[POLL] Do you buy or have you ever bought commercial presets?

Do you buy or have you ever bought commercial presets?

  • Yes

  • Yes but I never/rarely use them

  • No


Results are only viewable after voting.
Maybe it’s my setup but they often sound muffled to me.
Opposite here, ice pick city usually. Might be my monitoring, or my strat, or my attitude.
Both can happen when who made the preset has different guitar, hands and tastes.
And that's the main reason 3rd party presets have never ever made me say "wow" (except for some synth patches by Simeon)
 
I’ve been stuck on ‘59 Bassman for pushing 2 years (since getting the 3). Just too damn easy to jam with nearly anything...models just get mo’betta

Early on with the AxeFX2, I bought a package of presets. Some really cool stuff in there that taught me how to use abilities I would’ve struggled with.

But now I’m usually flipping on the box and start playing... and let’s admit that the flexibility of just one preset is astounding! (I also use four expression pedals on modifiers as well.)

It would be cool to see a set of best practices on block routings in presets. (E.g. Leon Todd and his series on delay designers.). Every now and then someone posts a screenshot of something super clever.
 
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I've bought a couple here and there to get routing ideas I might not have considered. I generally don't find the core tones as useful as the ones I've tweaked with my own guitars.
 
It is very easy to build a preset in the AXE 3, but the challenge is to get a good sound. Especially the work on the CAB block can be extremely time consuming. I have not so much freetime and when I have to choose to use that time mainly for working on a preset or playing guitar, usually playing wins.
Therefore I bought presets from Austinbuddy, Fremen and Marco Fanton. But I never use these presets (and also other downloaded presets) out of the box, but change them in my standard structure and do usually some tweaks to match them to my guitars and playing style. They are a good starting point, which save me a lot of time.
 
Well, hell... I posted about not buying presets in the other thread but I just realized that I did buy the Austin Buddy presets although I have yet to actually even download them... So I can't fairly claim "no".

I did buy them for "educational" purposes, though - so I could get a better idea of the expected sound for amps I have no experience with.
 
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Nope, love to build them from scratch and will obsess over the same preset for days. Not sure if it's productive but sure is fun. Then again I don't have a need for more than a handful of kitchen sink presets.

I did download some of Simeon's synth presets to get an idea of what was possible in that regard, and got pretty inspired there - but those were free, and awesome.
 
The unit comes with like 250 free presets, that Ive only heard probably 30 of lol. I cant imagine not getting close to what you want with at least 1 of those if you dont have the skill to build your own. Buying presets seems silly, unless its some perfect match of something tricky like a talk box. Now IRs, those are worth buying in some cases. 👍
 
When I had the AX8 I first created my own presets and played quite a few shows with them. Wanted to see how others did things so I went with the Austin Buddy packs and loved them - It was more fun for me to take his base amp tones and tweak them the way I needed them with effects and stuff and then go out and play, and they sounded better than what I had made - which I thought sounded pretty good as did others. So, for me like some others have said - it's more fun to play and sound good then spend too much time tweaking things - which I still do - but I didn't go with Fractal to do that - I went with them, especially with the III, to reduce the amount of equipment I needed at a gig, cut down on set up time, not worry about what was happening to my tone out front, and really just enjoy the shows more. So, buying the Austin Buddy stuff was completely worth it to me for all that.

I get, and appreciate the guys that get really involved in the box - just being out here I've learned a TON of stuff because of them, or you, if it's you...so for that, I definitely say thanks for digging into it, and thanks even more for sharing it out here. I definitely do not think it was a waste of money, quite opposite. It's the best cash I've put out for any piece of equipment I've played through. I also have several buddies who have Kempers - in my opinion, and in some of theirs, the Axe blows it away.

To each their own on what they decide to do with their money, and with whatever it is they purchase with it.
 
Paying for presets is like paying for Onlyfans lol

Just because it costs money doesn't mean it's better. Just do your research and find out why you like what you like along the way. Teach a man to fish, yada, yada, yada.
 
I did get a couple of the free Austin buddy's, interesting how there set up in the grid ,with out puts for monitors and for the fronts.and ef loop. and you can get other ppl's free preset ,haven't hear any that are wow that's the sound I been looking for , been making presets for years now , going back over fractals preset ,they are pretty good 🕺 :)
 
So here's some philosophy to think about for this...

If you already know what amp you love to play, you just don't need to buy commercial presets. You can figure it out. Like someone above said, if you are a Bassman person, there is no need. Just keep working at Bassman presets and you'll eventually get the tone you already know -- because it's in there, you just have to use your ears (not eyes) to unlock it.

And let's not forget that Leon Todd and Brett Kingman constantly release excellent presets, for free! Marco Fanton releases some too. Yek also did some while back to. Start there!

Next, if you are into having lots of tones at your fingers tips to inspire you, but don't have a lot of time to listen to 2000+ IRs or or pair them correctly with 270+ amp models, then commercial presets like mine save you a ton of time setting up some good base tones for you to then tweak to your liking. That's kind of what mine do. My friend Fremen has a amps-specific packs too that are good. I particularly enjoy extracting a vintage, organic amp sound out of a digital modeler. That gives me lots of joy. Classic rock is kinda of my wheelhouse, although I have learned a lot about modern tones (Cooper Carter and Periphery's Mark Holcomb were both very helpful to me). Other makers are very good at ultra-modern tones.

On my end, I don't slather my presets in wet effects on purpose, and for LiveGold I dialed them in at 92db+ loudness which defeats the Fletcher-Munson curve effect. Sometimes people have initially said to me "your presets sound thin, or dull" as they listen initially at bedroom level, but as soon as they turn them up loud over 92db for a gig, they go - "oh, I get it now." The sounds have to fit and sit in a mix for FOH, and poke through, without the FOH guy having to chop out your boomy lows or boost your mids etc.

If you are into particular artists, and you want to sound like them, then commercial presets can also be useful because the work is done for you, you just have to adapt it to your hands, guitars, and playback system. I'm thinking here of Moke's extensive custom preset work nailing iconic tones, or Fremen's epic Pink Floyd pack, or Edo's U2 stuff. If you are new to all of this and that's your goal, why struggle, if all you want to do is play guitar karaoke to your heroes backing tracks - perfectly legit.

In the end, the last mile is in your hands -- how you play, your guitars, even string gaages, and the (preferably FRFR) playback system you use. That playback system is very very very important to your final results.

I'll also add this... different tones inspire you to play different things. They can be a source of creativity in and of themselves. So finding presets with tones that inspire you is the goal. To me, inspiration is what this is all about, we play better when we sound better, and we want sounds that inspire us to play. And it's also about the democratization of great tone -- which is what this magic black box Cliff has made has delivered to us all.

Last, this forum is awesome. People will chip in with advice to help anyone struggling to get a certain tone, and do it pleasantly. Gotta love that.

Cheers and Happy New Year!
 
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For years I just used a few ones offered. I was always better at what 'I needed'.

We started seeing a few shared presets that were based off of commercial presets (not allowed.) So I purchased to get a better idea of these things.

To my surprise, AB presets are outstanding. Most valuable to me is the routing set up on multiple presets for a variety of situations. FRFR, direct, whatever. He starts with a good base, and I tailor the tone to both me and the guitar. It has so many good presets that any guitarist can find their tone.

So yes. It's well worth it to me. And I suggest it to neophytes who just want to plug in, and go.

R
 
The unit comes with like 250 free presets, that Ive only heard probably 30 of lol. I cant imagine not getting close to what you want with at least 1 of those if you dont have the skill to build your own. Buying presets seems silly, unless its some perfect match of something tricky like a talk box. Now IRs, those are worth buying in some cases. 👍
The presets that come loaded in the AXE3 are really good. I would say they are, by far, the best of any modeler I have tried. But that hasn't always been the case.
 
As someone who's never owned the many amps, cabs, and effects modeled by the Axe, I've found commercial presets to be a real time saver in establishing reference points by someone who is familiar with them. I then build my own presets using the commercial presets for guidance, tips, and tricks. For the poll I'd check something like "Yes, but use them for reference in building my own"
 
Well I am offended and really think you are wrong. And who are you to judge. . Everybody that just buys an amp head, a speaker and a standard pedal is wasting money too because they aren’t creating their own sound? When they use the example settings that come with more sophisticated pedals then they wasted money too? When the studio engineer eq’s the sound to mix it in the bandsound better you would tell him not to because you lose your own sound?
I thought we were musicians. I can play over anyones presets and still sound as me.
And closing: the fact that you make your own presets doesn’t mean you make good presets. Maybe you do, I do not know. But I buy presets from guys who really know what they are doing. I can maybe get 85% great, but biying it gets me 95% and the I tweak it up 100 and be perfectly happy. Money well spent.

Pff
Like I said..it is MY take on this.....remember..universe doesn't care about you....it is YOUR problem if you feel offended. You should not get offended by what others think about your choices.
 
Like I said..it is MY take on this.....remember..universe doesn't care about you....it is YOUR problem if you feel offended. You should not get offended by what others think about your choices.

I'll stick with "none taken". I enjoyed your post and your take, and I hope responded in the same spirit. I get where you are coming from, but I don't share all of your point of view. Definitely get it though!

Liam
 
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