Struggling user - I can't get anywhere close to my prophecy's gain and sustain, please help.

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# Moving to Axe FXIII Forum
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Original Post
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I have the axe fxiii and in the same rack, I have a rocktron prophecy. I hookup the fx3 and spend days trying every single sound and not a single one comes even close to the rocktrons gain. I am hearing people say how easy it is, with many of those people preferring less gain, and even people telling other people they should use less gain (which I feel is wrong to suggest to people how they should express their creativity, but leaving that aside) but still, there are people struggling all over the internet.
In some cases it's the pickups just not being hot enough, and in others its not, and there is not a good reason.

I'm one of the ones that has high gain pickups in 3 guitars, and none of them produce anywhere near close to the gain the rocktron does on the same guitars.

The clean sounds are awesome on the axe fx3 and for rhythm, there are some great sounds, but as soon as you go for leads, the feedback potential, sustain and maximization of harmonics is just gone. It feels like the sound just goes away if you aren't constantly generating sound by playing.

I would gladly pay anyone willing to help prove me wrong here.
There is no way a 15 year old rocktron preamp should blow away an axe fx iii on high gain sounds. And I am comparing the same everything here, same guitar, cables, speakers, everything. I'm just playing with the fxiii and then unhooking it and hooking up the rocktron and playing that.

As I said, I'm happy to pay anyone willing to get on the phone, or zoom or skype and help me get the sounds that have to be in the fxiii somewhere. I guess I'm just not capable of using it properly (even though I've never had this problem with any rig in my entire career)

Please help,

Trevor Chandler

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My Response After Request to Post Audio Samples
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Thanks everyone, I will record some examples and post a link here.
I can move to axe fx3 too, I just wanted to post here in case it helped anyone from this post.
I'll try to figure out how to create a new post and link it to this one so everyone can benefit.

The prophecy patch is called "Dimebag". (I'm not into panterra, but this sound has great sustain, distortion, etc... pinch harmonics are easy to hit and last long, and i can let the sustain go and it will transform right into feedback. It just feels right to me knowing my sound is there, supporting me psychologically, as opposed to my axe fx3 which in my mind I can't shake the knowing that there will be no sustain should I take my fingers off the strings and use the force, and it makes me play much harder than my typical playing, I feel like I'm abusing notes in my chords to try to get that extra out of them, etc...).

Anyhow, I will record comparisons as soon as I can and post them so people can hear what I'm sounding like here.

I really want the axe fx3 to blow away the prophecy (just like my prophecy did to my GSP2101, and the peavey rock master before, and my yamaha fx 500 before that and my crate gxc120 before that (before that I was 14 and had a 15 watt fender app and a hondo h76 electric my grandmother bought me, oops, forgot, I have a heavy metal pedal, the HM2 I believe before I got the crate (I could only play the crate on .00001 volume or my parents complained they could hear it... (and now im 50, and 4,500 gigs later))

Thanks everyone for the willingness to help me out here.

Trevor
 
Hi Trevor, welcome to the forum.

It would be very helpful if you could tell us the specific gear that you are using. The more details you provide, the easier and faster the community will be able to help. Details that would be appreciated are, your complete signal chain, the preset(s) that you are using in the Axe, how you have it configured, how loud you are playing, and of course, audio or video samples, etc.

This is a wonderful community and there are many users here that are as helpful as they are knowledgeable. I know that we will be able to resolve your issue in time, so that you may enjoy what the Axe has to offer.
 
Hey everyone, thank you so much for so many replies so quickly. I am going to record samples and post them. As far as the patches, I'm just using a default I haven't changed anything and I've gone through every single Channel every scene of every channel without luck. I've been watching some straight out of the box examples on YouTube that just sound amazing.

My guitars...
Ibanez RG770DX with super high gain custom pickups, Ibanez with 2 bare knuckle high gain pickups and an ibane Xiphos with stock pickups.

1960 Classic Reissue Marshall 4-12 cabinet from 1990.
Crate Transistor power amp (120 watts)

Then, I'm plugging directly into my rocktron prophecy, and it sounds awesome.

I disconnect the prophecy, plug the Axe FX3 in the same way (guitar to axe, axe to power, power to speakers) and my gain and sustain are about 40% what I get from the prophecy on the dimebag patch.

I must be doing something wrong, I just don't know what.
I haven't changed anything.
 
Only thing I can think of at the moment is the fact Rocktron products have absolutely insane amounts of gain. When you read the descriptions of their preamps that's always a big selling point for them.

My guess is the preset on the Rocktron you are using is at levels of gain that almost no amplifier in the "real world" reaches without the amp falling apart. Thinking this especially because you are using a dimebag patch.
 
Hey everyone, thank you so much for so many replies so quickly. I am going to record samples and post them. As far as the patches, I'm just using a default I haven't changed anything and I've gone through every single Channel every scene of every channel without luck. I've been watching some straight out of the box examples on YouTube that just sound amazing.

My guitars...
Ibanez RG770DX with super high gain custom pickups, Ibanez with 2 bare knuckle high gain pickups and an ibane Xiphos with stock pickups.

1960 Classic Reissue Marshall 4-12 cabinet from 1990.
Crate Transistor power amp (120 watts)

Then, I'm plugging directly into my rocktron prophecy, and it sounds awesome.

I disconnect the prophecy, plug the Axe FX3 in the same way (guitar to axe, axe to power, power to speakers) and my gain and sustain are about 40% what I get from the prophecy on the dimebag patch.

I must be doing something wrong, I just don't know what.
I haven't changed anything.
Hi Trevor,

Thanks for the info. If you are using a Factory Preset, then they are setup for going direct. If you have a Factory Preset that you would like to use with your real power amp and cab, there are a couple of adjustments that you may want to try. There is no right or wrong necessarily, but it may help in some way. It would be great to know which Factory Preset you are using by the way. There are plenty of high gain amp models to choose from. Here are a few quick things to check out:

1. Bypass or disable the Cab Block in the preset since you are already going through a real cab.
2. In the Amp Block, you may want to go to the Speaker tab and change the Output Mode to SS Pwr+Cab
3. You can always add an OD block or use the Input Boost in the Amp block to get more gain.
4. Definitely check out where the Threshold is set in the Input Block, it may be gating too much of the signal for you.

I would definitely consult the Wiki provided by Yek. https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Axe-Fx3
 
Should I just hook the prophecy up through the axe fx3 to use its gain instead of the fx3? The bummer is, my prophecy is starting to go out, and they dont make them anymore. I can still get them used, but I'm worried some day they just won't be around any more at all.
 
I recommend you play around with your own presets. Read Yek's amp and drive guides - that should give you a good starting point for which amp/drive pedals to try.

As a new user, you really need to know how to create and tweak your own presets. It takes little time to get something that sounds good; it takes much time to get something that you think is absolutely perfect. That's part of the fun - tweaking until you get "that sound".
 
I recommend you play around with your own presets. Read Yek's amp and drive guides - that should give you a good starting point for which amp/drive pedals to try.

As a new user, you really need to know how to create and tweak your own presets. It takes little time to get something that sounds good; it takes much time to get something that you think is absolutely perfect. That's part of the fun - tweaking until you get "that sound".
I appreciate the information and am reading them now.

I just don't understand how all these youtubers unbox, plug in and play, and it sounds awesome, and why I can't get close to those sounds. I'm worried it might be broken.
 
I appreciate the information and am reading them now.

I just don't understand how all these youtubers unbox, plug in and play, and it sounds awesome, and why I can't get close to those sounds. I'm worried it might be broken.
Are you playing through your marshall 4x12 with the cabinet models off in the Axe FX and with the output mode set to real cab?
 
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