Unclear sound and too much bass

S

syvy

Member
I've had problems with my sound for a while now. It seemed that all my patches had too much bass and sounded muddy. I tried to compensate for that by putting highpass filters in front, but that was not a solution. Now I got the new Atomic FR and still had the problem.

I feel stupid now because I found the simple solution, and probably many people have mentioned this here already. It had to do with the input volume on the Axe Fx. Originally I set it so the LED's only went to red when I strummed really hard, which I thought was ok. Now I turned the Input not even half way up and now it almost never goes to red. The sound became much tighter and feels great!
Just in case anybody has similar problems, play around with the input volume. It has a big impact on the sound.
 
That isn't the right way to fix your problem, although you can leave it that way if you want.

It sounds like you're settings in the amp block need tweaking. Try setting your input volume back where it should be and then mess with the low cut parameter in the amp block. If it is set low by default, try raising it. Somewhere in the 100-150 Hz range seems to work well with many of the amps. You should also try turning down the drive and/or master controls if the low cut doesn't do it for you. All your doing is decreasing the signal that the virtual amp sees, so turning down the drive and/or master would likely give you similar resuls. The benefit here is that your signal to noise ratio will be better if nothing else.

Most real amps can sound quite muddy and bloated when the power section is overdriven enough. The Axe-FX allows you to easily tweak the parameters to overcome that where would have to fix it by extensive modding in the real world.

Again, if you don't want to mess with it you don't have to, but you'll be much better served by learning to set the amp block up properly than by cutting the input volume as a band-aid.

D
 
I agree with DK there are plenty of ways to skim the low end without decreasing your input signal. I'd say the biggest culprit is what Cab IR you use. That's going to have the biggest impact. And then if you find a new IR that fixes most of the problem but you still want less low end throw an EQ at the end of your chain and dial out all you want.
 
syvy said:
I've had problems with my sound for a while now. It seemed that all my patches had too much bass and sounded muddy. I tried to compensate for that by putting highpass filters in front, but that was not a solution. Now I got the new Atomic FR and still had the problem.

I feel stupid now because I found the simple solution, and probably many people have mentioned this here already. It had to do with the input volume on the Axe Fx. Originally I set it so the LED's only went to red when I strummed really hard, which I thought was ok. Now I turned the Input not even half way up and now it almost never goes to red. The sound became much tighter and feels great!
Just in case anybody has similar problems, play around with the input volume. It has a big impact on the sound.
Click to expand...

Master Volume too high????

:?:
 
As a bass player, I disagree!! There can never be enough bass... :lol:

That said.... one trick that works for me (and other people have commented on this too) is to lower the bass on the amp block (to the point where there is not enough bass) and then put an EQ after the cabinet block (and increase the bass here to a level that you like).

Another trick is to run an overdrive block in front of your amp and back off the gain on your amp block.

Another trick is to run light compression first in your signal chain to even our your sound. Me personally, I love compression for my cleans and when I'm doing solos (so nice for bringing out the pinch harmonics....) but NOT for my distorted rhythm tone. IMHO.... YMMV.... and all that.

Another trick is to try the different mics. Royer 121 is a popular one and sounds less murky to my ears...

Here's one final trick. I have one guitar with active pickups (very bright) and another with passive (less high end and volume, but I have way more control over my dynamics). Different guitars for different songs....
Before I even build a patch, I will just run empty shunts and listen to how my guitar sounds by itself. I will then put just an EQ block in my signal chain and tweak until it sounds as good as it can get. THEN I build my patch. Quality in = Quality out

Hope this helps!

-AL
 
alcaldwell said:
Before I even build a patch, I will just run empty shunts and listen to how my guitar sounds by itself. I will then put just an EQ block in my signal chain and tweak until it sounds as good as it can get. THEN I build my patch. Quality in = Quality out

Hope this helps!

-AL
Click to expand...

That's an interesting idea. I think I will give that a try myself just for kicks. I should have done it long ago just as an exercise.

D
 
alcaldwell said:
Before I even build a patch, I will just run empty shunts and listen to how my guitar sounds by itself. I will then put just an EQ block in my signal chain and tweak until it sounds as good as it can get. THEN I build my patch.
Click to expand...

Thats something Ive never tried. Im not having much problems controlling bass, and when I do need to tone it down Ive been using the advanced amp controls, but starting at the source (in a sense) makes sense.
 
alcaldwell said:
Before I even build a patch, I will just run empty shunts and listen to how my guitar sounds by itself. I will then put just an EQ block in my signal chain and tweak until it sounds as good as it can get. THEN I build my patch. Quality in = Quality out
Click to expand...

I've been doing that as well and it does aid a great deal for tweaking out your tones and saving time. I find it's much easier to dial in your tones with the amp sims/cabs if you 'tune' in your guitar/pickups' overall voicing with an EQ when you hear it with no other coloring/processing at all. Small, subtle EQ adjustments are all I need to make improvements at this point.

Any general deficiencies in response/tone that you may want to adjust are easier, and quicker, to fix at the very start rather then making up for them later in the 'food chain' in my experience with the AFX, and tweaking any rig in general.
 
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