and I don't really miss it to my surprise.
  • Low Resonance can make all the difference, but often I don't bother because things already sound great as they do.
  • I use Output Comp with my clean tones.
That's it, with regard to the AMP block.
 
To Warlock, Yes I am using an FR rig, the ASM-12 (although possibly not an FR”FR” as pointed out by another member). I guess the general idea behind my post is just to remind people that just want to stick to the basic parameters of the actual amp that there are a few things you are likely missing if you never venture past the front page.

If you are using a real cab, spkr comp may not be needed as Yek mentioned
 
Thanks, TB5. Will definitely check these out next time I'm having a patch tweaking session. I've been too busy gig-wise to even install Q9.x yet, but I have a break coming up when I plan to do that and re-work a bunch of presets.
 
+1 for the low res parameter - I think it was a few years ago there was a thread about finding your cabs ( for "real" cab users) low resonance freq - and setting it to that. Mine seems to be best somewhere between 82-90. So that's one of the first things I do when starting a new patch. I also typically cut mids/low mids back in the GEQ page as well. After that - its all gravy !
 
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