Taming the Monster - Building an Amp/Cab Preset in the Axe-FX II + Tweaking It

Scott Peterson said:
I'll do a patch leveling video next.
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Fantastic! I'm absolutely sure I've made this task far more complicated than is necessary. I look forward to learning a more efficient method (any method would have to be).

BTW: I hadn't worked much with the speaker tab until today after vieweng this video. This makes the job of voicing the amp much easier. Thanks again!
 
Cool, Cool, C-O-O-L !!!!!

Hey Scott,

Thanks so much man! You have no idea how much your expertise will be appreciated (and already ease on this end!)

I too am eager to see your next video (re: setting gain-levels, unity-gain, etc!)

You rock!

Bill
 
Scott, do you generally prefer leaving the Dynamics at default (25%), or was that setting specific to this preset/amp?
 
jma said:
Scott, do you generally prefer leaving the Dynamics at default (25%), or was that setting specific to this preset/amp?
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Depends on the amp, but all I do is trust my ears. Trust your ears.

If you watch me do that preset and listen; you'd never think that you'd have an amp where everything at noon sounded 'right'; but on my Friedman BE preset, that's exactly how I run that amp block. I trust my ears... and it sounds good to me.
 
I tend to trust my ears but often the amount of different settings you could change to achieve basically the same thing makes me feel kinda lost. I mean, if I need a little boost in the lows where should i go?
Basic tab? Speaker tab? EQ tab? Power Tab? Tone tab? Use a PEQ? etc...
It still makes me feel a little overwhelmed :S
 
Scott Peterson said:
Depends on the amp, but all I do is trust my ears. Trust your ears.

If you watch me do that preset and listen; you'd never think that you'd have an amp where everything at noon sounded 'right'; but on my Friedman BE preset, that's exactly how I run that amp block. I trust my ears... and it sounds good to me.
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Not that that is not great advice, but isn't the difference that you do the toneshaping with the tools in the speaker tab instead of the tonestack?

Jens
 
sprada said:
I tend to trust my ears but often the amount of different settings you could change to achieve basically the same thing makes me feel kinda lost. I mean, if I need a little boost in the lows where should i go?
Basic tab? Speaker tab? EQ tab? Power Tab? Tone tab? Use a PEQ? etc...
It still makes me feel a little overwhelmed :S
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Key point is to not beat your brains out 'tweaking' but instead, just use the Speaker tab and trust your ear. The more you do it... the less you do it. ;) :D


Take one hour and mess around in the speaker tab playing with the settings in there to get a feel for them... and trust your ear. Then you'll see how fast, fun and simple it is to make things perfect for YOU. That's the key. It's far more simple than a lot of folks would have you believe... very powerful tools. The tools are in the box.


My goal is just showing how I do it; how really simple it is and that even with a billion parameters... all you need is a method. This is my method. Follow it and I promise that folks with 'obsessive tweaking disorder' will no longer suffer from it! :D
 
Jens said:
Not that that is not great advice, but isn't the difference that you do the toneshaping with the tools in the speaker tab instead of the tonestack?

Jens
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Tone stack EQ is doing it with the amp; Speaker tab is using a PEQ to shape the actual speaker cab resonances and therefore it's tonal response. Think of it as the 'dial your cab in' tab.

The key to FRFR tones are with the IR; this *powerful* set of tools in the speaker tab of the amp block are the way to really nail your tones by 'tuning' the cab IR.

99% of the guys (oh hell, 100%) that have expressed some distaste or discomfort from the Axe-FX's tones have not touched the speaker tab parameters in presets I look at/listen to. Yet it's the most powerful and absolutely the most important aspect of the whole thing in balance with the basic settings from the tonestack.

IMHO, YMMV.
 
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Scott Peterson said:
Key point is to not beat your brains out 'tweaking' but instead, just use the Speaker tab and trust your ear. The more you do it... the less you do it. ;) :D


Take one hour and mess around in the speaker tab playing with the settings in there to get a feel for them... and trust your ear. Then you'll see how fast, fun and simple it is to make things perfect for YOU. That's the key. It's far more simple than a lot of folks would have you believe... very powerful tools. The tools are in the box.


My goal is just showing how I do it; how really simple it is and that even with a billion parameters... all you need is a method. This is my method. Follow it and I promise that folks with 'obsessive tweaking disorder' will no longer suffer from it! :D
Click to expand...

Oh you do have my attention now :)
Thread so subscribed.
 
sprada said:
Oh you do have my attention now :)
Thread so subscribed.
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Good - because that is the whole point of my doing these videos. I see all sorts of rubbish posted about how hard it is to work with the Axe-FX, how complicated it is to 'tweak in' good sounds. Yet when I work 1-on-1 with folks the general response is... 'that's it?'.

I am sick of reading all the crap posted about tweaking; I am sick of how hard it is to dial an Axe-FX, I am sick of reading how 'smart' I am for getting sounds. I'm not that smart, no smarter than anyone else. There's no magic. After analyzing what folks do by working with lots of folks individually now over the years (I do private consulting to get folks up to speed on working with the Axe-FX on the side) it's my conclusion that folks don't need to grab someone else's preset... they need a method.

My method is no better or worse than any other; it's just one that works. Parameters are there... yes. But they do NOT need to be touched if there is a simpler and more more powerful way to get you where your ears tell you to go. Most folks stuck with parameter 'paralysis' are missing that one key thing - a method.

I just trust my ears. I've done the work. This is my method and I'll do a series of these showing what I do in the hope it helps other folks. And helps put an end to all the rubbish posts you see about not 'getting' the Axe-FX. It's whatever you make it; if you make it hard... it will be. It's not.
 
Hey Scott! Wonderful video. I have been so overwhelmed with all of the tabs that my Axe has not received a lot of attention as of late. I will try your method and see how things go! Thanks for taking the time and showing us folks a little bit of what you do to get great tones!
 
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