Suggestions on what you've done to enjoy 18.03

[greiswig]

I've only tried the modern/vintage/test switch on one amp so far...the Ford ODS. I can definitely hear a difference. Mostly what it seems to affect is the high mids:

Modern has more of those, sometimes in an annoying way. Modern maybe has a bit more low-mid extension, but mostly it seems to affect the highs and high mids.
Vintage is softer, less in your face. Less high extension, perhaps, or just the way the highs distort is a little different.
Test seems to have some of the character of the highs of modern, and similar extension, but not as much of that high mid spike.

I keep describing these in terms of EQ, but it really seems like it is more in the way the distortion is voiced than in the actual EQ.

Before, too, I found myself using the ideal/smooth setting to get rid of an undercurrent of tearing distortion that would fade abruptly before the chords did? I'm hearing less of that now on the Test setting as well, I think. So I bring the modeling back to Authentic, and it starts to feel a bit better, too.

I think I know what you mean about the low mids: I keep struggling with some boxiness around 420Hz? But I think that is actually somewhat similar to the way the mic'd cabs sound, so I just kind of go with it or dial it out with some EQ after the cab.

 

[jefferski]

I've mostly been using one patch lately... iaresee's Trey patch (from V14 I think). It's got a clean USA 1 amp, and I have it dialed in with just a slight touch of breakup. Going to 18.03 last week, it was much more "in my face" but not really in a good way... it felt stiff and if anything, was too punchy and fat (although I must say it sounded awesome in my headphones, but it didn't translate to a live setting very well).

Last night I tried Cliff's suggestions from a post a few days ago...

"To get a sound similar to V17 you want to set Crunch to 0, reduce Negative Feedback a bit and increase Transformer Match a bit."

... and voila!! It was very close to what I wanted again. I haven't loaded 18.04 w/ the Vintage preamp setting, and that would probably help too. Of course, YMMV, especially since I did this w/ a clean amp and haven't tried any of my higher-gain patches yet. I also haven't had time to load the new presets so can't comment on them vs the older versions. But for me, on my main preset Cliff's suggestion was right on. Brought back the exact feel I wanted.

 

[Etudica]

Even though it's been said that it doesn't need to be done 'reset system parameters' was the thing that worked for me. Before: bassy, muddy. After: Incredible.

Holy shit, yes! 18.03 never felt right to me. I tried redownloading & reinstalling, which according to some people 'brought it to life' but no change. Tonight I decided WTF let's start from scratch for real. Reset system params and boom, there it was!!!

I went through the settings before resetting them and noted any custom settings, but nothing seemed strange or out of place at all. Flat global EQ, stock gain and level settings across the board (I never really adjusted much in there before). I have no idea what was 'stuck' in there but I can't be happier at the moment. AMAZING. Thanks for the idea electronpirate :encouragement:

 

[Severed]

Holy shit, yes! 18.03 never felt right to me. I tried redownloading & reinstalling, which according to some people 'brought it to life' but no change. Tonight I decided WTF let's start from scratch for real. Reset system params and boom, there it was!!!

I went through the settings before resetting them and noted any custom settings, but nothing seemed strange or out of place at all. Flat global EQ, stock gain and level settings across the board (I never really adjusted much in there before). I have no idea what was 'stuck' in there but I can't be happier at the moment. AMAZING. Thanks for the idea electronpirate :encouragement:

Hmm I'll have to give this a shot.

 

[EJ James (Street)]

Nothing yet. I jumped from 15.x to 18.03 and found that none of my existing presets worked worth damn. Granted, that's a HUGE leap, so any interim tweaking I would have done had I upgraded with every release along the way never occurred, so there was likely no hope for 15.x version presets to sound good in 18.x.

Not giving up. I'm just going back to level-set and building new patches from scratch. The only time I've downgraded was when a bug was introduced that caused a minor lockup. The next dot-revision later that day fixed that problem, so I only regressed for a few hours until I could get the fix and load it.

I'm not inclined to go backwards, so I'll tough it out and make this thing sing like I know it can, has, and will again.

 

[bdevlin]

This 'reset system parameters' worked for me as well. I think someone should validate this officially. I upgraded to FW18 and was initially disappointed. However, I think my main issue was that my dozen or so custom patches from FW17 were useless. I just did a 'reset system parameters' and they all sound quite the same or similar when before they were not usable.

 

[joecooll]

I love My AXE FX and the FW 18 is Awesome :encouragement:

 

[api4u]

Holy shit, yes! 18.03 never felt right to me. I tried redownloading & reinstalling, which according to some people 'brought it to life' but no change. Tonight I decided WTF let's start from scratch for real. Reset system params and boom, there it was!!!

I went through the settings before resetting them and noted any custom settings, but nothing seemed strange or out of place at all. Flat global EQ, stock gain and level settings across the board (I never really adjusted much in there before). I have no idea what was 'stuck' in there but I can't be happier at the moment. AMAZING. Thanks for the idea electronpirate :encouragement:

Yeah, it seemed like it was that way with almost all of my presets. I reset all of the blocks, in all my oft-used presets, and it seemed like it helped on just about all of them. My first 40 or 60 presets are my current favorites; these often change from firmware to firmware. With FW 18.03, I wound up redoing all of my presets from scratch, to great improvement. It took me a bit of time, but it was worth it. I'd recommend trying this on at least a few of your patches, and see if it improves, for you. If not, leave well enough alone; for me, it helped probably 90% of my patches to start over. I "thought" they were pretty good before, but they're better now. I didn't necessarily stick with "stock" presets, or "factory defaults" for the most part, although several settings are in those parameters. I used a combination of i'net research for suggested amp/pedal settings, my ears, and playing alongside studio recordings to compare settings to get them to where they are now. I'm still dialing things in, but this approach seemed to help my setup a lot.

As a general rule, I've found I usually dropped bass, or enabled low-cut on the amps, from default settings.
Delays are usually dropped to less than 10% mix, with only a repeat or two, for a realistic sounding lead delay. this does not apply to delays that I want to be more prominent, like a .8 "Edge" or "Hillsong" type delay.
Cabs are always set to UR, with Preamp on. Still working on dialing in the preamp Types and settings; it "seems" to round things off a bit, even if the preamp settings are all on "0", although this may be a placebo.
Reverbs are almost always High Quality, and I'm mostly reaching for the Studio A or C, and N & S Churches.
So far, I've switched from having the Rotary at the end, between Delay & Reverb, instead of before the amp, like I mostly did before.
Modulations are serial now, instead of parallel - still working on if this is the way I'll leave it.

 

[MadMac]

Hello,
i reset my Axe FX after update and used the v18 Presets and it sounds awesome!
Than i tried every new Preset and keep that i loved.... replaced the other with my own Presets from v17...
Finally i change my own presets...
Resetting the Axe is the Magic Key...
Here is how too.... thanks to Yek for the great Wiki.... the best place when you want to know something about the AXE !!!!!
Axe-Fx II: resetting - Axe-Fx II Wiki

 

[BillyZeppa]

Hello,
i reset my Axe FX after update and used the v18 Presets and it sounds awesome!
Than i tried every new Preset and keep that i loved.... replaced the other with my own Presets from v17...
Finally i change my own presets...
Resetting the Axe is the Magic Key...
Here is how too.... thanks to Yek for the great Wiki.... the best place when you want to know something about the AXE !!!!!
Axe-Fx II: resetting - Axe-Fx II Wiki

Thanks, MadMac. you mean you erased it all (as per - To remove all presets: download the "empty bank" sysex file. Launch Fractal-Bot, load the file and send it.) and then re-load the new presets, and so on, as in Resetting: restoring factory settings?

Or do you mean: Resetting: resetting system parameters?

 

[MadMac]

Thanks, MadMac. you mean you erased it all (as per - To remove all presets: download the "empty bank" sysex file. Launch Fractal-Bot, load the file and send it.) and then re-load the new presets, and so on, as in Resetting: restoring factory settings?

Or do you mean: Resetting: resetting system parameters?

Hey BillyZeppa i did resetting system parameters... that worked for me...

 

[JT2]

OK, I'm not sure WTH is going on but I decided to "reset system parameters'. The "mojo' was gone with the v18 update. Well, it's back. Just like the guys above here, this 'reset' brought back the shine, the glitter. I wish someone could explain this. For those interested, go to Utility and scroll over 4 pages. It was scary but it work for me. All I had to do after was reset my front input level and Amp Level outs.. Nothing else. If your at your wits end about losing tones in v18 then maybe try it. I'm so glad I did.

 

[chris]

wow that is strange! system parameters are usually I/O menu settings and other "global" type settings. it shouldn't really affect tone. but now i want to try it! glad it worked for a few, and maybe it's the key for others.

 

[JT2]

wow that is strange! system parameters are usually I/O menu settings and other "global" type settings. it shouldn't really affect tone. but now i want to try it! glad it worked for a few, and maybe it's the key for others.

Yeah Chris. I can't figure it out but something changed big time. Ghost in the machine? Maybe Danny should try it?

 

[yek]

I am a religious fan of Reset.

For whatever reason, I've experienced that occasionally things can happen "under the hood".
A reset solves that. Takes 30 secs to do a reset and change some I/O and Global parameters back to my preferred settings.

 

[Rex]

I am a religious fan of Reset.

For whatever reason, I've experienced that occasionally things can happen "under the hood".
A reset solves that. Takes 30 secs to do a reset and change some I/O and Global parameters back to my preferred settings.

Yes, it's one of the mysteries of the Axe-Fx world.

As the wiki tells us, there are different kinds of reset. I'd like to propose that, when we discuss resetting, we specify what kind of reset we're talking about. I think that would cut down on some of the popular confusion about something that's really not all that confusing. If we just say, "I reset my Axe," a lot of people say, "Wait...what?"

 

[barhrecords]

I have also been using Utility -> system reset as standard firmware update procedure.

 

[yek]

Yes, it's one of the mysteries of the Axe-Fx world.

As the wiki tells us, there are different kinds of reset. I'd like to propose that, when we discuss resetting, we specify what kind of reset we're talking about. I think that would cut down on some of the popular confusion about something that's really not all that confusing. If we just say, "I reset my Axe," a lot of people say, "Wait...what?"

Good point Rex.

Utility > Reset system params.

i also often do an Amp Reset (re selecting the Amp type), but that's part of beta testing.

 

[Gregmang]

Not sure I've ever done a reset.

What typically needs to be adjusted after a reset is competed ?

 

[Rex]

What typically needs to be adjusted after a reset is competed ?

Resetting the system parameters restores those system parameters to their factory-default values. If you've made any changes to those parameters, you'l need to put those changes back in after the reset.

See the wiki article on resetting the Axe, make note of which system parameters you've changed, and use your notes to make those changes again after you do the system parameter reset.