Part II: Smilefan's Axe II Patch Thread

cragginshred,

+1.

Brad Paisley is on fire in this clip, and he ain't even tryin'! Crazy good playing! This YT-clip is becoming legendary amongst fans of great playing in general and certainly of those fond of "country-shred!" (...A la Jerry Reed, Albert Lee, Danny Gatton, Brent Mason, Johnny Hiland, etc.)

Great tone AND playing!

Bill

Could someone with Firmware 3.02 take a stab at his sound in this clip??? Please. I posted a request on this for the Ultra, but I really think it is doable now with the enhanced II system.
 
TRULY AWESOME, have been reading this topic (1 and 2) the entire day, what a learn! Thanks a million smilefan, you make us smile ;)

Can't wait for a good Neal Schon file, old school '70s from the early Journey records till now.
 
First and foremost I have to say thank you so much for taking the time to tweak and upload these patches they are nothing short of fantastic! Thanks also for the very educational posts, I've learned so much through your posts. I was wondering if you could take a crack at creating patches for these following songs?


Sick Sick Sick - Queens Of The Stone Age. - YouTube QOTSA Sick Sick Sick

BSG Orchestra - Apocalypse (Live) - YouTube - Bear McCreary's Orchestra - Apocalypse

Oceansize - Sleeping Dogs & Dead Lions - YouTube - Oceansize Sleeping Dogs And Dead Lions

And finally Oceansize Trial of Fire Oceansize - Trail of Fire - YouTube.

Many thanks

-Sam
 
Wow, I just discovered this thread (and by that I mean I now have an AxeFxII and decided to check it out). Did i say wow? I meant WOW! Fantastic work. Thank You X3. One question (so far) Is the patch "SRV's Vibroverb supposed to be using two DoubleVerbs? I want to make sure my system isn't glitching or something? I noticed your comments about the BF so I'm guessing that you felt the DoubleVerbs came closer than the built in Virbroverb or....?
 
Wow, I just discovered this thread (and by that I mean I now have an AxeFxII and decided to check it out). Did i say wow? I meant WOW! Fantastic work. Thank You X3. One question (so far) Is the patch "SRV's Vibroverb supposed to be using two DoubleVerbs? I want to make sure my system isn't glitching or something? I noticed your comments about the BF so I'm guessing that you felt the DoubleVerbs came closer than the built in Virbroverb or....?

There are TWO famous Vibroverbs that Fender made. I'm not sure which the Fractal model is supposed
to be. There is the Brownface '63 Vibroverb and the '64 Blackface Vibroverb (which Stevie used).
The Brown was fat, middy, and grindy. The Blackface was bass-y, punchy, and snappy.
Fender reissued the Vibroverb from 1990-1995, but it was the '63 Brownface, not the Black. Anyway,
I think the Fractal model is supposed to be the Brownface. Sounds and feels like it to me. I made my
SRV patch with the BF model using 1x15 speaker IR's. That cops the big, hard, snappy SRV vibe better
than the warm, squishy Brownface sound, to my ears.
 
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There are TWO famous Vibroverbs that Fender made. I'm not sure which the Fractal model is supposed
to be. There is the Brownface '63 Vibroverb and the '64 Blackface Vibroverb (which Stevie used).
The Brown was fat, middy, and grindy. The Blackface was bass-y, punchy, and snappy.
Fender reissued the Vibroverb from 1990-1995, but it was the '63 Brownface, not the Black. Anyway,
I think the Fractal model is supposed to be the Brownface. Sounds and feels like it to me. I made my
SRV patch with the BF model using 1x15 speaker IR's. That cops the big, hard, snappy SRV vibe better
than the warm, squishy Brownface sound, to my ears.

Yes, factory preset 002 "Brownface" uses the "Vibrato Verb" amp model.
 
Smilefan- Just wanted to say thanks.

I just tried the Duane Allman Fillmore patch- one of my favorite all time tones.
Amazing. You nailed that sweet singing nasally woody vocal like tone.

I downloaded your zip file of presets and will give them a test drive this weekend.
Also reading this thread and your Part 1 descriptions- you are a real encyclopedia of knowledge.

Thanks again.

Oh- and one small request.... (maybe there is one already in there in your zip file).
Any smooth jazz type patches as in the Chuck Loeb/Larry CArlton/Fourplay genre type thing?
Whenever I try to get there, my patches are too cutting, or get too rolled off. Can't get that sweet spot smooth tone.

Thanks.
 
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Can't wait for a good Neal Schon file, old school '70s from the early Journey records till now.

Schon_Neal_79_1.jpg

A youthful Neil Schon? Or Ben Stiller doing a 70's parody?
(That's Neil and his 'fro in 1979)


This one is for new member Rick Axis. He wants early Journey, and that's a sound I know up close
and personal. I was working concert security when they were on the "Infinity" tour, and saw Neil's
rig in detail. So this patch is a pretty decent representation of his live tone at that time.

Neil was a gear hound, and changed guitars often, but it was mostly Les Pauls thru a rather unusual
amp for a pro of his stature, a Peavey Mace. The Mace was a 180W amp with SIX 6L6 power tubes
and a solid state preamp. It sounded like ass at anything less than concert volume. He got almost
all his distortion/sustain from pedals.

One of the trademarks of his sound in those days was the use of a "cocked wah".
A wah in the 'on' position but not played, just left at the EQ notch position he wanted,
for a middy, sing-y, vowel-like effect. He also used a compressor pedal, and a British-made Colorsound
Overdriver (made famous by Jeff Beck). I was amazed how much smooth gain he got out of that rig even
thru the super clean Peavey.

I used a Hiwatt Normal model to simulate the Mace, as it is the most powerful "clean-ish" amp we have
in the Axe. We don't have a Colorsound Overdrive in the Axe (Cliff!! Please!?), so I used a maxed out
Tape Distortion to simulate its warm, urgent sing. Note that I've got the Hi Cut down to 767Hz.
This is how you dial in a warm, vintage-style distortion with clarity using our drive blocks. Set the Hi Cut
very low and leave the treble register clean (I used this same trick on the Duane Allman patch).

Thanks for the great patch idea, Rick! Try some leads on the bridge PU with the Tone rolled
off a bit.
 

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  • Early Journey.syx
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Great Schon preset - thanks. Any tips on a "Stone In Love" sound? I tried the preset of that name on the Ultra, but didn't find it to be that close...
 
Hey smilefan thanks for you reply, sorry about not being specific. In the BMO video I'm trying to find the rhythm guitar tone, that seems to be really meaty and thick (this is obviously supported by the strings and the arrangement).
In the first Oceansize video I'm aiming for the lead guitar patch that almost marshall esque tone with a bit more grind. I think it's the guitar panned to the left. On the second Oceansize video I'm going for that slightly crispy clean sound that has that roundness to it.
The QOTSA video I'm aiming for that really scuzzed out thick Fuzz sound. I managed to nail the tone a while back when I was using a Mesa Stiletto, Marshall TV cab and a fulltone ultimate octave.

Many thanks

-Sam
Thanks so much for the appreciation.

Requests for patches need to be very specific. Such as, "what about the elephant sound on
King Crimson's Discipline?". Asking to sound like a band's particular recording doesn't nail down
what sound you mean. In the BMO vid, for example, there are about 10 stringed instruments
on stage at once.

Some requests, by their nature are tough on the Axe II. Josh Homme, for example, uses vintage
Ampeg VT-22 and V-4 amps. Very fat, middy, and squawky (the Stones made them famous on their
Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street albums). We have no Ampeg models in the Axe II.
I don't know of any other amp that cops their unique warm, clean, yet grumbly and honky sound.
Maybe Cliff will model a V-4 one day!
 
Great Schon preset - thanks. Any tips on a "Stone In Love" sound? I tried the preset of that name on the Ultra, but didn't find it to be that close...

You are right. If you listen to the studio version of "Stone in Love":

Journey-Stone In Love - YouTube

The stock patch isn't even close. The recording is much more trebley and spare. He's using
fairly clean amp settings, two amps panned stereo L & R. He was using the Boss DS-1 OD at
that time, and I can hear on the recording he's using his prized '63 Strat which he never toured with, and he's got his 'cocked wah' thing going on, as well. Most of the distortion is coming from the Boss pedals.

So I redid the stock patch with a pair of stereo Marshalls, hard L & R, with a cocked wah on one side.
This is way closer to the recorded tone. (I used a Les Paul Deluxe w/minihums, bridge on '9'. Use Strat if u got).
 

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Smile , this is perfect timing. I am a huge Lincoln Brewster fan and was recently re watching his instructional videos scratching my head asking where i did this guy get all these tasty chops -then I began to hear all the Schon licks in his playing that he picked up while playing with steve perry and covering Neil's stuff. So I thought why don't I learn some Schon stuff and just last night learned 'lights', now your pre sets, ... thanks bro!
 
You are right. If you listen to the studio version of "Stone in Love":

Journey-Stone In Love - YouTube

The stock patch isn't even close. The recording is much more trebley and spare. He's using
fairly clean amp settings, two amps panned stereo L & R. He was using the Boss DS-1 OD at
that time, and I can hear on the recording he's using his prized '63 Strat which he never toured with, and he's got his 'cocked wah' thing going on, as well. Most of the distortion is coming from the Boss pedals.

So I redid the stock patch with a pair of stereo Marshalls, hard L & R, with a cocked wah on one side.
This is way closer to the recorded tone. (I used a Les Paul Deluxe w/minihums, bridge on '9'. Use Strat if u got).

Strat! Ok - I had just figured he was always a humbucker guy. Maybe that's my main issue. So when the tune starts and there's just the trebly guitar on the left side, is that the cocked wah? And then the 2nd (more full range) guitar comes in on the right...
 
Smilefan,
Just curious but when I load your patches in axedit I am noticing that your "Master Vol" levels in a majority of patches are mostly in or around the 9-10 range. Is this on purpose or is it a bug in the Axedit when loading your patches? It is myunderstanding that most people are saying with v3 the master should be set around 2-3?
 
It is myunderstanding that most people are saying with v3 the master should be set around 2-3?
You're thinking of high-gain amps with master volume controls. On other amps, and those without MV knobs, you'll usually want to crank your Axe-FX Master Volume prameter to push the power amp sim.

Judging by the tones, I'd say smilefan got 'em right. :)
 
Smilefan,
Just curious but when I load your patches in axedit I am noticing that your "Master Vol" levels in a majority of patches are mostly in or around the 9-10 range. Is this on purpose or is it a bug in the Axedit when loading your patches? It is myunderstanding that most people are saying with v3 the master should be set around 2-3?

Rex is correct. If you are talking modern hi gain amps, then yes, set the master low, but old school
non-master volume amps (and even most of the early master volume amps), in real life, must have the
master set around 8-10 to get the goods. You must start to clip their power sections before they will
sound awesome. I am setting these in my presets the way I would (and did) set them in real life.

Also, if you look at my preamp drive settings for these type amps you'll see I have
them set very low (on my AC-30 patches down as low as '2'). The signature sounds
of vintage amps came mainly from overdriving their power amp sections.
 
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