Ultra seems ultra bright

T

Tommy Tequila

Experienced
Greetings...

I've had my Ultra for a few months now, and been lurking/absorbing all of the great info shared here while digging into the unit to try and create my own personal tone nirvana. So far, cleans are killer, and hi-gains are great when recording with my LP or other humbucker guitars, but overall when stepping through stock presets it seems like the unit itself is very bright sounding.

My main issue: I've been having a devil of a time trying to get that middle ground edge-of-breakup rhythm sound when using strat style single coils and/or P-90 style pickups. Instead of soft breakup, I seem to get more of a harsh, trebly splat when I hit simple root position G/D type chords hard -- sort of like (but not as bad as) plugging into the front but setting the input to the analog back. I've tried various models, the PEQ tricks, etc., but have still not been able to really nail that sweet spot.

So, any strat oriented suggestions (models, settings, whatever) for taming the high end would be greatly appreciated.

TT

Simple setup: Guitar -> Axe Ultra 9.03 ->2 Fratomics via XLR.
 
I have had similar issues - Using a strat with SC's also. I would suggest that you choose your cabs very carefully - check the wiki for suggestions. It can make a huge difference. Also, I find that I rarely need the bright switch on - it is simply too bright for my taste and it is with it engaged that I get the symptoms you describe. I am using no eq's to roll of highs or lows - with 9.03 I find that the amp tone controls pretty much handle it. Like you, I am using lots of cleans with some mild break up as my main tone. Keep in mind the Fletcher Munson effect - at low volumes you'll typically dial in more treble, when you crank up you'll be way too bright. Basically - careful cab selection and bright switch off works for me. I am very impressed with the tones I am getting - really, as good as any amp I have ever owned and all the amps I have ever owned. Plus, best effects I have ever owned. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks - every bit helps!

I got the Redwire bundle and will try them as well to see if some off-axis ribbon action will help tame the brilliance.

And I agree that the Ultra is pretty amazing. I've been working my way up the modeling food chain for a while (various Line 6, Vox, GSP1101, etc.) and it has by far the best recording tones, especially with humbuckers.

TT
 
This may or may not be the case in your situation, but keep in mind that since you're running through a Fratomic, what you're hearing is essentially a recorded guitar tone, which is a lot brighter than what you may be used to hear when standing in front (most often off-axis) of a 4x12 or combo cab. It may seem brighter than what you're used to, but it's no different than what you'd be sending to the board with a mic'd cab.
 
one thing i've noticed is that when using real cabs it seems much brighter then when using FRFR with cab sims, call me crazy but it seems that the real world speakers don't tame as much high end.
 
rsf1977 said:
one thing i've noticed is that when using real cabs it seems much brighter then when using FRFR with cab sims, call me crazy but it seems that the real world speakers don't tame as much high end.
Click to expand...
I think that would be highly dependent on your specific cab/speaker combination. For me, my FRFR patches are significantly brighter than the comparable output into my amp and cab. YMMV, obviously.
 
rsf1977 said:
one thing i've noticed is that when using real cabs it seems much brighter then when using FRFR with cab sims, call me crazy but it seems that the real world speakers don't tame as much high end.
Click to expand...

That's interesting, I would say that I get the opposite, but not by much. I have the red wires and they are very useful. Not necesarily better than the stock cabs, but a ton of variety due to the mic placements. I am getting best results from running straight into a real cab via solid state amp. Missing out on the cab sims (which I use at home through the computer), but I just like the directness of using an amp. One other thing I have noticed. It seems that the harshness I am getting is in the way hi freq range. I have used the hi-cut parameter in the advanced section of the amp to dial this out - even down as low as 2.5k. I haven't had to do this with the 9.03 yet, but I'm still develoing patches with it.

I also use the tone knob on the strat when I start getting into overdrive tones; even with real tube amps I have always gotten better distorted tones with the tone rolled off a bit. FWIW. As the amp starts to distort it actual produces hi frequency harmonics that may need to be tamed.

I also like a tone cap on the volume of the guitar; this helps in that if your using the guitar volume to vary your drive and you roll down to get clean, your signal can become slighty darker. You compensate with more treble on the amp but when you roll on for gain, your too bright. The cap helps to maintain the brightness when you roll down the guitar volume. It is very similar to the bright switch on the amp block :)
 
if your using effects like reverb and delay you can dial down some highs with the high cut parameter of the effect block as well
 
I'm running with the vol pot wide open for testing/setting up patches, little to no effects added until the basics are right. The tweet levels on my Fratomics are very low at the moment (around 9pm).

I get the same high end splat on most presets when recording.

So, question: What are the most effective places to try and tame unruly highs without just muffling the preset?

- Basic tone controls (obviously)
- Lowering presence to less than zero
- Advanced hi-cut freq
- Bright cap
- Xformer HF
- Cab selection (as suggested)
- PEQ post amp (as opposed to PEQ post cab, or both)

DANG, just listing all of those makes my head spin!

Thanks in advance for any tips/opinions...

TT
 
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