Newbie PSA: turn it up

tysonlt

Power User
Just had it brough home to me yet again how crucial good volume is.

I was jamming away having a great time with Cooper's EoB Delux Verb Normal, and then thrashing out with a thumpin 5153 50W Blue. Both amps I've struggled with my Tele before. So much chug I had to turn the bass down.

Both sounded amaaaaazing! So much grit, punch, warmth, oomp, wapoosh, and all those other keywords.

Then my youngest asked me to turn down because they could hear it from 2 rooms down, even through my in-ears they'd borrowed.

So it turned it down and.... crap. Thin, lifeless, 'digital' sounding even... all the other category of adjectives that pop up to describe a tone. Lost all desire to play.

So if you're stressing that your AxeFX is not sounding as good as you thought it would... seriously, turn it up, then turn it up some more.
 
Yeah no avoiding it. Too low volume is always going to be a compromise even if the Axe-Fx can simulate cranking that amp.

The biggest mistake people often make when comparing amps or modelers is that they don't set them at the same volume or think that volume setting X on amp A will behave the same on amp B.

Buy a decibel meter folks, it's so useful when you want to make sure you are comparing two tones at the same volume. Even a small 3 dB difference is going to be perceived as "that less loud sound doesn't sound as good" unless you are already at loud band volumes.
 
+1

Playing a preset at low volume can seem lifeless and uninspiring whereas the same preset / guitar combination with moderate volume (protect your hearing folks) can result in an hour flying by like it was five minutes. The difference is dramatic.
 
Playing loud is fun, but one of the best features of my AXE3 and FM3 is how great they sound at low volume.
Yep! That's what I wanted to respond with when I first read the OP. True, a lot of the experience depends upon what you're monitoring with or playing through. FEEL is 'better' at higher volumes but with most studio monitors, the guitar SOUND remains pretty much the same.

It was one of the most difficult things to wrap my head around with a modeller; getting used to hearing my guitar as a sound, as if on a recording. Once I got it, it was very liberating to get away from "needing" the amp/cab tone or feel. It is fun to play at higher volumes but being able to enjoy playing at lower volumes, @65-70dB, is really cool.
 
Yep! That's what I wanted to respond with when I first read the OP. True, a lot of the experience depends upon what you're monitoring with or playing through. FEEL is 'better' at higher volumes but with most studio monitors, the guitar SOUND remains pretty much the same.

It was one of the most difficult things to wrap my head around with a modeller; getting used to hearing my guitar as a sound, as if on a recording. Once I got it, it was very liberating to get away from "needing" the amp/cab tone or feel. It is fun to play at higher volumes but being able to enjoy playing at lower volumes, @65-70dB, is really cool.

This! Love it!
 
Do most people have the universal output volume in settings, set at the 4db up setting, or the default choice?
 
I don't play my Axe FXIII very loud at all through my studio monitors, but there is definitely a certain volume they need to be at or above for them to sound right to me. Especially on clean sounds. Once I discovered what minimum volume I needed to have my monitors set at, I always set them at that level or above and they sound great.
 
Yeah I’m not talking ear damage loud, probably 80-85db territory. I’m just talking about getting out of Fletcher-Munson’s dark valley.

And yes it is in the manual, from memory. What a great manual it is, just another example of the high quality of everything fractal.

The moral of the story is that if you need to be quiet, it’s time for the headphones. Now that I use IEM it’s just whatever volume is comfortable, but when I tried to go quiet with monitors, I had a flashback of my newbie days!
 
Playing loud is fun, but one of the best features of my AXE3 and FM3 is how great they sound at low volume.
This ^^^^.

The sound is no different at lower or higher volumes. What changes is how well our ear picks up mids vs. everything else as volume is increased or decreased. Recording the output and playing it back quiet and again louder will prove that. Classic Fletcher/Munson effect....
 
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