Struggling with Tones!

You already know from which type of cabinet and speaker your ideal tone originates. Most of the battle is won.

Now you have to audition IRs that include those two variables, but at the very least, the speaker type.

The more neutral the microphone type, the more similar it will sound to what your cab is producing on stage.
 
After a few nights of really spending some time with my Axe Fx, I think I have it sounding better than it does going through the cabs.
The only things I really tweaked were Low Cut and Hi Cut in the cab block and in the EQ part of the amp block. Also, the “Definition” parameter really helped tighten everything up.

I’ve spent waaaay too long uneducated on the gear I’ve sworn by, apparently. This thing is even better than I thought (and I’ve always argued for it to everyone I come in contact with..). It’s simply the best. Thanks to everyone for all of the great info and tips. Without you I would still be lost and stressed out over it. 😁
 
gspencer26 said:
Hi guys,

I’ve been using Fractal gear since 2012-ish. My main rig now is a AXE3 into a matrix power amp to real cabs.. I love it about 90% of the time. My gain presets sound like a mix of Whitesnake and Ratt tones. And they sound awesome running it this way.

I really struggle with getting it to sound good going direct to FOH however. We play tons of gigs and each place has a different system. What is the best way to dial in FOH tones?
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The best way is to use a really good PA monitor instead of a "real cab".

You are dialing in your sound to work around that cabinet, and ignoring what the FOH is getting. One amp cannot serve two masters.

In order to tweak and dial in your FOH sound, you need to be hearing that sound onstage, and that means using a really good wedge monitor or IEMS.
 
chris said:
Many “sound engineers” think their job is to put the channel fader up to unity and that’s it.
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True enough - and that is why we need to give them something that sounds really good without them having to expend any effort. The lazy techs will leave it alone and it will sound good; the good techs will make it sound great.

Honestly, this is the best reason I know of to switch from a "real" amp to a digital rig - you get complete control over the FOH send.
 
I know when I decide to start gigging again, I’m going to book a couple hours at a local rehearsal space that has a PA inside of it so I can go in and crank up to gig volume through the PA to make sure everything is working as intended. Most of the rehearsal joints down here have several rooms with different PA’s and if you tell the owners what you intend on doing, they probably won’t have an issue with you going room to room to quickly check things out, as long as the other rooms aren’t booked.

I’d certainly try doing that before purchasing more equipment, it’ll be cheaper and you’ll get a better idea of what you’re going for.
 
When I first got my AFX3 I sounded shit for the first few gigs. What helped was getting together with the singer and setting up his PA at gig volume and dialling in through a flat mixer channel. Then when I got home, sure enough it sounded dull and muffled in the monitors! Long story short they were just not loud enough at home, so I had way too much treble which sounded terrible at proper volumes. Simple 80/6k low/high cut in the cab block and a set of headphones and I was back in business.
 
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