Hello, My name is John and this is my first post here. I will try to encompass all of my questions into one forum. I answered some of my questions by spending hours lurking in the forums but I still have a few left and am looking for some good tips from folks that know a lot more about the Axe FX 2 than I!
First, I love the Axe 2. It made me sell 2 tube amps. I have been running the Mark 2 with a Matrix GT1000 and Xitone 1x12 for over a year now and it's the best purchase I've made (thanks Frank). It really gets into my genres of play very well. One day I'll be playing Maiden, the next ZZ Top, then Pink Floyd and then Halloween. I really love having the exact amps used on those records with the absolute correct effects. I'm kind of a tone junkie.
I bought the Axe 2 used and it had a lot of nice presets in it that I tweaked. Some folks shared presets with me and some cabs too. I've been lucky with my small circle of fellow Axe 2 players. My first question may not be an Axe question, Why does the direct in cut out after about a minute and a half? Ok here's what I'm talking about: When I use my MacBook Pro with the Axe 2 and iTunes (with the Matrix and Xitone) and play along to a song, the audio out from my MacBook goes mute after about a minute and a half. This just started happening. I used to be able to play along to songs for hours. (Really sharpened my playing) But now, it just goes mute. I don't think its a connection issue, the Axe Edit isn't disrupted but each USB out on my MacBook does the same thing. I say mute and not pause, which is key here. If it paused, there would be a disruption. But the song continues to play, without any sound. If I unplug the USB cable, the sound comes out of the MacBook speakers. If I plug back in, it comes out of the XiTone, but again, after about 90 seconds it goes mute. Any advice here is appreciated.
Next up is cab vs Xitone. My band has a few outdoor gigs upcoming (BBQs/picnics) and I don't like using just the Xitone as my sound (not enough power, I also direct into our PA, but our PA isn't enough either for outdoor type shows). I want to use my 4x12 (1960a gt75s x v30s) and have had less than desirable results with it so far.
Power amp modeling is on, cab modeling is bypassed. I went ahead and messed with the Low Res Freq and Low Res Q in the Speaker section as explained in the Wiki as well. A few questions here (it wasn't 100% clear) - Also, I used someone else's preset here and tweaked it to an Iron Maiden sound (more modern, like Book of Souls) - 3 scenes. So if I stole your preset somehow, my apologies!
1.) Do I change the low res q to 5 in the speaker section?
2.) Do I need to adjust the low resonance or just the low res freq?
3.) If I have cab sim bypassed, does having a cab block in this chain make any difference?
Here's what it sounds like through the Xitone:
Are there any other tips folks could offer with cutting down the tone loss from FRFR to 4x12?
Does anyone have any really nice sounding presets they could share that are made for a Marshall style cab? At least that way I could study some of the different settings. I have a pretty good ear, but I really don't know a ton about a lot of the different knobs in here. I got the basics down and beyond but there's probably something I'm missing since I am not close to the FRFR sound yet.
I would like to double all my goto live presets (10) and have them usable with the 4x12 for these type of gigs.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
First, I love the Axe 2. It made me sell 2 tube amps. I have been running the Mark 2 with a Matrix GT1000 and Xitone 1x12 for over a year now and it's the best purchase I've made (thanks Frank). It really gets into my genres of play very well. One day I'll be playing Maiden, the next ZZ Top, then Pink Floyd and then Halloween. I really love having the exact amps used on those records with the absolute correct effects. I'm kind of a tone junkie.
I bought the Axe 2 used and it had a lot of nice presets in it that I tweaked. Some folks shared presets with me and some cabs too. I've been lucky with my small circle of fellow Axe 2 players. My first question may not be an Axe question, Why does the direct in cut out after about a minute and a half? Ok here's what I'm talking about: When I use my MacBook Pro with the Axe 2 and iTunes (with the Matrix and Xitone) and play along to a song, the audio out from my MacBook goes mute after about a minute and a half. This just started happening. I used to be able to play along to songs for hours. (Really sharpened my playing) But now, it just goes mute. I don't think its a connection issue, the Axe Edit isn't disrupted but each USB out on my MacBook does the same thing. I say mute and not pause, which is key here. If it paused, there would be a disruption. But the song continues to play, without any sound. If I unplug the USB cable, the sound comes out of the MacBook speakers. If I plug back in, it comes out of the XiTone, but again, after about 90 seconds it goes mute. Any advice here is appreciated.
Next up is cab vs Xitone. My band has a few outdoor gigs upcoming (BBQs/picnics) and I don't like using just the Xitone as my sound (not enough power, I also direct into our PA, but our PA isn't enough either for outdoor type shows). I want to use my 4x12 (1960a gt75s x v30s) and have had less than desirable results with it so far.
Power amp modeling is on, cab modeling is bypassed. I went ahead and messed with the Low Res Freq and Low Res Q in the Speaker section as explained in the Wiki as well. A few questions here (it wasn't 100% clear) - Also, I used someone else's preset here and tweaked it to an Iron Maiden sound (more modern, like Book of Souls) - 3 scenes. So if I stole your preset somehow, my apologies!
1.) Do I change the low res q to 5 in the speaker section?
2.) Do I need to adjust the low resonance or just the low res freq?
3.) If I have cab sim bypassed, does having a cab block in this chain make any difference?
Here's what it sounds like through the Xitone:
Are there any other tips folks could offer with cutting down the tone loss from FRFR to 4x12?
Does anyone have any really nice sounding presets they could share that are made for a Marshall style cab? At least that way I could study some of the different settings. I have a pretty good ear, but I really don't know a ton about a lot of the different knobs in here. I got the basics down and beyond but there's probably something I'm missing since I am not close to the FRFR sound yet.
I would like to double all my goto live presets (10) and have them usable with the 4x12 for these type of gigs.
Thanks in advance for any advice!