Suggestions on what you've done to enjoy 18.03

Danny Danzi

Danny Danzi

Power User
Hi guys,

With most AxeFx updates, I've been able to dial in a tone in an hour or less. With the latest firmware, I can't make it sound right. I've got about 2 hours into it so far and had to go back to 17.04 and bang...tone and feel were back.

So far this is what I seem to be experiencing....and I'm using the mod 800 head.

1. The sound to me, has lost the tube sound and has more of a transistor edge to it when compared to what I had with 17.04. It's darker in comparison to what I had, but a hell of a lot looser and flabbier.

2. The gain is less by default yet I can't seem to select a gain setting anywhere where there is some sort of gain setting, that makes the amp sound the way I'm hoping for. Boost in the amp makes it too gainy, trim is the best option but still falls short, regular amp gain makes it way too muddy. Distortion box gain was fair and another decent option....but nothing is making me smile like I once did.

3. The amp is very loose sounding and flabby. I can't even describe what that means other than....it seems like it's not as compressed and tube saturated as it once was. I made changes all over the place in the advanced amp settings and even tried copying my old settings in, but I'm still not happy.

4. The feel has changed drastically. When I first got my AxeFxII 2 years ago, one of my pet peeves was it sounded and felt a bit like a VST plugin...meaning, you could get loads of gain but the sustain was not quite there and the sound would die out faster than a real amp or pre-amp. For how I use the thing, this was fixed in probably FW 11 or something...but after 18.03, I'm getting that artifact again. It just dies out the same as a VST does all of a sudden.

Please understand this is not meant to be a complaint. I'm merely asking:

Have any of you noticed the above and if so, what did you do to get closer to your old sound or better it? We got some killer stuff in this update....I just don't know if I can use it until I can figure something out. All my amps have changed so drastically, I don't even know where to begin to get them back to what I had other than reverting.

Thanks for any suggestions in advance.
 
Interesting I really don't have that "less of a tube vibe" that your talking about. In fact the opposite is true for me the amps react better. Now is it a massive difference compared to v17 hmm not massive but it's for sure improved. I don't feel like my amps are darker either it true that some amps have been effected more than others but as I understand it all the amps are now more in line with the real world models.

Maybe just try a few amps that you do not normally use and see if you find that mojo you feel you have lost in the update? I like the Atomica high a lot also I can get lost in the Brit AFD 100.
 
I literally did nothing. I had to adjust the level on my morgan amp sim and that is it. Might want to reinstall the FW. It sounds great to me
 
Hey Danny,

Just as a test have you tried presets from scratch with just an AMP and CAB block? Sometimes for me, presets like that sound great but my older firmware presets didn't have the mojo.

I do this with all major upgrades as a sanity check before I try out my previous presets.

This time for me, 17.04 to 18.03 didn't wreck my 17.04 presets. But in the past the scratch preset test has helped me get sorted.
 
brokenvail said:
I literally did nothing. Might want to reinstall the FW. It sounds great to me
Click to expand...

+1 this.

I am in the midst of moving and my gear is packed at the moment. Haven't updated yet. But there are usually guys who report that their upgrade didn't sound quite right, and sounded right after they reinstalled again. And, I'm talking about any time there are updates.

Not sure how much of it is Placebo, but if it is in fact a solution, it is only a few minutes of your time to give it a try, vs. 2 hours of tweaking, only to end the evening frustrated that you couldn't get your tone to where it needs to be.
 
Presets created with earlier firmwares eg 11, 13, 14 are sounding awesome again for some strange reason!!. Which is a good thing. Some of the Holdsworth based patches off axe exchange were sounding a bit out of the intended zone in the last few firmware releases and needed major tweaks, but now sound mega with minimum tweaks. Especially with the improved mesas.

I have to say this latest firmware, even with the official release compared to the beta, is the best its has ever sounded to my ears. Am so loving this box at the moment. Best thing I have ever bought, ever. And gushing Axe fanboy statements normally make me cringe, but I cant help myself!
 
Haha it appears everyone has different outcomes. Thank you all for the input. :) I've tried a few different amps....I'm still not happy like I was with the last FW and my tones.

Barhrecords: That's interesting! I've actually only had this problem one other time....usually my presets port over without a problem and I never have to touch much if anything. There was one other update that was like this...but it wasn't as blatant as this and I fixed it in seconds. This one is just....I can't even put my finger on it. Will try your suggestion with just the amp and cab block.

I'm thinking the amp I like is one that was just affected more than some of the others. Actually my two main amps have been affected by this....the brit 800 mod, which is what I use for my main rig sound and the brit AFS100 2 which I use for my Van Halen sounds. That one isn't as bad as the brit 800 mod. It just seems to have lost everything. The closest I can come to my old sound is either with the Big Hair amp or the Solo 100 lead. Even there, I revert back to 17.04 and it obliterates anything new that I've created.

Oh well, I'll keep messing around. May just need to stay with 17.04 as my final update...which isn't a bad thing, but it sucks because Cliff hooked us up with that compression level modifier in the new one. Grrr! Thanks everyone.
 
I bet if you keep checking out different amps you will find a tone that works, I mean try some amps that you would never try. Once you get amp worked start trying different IRs again ones you wouldn't normal try. You will find that magic just keep at it and let us know if we can help you out.
 
My experience is just the opposite. I'm digging the feel and tone at FW18 more than any other firmware release.

Try this: go into one of your presets, look for any deeper tweaks you did to make it sound "right," and undo them.
 
Rex said:
My experience is just the opposite. I'm digging the feel and tone at FW18 more than any other firmware release.

Try this: go into one of your presets, look for any deeper tweaks you did to make it sound "right," and undo them.
Click to expand...

This is the gist of my simple scratch preset test. Start with 100% defaults with the Friedman Smallbox and one of the new 4x12 Mic+DI IR's. All defaults. Essentially not using any deep tweaks lingering from and old preset.
 
I generally consider digital systems to be deterministic in their behavior; but given what you're seeing have you tried the reflash/reset cycle? Sounds like we like some of the same stuff (although I have been using the Camerons and Friedmans as go-tos) and this change was more of a subtle under the hood change for me; a lot of personal presets have only required an amp reset and following minor adjustment.

I have noticed what I would term 'variations in harmonic content' on the character of some amp's high gain distortion but I suspect that is probably more accurate rather than less so and makes the amps sound less "samey" to me at dimed gain settings. Haven't found any of them to be deal breakers in terms of my standby models, though.
 
Cliff said in a post - try changing the values on the Xformer match in the speaker tab, Have you tried this? you can really brighten things up there...worked for me.

but regardless I was very happy with this update over 17
 
Well, now that Danny has chimed in I'll go. I thought it was me at first. Yes I've download a few times. Checked parameters, cables, IRs, modeling and all tweaky things. Everything is set correctly but the magic went away. I really can't put my finger on it but it's not an improvement. I wish it was. I've got a boat load of good patches with a lot of time on them that are quite different now. ( I play out and record a lot ) After I went to the recent v 18 I was bummed out. WTH. Years of great stuff down the tubes somehow. Well I know that can't be so. I know Cliff and the guys are the best there is and this black box is magic. But WTH. The only thing I haven't done is 'reset system parameters' because apparently it's not necessary after firmware upgrade.

Just FYI I have great gear. MMEB, Fenders, LPs. Run through Yamaha HS80Ms. I want my Mojo back please.
 
If you think 17.04 sounded better, then I'd say just use that and enjoy it. No point spending tons of time trying to tweak something that doesn't sound right to your ears, when you've already got tones you love.

I personally think 18 sounds the best yet, but really just matters what you think, no what the majority does.
 
For me fw 18.03 is the best I ever played with...I've spend today 5 hrs. of recording and just, what I never did before , most ly factory presets with some tweaking with the cruch knob and the Sat switched on and it sound incredible...
 
it's so strange to hear that the "mojo" disappeared with 18. i swear it immediately had a ton MORE mojo, even with the first Public Beta that we could try.

complicating this entire thing is that sound and tone is completely subjective. what sounds and feels good to one person may not sound or feel good to another.

that said, i would "argue" that fw18 is better in every way. i'm not talking about more real-er, or closer to the actual amps, etc. just something about it makes it feel better and in turn sound better.

i wish there was an easy answer. there isn't. you shouldn't have to reload firmware a million times though :)

load the new firmware.
start with a blank patch, add shunts from left to right.
add a cab block with Factory 58 (the CK TV).
add an amp block and choose any amp you prefer.

at default settings, it honestly should sound "good." sure you can change things to make it sound more like what you desire. but it should sound "good."

if it doesn't, please upload a sound clip of what you're hearing. direct recording is of course better, but anything will help. so many people have this issue FW after FW and i think we need something "physical" (the recording!) to be able to discuss things intelligibly. words like "fizzy" "buzzy" "weak" etc just mean different things to everyone.

what may also help is taking a break for 1 or 2 days, even a week if you can! get away from the axe. listen to some music. play another rig. anything. i bet when you come back to fw18 on your axe, it will sound amazing now that you have fresh ears and aren't used to what 17 or any other previous FW sounded like.

humans and our senses are creatures of habit. we get used to things and have trouble adjusting to changes. we interpret things with our eyes primarily. it's difficult to trust our ears when our eyes see parameter values and numbers and settings. reset those ears. :)
 
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