So I ran it through Shure 846's with balanced filters

bxlgotham

Inspired
Didn't sound so hot. I guess it's really not the right listening sink, even high end ear buds like these. Just sounded very digitally in distorted profiles, and very thin in clean ones. I don't blame the Axe, I have a pair of Adam AX7's sitting here waiting to be connected. Stay tune for reports on that. Hope it's OK I posted this here. Not sure if there's a forum for headphones that go well with this unit, because I would really like some for witching hour sessions in this densely populated living space.
 
i've never used an IEM that i didn't have to EQ for things to sound right or how i wanted.
 
I guess it's really not the right listening sink
No idea what that means.
Just sounded very digitally
What does digital sound like?
very thin in clean ones

With IEMs the bass is really dependent on having a good seal.

I'm assuming those are universal ear buds? Are you sure they were properly sealed? Did you listen to some recorded material you are very familiar with to compare?

If you haven't used IEMs before you may need to get used to it - the sound is (of course) very "direct". There's no ambience unless you add it. Reverb is your friend.

I'm assuming you're referring to an Axe Fx III since you don't actually mention anything about what device you're using.

Did you buy it new? If not, you might want to reset the system settings.

And remember the Axe Fx models a mic'd speaker cabinet which sounds very different than a guitar cabinet in the room. Or even IEMs while there is a guitar cabinet in the room adding ambient sound.
 
I thi
No idea what that means.

What does digital sound like?


With IEMs the bass is really dependent on having a good seal.

I'm assuming those are universal ear buds? Are you sure they were properly sealed? Did you listen to some recorded material you are very familiar with to compare?

If you haven't used IEMs before you may need to get used to it - the sound is (of course) very "direct". There's no ambience unless you add it. Reverb is your friend.

I'm assuming you're referring to an Axe Fx III since you don't actually mention anything about what device you're using.

Did you buy it new? If not, you might want to reset the system settings.

And remember the Axe Fx models a mic'd speaker cabinet which sounds very different than a guitar cabinet in the room. Or even IEMs while there is a guitar cabinet in the room adding ambient sound.

Agree, this is on my IEMs/me, not the Axe FX 3, which I neglected to clarify is what I am using, brand new.

I have used these 846's for the past year+, familiar with them, and have used Shure IEMs for over a decade or more.

I get it on what it's modeling, hence why I should look to cabinet profiles for modeling that on top of the actual amp/FX sound, is that correct?

Appreciate the feedback. By no means was this post a crit of anything, just a sort of meaningless observation and maybe a call for any suggestions on more neutral IEMs. I actually am not a fan of the 846's, but I think I need to swap out the "balanced" internal baffling filter with the "bright" ones.

And yes the IEMs were seated, and yes they're universal, not fitted. That's something I should probably look at getting at this point.

Thanks all.
 
Oh by digital, I mean maybe something like its been stripped of the warmth of what I know those amps to sound like, and I know the FX3 can reproduce that as I've heard it on many YT videos, etc. Also sounds like distortion gets very narrow/compressed and more solid-state sounding, than valve/tube sounding distortion, and again, I know the FX3 isn't bringing this to the table, it's the IEMs response.

By "sink" I meant the final place where the sound is received by me into my ear, the "speaker", in this case my IEMs. Probably doesn't help that I'm making up terms, but it was late when I wrote this :).
 
i use the cheap shure 215 and get a good sound out of it, again after EQ'ing the IEM send a bit with my mixer. universals can sound good; i personally don't think custom is a requirement.

i'm not quite understanding "hence why I should look to cabinet profiles for modeling that on top of the actual amp/FX sound."

i'd try the Axe with the speakers you've mentioned first. get a good idea of what that sounds like, then go from there.
 
i use the cheap shure 215 and get a good sound out of it, again after EQ'ing the IEM send a bit with my mixer. universals can sound good; i personally don't think custom is a requirement.

i'm not quite understanding "hence why I should look to cabinet profiles for modeling that on top of the actual amp/FX sound."

i'd try the Axe with the speakers you've mentioned first. get a good idea of what that sounds like, then go from there.

Yeah agree, I started in the wrong place, just wanted to hear it and not enough energy to setup the speakers last night. Will go back to the start on this and reset my ear and tune the IEMs to that. Do you EQ from within the Axe for the headphone output (possible?) or you go into a mixer from the Axe and then EQ it there and into the IEM (guessing the latter).
 
What were you using them with before the Axe Fx?

If things already sound "thin" then probably trying the "warm" filter would be better than "bright".

However, if the neutral is really neutral it's probably best to work with that as closest to flat EQ will be the most accurate.
 
I had them connected to the Bluetooth wire (they can be connected to copper headphone wire or BT) and that to my iPhone 11 + Tidal. They have always sounded kind of muddy and base heavy, and dry. When I went out of the Axe they stayed dry and just sounded compressed and lacking in richness. Bright for me is like brassy, I used to hear that in the 2005 era Shure 5xx series that I used with my Sharp Minidisc portable, it sounded 100x better than these 846s have sounded connected even with copper to any source. I think the bright filter is what will open that up, but not sure that is going to solve the Axe, that probably requires the EQ.

I realize speaking about sound can be a bit challenging. It's hard for me to describe. I think what I'm saying is there was no warmth it was muddy, choppy, compressed, "Digital-ish", and needs to open up with warmth, less compressed, and brighter. I'll sort it out. I didn't spend much time on this yet.
 
yeah, try the speakers first. easier to gauge than IEMs at first.

Yeah agree, I started in the wrong place, just wanted to hear it and not enough energy to setup the speakers last night. Will go back to the start on this and reset my ear and tune the IEMs to that. Do you EQ from within the Axe for the headphone output (possible?) or you go into a mixer from the Axe and then EQ it there and into the IEM (guessing the latter).
i have a QSC Touchmix or Behringer x32 that i use at gigs. so i do the EQing from the IEM bus/send. i adjust it to music i'm familiar with, then everything else falls into place instantly. that's just my approach to IEMs, but i think it's important. there's way too much bass on the 215s which makes everything sound bad and hard to hear. i take that out and it's instantly better. i tweak some mids and boost some highs too.
 
Just an opinion but I would start in the cab block and cut low at 80hz and highs at between 5000-6000. Put more focus on the area the guitar should be in. I use custom molded triple driver in ears for 98% of the playing I do thru AFX the other 2% is live thru 2X Friedman ASM-12's. Two other places I like to EQ is in the amp blocks speaker page by adjusting the low cut quite a bit. The other I like to run a 10 band variable Q graphic EQ between the amp and cab block pumping up the mids a bit and playing with the master Q.
 
I don’t think there’s such a thing as headphones that go well with the AxeFX. Either they are good headphones or not and or the AxeFX is either good or not. I can vouch for the AxeFX being great across the full freq. range.

People argue whether the modeling is great or not but that will have little to do with how good your headphones are. You really don’t want to choose your headphones to match anything really... they should just be good enough to the point that you can eq between the source and the headphones to compensate for your preference.

I don’t recommend changing your presets to match the headphones since a good preset should work generally for all headphones/monitors. Ignore the recommendations to cut this and cut that until you’ve established that your headphones are actually reflecting the input as accurately as possible.

I suspect the in ears that you are using are horrible in the hi mid to high range. They usually are. I call it harshness but you may call it digital. Even the $1000+ range ones. Unfortunately, it will cost more to get something great out of an in-ear. Over the ear headphones are a much better and cheaper option if in ears aren’t a requirement.

Also be acutely aware of what the AxeFX is actually outputting (as others have mentioned this is not an amp in the room device unless you actually use it with an amp and cab in the room or simulate it using several tricks.

The only way I can cope with in ears is to first get the highest quality ones that you can get (not necessarily THE most expensive) and plan on eq-ing after the axe (or use specific blocks in the axe at the end of the chain after you’ve worked out the preset without special eq) to mold the output to be as close a flat response as possible.

This is particularly easier said than done if you are trying to do this with just a guitar sound. Forget the axe for a second and realize that it is difficult regardless of the source. It’s easiest when you use full range material that you are extremely familiar with and have multiple monitors through which you can test. I suggest working out the eq that way before messing with the axe as there are so many parameters and so many opinions as to what you should tweak....notch those ideas for now and work on the basics.

ps I use molded in ears, prefer over the ear closed backs, Frfr, love amp in the room - but rarely bother. I’m refraining from endorsing any particular product.
 
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