Hhuent
Experienced
It seems like quite a lot here avoid IRs and amps when playing with their acoustic + AX8. Today I built some presets from scratch for my acoustic guitar (McIlroy from Ireland) that was equipped with an endpin pickup (MI-SI). Maybe someone here can find a little bit of use in case he/she wants to build ac. guitar patches for the AX8 like me. Or one of the wise guys teaches me a thing or two. Or three - always welcome.
First of all: I am not a tech guy and I don´t know nothing about tone matching and my knowledge about amps and mixing is more than limited, so bare with me. I found some IRs on the fractal preset exchange site and converted them to AX8 (914, 514, 314 Taylors, D09 Larrivee and a few others)
Second: I wanted to build some patches that go well in a mix and cut through, so they don´t fight with the bass or the kick drum. They may be a little on the bright side.
Third: I played with a Xitone open back. My FRFR cab might have a slight edge here witch ac. guitar, but Micks cab is so great that I will sell the other cab to save space and weight. I ordered a second one from Mick, there you go, space, lol...
I built a basic chain for acoustic guitar, saved a few EQ block settings (10, 8, 7 and 5 bands) during my work with a typical acoustic curve so I can apply them faster.
I have to recall this from memory as I have my A8 not with me. Doing my best...
My chain:
StudioComp - GEQ - "Blank" - Tube Preamp - Tape DIst - Cab - Notchfilter 1 - Notchfilter 2 - Reverb.
I switched off the Comp to compare it with the Tape Dist.
The Blank is for putting the Tape Dist. in front of the amp to compare what I like better: pre or post amp.
Studiocomp:
I researched on the forum: The studiocomp seems the way to go. No pumping etc.
Ac. guitar settings: Ratio between 2 and 3 to keep it subtle Threshold around -15. Attack: 20 - 40ms. Release: Around 220 ms. Soft knee.
GEQ (for acoustic guitar):
I looked around on the web. If there ever was a consensus it would be:
Low cut around 100 hz, 6db. - between 100 and 300: pull it down somewhat, still alot of rumble and feedback there - around 400: that´s where the body is, a little up - around 800, pull it down, nasty freqs there, sometimes even up to 1500 khz - 3000 hz to 7000 hz, bump it a little for sweet highs - 7 hz +: if you still need shimmer, a little up but be aware it can sound to metallic and harsh. Use your ears, I found many exceptions to this, depending on the IR.
Tube Preamp:
Default settings. I realised after a lot of work, I had to change the amp block and back to Tube Pre again, made a difference since I updated to 7.01.
Tape Dist:
Some guys here love acoustic guitar with tape distortion - instead of a compressor and to warm and fatten up the sound. I did not manage this, I just find it more "lively" - depends on what you dial in for Drive. I don´t know what I prefer - pre or post, both sounds pretty good and gives you a different flavour compared to the Compressor. Some use both: Comp and Tape dist. - I don´t. I like the Tape dist., but will keep the Comp. in the chain to be more flexible.
Tape Dist.: Drive at 3.0. A little more and it starts to break up slightly. Which I did not want. I left low cut at 20 hz and hi cut around 3 khz. I do the cutting in the cab block (low around 100 hz, hi around 5.8 khz).
Cab/IR:
Only the low cut around 100 hz, hi cut around 5.8 khz.
Two filter blocks (notch):
I looked around on the net if people prefer GEQs or PEQs for acoustic guitar. Seems like for killing unpleasant frequencies some prefer the PEQ after the cab. Well, I did not like the result. To put the acid test I pointed the speaker towards me so I had to learn how to fight with feedback. Even when the PEQ band was set up with the most narrow Q possible and the peak dwon to 12 db it spoilt the sound. Especially when you use two or three bands to fight three feedback frequencies. Happened once.
mM solution was to install two filter blocks with a notch filter (4th or 2d degree depends) at extreme settings. This did not alter the tone so much. I think two notch filters are what might help you in a live situation. It was easy to sweep through the frequencies and kill the nasty ones.
Reverb:
If I use it at all (Delay would be an option too) I saved a mid room setting (decreased the time: 1.2 seconds) and I fiddled a bit with the damping. Also the Sun Plate and the London Plate where I decreased the time also. Some seem to like a plate reverb more than a room reverb for less mud.
Well, I found by this some not so bad patches, but acoustic guitar is very much a matter of taste. I am definitely no expert. But maybe you can use some of my findings for your quest for an acoustic guitar patch - or give me a heads up when you detect some BS here.
First of all: I am not a tech guy and I don´t know nothing about tone matching and my knowledge about amps and mixing is more than limited, so bare with me. I found some IRs on the fractal preset exchange site and converted them to AX8 (914, 514, 314 Taylors, D09 Larrivee and a few others)
Second: I wanted to build some patches that go well in a mix and cut through, so they don´t fight with the bass or the kick drum. They may be a little on the bright side.
Third: I played with a Xitone open back. My FRFR cab might have a slight edge here witch ac. guitar, but Micks cab is so great that I will sell the other cab to save space and weight. I ordered a second one from Mick, there you go, space, lol...
I built a basic chain for acoustic guitar, saved a few EQ block settings (10, 8, 7 and 5 bands) during my work with a typical acoustic curve so I can apply them faster.
I have to recall this from memory as I have my A8 not with me. Doing my best...
My chain:
StudioComp - GEQ - "Blank" - Tube Preamp - Tape DIst - Cab - Notchfilter 1 - Notchfilter 2 - Reverb.
I switched off the Comp to compare it with the Tape Dist.
The Blank is for putting the Tape Dist. in front of the amp to compare what I like better: pre or post amp.
Studiocomp:
I researched on the forum: The studiocomp seems the way to go. No pumping etc.
Ac. guitar settings: Ratio between 2 and 3 to keep it subtle Threshold around -15. Attack: 20 - 40ms. Release: Around 220 ms. Soft knee.
GEQ (for acoustic guitar):
I looked around on the web. If there ever was a consensus it would be:
Low cut around 100 hz, 6db. - between 100 and 300: pull it down somewhat, still alot of rumble and feedback there - around 400: that´s where the body is, a little up - around 800, pull it down, nasty freqs there, sometimes even up to 1500 khz - 3000 hz to 7000 hz, bump it a little for sweet highs - 7 hz +: if you still need shimmer, a little up but be aware it can sound to metallic and harsh. Use your ears, I found many exceptions to this, depending on the IR.
Tube Preamp:
Default settings. I realised after a lot of work, I had to change the amp block and back to Tube Pre again, made a difference since I updated to 7.01.
Tape Dist:
Some guys here love acoustic guitar with tape distortion - instead of a compressor and to warm and fatten up the sound. I did not manage this, I just find it more "lively" - depends on what you dial in for Drive. I don´t know what I prefer - pre or post, both sounds pretty good and gives you a different flavour compared to the Compressor. Some use both: Comp and Tape dist. - I don´t. I like the Tape dist., but will keep the Comp. in the chain to be more flexible.
Tape Dist.: Drive at 3.0. A little more and it starts to break up slightly. Which I did not want. I left low cut at 20 hz and hi cut around 3 khz. I do the cutting in the cab block (low around 100 hz, hi around 5.8 khz).
Cab/IR:
Only the low cut around 100 hz, hi cut around 5.8 khz.
Two filter blocks (notch):
I looked around on the net if people prefer GEQs or PEQs for acoustic guitar. Seems like for killing unpleasant frequencies some prefer the PEQ after the cab. Well, I did not like the result. To put the acid test I pointed the speaker towards me so I had to learn how to fight with feedback. Even when the PEQ band was set up with the most narrow Q possible and the peak dwon to 12 db it spoilt the sound. Especially when you use two or three bands to fight three feedback frequencies. Happened once.
mM solution was to install two filter blocks with a notch filter (4th or 2d degree depends) at extreme settings. This did not alter the tone so much. I think two notch filters are what might help you in a live situation. It was easy to sweep through the frequencies and kill the nasty ones.
Reverb:
If I use it at all (Delay would be an option too) I saved a mid room setting (decreased the time: 1.2 seconds) and I fiddled a bit with the damping. Also the Sun Plate and the London Plate where I decreased the time also. Some seem to like a plate reverb more than a room reverb for less mud.
Well, I found by this some not so bad patches, but acoustic guitar is very much a matter of taste. I am definitely no expert. But maybe you can use some of my findings for your quest for an acoustic guitar patch - or give me a heads up when you detect some BS here.
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