Purchased Patches

Andy Eagle said:
Patches that you buy are mostly not going to sound the same through your rig with you playing . They shouldn't be sold IMO they are not fit for the purpose . The ONLY way they would work is if whoever was programming it came to your rig and programmed it with you playing. If someone tried to sell you the settings of EVH's Marshall on VH 1 telling you that "this IS the tone" you would rightly tell them to go away and this is even less likely to sound as intended.
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Ive tried 3 different Preset packs and they sound good on both my guitars, one has Fishman Fleuence Moderns and the other has single coil Seymore Duncans, I think I got lucky haha
 
What everyone else is saying.
I’ve checked out a few presets from Axe Exchange. Except a couple of kinda cool sounding clean scenes, nothing personally worked for me.
My 2 cents... pick a amp, and look into what type of speakers they typically use. Ex: V30’s seem to be common for high gain.
Also, grab a pen and paper and go thru the factory presets and write down what ones that seem to somewhat ‘fit’ what you’re looking for. Tweak to taste. You need to experiment.
Your amp and cab... whether a guitar amp or FR will greatly impact your tone. I have both, and with my Atomic CLR’s I cut below 75Hz and cut above 5Kz (much like a conventional guitar speaker picks up) Works for me.
 
The other day I walked into a guitar store and they had a John Petrucci signature amp. Even though I have probably not listened to more than a few minutes of his music, I plugged a Sears Silvertone knockoff into the amp with any old default settings it was on and played John Petrucci better than John Petrucci. It was awesome. No adjustment for guitar, style, ability, nothing. Just the best John Petrucci you ever hear. Sold my Axe, demanded a refund from Austin Buddy and bought 10 of the amps. YMMV.
 
marsonic said:
I'll definitely keep it in mind.

If you're customizing things to the individual player as opposed to building something and then putting it on a web store for download whenever by whoever....it absolutely makes sense that it would be more expensive, especially if you guarantee exclusivity and/or satisfaction. It's at least as much work, probably significantly more, and you "can" sell it once as opposed to dozens or potentially hundreds of times.
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Of course, I also offer common presets that are available immediately. It is up to the discretion of each individual. Some people may be comfortable using a common preset as a starting point and adjusting it to suit their needs. That may be the way to go as well.
 
nandro48 said:
I have purchased multiple patches online with limited success (Lasse Lambert from STL Tones, Metal Pack from Choptones, Rock & Metal Pack from Fremen, etc.). These have all been a letdown. I play a lot of Killswitch / Lamb of God -- these packs produce "flubby" soft rock sounds at best. I'm running my Axe Fx 3 through HS8's using a Caparison Dellinger guitar. Everyone seems obsessed with Fremen's material, and I found it to be garbage. Am I doing something wrong?
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As Jive Turkey said, IR's are important, I have bought the mesa and Friedman cab packs and it has made a big difference. Like there's have said, check out Leon Todd's videos '5 minute tones' and such and tweak from there. For what I like I find the distorted presets on the axe to be unusable, having similar experiences as you have had. It does take time but like I said IR's do make a big difference. Good luck
 
One answer would be for the vendor to post a video of them playing one patch and posting it free as a sample.
If it sounded the same or near enough for you at home (or playing out) you could then buy from that vendor knowing that their stuff translates for you.
It only involves giving one patch away so I can't imagine why they don't do this.
 
I have free preset samples for everyone to try at my website and scattered around this forum. if it doesn't translate for you on your particular rig then it's ok to find some others that do. someone may have a preset that works for you. then again, maybe no one does....depends on your rig. if you are all full range or studio monitors then several vendors like myself can help you. if you play into the front end of an obscure amp then you will have to figure it out on your own.
 
Oshin said:
As Jive Turkey said, IR's are important, I have bought the mesa and Friedman cab packs and it has made a big difference. Like there's have said, check out Leon Todd's videos '5 minute tones' and such and tweak from there. For what I like I find the distorted presets on the axe to be unusable, having similar experiences as you have had. It does take time but like I said IR's do make a big difference. Good luck
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tube screamer into rectifier with your choice of V30 cabinet. dial to taste. that's where I would start.
 
Singtall said:
I have free preset samples for everyone to try at my website and scattered around this forum. if it doesn't translate for you on your particular rig then it's ok to find some others that do. someone may have a preset that works for you. then again, maybe no one does....depends on your rig. if you are all full range or studio monitors then several vendors like myself can help you. if you play into the front end of an obscure amp then you will have to figure it out on your own.
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I play through a GT1000fx 2u and Xitone passive wedges with Celestion F12 X200 speakers and other peoples presets alway sound off( I've tried pretty much all the top FR FRs). But it is always better to program your own.
 
Andy Eagle said:
Don't change my words. I stand by what I said, If you want to pay somebody to set your amp without knowing how/what you play or what amplification solution your using that is up to you. There are people here who are happy with a Headrush FRFR too but not me.
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I agree with you in implementation, but not in principal. I don't use purchased presets either and have had very limited luck with shared free presets, but to say the ONLY way they would work is to have the programmer do it on the buyer's rig is a bit of painting with a broad brush.
 
Singtall said:
tube screamer into rectifier with your choice of V30 cabinet. dial to taste. that's where I would start.
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I'd say if you're into things like Killswitch and Lamb of God then swap out the Rectifier for the 6160 Block or the USA Lead Mid Gain Bright (a Mark IV). The Recto can be a bit too flubby and fizzy for that kind of precise metal. But yeah, Tube Screamer -> AMP -> V30 won't do you wrong there at all
 
RockYoWorld said:
A thought I had while catching up on this thread is that the reason I personally don't enjoy going through the factory presets, shared presets, or commercial presets that much is because I don't play a huge variety of presets at all. I have 3 main sounds that I've continuously evolved since when I first got my AX8 in 2016. Sometimes I like loading in others' presets or factory presets to just get different tastes, but I never really click with them, probably because it's not MY sound. It would be like opening your mouth to sing but get someone else's voice. It's interesting but just doesn't feel right to me.

I play in a Top 40 cover band but I just stick to a couple main sounds (clean, broken-up, distorted, and ambient). I'm too lazy to have a different preset per song and making sure it's in an accessible order based on whatever the setlist is. I also like having my sound. I always thought it was cool that you could immediately tell when Slash or EVH was playing by their sound. Of course they have their style, but I feel like they have a tone that comes with that as well. I'll never be at their level, but I like the philosophy, even if I'm just playing Shut Up and Dance for the 300th time.
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I think a lot of people do that. During the about 9 years I used the Axe-Fx Standard and then 2, I had about 10 presets total. Of those I would regularly use maybe 5. On my FM3 now it's the same thing. Of course part of that is because you can do so much inside one preset on Fractal thanks to X/Y mode on the older units and now the even more versatile 4 channels feature.

Of course there's the studio folks who will save e.g. a preset per song or those in cover bands who might have different presets for different songs but they are probably less common than the people just sticking with a few good configurations.

My main rig nowadays is built around the BluGuitar Amp 1 Mercury Edition and a big part of that is because the amp does the kind of sound I want without hassle and the 3 overdrive channels on it can be different flavors from the pantheon of Marshall style overdrive rather than totally different sounds. I figured over the years that I keep dialing in pretty much the same tones out of any amp so I don't need the gobsmacking variety that Fractal offers, as fun as it is. I keep the FM3 around because it is a useful tool but most of the time it's hooked up to my computer as a direct recording setup because it works really well for that.
 
I think the benefit of the purchased or even free presets is being able to see how things are accomplished more easily. I can create my own drones and stuff now. I had no idea how before I purchased Fremen's presets. Deconstruction of the presets will reveal some good stuff.

That was my purpose for buying the few I did. Then once I did the Cooper Carter classes I had no reason to do this any more.

Like several here I typically use very few of everything in the Axe 3. I have a 2 amp template. Ill use a amp for a while and then swap it out for a change. I end up getting to the same place. I do mostly covers. Same preset for most shows all the way through. Right now its a Mesa TC and USA Clean or Friedman v2 and Bandmaster.

I have 2-3 others set up as well. I get to the gig and scroll through the few presets to see which amp combo sounds/works best for me in that room that day.
 
I'm not a troll and yes, I shouldn't have used the word garbage. My apologies to those who posted, AustinBuddy, and Fremen.

I have a metal tone that I like now, but it seems like now I can't get that gratifying "chug" when playing through headphones. Is this something I should stop chasing?
 
nandro48 said:
I have a metal tone that I like now, but it seems like now I can't get that gratifying "chug" when playing through headphones. Is this something I should stop chasing?
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Personally, I can't get anything close to "gratifying" listening through headphones.
They have practical uses, but for feeling an amp and making a judgement on how good a preset is, they aren't one of them IMHO.
I trust your original post wasn't based around listening to presets through headphones because if it was, then that is what you're doing wrong.
 
Zedhed said:
Personally, I can't get anything close to "gratifying" listening through headphones.
They have practical uses, but for feeling an amp and making a judgement on how good a preset is, they aren't one of them IMHO.
I trust your original post wasn't based around listening to presets through headphones because if it was, then that is what you're doing wrong.
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Ok that's helpful and yes, I tested them first through HS8's. Good to know I should reset my expectations.
 
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