Suggestions on what you've done to enjoy 18.03

decatur said:
* Before tweaking. Go right to the UTILITY page and start strumming a chord until your vol peaks hit that line marked.
Click to expand...
i hate to correct such an amazing post, but i think you mean the VU tab. currently this is ONLY on the Front Panel, in the Utility menu as decatur described.

* Start tweaking away with just those 3 blocks, Amp, Cab and Reverb.
* Work only with the Input Drive, Input Trim and Master Volume first then B/M/T.
Click to expand...

i like everything you said, but i really want to stress this part. after reseting the amp to default values as decatur described, just adjust the Drive and Master volume first. those HAVE to be balanced for the right type of distortion or clean tone you are seeking. use the Level parameter to keep the volume the same as you change these 2 parameters.

only after that, then touch only the Bass Mid and Treb controls. honestly, if you chose the right amp to begin with, that should get you pretty close to the final tone you're seeking. of course, adjust whatever you need to after, but really that little bit should do a lot.

i know people who reset the amp, but then immediately set bass to 2, mid to 7, treb to 4, presence to 7.3, output comp to 1.23, master to 9.32, drive to 10, etc etc etc.... without even playing the guitar!

i've said this soooo many times by now, but i still stand by it - create tones with your EARS and not your eyes. just because the bass parameter is at 5 doesn't mean it is "too much." you need to PLAY and hear exactly what is happening with the bass at 5. you also need to play as close to the volume you will be performing at when setting tones. if that's not possible, then you need to be good at adjusting the global EQ when you get to the gig. a lot of it is just plain physics.
 
With the frequency with which these types of situations crop up after an update, I'm convinced that some users' configurations have some subtle difference that causes the firmware update process itself to go awry. This is reinforced by the frequency with which these issues are solved by a reinstall; in those cases, it was a temporary condition that caused the firmware to be improperly applied. It's possible that some users have a permanent condition that does this (or at least one that only applies to certain updates). As a programmer by trade, I know that specific user configuration issues are the bane of every developer's existence, and usually it takes a lot of digging to isolate their cause.

Trust your ears: you know what sounds good and what doesn't. At the same time, Cliff knows what he's doing, and his idea of what makes an amp sounds "better" is not likely a deviation from what you would expect, if you enjoy what he's done so far. The highest likelihood is that something went awry in the update process; the challenge for you is determining what variable in your setup caused it, if a simple reinstall of the firmware doesn't fix it.

P.S. Comparison "before" and "after" recordings really do help in these situations, if nothing else to eliminate subjectivity from the debate.
 
lqdsnddist said:
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.
Click to expand...
THIS!!!
 
greiswig said:
Neither the Beta nor 18.03 were perfect for me out of the box. To my ears, 17.04 had brought me considerably closer to some core tones in my head, and improved feel, too. But I wasn't using stock patches, and the amps that I used required tweaking.

18 comes along, and the way some people were talking it was going to be "oh, just reset everything to defaults and it'll be perfect!" That was definitely not the case for me. Is it better? Hard to say...I think there is some more organic responsiveness (to different pickups, guitars, and pick technique) than was available before, but I still tweaked quite a bit to get what I am after. And my core ODS Ford patch I'm still struggling with some 650-800Hz harshness, in spite of trying a bunch of different cabs, using the EQ, and so forth. It's more like it is on the pick attack, rather than really an EQ issue, so I actually am wondering if it is revealing something about my pickups that I don't care for.

I haven't A/B'd 17.04 to 18.03, but my advice would be to stick with it a bit if you can, and you might be happier. I do think it is better, but 17 was very good already. So if you were happy with 17.04 and would rather be playing than tweaking, just go back. No hard feelings! ;-)
Click to expand...

What I swear is going on here is people with extremely particular pet sounds are expecting these to be intact on a firmware change. Which would be impossible in some cases. There just isn't any way to alter an amp modelling algorithm in any significant way and not have to carefully develop the pet sound again, hours and hours of adjustment.

The good news is, for many of us, we are enjoying hearing things that we haven't had to work hard to dial in, just because so much beneficial character is available on almost every amp model. To me this was never more the case than with FW 18.

But I feel for a person who got lucky on one FW, having to be unsuccessful and unlucky in the new FW. Hiring a professional techie who knows how to adjust tones and emulate a preset from one FW in the other would remedy that, but I don't think anything else is going to easily do so. I have by no means mastered this, and I bet few of us have.
 
jesussaddle said:
What I swear is going on here is people with extremely particular pet sounds are expecting these to be intact on a firmware change. Which would be impossible in some cases. There just isn't any way to alter an amp modelling algorithm in any significant way and not have to carefully develop the pet sound again, hours and hours of adjustment.

The good news is, for many of us, we are enjoying hearing things that we haven't had to work hard to dial in, just because so much beneficial character is available on almost every amp model. To me this was never more the case than with FW 18.

But I feel for a person who got lucky on one FW, having to be unsuccessful and unlucky in the new FW. Hiring a professional techie who knows how to adjust tones and emulate a preset from one FW in the other would remedy that, but I don't think anything else is going to easily do so. I have by no means mastered this, and I bet few of us have.
Click to expand...

I started all my patches again from scratch with v18. Totally clean slate. Same with MFC.
 
Sorry to hear the probs Danny. I'm in the minority, but if you've tried a reload on 18.03 and still no joy, slide on back to 17.04 and get after it.

Cheers,

Lee
 
Danny…while I'm loving all the new 18.3 stuff (improved power amps and the fender cleans especially ) I'm also finding that the 800 isn't working for me.
In V.17 it was one of my go to amps and for what ever reasons, I'm having to really dive in to the finer parameters make it usable as it was in 17.00. I'm not really enjoying it when playing it live now also.
On the other hand-the Tuscana is now a go to. It would be interesting to hear from other regular 800 users here…especially before the next software revision.
 
Updated from 17.03-->18.03 this morning and also noticed less tubey and somewhat anemic and less cohesive feel. I have an old DI file that I can reamp and compare to the recorded DI in 17.03 and it was very difficult to match.

Sometimes it takes a while for me to figure new firmwares out. Keep us posted.
 
electronpirate said:
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.

YMMV.
Click to expand...

I just tired pressing 'reset system parameters'. Is this reset basically instantaneous, with no feedback to indicate that it has been done? Not a problem if so, but i thought i better check.
 
sheky said:
Updated from 17.03-->18.03 this morning and also noticed less tubey and somewhat anemic and less cohesive feel. I have an old DI file that I can reamp and compare to the recorded DI in 17.03 and it was very difficult to match.

Sometimes it takes a while for me to figure new firmwares out. Keep us posted.
Click to expand...

Can you post the results? :encouragement:
 
You guys are awesome. Thank you all for your input and suggestions. I really do appreciate them and am glad I didn't ruffle any feathers with my posts on this topic as it's never been my intent. I have a specific tone that I look for and to be honest with you, my tweaking days are sort of coming to an end. I got thrown into an AxeFx when my old rig died and had 2 weeks to come up with tones for a gig as good as what I had before. I definitely feel I did that...and have continued to do so with each update.

What stinks is....if you don't have the time or the desire to tweak to the extent of how we have to sometimes and yet new features come into play, you can sometimes lose a really good array of sounds. That's pretty much what happened to me this time. I kinda like when Cliff would allow for presets to stay the same as long as you didn't do an amp reset and you'd still have those presets as well as the new features. But I totally understand that we have to move forward at all times. :)

For the pro player/studio owner like me where time is not there like it used to be, it makes me sad...what can I say. Again, that's not meant to be a complaint...it's just a shame there are some situations where we can't have our cake and eat it too. :p

Hyderipper mentioned a low mid type sound....that's exactly it. That and it's just not an amp that fits me anymore. I'm better off with Big Hair or Solo 100 lead. I'm closer to my sound with those. But there's still something missing....I can't put my finger on it. I may just tone match my 17.04 using 18.03 and give that a shot. That would fix me I'm sure.

JJ, that just may be the case here. The 800 mod just isn't a good amp for me in THIS particular FW update. I chose that amp due to how I felt it was a bit more tube sounding and responsive than the others and had that nice starved plate sound that brings pinch harms to life that rip through your chest like a choking scream.

I will say this, I don't mind being in the minority here and love hearing that everyone is so happy with their new tones. I'll try messing around a bit more...but so far...whew, I think I'm stuck with 17.04. How I wish we had a compressor level modifier in that version! Figures..I get the coolest thing from Cliff and I can't find a tone I like to use it. Haha! I'll figure something out....it's just hard not having the time I once had nor the desire to keep on tweaking. I tweaked tones from 15 until 40 years old. I had a killer rig that stopped me from tweaking one day....when it died and I got tired of buying parts for it to keep it alive, the Axe came to my rescue. I think I have to just stick with the tones I have and leave well enough alone for right now. :)

Thank you all once again for the detailed instructions, direction and advice. I'll mess around a little more and see how I fair. :)

Eric, you're too kind man! I hope all is well on your end...we have to catch up one of these days. :)
 
Keep messing around, Danny. I get your frustration, but hang in there. You will find your tone. There will be that "Aha!" moment—maybe a couple of them—and things will fall into place.
 
i usually dislike fw udates at first because things are different to what ive set. i generally come around with 'A LOT' of additional tweaking though. comes with the territory
 
Danny Danzi said:
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.
Click to expand...
When this happens to me, I set the amp to default, select a reference recording that has the amp and tone I want and redial the amp and cab from scratch.

In the past firmware changes were so radical I had to abandon the amp/cab I was on and go hunting for something better. Every now and then it's good to do this anyway, especially now with G3 and the new amps and cabs.
 
I've uploaded the factory presets and the using some of those as a base. It gives you the opportunity to really get the best out of G3, due to it being a major update. Some old patches transferred well and others didn't. The Man Of Steel is right....your ears are you best asset and the technology makes so many things possible.
 
I agree with those who have said this is mainly a problem for people with favourite or signature tones, often created by subtle variations in the advanced parameters, because these simply won't port over with exact replication due to the extensive changes in modeling techniques. For those of us who have one or two of these tones major FW upgrades can be a challenge, we want to enjoy the new features yet retain the familiar feel of our existing tones. The difficulty lies in the fact that our ears are so completely attuned to the little nuances in these tones, and in my view most importantly the way they feel and respond to our playing, and any variance is perceived as bad or unwanted. Fortunately we have the option to revert a previous FW but it just feels a little bit defeatist.

I got my first Axe-Fx Std many years ago, prior to which I was using a Pod X3 Pro. The difference in sound quality was obviously vast and I never looked back, however I never sold the X3 because no matter how I tried I could never completely replicate my favourite tone on the Axe (even with tone matching). I still occasionally plug into the old X3 for old times sake and play through that old preset, even though it sounds thin and processed I get a sense of warm familiarity which is nice.

First World problems I suppose :)
 
I installed the Fractal Bank A presets and played my Strat on those presets and they sound great straight out of the box. Humbuckers need a bit of work though with the extra low end which can sound a bit woofy with the 4x12 amps/cabs.
 
Hi Danny,

I was having the same problem with patches losing gain and sounding like there was a blanket over the speaker when updating from 17.x to 18.03

Here's what I did to test:

1) select a preset I know well and play (damn, it sounds less gainy and lifeless)
2) select a different amp from the amp list momentarily and then switch back to the original amp type in that preset.
3) Hey presto! sounding better already.

But what if it's all in my head and I'm only imagining it all ?!!

That takes us nicely to Step 4:

4) Don't save the patch but select another patch momentarily and then quickly return to the previous one (this is to return it to it's unsaved state)
5) Bam, less gain and return of the blanket.

I've tried resetting Amp Blocks but I think realistically I'll just have to re do my main patches, no biggie.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom