seriously considering ditching FRFR speaker

milleniumking

Inspired
Hi all, this is more of a rant on my part, just need to let off some steam....

I am having a lot of trouble dialing in a useable and satisfactory tone with my 7 string and Alto speaker. I have tried everything I could to get a good sound. It is just super muddy. The 7 strings I am using are Ibanez universe with passives and Ibanez rg Iron label with EMG 707's. The 707's sound a lot worse! On youtube I have seen guys with 707's and their axe ii's produce amazing tones, yet I am nowhere close to it. Even with following their directions for set ups...

I am starting to think it is the speaker I have, just not very good for this axe unit. I have a bryston power amp which I used in the Ultra days but its not great. I am going to borrow a 2x12 with v30's from a friend of mine and see how it sounds. I understand I will lose the cab sim option but if it sounds better to my ears then thats the way I am going.

rant over! :)
 
I was dialing in using monitors but always sounded like a blanket over my tone when at the gig....so I finally ditched the monitors and started using pa speakers....I have 2 yamaha dxr10....so I could hear exactly how it will sound at the gig at gig level.....feel your frustration.....but since I did that I am totally happy with my tone....also another tip is use less distortion than you think.....and play loud!!!!!
 
Hi King,
In your position, I'd try some higher quality speakers - the altos are great for the money, but not great! As you mentioned, the other alternative is a guitar cab however you will then only ever have that one cab sound which may be very limiting.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Thanks
Pauly

Hi all, this is more of a rant on my part, just need to let off some steam....

I am having a lot of trouble dialing in a useable and satisfactory tone with my 7 string and Alto speaker. I have tried everything I could to get a good sound. It is just super muddy. The 7 strings I am using are Ibanez universe with passives and Ibanez rg Iron label with EMG 707's. The 707's sound a lot worse! On youtube I have seen guys with 707's and their axe ii's produce amazing tones, yet I am nowhere close to it. Even with following their directions for set ups...

I am starting to think it is the speaker I have, just not very good for this axe unit. I have a bryston power amp which I used in the Ultra days but its not great. I am going to borrow a 2x12 with v30's from a friend of mine and see how it sounds. I understand I will lose the cab sim option but if it sounds better to my ears then thats the way I am going.

rant over! :)
 
If you have the option of trying it with a high quality FRFR speaker, try that first. Depending on where you are, there may even be a fellow forum member who would be willing to help you out.

I had a pair of M-Audio BX5 studio monitors for a while, and was never happy with the sound of the Axe-Fx II through those. I just ended up resorting to headphones for a long time. Then got myself a set of much nicer studio monitors, and it made a world of difference.

That said, there should be ways to coax a reasonable sound out of a half-decent speaker, especially with all the EQ options in the Axe-Fx. What model Alto speaker do you have?
 
Troubleshooting Tip #1: cut low end either in front of amp, at amp or in cab.

Troubleshooting tip #2: Don’t ditch FRFR until you’ve had a chance to try an Atomic CLR. If it still sounds muddy with the CLR then it’s not the FRFR.
 
I've tried an Alto with just my six string. Not even close enough for jazz.

As others has mentioned that Alto is the weak link.

Try anything from Yamaha DXR10 and upwards. (Dynachord AXM 12a, CLR).

What you are doing now is using the top of the pops modeler into - on it's best days - a mediocre (sorry Alto owners) powered speaker.
 
Thank you for the help all, I agree that the AltoTS312 is the weakest link. I really hope to be able to afford a better speaker at some point.
 
Well, considering it's been half a decade since I got my Axe-FX II and learned about FRFR, and never heard of Alto speakers until just now...

...if after following the suggestions of those above and you're still not satisified, it may indeed be your speaker and one of those "Shoulda just got the CLR to begin with" (I got two CLR's from @TheGoatLord years ago and never looked back) type situations...

... but it definitely isn't FRFR's fault.
 
So at my work we have a few passive speakers laying around. I know they are yorkville pa passives but the model escapes me... anyway, I have a bryston power amp as well, I am going to try that route just to test it. If I figure out the model I will post it.

I am assuming I can still use cab IR’s with this setup since the yorkvilles should not really color the sound right? Unlike running it through a guitar cab....
 
Even if the PA colors over the true IR, that doesn't necessarily means it will sound bad, just different. Maybe you have to try different IR's to compensate. Heck, it might even be better.
 
consider that a mic'd real guitar amp/cab is "colored" by the PA the same exact way. so as long as your speaker is Full-Range and not a dedicated guitar cab, you should use IRs.
 
So these are the 2 passive pa speakers we have: Yorkville nx300 and Yamaha s2115h. Im thinking about grabbing the Yorkville because it is better condition.
 
My Tannoys are pretty good. I didn't like the other one I tried. I thought the Tannoy sounded clearer. I was over at the shop where they sell/sold Axe FX here in LA, testing out some cabs there. I decided to just stick with the Tannoys. I wouldn't mind having both cabs and FRFR. If I had the option and could afford it I would probably need to experiment awhile to find "my sound" with actual cabs. But I would probably not want to give up the FRFR ever, since it is such a flexible situation to be in.
 
I dont want to give up on it either but it is not feasible for me financially right now to send $800+ on a new frfr speaker. Im trying to work with what I can get, you know? That is why for noe I want to try my power amp with a passive Yorkville nx300 and still be able to use ir’s.... just to tide me over. :)
 
Yep, perfectly understandable, this sort of gear can be really expensive. And it's sometimes good just to work with what you have.

In that case, EQ is your friend. Try a low cut on your patches, see if that helps. You might also have to do some judicious cutting/boosting of particular frequencies with a parametric EQ block (PEQ). Unfortunately there's not going to be a one-size-fits-all solution, you're going to have to use your ears. Try a low cut first, adjusting the cutoff frequency to taste. Also worth trying to identify frequencies that are contributing to it sounding muddy by setting up a peaking filter with a fairly tight Q, and then sweeping the frequency, noting down any frequencies that make it sound dramatically worse. These are candidates for cutting.

Also good to be aware of ear fatigue when trying to find a good EQ setting. Always worth saving a few potential options, and then coming back and listening to them with fresh ears the next day. Hopefully you'll slowly (or quickly!) find something that works for you.
 
Yep, perfectly understandable, this sort of gear can be really expensive. And it's sometimes good just to work with what you have.

In that case, EQ is your friend. Try a low cut on your patches, see if that helps. You might also have to do some judicious cutting/boosting of particular frequencies with a parametric EQ block (PEQ). Unfortunately there's not going to be a one-size-fits-all solution, you're going to have to use your ears. Try a low cut first, adjusting the cutoff frequency to taste. Also worth trying to identify frequencies that are contributing to it sounding muddy by setting up a peaking filter with a fairly tight Q, and then sweeping the frequency, noting down any frequencies that make it sound dramatically worse. These are candidates for cutting.

Also good to be aware of ear fatigue when trying to find a good EQ setting. Always worth saving a few potential options, and then coming back and listening to them with fresh ears the next day. Hopefully you'll slowly (or quickly!) find something that works for you.


I will give it a try! Thank you
 
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