Tone Match --- the holy grail ?

G

ghosttrooper

Member
Hi,

i use the standard axe version for almost 5 years and since it was discontinued i did stop looking here for any news or updates. So last week i was reading some stuff about the axe 2 and found the "tone match" function which is available since FW 6 -- i dont know when it was released .. now FW 12 is available ...

as i dreamed of this feature years (!) ago im now considering to sell my old one and get an axe 2 ...

i already checked the available videos but i still have some questions ... hope you guys can help me to understand if this is really the function im looking for:

so according to the videos you only have to seperate a guitar part of your favorite music file and load it into the axe ... and the axe "clone" this sound for you .. is that right ? in a different video somebody said that you will have to create an own preset first which will be customized by the axe after you load the "original" mp3 / wav file.

For example i want to have the sound of dire straits "money for nothing" ... i seperate the first seconds of this song and load it to the axe ... is it really that easy ?
 
Well I give it a shot,


For example i want to have the sound of dire straits "money for nothing" ... i seperate the first seconds of this song and load it to the axe ... is it really that easy ?

From what I know about this. the answer would be " Yes and no " yes because you can tonematch that easy, no because as you no doubt know already everything from the fingers to the speaker matters, ...

To get the best result "AFAIK" you need to create a preset with similar amp, cab, and possibly even delay and reverb if thats included in the tone,
and preferably use a similar guitar type. Then you get an awesome result!!! it's a fantastic feature.

There are many users on this forum with much more knowledge on this topic than I have :)

Speaking about Dire straits I remember Cliff posted a thread and a sound sample that was awesome ..
I think the thread was called dire straits on a can, or a box or something like that ...

search for a thread by cliff containing a sound sample with him playing a dire strait song ..
don't remember which song it was but he did an excellent job on it ..

hope this help somewhat ..

have a good one
 
thank you guys .. i will check those manuals and stuff .... regarding the tone match preset, dire straits was just an example ... but do you have to create first a similar preset of the sound you want to match or can you just load an extracted guitar tone file in order to use this sound ?
 
As written above, you HAVE to create a similar preset before.
The Tonematch block is like a very exact equalizer with hundreds of bands - but nothing more.
All the gain settings and cabinet resonance has to be dialed in before.

I'm no big fan of this feature. It's cool in the studio for recordings but I find it not very helpful for live applications.
 
ghosttrooper said:
thank you guys .. i will check those manuals and stuff .... regarding the tone match preset, dire straits was just an example ... but do you have to create first a similar preset of the sound you want to match or can you just load an extracted guitar tone file in order to use this sound ?
Click to expand...

The closer you get the preset before tone matching, the better the tone matching result.

Just like any EQ, extreme settings don't sound as good as subtle or normal settings.

So the less work the tone match block has to do, the better the results.

Also, the tone match block cannot match gain / distortion. It is up to you to dial that into your preset yourself.
 
You need to get the correct or closest amp model to the tone you are seeking and add the correct (closest) gain pedal if neccessary. It's hit or miss I've found but it can be really accurate. I find chasing down a very complicated hi-gain tone with pedals in the chain (like say Randy Rhodes) can be more difficult to replicate but most tones that are basically amp+head+cab are acheivable assuming all other factors are the same (similar guitar, pups and that you play just like the player).
 
Tone Matching doesn't set Amp block parameters for you, TMA creates a match EQ to use with the Amp block. For best results dial in the Amp block as close as possible before matching. Put a Cab block after the Amp block and use an appropriate cab when dialing in the Axe. The amp models have been MIMIC'd so the Axe settings should be close to your amp if the same model is in the Axe (component variance makes each real amp a little different so the settings on the model and your amp may be somewhat different).

Getting the Amp block tone close to your amp helps but getting the gain right is critical; in real amps, and in the Axe, gain settings affect distortion and also tone and feel (different gain settings hit the tubes with different input voltages which change the tubes performance affecting tone and feel). The best way to dial in the Amp block's gain is to set it the same as your amp and play your guitar and see how they match up - tweak the Axe if needed. Now roll back your guitar volume until the amp starts to clean up, if the Axe model cleans up like the amp then your ready to go, if not then tweak the drive settings on the Axe until it cleans up like your amp.

You can Tone Match with or without the Cab block, try both and see if there's a difference for you. If you use a Cab block - put the TMA block after the cab.
 
IMHO, the tone-match is a great add-on, but not reason in itself to buy an afx2. If you are thinking that you can instantly get the sounds from albums, you will almost certainly be disappointed.

Anyway, it's much more fun, and useful trying to dial in sounds using your ears and experimenting with amps and fx.
 
Hey

I was buy Axe FX II ,only for tone matching feature. I was have kemper before Axe ,and It was little bit disappointed for those tone matching profiles. They never sound like ,original records was. But whit Axe all sounds like records ,it is mind blowing and amazing device! And I was playing all those real amp profiles ,what peoples was share whit kemper. And it was fun to test all those amps what peoples was profiled. There was also all those amps what I was owned early days ,about 30 amps profiles what I have owned in real life years ago. But playing and tweaking some amp simulations or real amps ,is fun that for sure. But always I stuck to back ,those tones what you hear in original band records. And why because you have years and years listen those guitar tones ,and if there is chance to get same sound of course I will choose that way. Tone matching feature ,is a amazing whit Axe FX II!

mogvinda said:
IMHO, the tone-match is a great add-on, but not reason in itself to buy an afx2. If you are thinking that you can instantly get the sounds from albums, you will almost certainly be disappointed.

Anyway, it's much more fun, and useful trying to dial in sounds using your ears and experimenting with amps and fx.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Yep, like others have said, Tone Match is just a sophisticated EQ only that tries to minimize the difference in EQ between a source tone and a preset. That's it.

The basic idea is that you try and duplicate the rig you want down to the amp and pedal settings inside the Axe first, then use the Tone Match EQ block to close the gap.


That said, if you know what you're doing you can get close enough that people won't be able to tell the difference in a blind test.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom