Please Suggest a LOUD, CLEAN amp/preset

rayneman

rayneman

Member
I am having difficulty creating a basic loud, clean tone that doesn't really breakup.

I had a great starting point with a CAE Clean preset, but for whatever reason...with my tweaks and the various updates it has gotten super compressed and yet still clips when I dig in. Even the factory preset from which I started doesn't sound good to me anymore.

I can go over to my little Fender Hot Rod, and that thing will serve up a loud, clean tone. How can I match something like that on the AX8?

This seems like such a simple thing, but I am having lots of trouble getting there. High gain tones? No problem, but cleans...yikes.

I'd love to hear some suggestions on what you guys use/like.

I am simply using the AX8 to my CLR Neo, and various humbucker equipped guitars.

Thanks in advance.
 
Right now I'm loving the AC30 HOT with the boutique cab. I have the mids cranked pretty good and the treble up a bit. Just turn down the drive knob until it cleans up. with humbuckers you may want to lower input trim a bit.
 
rayneman said:
I am having difficulty creating a basic loud, clean tone that doesn't really breakup.

I had a great starting point with a CAE Clean preset, but for whatever reason...with my tweaks and the various updates it has gotten super compressed and yet still clips when I dig in. Even the factory preset from which I started doesn't sound good to me anymore.

I can go over to my little Fender Hot Rod, and that thing will serve up a loud, clean tone. How can I match something like that on the AX8?

This seems like such a simple thing, but I am having lots of trouble getting there. High gain tones? No problem, but cleans...yikes.

I'd love to hear some suggestions on what you guys use/like.

I am simply using the AX8 to my CLR Neo, and various humbucker equipped guitars.

Thanks in advance.
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Jazz 120 like joe said, or a lot of people like usa clean. Wherever you're using though, don't be afraid to turn the input very low and compensate with level. Especially with the fenders, we aren't used to having an amp be able to be so quiet in front of us, it throws us off.
Like, i bet when you're sitting in front of the hot rod, your volume isn't at 4, it's it?
 
right now I use the ac-20 amp for everything from super clean to dirty. the way I get my clean is turn the drive way down. probably less than 1 on the drive. then you can turn the amp volume or mix volume up to get the volume you need. If it doesn't sound full enough add a little low end either through eq or the proximity effect. ac30's and matchless amps will probably get you there also. if you need a free ir for the ac-20, check out the larry Mitchell presets.
 
The Hiwatt models are also a great option for LOUD clean: Doesn't matter what the rest of the band is doing: you will be heard. There's lots of clean gain in the pre, use MV at 6 or less. Control the low end: Drop the bass to very low (even 0.5 to 1) and add in some Depth to maintain a tight piano like low end on the low strings. (Cut may be useful, depending on guitar, pickup, etc.) Turn Speaker drive to 0. I prefer to have AC voltage set at 50hz.

I like to go just beyond "clean" - and nuance in a sheen of power amp distortion with the master volume set high (MV=7 to 8 for Strat pickups) The low end stays cleanish (doesn't fuzz up), yet sustaining breakup can be had on the plain strings. Add optical compression when desired for soloing sauce, and garnish with delay and reverb. Tasty!

Edit: Factory Cabs 156 and 143 are good choices. Don't forget: you can roll off the guitar's volume and tone and Set Your Controls for the Heart of the Sun.
 
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The Highpower Normal (Highwatt) model gets pretty loud before breaking up. I use that for my clean tones when I am banging on the stings.
 
Morgan AC-20 & Fender Bandmaster are my go-to clean sounds.

Been playing a lot with a modded SV Bass model... Going for the Steel String Singer sound.
Talk about clean and loud with lots of presence!
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. This provides some great starting points I didn't really otherwise have.

My levels...funny that is mentioned. I have been thinking about that too. What happens I believe, and I have endless trouble with this- is I get to a gig and for whatever reason my presets seem to be off in terms of matching output/loudness. Maybe its the room, what guitars I've brought or perhaps because I tend to switch up what monitor I use depending on how much space I have, but I find myself tweaking outputs on the fly, saving quickly, and before I know it, I have an all-out war between my presets and really high master and output levels. I probably need to step back and revisit the master volumes and output levels for my presets to rein them back in to being more reasonable.
 
rayneman said:
Thanks for all the suggestions. This provides some great starting points I didn't really otherwise have.

My levels...funny that is mentioned. I have been thinking about that too. What happens I believe, and I have endless trouble with this- is I get to a gig and for whatever reason my presets seem to be off in terms of matching output/loudness. Maybe its the room, what guitars I've brought or perhaps because I tend to switch up what monitor I use depending on how much space I have, but I find myself tweaking outputs on the fly, saving quickly, and before I know it, I have an all-out war between my presets and really high master and output levels. I probably need to step back and revisit the master volumes and output levels for my presets to rein them back in to being more reasonable.
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Have you used the VU meter? Last page on the main screen.
 
rayneman said:
Maybe its the room, what guitars I've brought or perhaps because I tend to switch up what monitor I use depending on how much space I have, but I find myself tweaking outputs on the fly, saving quickly, and before I know it, I have an all-out war between my presets and really high master and output levels.
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Good catch and glad you caught it early. IME, I try to use "themes" for the amp/cab combos I use for a gig particular because of the main output volume. For example, if I choose the Matchless Chieftain Boutique 1 in a specific preset, then switch to a Brit 800 Marshall sim, the output is way off (again IME). If you play a gig, try to keep the amp "themes" close as you dial the volume in using the "tickle the reds" method plus monitoring the VU meters to make sure you're balanced close to 0DB without digital clipping.

I hope that makes sense and again, it's great you arrived here early. The FAS gear is great for themes wherein reality you wouldn't go to a gig bringing a Hot Rod Deluxe, Matchless Chieftain, Marshall JVM800 and Roland Jazz 120 expecting all to possess the same volume/tone/room noise dynamics. It's a struggle sometimes, but you're on the right track. Sometimes it is in the approach also where if you find a clean amp you love, don't change amps, try putting a DRIVE block in front to see how that changes it as another method.
 
rayneman said:
I have an all-out war between my presets and really high master and output levels. I probably need to step back and revisit the master volumes and output levels
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The Master Volume shouldn't generally be used to level a preset. Think of it as an additional gain and compression stage. While it does control volume to an extent, what it really controls is how hard you are pushing the virtual power amp. And of course on many, many models, the MV default is 10 because the original amp didn't have MV.

If you need more or less level in comparison to another preset, the Amp Level is a great choice, and can even be adjusted directly from the VU page.

On the subject of clean, it really is subjective. I consider the DC30 "clean" when I'm able to lightly strum with imperceptible grit, but get a healthy amount of breakup when I dig in.
 
You can make just about any amp perfectly clean. If you want loud, turn up that Output Level knob. :)

If you get into a volume war with your presets, don't turn the quiet ones up; turn the loud ones down. That should take care of the clipping. Need more volume? Crank the Output Level knob. that turns them all up at once, by the same amount. :)

Don't use Master to adjust levels. That will also change your tone, and it will change distortion. User the Level parameters to change levels. There's one in the Amp block, and there's one for overall preset output.

This gear can crank as loud as your other gear can handle. Did I mention there's an Output Level knob? :)
 
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