Quantum Creamy AC-30

iaresee

iaresee

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Mikko's talk of awesome AC-30 tones on the forum reminded me that some of the best rock tones can be had from a really pushed AC-30. It overdrives in this way that's really compressed, but smooth, and it sounds freakin' awesome with a hollowbody guitar in front of it. You keep some chirp on the notes, but you get this deep grind that all AC-30. Check out some 90s-era Our Lady Peace or Foo Fighters to see what I mean.

It's a favourite of Bob Rock and Joel Kosche too so I did a little Collective Soul clip to show it off here:



Firmware used is actually Quantum 1.0b1 despite Axe-Change saying 19!

Guitar used was a Hollowbody Spruce PRS with a Duncan '59 in the bridge.

And for reference, here's a little Our Lady Peace. :)

 
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That sounds awesome! What's in your chain...is it just the AC30 or did you push it with a pre-amp or OD pedal? What cab did you use? Would love to see the preset. What a great core tone.
 
Toopy14 said:
That sounds awesome! What's in your chain...is it just the AC30 or did you push it with a pre-amp or OD pedal? What cab did you use? Would love to see the preset. What a great core tone.
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Thanks! Mentioning OLP brings the Canadians out of the wood work, right? ;)

The patch is just an AC-30. It's tweaked a bit beyond the BASIC tab, but not much. I played around with some GEQ on it to get some more high end in it. But that's it as far as I can remember. That's the beauty of the AC-30: it holds a ton of great tone options in it if you poke it and prod it a little bit.

I also threw in a third IR -- the 1x6 Oval -- which adds some bite to overdriven amps. It's a "secret weapon" IR if you ask me -- toss it in to any dark-sounding, overdriven patch and BOOM! You get some cut and bite without having to futz with knobs and dials.

There's a drive block in there but if you engage it...hold on. Takes it in to easy feedback territory, especially with a hollowbody guitar.

I used my PRS Hollowbody Spruce for this -- bridge pickup. I just got the guitar back Saturday. I had a Duncan '59 put in the bridge and a Seth Lover in the neck. The PRS Archtop pickups were a little dark and polite for my tastes. These pickups are a whole lot livelier. Play along with the Naveed album and this patch's tone lines up very, very well. I've got a treble bleed on that guitar and when you roll back on this patch is just cleans up a chirps even more in an excellent way. AC-30s are lovely.

Here are some screen shots for the non-XL/XL+ crowd:

Screen%20Shot%202015-09-07%20at%203.19.19%20PM.png


Screen%20Shot%202015-09-07%20at%203.19.52%20PM.png


Screen%20Shot%202015-09-07%20at%203.19.22%20PM.png


Screen%20Shot%202015-09-07%20at%203.19.26%20PM.png
 
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IMHO: one of your best tones ever, Ian! Fabulous.

And good to see to the return of the venerable 1x6 Oval trick. :)
 
iaresee said:
Thanks! Mentioning OLP brings the Canadians out of the wood work, right? ;)

The patch is just an AC-30. It's tweaked a bit beyond the BASIC tab, but not much. I played around with some GEQ on it to get some more high end in it. But that's it as far as I can remember. That's the beauty of the AC-30: it holds a ton of great tone options in it if you poke it and prod it a little bit.

I also threw in a third IR -- the 1x6 Oval -- which adds some bite to overdriven amps. It's a "secret weapon" IR if you ask me -- toss it in to any dark-sounding, overdriven patch and BOOM! You get some cut and bite without having to futz with knobs and dials.

There's a drive block in there but if you engage it...hold on. Takes it in to easy feedback territory, especially with a hollowbody guitar.

I used my PRS Hollowbody Spruce for this -- bridge pickup. I just got the guitar back Saturday. I had a Duncan '59 put in the bridge and a Seth Lover in the neck. The PRS Archtop pickups were a little dark and polite for my tastes. These pickups are a whole lot livelier. Play along with the Naveed album and this patch's tone lines up very, very well. I've got a treble bleed on that guitar and when you roll back on this patch is just cleans up a chirps even more in an excellent way. AC-30s are lovely.

Here are some screen shots for the non-XL/XL+ crowd:

Screen%20Shot%202015-09-07%20at%203.19.19%20PM.png


Screen%20Shot%202015-09-07%20at%203.19.52%20PM.png


Screen%20Shot%202015-09-07%20at%203.19.22%20PM.png


Screen%20Shot%202015-09-07%20at%203.19.26%20PM.png
Click to expand...

:O did you get your hands on a new Axe-Edit version or am I missing something here?

EDIT: noticed in your signature that you're a beta tester, I guess that explains it :p
 
Thank you for the screen shots!! Awesome tone - I've never had much luck with the AC30s so I'm looking forward to giving this a go!
 
USMC_Trev said:
No one else thinks it's too bright? For that song I mean.
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Have you heard them play it live with Joel Kosche? He uses AC-30s and it's a far different tone than what Ross Childress used on the original. And, honestly, I've always thought was kind of a limp sounding Marshall tone on the Hints album and that this song was great because it was a great song despite being recorded with a shitty guitar tone. But...yea...that's just my opinion, man. :D
 
I am having trouble importing this one from axe-change, on to my XL with Quantum beta I have downloaded it several times and get this message every time-" Unable to import. The selected file contains data for the AX8 and is not compatible with this firmware." Any clue? I have built it from you screenshots but would like to hear your original.......Thanks Ian!
 
bradlake said:
I am having trouble importing this one from axe-change, on to my XL with Quantum beta I have downloaded it several times and get this message every time-" Unable to import. The selected file contains data for the AX8 and is not compatible with this firmware." Any clue? I have built it from you screenshots but would like to hear your original.......Thanks Ian!
Click to expand...

Hmm. Try sending it to your unit with Fractal-Bot instead of Axe-Edit? It might be presets aren't importable yet.
 
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