Part III: Smilefan Patch Thread

Thanks bro! Sounds close. Why would I only hear you pre set through the left side on my head phones?



I checked out some Lincoln Brewster tunes. You are right, he has a unique and hard to match balance of 'string' and 'sing'.
I tried some Plexi's but they just don't have enough string crispness. So I used the most defined sounding rock amp I know.
The Hiwatt Brilliant channel. I used his song, "Today is the Day" as a guideline. Sounds pretty close thru my rig with the
bridge PU tone rolled off about halfway.

Today is the Day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSVpHhW9u9Q
 
Thanks for spending the time to work on the Lincoln Brewster tone! Sounds close! Hey why would I only hear your pre set through one side of my head phones?
 
Smilefan,
thanks for the great work.
I was playing around with the "Ambient Guitar" preset, because I'd like to have a patch that comes close to Eivind Aarset's sound. A guitarist who is associated with the so-called Nu-Jazz movement in Europe - though not THAt new anymore. He played with Nils Petter Molvaer and has published 5 solo records. He is highly influenced by guys like David Torn and will be the guitarist on David Sylvian's tour.
I wonder what your take on Eivind's sound would be. His amp ofchoice is a Vox AC30 and main effects source is an Eventide Eclipse

Here's a clip:
Nils Petter Molvaer, Eivind Aarset, Audun Kleive -

Thanks a lot in advance
 
The Mighty Oz says, “here is your patch, Dorothy!”

This is really basic patchmaking. Not going to leave this one up long,
as I am at the end of the Welfare line of attachment space.


Smilefan, I just had a chance to try out the patch you made for me, and……

You nailed it! Maybe this is easy stuff, but it seems like magic to me that you
came so close from just a written description (people praise your patches,
but never mentioned your being psychic!) ;)
Sorry to waste your remaining attachment space on something so simple.

Can’t believe the powers that be around here are going to just let you dry up and blow
away for lack of attachment space. Just seems wrong. This is my fav FAF thread by far,
and your brilliant tutorials are work THEY should be doing!

I publicly offer to donate my own attachment space to Smilefan!
(I’ll never use it, and I know he’ll do something epic with it!)
 
TUTORIAL:
THE AMP MODEL “ADVANCED” PAGE –
THE FULL MONTY GEEK-OUT
** PT. 1**

Next in our tutorial series, we are going to start in on the mother of all
micro-tweak menu’s. The “Advanced” page of the Amplifier models.
First, let me say, I’ve heard it commented that small changes don’t seem
to have a greatly audible affect on many of our billions of tweakable
parameters. If you ask any great pro guitarist about their unique sound, he’ll
tell you its no “one thing”, but rather, a series of small tweaks, all working
together in concert. So, for example, if you wanted to program a Brian May-style,
quacky, mid-centered, ultra focused, distortion tone in the Axe, there is no one ‘button’
to push to make that happen. But there are 20-30 different parameters you can tweak,
all contributing to that ultimate goal. That’s the way is in the analog world, and in
our Black Box. So if these tutorials have any central message to them, its “Know Your Tool Kit”!

The Amp model advanced page is so vast, we’ll do this in installments.
OK, straight down the Advanced page, parameter by parameter:

INPUT TRIM: A straight gain control at the Amp block’s input. The manual specifies that
this is a different type gain than the amp’s ‘Drive’ control, which alters the amp’s frequency
response as you turn up the wick (just like real tube amps). Use this Trim to punch up
an anemic amp sound, or clean up an overly fat one. Control goes from 0.10 to 10, with 1.0
being default, and provide a huge amount of gain or cut. I have used extreme amounts
of ‘cut’ on some of my patches when used in tandem with a Synth block to tame the
massive, fat signal generated by certain Synth settings. NOTE: this is the only one of
the amp block’s 28(and counting!) "advanced" parameters that can be attached to a controller.
So you could attach this to a floor pedal for a nifty little solo gain boost.

LOW CUT FREQ: Controls the amount of lows the amp sim sees AT THE INPUT.
Ranges from 10-1000Hz, with the lowest setting basically letting all the lows you
feed it in. The main practical use for this is to tighten up a tubby bass end.
Somewhere between 10-150Hz is generally where it will sound best for standard
guitar tones. I sweep this by ear in that range to get a good balance of bass punch
and defined string snap.

HI CUT FREQ: A low-pass filter positioned at the end of the preamp section that will
Chop all frequencies above the value you select. Ranges from 2000-20000Hz. This
Will make your top end sound smooth and silky, the lower the value, brilliant and
defined, the higher the value. Try changing values from stock when you want to fine tune
a sound. I have found it useful for putting a vintage sounding ‘sheen’ on overly crisp
patches (dropping the stock setting down).

BRIGHT CAP: Most amps have what is referred to as a ‘bright cap’ or ‘treble bypass’ cap.
A capacitor that creates a very noticeable increase in upper treble response. Our virtual bright cap has
a vast range. From 10-10000 picofarads (pF). In most amps the value is between 100-500pF.
You’ll find these little caps soldered to the hot lug and wiper lug of a real amp’s volume control.
It has forever been a standard tweaker mod to either clip these, to get a warmer sound, or change
the value to something else. In real amps this functions mainly to compensate for the loss of
highs at low amp volume, having progressively less effect as the volume goes to 10. Not so in
our Black Box. You can dial in teeth chattering brightness at any amp “Master” setting.

TONESTACK TYPE: First off, a “tone stack” is a tone control circuit, usually passive filtering to
the audio signal, generally positioned directly after the preamp stage. OK, major pet peeve here.
Why?! Oh Why?! When Cliff has carefully modeled THIRTY THREE separate, and distinct tonestack
voices do I see almost no one using anything other than default, “PASSIVE” setting??!!

There are so many different flavors of tonestack models available on this Parameter. Very many of
my personal patches use atypical/non-stock tonestack models to help me get a special or unique tone
I’m after (‘Vintage’ is one of my favorites). Since so many members don’t seem to be aware of these
tonestacks in the Advanced page, I’m dragging everyone thru all the Tonestack models
waiting for you in Axe II:

ACTIVE – seldom found on real amps, this tonestack option turns the BASS/MID/TREB dials on
Amp block pg. 1 into active tone controls, allowing you to boost or cut Hi/Mid/Lo
bands up to 12dB’s (that’s a lot – enough to get you in trouble, add/cut judiciously)
PASSIVE –default setting, that automatically assigns the 'default' tonestack for the amp model
selected. Be brave! Try something unique instead!
BROWNFACE- warm Fender early 60’s sounds
BLACKFACES- crisp Fender late 60’s sounds
BASSGUY- fat and gain-y Fender Tweed Bassman
TOPBOOST- AC30 Top Boost - warm and chimey
PLEXI- classic rock late 60’s Marshall fat, dense gain
BOUTIQUE- Matchless - brilliant and crisp
HI POWER- Hiwatt, which had a very unique tonestack design - clean/punchy
USA CLEAN/USA RHYTHM/USA LEAD- Mesa Boogie “Mark” series - warm, smooth gain
RECTO ORG/RECTO NEW ORG- Boogie Rectifiers
RECTO RED/RECTO NEW RED- Boogie Rectifiers
SKYLINE- Dumble amps had a specially voiced tonestack after the mid-‘80s called “Skyliner”
GERMAN-Dark voiced stack for mega-gain German-made amps (Energyball, Das Metal)
BLUES JR.- modern Fender 1x10 combo
WRECKER-the late Ken Fisher’s legendary “Trainwreck” amp
VINTAGE-a mid-heavy stack great for fat, small tweed amp-type sounds
CA3+SE-Bob Bradshaw’s CAE preamps
FREYER D60- VHT/Fryette
MR Z 38 SR- Doctor Z
EURO UBER-Bogner Uberschall - the loudest, and most hi gain tonestack
PVH 6160- Peavey 5150
SOLO 100- Soldano SLO
CORNCOB- British-made Cornford amp
EURO-Bogner Ecstacy
CAROLANN- Alan Phillip’s boutique masterpiece - tons of mids, hi gain
CITRUS- modern Orange Rockerverb - classic rock gain with tons of mids
BRIT JM45- Marshall JTM 45, Marshall’s 1st amp model. fat and sweet
SHIVER CLEAN- Bogner Shiva
CAMERON-Mark Cameron amp model

Homework assignment: Take a couple of your favorite patches and move the tonestack
setting around. Listen to the amazing variations in sound you can get from changing this one parameter.
OK, that’s enough torture for one day. Much more to come.
 
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A PDF containing all of smilefan's posts from the Patch Thread series is kept up-to-date and can be downloaded HERE.
...NOTE: this is the only one of the amp block’s 28(and counting!) parameters that can be attached to a controller.
I believe you meant that Input Trim is the only parameter on the ADV tab that can be attached to a controller. On the PG1 tab Drive and on the PG2 tab Master and Level can be attached to controllers. Correct?
 
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I did a tonestack test - a short one since I really should get some sleep - using Mr. Benson.

I had in mind some sort of basic jazz lead sound as Mr. Benson but different. I suspected that some stacks would give me something completely different. Well it was different, but not so extremely like I expected, as in wild soaring screams of ... what was I thinking?

Using my Tokai ES-100 I didn't work with anything else than bypassing the compressor and held the Low Cut between 30-40, Hi Cut around 5000 for most stacks.

To my surprice some tonestacks that I didn't think would do any good in this particular patch was a pleasent surprice. So to name a few surprices.

RECTO ORG & RECTO RED - gave a very full sound. But I think it was here (or maybe the Plexi) I felt I had to bypass the compressor since it sounded overly compressed to my taste. Bypassed it felt fine.
Blues Jr. - Not a much body but very nice in another way.
CA3+SE - gave a really mellow dark sound. Here I felt I had to raise the low cut and Hi cut more since I don't want it to dark. Then it felt it was very nice.
PVH 6160 - A very nice sound that would work well in bluesy and fusion jazz.

Well this was just a quick test and no patches were made. But I will return to this eperimenting with more time on my hands. Sometimes you need to be reminded of what you can do. Thank you smilefan!
 
Great job on the "Advanced" page tutorial. Appreciated the sense
of humor, you are a good writer. I have to confess that I didn't know
about all the tonestack options on the advanced page until you said it.
Good job, 'teach'!
 
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Thanks yet again for your awesome contributions here with patches, user guides and anecdotes. I can't wait to try some of these out when I get my Axe-FX II :D

TONESTACK TYPE: ... OK, major pet peeve here. This is where Smilefan loses it! People, people! Why?! Oh Why?!
When Cliff has carefully modeled THIRTY THREE separate, and distinct tonestack voices do I see patch after patch using the default, “PASSIVE” setting??!!

Most of the amp models have a specific tonestack model available on this Parameter, and will contribute to realistic tones and responses for many famous amp models. Not one in twenty of my personal patches uses ‘PASSIVE’. Most use the stack specific to that amp model, but some use atypical models ...

I'm not sure I understand your peeve here. The PASSIVE selection is merely a shortcut to select the tonestack specific to the amp. It's not some arbitrary generic tonestack. Well, that's what the manual says anyway; I don't have an Axe-FX to be able to confirm it works that way.

manual said:
The BASS, MID and TREBLE controls operate by default as “passive” controls. That is, they simulate exactly the frequency and phase response of the classic passive tonestacks found in the original amplifiers our simulations are based on. The TONESTACK TYPE control lets you change this behavior from PASSIVE to ACTIVE, or to substitute the passive tonestack of another amp type.
 
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Thanks Smilefan, your threads are gold!

As an Ultra user, it's a bit like torture not being able to load your presets but your explanations are worth the price of admission.

Is there any value in loading up your patches in Axe Edit and the manually entering them into the Ultra or are they too vastly different to mean anything?
 
Don't mind if I do! Good idea. Standby for Brian May patch.

In the meantime, I completely redid the "Cortez The Killer" Neil Young
Tweed Deluxe patch, by seriously re-editing the Advanced paged values
from "Deluxe" stock settings. I think this is much closer than what I
originally posted.

Gracias!
 
Can't wait 'till nightshift is over to give this one a try. (Started 20 minutes ago.)
Thanks for all the patches Smilefan!!!
 
I have just finished an experimentation session fooling around with the various tonestacks.
Exchanging the default "passive" tonestacks in the factory presets for the name matching ones.
I.e. blackface for the deluxe and double verb amps, euro stack for the various Bogner models, etc.

It surprises me how much this changes the amp models in tone. Especially since the manual states that the passive
Stack defaults to the appropriate settings for the selected amp. But I like the results so far. Thanks for the tip Smilefan !!
 
Smilefan I just got my axe2 a few days ago and I cant thank you enough for all this awesome info . it help me a great deal . By any chance are you familiar with a band from I think the 80's call brother cane . If so can you offer any advice on achieving the tone . They seem to use some type of chorus or filter quite a bit on the rythem sound that just makes it sound huge . Any help or advice is greatly appreciated
 
TUTORIAL:
THE AMPLIFIER “ADVANCED” PAGE – PT. 2
MASTERING YOUR MACHINE

OK, last time we got thru the ‘Tonestack’ options on the Advanced page menu, and learned
about the 33 different tonestack voices we have available. Charging down the parameter list:

TONESTACK FREQ - Tone controls are often referred to as ‘tone stacks'. The passive components
that comprise tone controls - resistors, capacitors and potentiometers - are connected in such
a way that, when they are drawn on a schematic, the treble, middle and bass controls look like they
are ‘stacked' on each other. That's where the term “tone stack” comes from.

Because tone stacks are constructed from passive components, even if you turn the knobs up
to 10, each tone control still reduces certain frequencies. With passive tone controls there is no such thing as a true ‘flat' setting where the signal is not affected in any way. There is always some signal loss, plus the stack is changing the tone profile of your signal. The Tonestack Frequency parameter control determines where the frequency effect of the tonestack will be centered. Tweaking this value from default setting can make a brilliant sounding amp chunkier,
or bring a dark amp voice into better focus.

TONE LOCATION – Determines the location of the tonestack in the amp circuit. “Pre” puts
the stack at the beginning of the preamp circuit, “Post”, at the end of the preamp circuit, “Mid” puts it between the two final triode stages (which we have also in our Advanced menu- Triodes 1 & 2 Plate Freq.), and “End” which puts it after the Power amp (impossible in the real world).
The farther upstream you position your stack, the thinner the sound. “Mid” setting will sound chunkiest, with “End” being rather dark. In real amps, Fenders Blackface’s, and Mesa Boogie “Marks” have their stacks “Pre”, Fender Tweeds, Marshall’s, Vox’s, Hiwatt’s, and Mesa Recto’s are “Post” position, while Dumbles are in the “Mid” position.

PRESENCE FREQ – The ‘Presence’ is a control on a guitar amplifier that boosts the upper frequencies above the normal treble control range for added high-end. This control is usually a shelving type of equalizer, and is normally implemented as a lowpass filter inside the amp’s global negative feedback loop. By decreasing the amount of high frequencies that are fed back, the
high frequencies at the output of the amplifier are boosted. This control on the advanced page sets the ‘center’ of the amp presence control’s effect.

DEPTH FREQ – The Depth control on an amp is essentially the inverse of the Presence control.
It is implemented in the same way. Decreasing the amount of lows to the global negative feedback loop, the lowest frequencies of the amp are boosted. This advanced page control
sets the ‘center’ of the amp’s Depth control effect.

POWER TUBE BIAS – This is one of the most important Advanced page controls, and all programmers should be familiar with the sonic effect it has. It ranges from 0.000 (pure Class B operation) to 1.000 (pure Class A operation). “Class A” is an ancient and very inefficient
(but great sounding) amp design which, essentially puts out full power at all times (even at idle). “Class AB” is what is generally used in modern amps, which is close to the same operation as
pure Push/Pull Class B, except that a small amount of current operates opposite the main waveform. "Push-Pull" designs like Class B & AB have no current draw at idle. The important part for us is the sound. Cranking the setting towards 0.000 will seem to thin out the gain, and pull the amp’s sound back in the sonic picture. The closer to 1.000 (Class A), the more gain-y
and forward the amp will sound. Modern amp designs tend to set the power tube bias very low (to lower the strain on the power tubes, and extend their service life, and reliability). Vintage amps tended to have their bias set much higher (and, correspondingly, were less reliable, like the highly flammable Vox AC30).

Ok, that’s enough for today. Back soon with more “Advanced” page obsessions!
 
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