Ultra - suddenly sounds very muddy

D

dirtypurple

Inspired
Hi,
Had mine a couple of months. Very happy with the sound until 30 mins into rehearsal yesterday. Suddenly sounds very "muddy" - like there is too much bass and not enough treble. Some patches sound just about ok, but others sound terrible now. I didnt touch anything on the unit. I use a FRFR setup - amp and cab sim on. I've tried all 3 outputs - unbalanced, balanced and fx out - all the same. I've tried 2 guitars also and different leads etc. The only thing I can think of is that I connected it to a crummy PA yesterday and I wonder if thats caused the problem. The PA had phantom power on, but I didnt have the Axe powered up when i connected. I turned the phantom power off on the PA and fired up the Axe. As said, all was ok for 30 mins, then it seemed to change.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
 
hehe i get this often too!! sometimes the same patch sounds AWESOME and sometimes just muddy.. it has to be our ears!
 
You know what i get this too. Sometimes i can turn on my Ultra for a jam with my usual saved patches and find i dont feel the need to touch anything. I can do exactly the same the next day and find myself tweaking like mad subconciously looking to 'fix' whats 'wrong'. Yep, i guess it must be our ears :(

On a slighty different note. Has anybody made a patch, used that patch for X amount of time....made a new patch and played with that for a while, went back to that previous patch and then thought it sounded like complete crap and wondered how you ever thought this was a good tone? :? :lol: Hoping its not just me :oops:
 
Thanks for the reply's.
I'm worried i've damaged it. If i change the eq on my amp (traynor k4) i can clean up the sound, but i never normally do that. It just sounds like i'm playing through a pillow on patches i normally use. I've only had the unit a few weeks, so i'm still just using stock patches.

I guess the real question is, can i damage the output section by plugging it into a PA that had phantom power on. Even with the Axe switched off? But its the same across all outputs.
 
Deltafit said:
You know what i get this too. Sometimes i can turn on my Ultra for a jam with my usual saved patches and find i dont feel the need to touch anything. I can do exactly the same the next day and find myself tweaking like mad subconciously looking to 'fix' whats 'wrong'. Yep, i guess it must be our ears :(

On a slighty different note. Has anybody made a patch, used that patch for X amount of time....made a new patch and played with that for a while, went back to that previous patch and then thought it sounded like complete crap and wondered how you ever thought this was a good tone? :? :lol: Hoping its not just me :oops:
Click to expand...

yup i get the same feeling!!!
 
I reckon most of the time these phenomenon are down to room acoustics and amp/PA/Monitor placement within the room and where you stand in relation to the source - and other instrument sources.. As well as ear fatigue sometimes.

I played a gig on Friday night and my guitar tone sucked, I really struggled (although allegedly it was good in the audience). Played another gig last night, different venue, and My tone was awesome (to my ears anyway) - and allegedly also awesome in the audience.

We played similar songs, same guitar, no tweaks on the Axe or the PA (I use a Bose L1 FRFR).

IMHO - YMMV

cheers
 
dirtypurple said:
Thanks for the reply's.
I'm worried i've damaged it. If i change the eq on my amp (traynor k4) i can clean up the sound, but i never normally do that. It just sounds like i'm playing through a pillow on patches i normally use. I've only had the unit a few weeks, so i'm still just using stock patches.

I guess the real question is, can i damage the output section by plugging it into a PA that had phantom power on. Even with the Axe switched off? But its the same across all outputs.
Click to expand...

Even though you didn't change anything, verify your Global and I/O settings!
 
ok thanks again. I did check the global I/O - but i'll check again. I'll also check through headphones to see if there's a difference.
 
Just the other night I had the sound of a familar and often-used patch suddenly go tits up. Turns out I had mistakenly bypassed the cab block.
 
I think ear fatigue could be the issue. My music room is under renovation and I am playing in a very small room until it is done. I have been having issues with ear fatigue since this as I am so close to the speakers and I like to play at reasonable volumes. It sounds very similar to what you describe.
 
Deltafit said:
On a slighty different note. Has anybody made a patch, used that patch for X amount of time....made a new patch and played with that for a while, went back to that previous patch and then thought it sounded like complete crap and wondered how you ever thought this was a good tone? :? :lol: Hoping its not just me :oops:
Click to expand...

Guilty:) I am on the fourth version of my core sound. The old ones dont sound bad, just not as good as the new ones. Einstein got it right with relativity.
 
First thing I thought was blown high frequency drivers in K4. Have you tested axe with another speaker, or K4 with another sound source?
 
Deltafit said:
On a slighty different note. Has anybody made a patch, used that patch for X amount of time....made a new patch and played with that for a while, went back to that previous patch and then thought it sounded like complete crap and wondered how you ever thought this was a good tone? :? :lol: Hoping its not just me :oops:
Click to expand...

Remarkably similar to my girlfriend history :)
 
decipher said:
Deltafit said:
You know what i get this too. Sometimes i can turn on my Ultra for a jam with my usual saved patches and find i dont feel the need to touch anything. I can do exactly the same the next day and find myself tweaking like mad subconciously looking to 'fix' whats 'wrong'. Yep, i guess it must be our ears :(

On a slighty different note. Has anybody made a patch, used that patch for X amount of time....made a new patch and played with that for a while, went back to that previous patch and then thought it sounded like complete crap and wondered how you ever thought this was a good tone? :? :lol: Hoping its not just me :oops:
Click to expand...

yup i get the same feeling!!!
Click to expand...

It could also be my amp! I use a roland KC 150 keyboard amp and the damn thing is quite harsh... they claim its a studio monitor as well and so i set my eq flat.. bass and treble knobs at 0db... but the harshness just cant be dialed out....
Oh and it sounds different from different angles as well
 
I've tried guitar directly into K4 and sounded fine. Could hear all the frequencies. I dont use the K4 that often now - only at home on low volume. Gigs I go direct to PA.

I do wonder if its ear fatigue - I was rehearsing all day on Friday. I think i'm now more worried about ruining my ears, rather than the Axe! I'll see if I can try another Axe to compare. I've spoken to Fractal support and they dont think I could have damaged the output section - but waiting to get 100% confirmation on that.
 
dirtypurple said:
I've tried guitar directly into K4 and sounded fine. Could hear all the frequencies. I dont use the K4 that often now - only at home on low volume. Gigs I go direct to PA.

I do wonder if its ear fatigue - I was rehearsing all day on Friday. I think i'm now more worried about ruining my ears, rather than the Axe! I'll see if I can try another Axe to compare. I've spoken to Fractal support and they dont think I could have damaged the output section - but waiting to get 100% confirmation on that.
Click to expand...

oh yea go easy... you wouldnt want tinnitus!!
 
Yesterday evening I loaded the 9.03 firmware and after the process was finished I shut the Axe-Fx off and switched it on again.

Playing through a FRFR FBT Verve 12ma my clean Fender patch sounded distorted and not as loud as usual.
Then I shut off my Axe-Fx, switched it on and the sound was good - clean and loud as usual.

I noticed this with the 9.02 also, but only once or twice and mostly after tweaking a patch.

Anyone noticed the same behavior?
 
yek said:
Deltafit said:
On a slighty different note. Has anybody made a patch, used that patch for X amount of time....made a new patch and played with that for a while, went back to that previous patch and then thought it sounded like complete crap and wondered how you ever thought this was a good tone? :? :lol: Hoping its not just me :oops:
Click to expand...

Remarkably similar to my girlfriend history :)
Click to expand...


:lol: .......Classic!!

BTW his original question still has not been answered. Does anyone know if phantom power from your mixer can harm the outputs of the Axe? I would also like to know this question although at a guess i would say it doesn't...?
 
setzinger said:
Yesterday evening I loaded the 9.03 firmware and after the process was finished I shut the Axe-Fx off and switched it on again.

Playing through a FRFR FBT Verve 12ma my clean Fender patch sounded distorted and not as loud as usual.
Then I shut off my Axe-Fx, switched it on and the sound was good - clean and loud as usual.

I noticed this with the 9.02 also, but only once or twice and mostly after tweaking a patch.

Anyone noticed the same behavior?
Click to expand...

Yes, I've experienced it, and I haven't even upgraded to 9.03 yet. It behaves much like a computer in that a simple re-boot seems to fix it. But it's strange none the less :?
 
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