Owned Axe FX 2, 3, FM3, and sold them all. Couldn't get decent tones. What was I doing wrong?

rich2k4

Inspired
Kept coming back to see whether I was wrong but every time I felt the same.

I live in an apartment and play late at night, midnight, etc. Don't like using headphones so I would play through my JBL305 studio monitors at a low volume.

The tones just didn't feel right, especially clean tones.

My process was as follows:

Load up amp and cab

pull up the preset level meter and increase the amp level until I'm near the 0 db line.

A lot of times, even when I did this, the tones were still too quiet at times, on my audio interface (Scarlet 6i6) not even hitting -12 db.

Especially trying to get clean tones. I would be able to hear my guitar strings sometimes louder than the actual tones. Yet music and youtube videos coming out of my system were at a good volume.

Through headphones things would sound bad.

Some presets were so quiet, I couldn't even hear the effects on them if they were one of the weird ones with tons of effects. Presets that were ambient pads, I couldn't hear at all at times.

All of this coming out of OUT 1, with the knob at about noon.

I then switched to OUT 2, set the mode to "Unity Gain" dimed the OUT 2 knob to max (On FM3), set the preset level using the meter, but it would still be extremely quiet.

However if I were to record the tones into a DAW and play it back, it would sound better than what I was hearing live.

I would get so frustrated that I sold them. 3 different units, at 3 different periods of time. All sold.
 
I estimate that the problem was an unwillingness to research or troubleshoot. All three of those units are capable of producing a ridiculously hot signal; easily enough to overdrive the input of your interface. If what you wrote is true, you were wise to sell them. Try a used Pod or V-Amp, or something else more straightforward to use. Perhaps a Pignose or a Zoom.
 
Well, you should have read the manuals or asked here. If set up in the ballpark even the factory presets are good.

Go buy a Mesa Mark V and a Two Notes attenuator if needed. Basically you can get almost any sound you want out of that setup also. Of course you need to read the manual.

Better yet get a Mesa Mark V 25. Idiot proof.



Good luck.
 
Any piece of gear can be the best or the worse unit and this is related to many factors but the main I found out following EU customers and pro players (yes sometimes they have the same problem too) is: do you exactly know what you are looking for using this or that unit. Sometimes people scroll all the factory presets and end up loosing themselves. Start with the sound you are looking for, the one you have in your mind or the tone you are happy with with other gears (analog or digital) and if you should have any problem the FAS community is here to help (and also reading manuals can help ;-) ).
 
Please tell us what kind of headphones and/or P.A, Monitor etc. you have used.
I really can’t imagine to get a bad sound out of the Axe III .
What were the stock presets sounding to you?
 
A lot of times, even when I did this, the tones were still too quiet at times, on my audio interface (Scarlet 6i6) not even hitting -12 db.
The level meter on your audio interface (and DAW) is independent of the volume of your monitors. Nevertheless, given you sold these units, it's impossible to diagnose the issue after the fact.
 
I use a mixer when I don’t record .

The mixer out to the studio monitoring .

I have my computer plugged in the mixer , the axe too and I just need to adjust the mixer tracks volume to play with music from my computer . And it works great .

When I record, I have the same config, just I plug my axe in the focusrite , put the song in the daw and play with it in another track . You adjust level in the daw and it’s ok
 
All this helpful Input for a troll, makes me wanna yank on my 7 string loudly. Rich2k4 is lying and Is a member of the headrush community
 
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